Guild D55 Serial Number

[tomdevall]

Wasn't able to identify year of my new old D55 on the SN posted sites. Can someone tell me when a AD552042 was built? The label says Westerly. The label and headstock numbers match but the listings don't show the number. Thanks

 

[davismanLV]

I don't know by serial number, but if you shine a flashlight up into the guitar soundhole and look at the neck block you should see a date stamped on it.... that'll get you close.

 

[West R Lee]

Hans will be along to tell you for sure, but I'd say a '99 or a '00.

West

 

[Ian]

Might be a bit later than that: mine was 551500 and that was July 00, So I reckon you'd be into late 00 or 2001. When was the move to Corona ? Hopefully Han's will chime in here for you.....

Oh, and gidday from New Zealand :lol:

Cheers, Ian

 

[tomdevall]

Thanks..... No date on the neck block. Tell me there are no counterfeits out there. If so, they did a great job. Sounds fantastic. Got it for a great price $975. The guy told me it was a '99 but it appears to be later. It does however have a Westerly label inside.

 

[Ian]

Hey Tom,

Dont sweat about the serial number as the official sites aren't that flash, and I've never seen a fake D55 !!!. Why not post some photo's and we'll soon be able to put your mind at rest. BTW: Great price though, you sure it's not a fake :twisted:

Cheers, Ian

 

[Treem]

Welcome Tom!

There is only one thing left to do, pics! :lol:

 

[6L6]

That sounds like a GREAT price you got on that one Tom. CONGRATS!!!!

Here's a pic of my '06, and now we need pics of YOURS!

Bill

'06 D-55

 

[fronobulax]

Thanks..... No date on the neck block. Tell me there are no counterfeits out there. If so, they did a great job. Sounds fantastic. Got it for a great price $975. The guy told me it was a '99 but it appears to be later. It does however have a Westerly label inside.

Welcome. Not sure why you are concerned about counterfeits but if you start here you can find most of the discussions about fakes. They usually start with pictures so feel free to post if you have any doubts.

Hang around long enough and you'll meet Hans, the author of The Guild Guitar Book. He'll tell you that the serial number listings on line are incomplete and occasionally incorrect. If the instrument is from 1977 or earlier then check the serial number in the book. Otherwise it might be online or you might have to ask Hans since no one else will know. Point being, most problems are with the serial number listings and not the guitar. For the record it seems like there are an awful lot of sellers who really have no clue about when an instrument should be dated according to the serial number. (And let's not forget that most of the Westerly and earlier serial numbers were assigned when the neck was stamped and that may or may not be close to the time when a guitar was finished. There are documented examples of necks that were stamped and then sat around for two or three years before the rest of the guitar was built).

 

[adorshki]

Might be a bit later than that: mine was 551500 and that was July 00, So I reckon you'd be into late 00 or 2001. When was the move to Corona ? Hopefully Han's will chime in here for you.....
Oh, and gidday from New Zealand :lol:
Cheers, Ian

Doors shut December '01.

 

[Ian]

Might be a bit later than that: mine was 551500 and that was July 00, So I reckon you'd be into late 00 or 2001. When was the move to Corona ? Hopefully Han's will chime in here for you.....
Oh, and gidday from New Zealand :lol:
Cheers, Ian

Doors shut December '01.

Meery Christmas to all the staff then So that makes it 542 on from mine, wonder how many they made a month back in those days ?

 

[tomdevall]

I hope this photo shows.

 

[fronobulax]

It doesn't. You had a link to this which is a whole lot more than just an image.

I clicked on the image there and then used a right click to get the image location and here you go.

Linking is not intuitive. The tricks are to use the preview button when composing a post and to paste the same thing that you are going to put between the image tags into the address bar of a browser. If the browser displays anything but a picture then it won't work.

 

[tomdevall]

Thank You!

 

[fronobulax]

Thank You!

You are welcome. Guitar p0rn is what we're about after all and there is nothing that frustrates the masses as much as the absence of pictures. The days when people could use their imaginations seem to be long gone :wink:

 

[hansmoust]

Wasn't able to identify year of my new old D55 on the SN posted sites. Can someone tell me when a AD552042 was built? The label says Westerly. The label and headstock numbers match but the listings don't show the number. Thanks

Hello Tom,

Welcome! Your Guild D-55 was made during 2001.

