GAD F-130 Serial GAD-73309

Joined
Jun 28, 2017
Messages
6
Reaction score
0
Location
Butler, PA
Hi All,
Just bought the above guitar on Ebay and it is on the way to Butler, PA. Can you tell me what year this is?
Thanks
 

adorshki

Reverential Member
Joined
Aug 21, 2009
Messages
34,176
Reaction score
6,790
Location
Sillycon Valley CA
Hi All,
Just bought the above guitar on Ebay and it is on the way to Butler, PA. Can you tell me what year this is?
Thanks
Hi "Cadman", welcome aboard!
One of our members, SFIV1967 did post a "decoding key" for GAD s/n's a few years back, and please forgive me for suggesting you search his posts for the key, or possibly just send him a pm.
AFAIK there is no published resource for s/n's those.
I just hate to sound like some of the folks on other forums who give you a blunt "Do a search".
I also just recalled the "100 series" (insertion of the "1" in front of a traditional Guild model number) GADs were actually the second generation of those and I think production only occurred between 2011 and 2014, if that helps.
(the most recent iteration of those MIC guitars dropped the "GAD" name and are marketed simply as "the Westerly collection" since about 2015)
Hope that helps.
 
Joined
Jun 28, 2017
Messages
6
Reaction score
0
Location
Butler, PA
Thanks for the great reply. I read on an older post that the 10 digit number stamped on the heel below the truss nut tells a story. The first two digits are the year it was built.
 

adorshki

Reverential Member
Joined
Aug 21, 2009
Messages
34,176
Reaction score
6,790
Location
Sillycon Valley CA
Thanks for the great reply. I read on an older post that the 10 digit number stamped on the heel below the truss nut tells a story. The first two digits are the year it was built.
Then I think you found one of the posts I was referring to; he's put it up a couple of times.
Let us know how you like it!
 
Joined
Jun 28, 2017
Messages
6
Reaction score
0
Location
Butler, PA
Yes that was a good post. My Yamaha has a set of numbers like that in the same place. I always learn the coolest stuff on forums.
 
Joined
Jun 28, 2017
Messages
6
Reaction score
0
Location
Butler, PA
I just received my guild gad f-130 the manufacturer number is 1401170060, I assume that it is a 2014 made in Jan 17th what does the 0060 mean?
 

adorshki

Reverential Member
Joined
Aug 21, 2009
Messages
34,176
Reaction score
6,790
Location
Sillycon Valley CA
I just received my guild gad f-130 the manufacturer number is 1401170060, I assume that it is a 2014 made in Jan 17th what does the 0060 mean?


I don't think the "0117" means Jan 17th. That type of "date keying" was only used in Tacoma and New Hartford.
Here's an old thread I found about those #'s, from 2013:
http://www.letstalkguild.com/ltg/archive/index.php/t-176860.html
According to that old post, and assuming the same system was used on the "100" series GADs (which seems reasonable since it was still the same factory), the "1401" would indicate January of '14 but the "17" isn't the day of the month, but is an "order number", and the "0060" is the 60th instrument made for that order.
It looks like the "GAD73006" really IS the s/n but was never intended to function as a dating device.
 
Joined
Jun 28, 2017
Messages
6
Reaction score
0
Location
Butler, PA
Thanks so much for all your help with this post. So you think it is a 2014 built guitar. I believe that was the last year this model was built do you know the first year? We're all the gad f-130's built in China? I read that China built guild used the spec woods but the wood did not have the same inspection or acceptance requirements as the Mia unit
 

chazmo

Super Moderator
Joined
Nov 7, 2007
Messages
25,457
Reaction score
7,113
Location
Central Massachusetts
Cad,

All GAD/100-series/Westerly series guitars are MIC. When we spoke with Guild/Fender mgmt. back at one of our LMG events in New Hartford, they told us that the wood was sourced under Fender supervision. I think Fender had pretty good oversight in China, at least that's what was described to us. The wood was good quality; perhaps not as carefully selected as the stock in New Hartford.

When we chatted about this at LMG, it sounded like there wasn't any issue with materials... Not to discuss politics (please!), but the issue was that all the factory workers were temporary / part-time -- they'd come in from various parts of China, work for several months at a time, then return to their families. I can't really say what's going on these days with the MIK and MIC instruments. We did have a rash of Newark Street (MIK) problems reported fairly recently... But, anyway, that was my take-away from LMG.
 

