Guild D-17M

[Pablo]

Hi folks. I'm not a frequent poster here, but I browse fairly regularly. I spotted a Westerly-made Guild D-17M in a local shop recently. I was not familiar with that model. It seems to have a mahogany top and body, and I believe the back is of the arched laminated mahogany variety.

They were asking $700. It played very nice, with a resonant tone and good sustain. The body was in good shape with exception of a crack going down the midline of the top from the bridge all the way to the bottom of the instrument. They said the crack was not in the wood itself, but I tend to disagree. In any case, it didn't affect the sound of the guitar.

Anyone familiar with this model? I don't know if this is a good price or not; I tend to think it's a little steep. Opinions? Offer them $500 and go from there?

 

[fungusyoung]

I cannot help you much at all, but I'm also intrigued by D17's. They seem fairly rare compared to the amount of D25's out there... probably because they were only made for a few years. Do you (or does anyone) know what the specs. are? From what I recall, I thought they looked VERY similar to a D15, which I believe were all mahogany construction.... like this one:

http://www.gbase.com/Stores/Gear/GearDe ... em=1599580


You probably can't go wrong if it plays well and speaks to you if you offer $500 and see what happens. Personally, I would try to keep them below $600 unless the guitar is in stellar condition (or if you really need it bad). I wouldn't think $500 is an unreasonable offer, and $700 seems a bit high.

 

[Pablo]

Thanks Fungus (if I may call you that). The D-15M pictured in the link you provided looks quite similar (logo is the same), but the back on the D-17M I looked at was definitely arched. The fact that the body was in excellent shape except for the crack in the top (maybe humidity-related?)leads me to believe that the guitar has been treated pretty well over the years. Action was medium-low, break angle over the saddle was good. The shop manager told me that just prior to me playing it, John Sebastian had been there playing it.

The way these situations usually work out for me is that when I'm finally ready to get serious and make an offer, I go back and the guitar has just been sold. Sound familiar?