Sincerely,

Hans Moust
http://www.guitarsgalore.nl

 

[hansmoust]

..... And let's not forget that most of the Westerly and earlier serial numbers were assigned when the neck was stamped and that may or may not be close to the time when a guitar was finished. There are documented examples of necks that were stamped and then sat around for two or three years before the rest of the guitar was built.

Hello frono,

This is the second time that you posted this info about the necks being serial-number-stamped at an early stage. I want to stress that this was absolutely not the case and you're probably mixing up info that I've given in earlier postings.

I've re-posted this for you before, but here it is again:

Guild guitars were made in batches of 6, 12 or 24 etc. From a manufacturing standpoint it was easier to make them in batches because of the change of tooling necessary to produce the different models. When the superstructures were completed they were serial numbered, which took place in the 'finishing' dept. After that the finish was applied and the guitars were hung to dry. After sufficient drying they would be buffed and placed in racks, where they would stay till an order came in. Obviously, if they started production they already had orders, but not always for the complete batch. Only the guitars they had orders for (plus the guitars that could be put in inventory because they were ordered on a regular basis) would be taken to 'final assembly', where the superstructure would get all the necessary parts to become a musical instrument and where it would be set up. Now the order in which they were taken from the racks was random, so it was possible for a higher serial number to come through 'final assembly' before a lower number. A lower serial number could stay on the racks for a very long time while a later serial number would already be hanging on a dealer's wall.

So the serial number on a guitar doesn't automatically tell you when a guitar was completed and in some cases this explains some of the quirky stuff you might come across.

The only necks that were serial numbered before they were attached to a body were solid body 'bolt-on' necks. These were finished separately because they usually didn't have the same type of finish as the bodies.
Other than on the solid-body bolt-on necks all serial numbers were stamped into the back of the headstock when the 'superstructure' of the guitar was completed, just before it would get a finish in the 'finishing dept.'

Sincerely,

Hans Moust
http://www.guitarsgalore.nl

 

[adorshki]

After sufficient drying they would be buffed and placed in racks, where they would stay till an order came in. Obviously, if they started production they already had orders, but not always for the complete batch. Only the guitars they had orders for (plus the guitars that could be put in inventory because they were ordered on a regular basis) would be taken to 'final assembly', where the superstructure would get all the necessary parts to become a musical instrument and where it would be set up.

In trying to remember why the heelblock dates aren't exactly the "finished date", is it because they stamped the heelblock at the same time they did the finishing, but again, it might have sat around for a while before it actually went to "final asssembly"?
Thanks in adavance.

 

[hansmoust]

In trying to remember why the heelblock dates aren't exactly the "finished date", is it because they stamped the heelblock at the same time they did the finishing, but again, it might have sat around for a while before it actually went to "final asssembly"?

The 'ink-stamped' neck block date is one of the many dates that were placed on individual parts during the production process.
The neck block date happens to be the only one, apart from the dates on the inside of the soundboard, that you could still see after the instrument was completed. However, the neck block date was stamped on the day that the body rim was completed in the 'body shop'. That was a long time before the guitar was serial numbered in the 'finishing department' and even longer before the date that the guitar was completed in 'final assembly'.

Sincerely,

Hans Moust
http://www.guitarsgalore.nl

 

[adorshki]

Might be a bit later than that: mine was 551500 and that was July 00, So I reckon you'd be into late 00 or 2001. When was the move to Corona ? Hopefully Han's will chime in here for you.....
Oh, and gidday from New Zealand :lol:
Cheers, Ian

Doors shut December '01.

Meery Christmas to all the staff then So that makes it 542 on from mine, wonder how many they made a month back in those days ?

Y'know I never thought of that in regards to Guild, but if my feeble memory is correct, by then there was only a skeleton staff shipping out the last orders and closing the joint down.
There's a thread in the archives about the last guitar made, it was an Artist Award, and the owner posted here. I'm pretty sure it was completed in late fall. Ahhhhh.....here's the thread:
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=14105&hilit=last+westerly&start=0
Note there's a transcription of a letter from Guild saying it was the last guitar to "roll off..prior to...permanent closing on August 31st 2001"
I have a letter from Fender however, stating that my F65ce was shipped in November of '01. thus my deduction that there was still a "cleanup crew" in place.