adorshki

Reverential Member
Joined
Aug 21, 2009
Messages
34,176
Reaction score
6,790
Location
Sillycon Valley CA
Thanks so much for all your help with this post. So you think it is a 2014 built guitar. I believe that was the last year this model was built do you know the first year?
As mentioned in that link I posted, 2004 was the first model year for ALL MIC Guild guitars including the "GAD F30", which had slightly different detail specs than the later "GADF130" such as binding, and nut and saddle material, but were essentially the same instruments in terms of body woods and dimensions*** (below).
If I recall correctly, the "100" series guitars were introduced in 2011, but were still "GAD's" .
Fender owned the Guild brand, intellectual properties, and rights to use the name, so they applied it to this imported line of guitars that were built according to Guild design philosophies, thus the "Guild Acoustic Design" name and acronym.
At the time (Early '00's)they felt a need to have an acoustic offering that competed in the mid-level price niche, without compromising the quality of the made in USA products.
Yes 2014 would have been the last year for the GADF130 due to Fender's sale of Guild and the discontinuation of the "GAD" series.
New owners Cordoba Music Group market the MIC guitars as "the Westerly Collection" and have expanded the model range.
We're all the gad f-130's built in China I read that China built guild used the spec woods but the wood did not have the same inspection or acceptance requirements as the Mia unit
AS Chaz said, "YES".
As for wood I'll expand on what he said, that Fender actually selected the wood themselves, and had it delivered to the China factory to ensure that their selection standards and quality standards were maintained.
Recently I realized this may also have allowed them to maintain a good paper trail for CITES documentation purposes.
I don't recall ever seeing a complaint about wood quality of the MIC instruments.
The American Guild factories always selected their own woods independantly of Fender.
Due to their relatively small size, they could go directly to smaller sources and this allowed them to maintain a higher selection standard than the large makers like Martin and Gibson, who had to rely on brokers dealing in large volumes which of necessity contained varying quality wood lots.
Fender allowed the domestic Guild factories a high degree of independance, but they applied the brand name to instruments which the domestic factories had no connection with.
The MIC instruments were 100% under Fender manufacturing and marketing control.
Even warranty claims were handled through Fender Corporation rather than Guild.
*** the GAD F30 was actually also offered in a padauk body with a cutaway for a short time
 
Last edited:

D30Man

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 30, 2015
Messages
2,949
Reaction score
998
Location
Rockwall, TX
Guild Total
5
Welcome CADMANDU! As you have seen there is no shortage of expertise on this forum!
Allow me to add some non-informational fluff to this thread to offset the goodness Al and Chazmo have assisted with.

How do you like the f130? Though an MIC as confirmed all GAD series were, I have found them to be phenomenal instruments and I am eyeballing a GAD30 ( first series GAD before they added the "1" also MIC ) at Guitar Center. Guilds tend to hang out at GC for a while if they are not a sought after so I am going to see if they lower the price..
 
Joined
Jun 28, 2017
Messages
6
Reaction score
0
Location
Butler, PA
Wow I am going to have to print all of this out and and try to digest this. I was told by reading reviews that fender does not make very good acoustic guitar, is this true? If so I hope they did not try to improve the guild design. I have a fender cp strat 2008 mim I love it. Can some one tell me how to get email notifications when someone posts ? Thanks for all the great info. My cp 60's has a 12" radius and so does my 2014 gad f130 so that is convenient. I really like the guild nice action and easy to hug.
 

adorshki

Reverential Member
Joined
Aug 21, 2009
Messages
34,176
Reaction score
6,790
Location
Sillycon Valley CA
Wow I am going to have to print all of this out and and try to digest this. I was told by reading reviews that fender does not make very good acoustic guitar, is this true?
Short answer: "NOT True".
Long answer: It depends on which ones you're talking about.
Fender has tried to participate in the acoustic market since the '60's and in fact some of those early designs weren't all that good as acoustic guitars, borrowing as they did from Fender's electric parts bins:
nwhldjqajhsvtywirs6l.jpg

It was possible to "get away" with that in the relatively unsophisticated '60's and early '70's, and I don't mean to imply that Fender wasn't sincere about the design, they were probably only overly optimistic about the general market's preference for form (style) over function (good acoustic sound).
In fact they were probably right about style being perceived as the most important thing in a sea of instrument brands and models.
They kept trying into the '70's and then the Takamines and Yamahas started comin' in, blowing 'em out of the water on the price to quality scale.
So in the early '80's they found a Korean factory to build guitars with solid spruce tops for em and printed "Set up in the USA" on the boxes and those were actually very decent guitars, especially at $199.00 as "Guitar Center specials" in 1983.
When my younger brother wanted to get a guitar I helped him buy one with a headstock shaped like this, an F210 dreadnought:
kqjxd1vjbkbs0kdyqsdb.jpg

l-fbk76uhfqrs4n3.jpg


Granted they were imports in spite of the disingenuous wording of that "Blue Chip" ad, but by golly yes I was one of those who was proud of the Fender logo on the headstock after my brother gave me the guitar around '87, realizing he wasn't really going to practice and learn.
In the meantime Fender was still suffering under the reputation of the '60's guitars which by now were recognized as sonically inferior.
Let me tell you there was nothing inferior about the F210, it was a good little guitar, the first "decent" flattop I ever owned.
Good machines, stayed in tune, very good workmanship, frets never came loose, but it was probably poly finished. At the time I didn't know about such things.
I just played my guitar for love, and noticed over the course of time that the frets were getting a little notched, and started realizing that there was a class of guitars that were worth getting refretted and a class of guitars that would always be cheaper to replace than repair.
So I began thinking about the next guitar, what was it going to be?
And while I loved my F210 the idea that replacement was cheaper than repair offended my sense of value.
The decision was forced on me when it was stolen in late '96.
I decided I was going to buy an American-built guitar because i was sure they'd hold their value and be worth maintaining instead of replacing.
Price sticker shock at Martin, Gibson, and even American built Fenders was horrendous, though.
Then my buddy who owned an '88 JF30-12 Guild 12-string said: "You should check out Guild. Fender just bought 'em"
So I found my D25 at a Guitar Center for about $800 with the case and tax in early '97.
For the first couple of months I used to just eyeball it fro a few minutes before and after playing, admiring the workmanship.
It's how I found the date stamp ion the heelblock, October 31 1996.
Like it had been built and waiting for me.
And I never found a flaw. Every seam was perfectly mated, every fret end perfectly dressed, there wasn't even any glue squeeze-out from the kerfing inside the guitar.
Pride of workmanship like that is inspiring and speaks without words.
And that was just an entry-level guitar.
Anyway, I'm sure Fender finally realized that they were never gonna get any respect with their name on an acoustic headstock so they bought a respected American brand, Guild, when the opportunity arose.
If so I hope they did not try to improve the guild design.
They allowed Guild virtually complete autonomy during the last 5 years of Westerly production, '96-'01.
They even opened a Guild Custom Shop in Nashville to expand the brand's rep in higher-end acoustics, using the Guild-developed "DV" design characteristics as the basis for all the Custom Shop acoustics.
They abandoned plans to market a high-end Fender acoustic and put all the resources into Guild instead.
End of part one.
 

adorshki

Reverential Member
Joined
Aug 21, 2009
Messages
34,176
Reaction score
6,790
Location
Sillycon Valley CA
End of intermission.
Part 2:
If so I hope they did not try to improve the guild design.
IN '95, just before Fender acquired Guild (finalized in November '95), they were still attempting to penetrate the "quality acoustic" market with this series of US-built guitars, the "Springhill series":
1995-Fender-Spring-Hill-Series-SB-35-Sitka-Spruce-and-Figured-Maple-16-of-16.jpg

Some of those unfinished bodies made it to the Guild Custom Shop and became Guild-branded one-offs to show what the Custom Shop was capable of, but only a few were ever made.

By '99 or 2000 Fender realized that upgrading Westerly to modern production environment standards was going to be more costly than it was worth, so they began plans to relocate Guild production to Corona CA. (Timing is a guess by me based on known tendencies for these kinds of moves to require at least a couple of years of feasibility study and actual action to be implemented and completed.)
But for sure Fender was building a dedicated production facility for Guild in Corona CA prior to actual closure of Guild in late '01, and the first Corona acoustic Guilds were price-listed in '02.
Concurrent with that decision they began to analyze vintage Guild models for their unique design characteristics with the intent of distilling those elements into the line of Corona built acoustics, as explained here by Guild historian Jay Pilzer:
http://www.vintageguitar.com/21567/guild-in-the-post-fender-era/
The takeaway here is that at this point Fender did begin to impose a little more corporate control over Guild but not so much in actual design change as in production methodology.
Mr Pilzer points out that some of these changes resulted in instruments that perhaps weren't up to Westerly's sound quality standards.
In, fact when I first bought my Corona D40 I would have agreed with him, but in the last 2 or 3 years I've noticed a definite turnaround in first-owner opinions of Corona sound quality, myself included.
They seem to bear out the concept that guitars built to a certain standard of quality do improve with age.
To the point, (and I'm "connecting the dots" due to the coincidence of the timing,) it seems that the period of time when Fender was analyzing Guild's vintage build techniques would have coincided with the time when they were considering introducing a line of Chinese-built guitars bearing the Guild brand name, thus, as previously mentioned, "Guild Acoustic Design".
So as far as I can tell they didn't really "change" the designs as much as make use of their ownership of those intellectual properties to implement a cost-competitive import line of which you are a happy owner.
:friendly_wink:
Oh, you can subscribe to a thread by clicking on "advanced options" under the posting window and dropping down to "Subscription".
 
Top