How Many?

[Uke]

Was playing one of my Guilds this morning, and began to wonder about just how many Guilds were made from the beginning of the company up until the time the company left Westerly? A real geek question, I'll admit.

 

[walrus]

It seems to me the only possibility would be to go to the serial number charts and do the math, and then assume it is - at best - an approximation.

walrus

 

[Guildedagain]

Millions.

I thought you were gonna say "how many guitars do y'all have?" ;]

And this:

 

[fronobulax]

Was playing one of my Guilds this morning, and began to wonder about just how many Guilds were made from the beginning of the company up until the time the company left Westerly? A real geek question, I'll admit.

Everybody asks. No one knows. The records are just not there (or there but not public) and serial numbers after Westerly are not really going to help since the date is embedded so there is no need for a "last date" type of listing that would help estimate production.

There was a thread about trying to estimate New Hartford (only) production. The consensus was that NH was never higher than 5,000 Guild guitars a year and some years the number was considerably less. I seem to recall trying to estimate Westerly production for one year in the 1960's and coming up with about 25,000 from serial numbers. That was believed to be a peak. 40 years like that would be a million but we know not all years were like that. So a million made in USA Guilds probably has not been achieved yet although someone who believes otherwise can make a different set of approximations and assumptions and we can argue about those instead. One million, maybe. Two million, No.

 

[wileypickett]

A million?! Heck, Richard, Grot and GAD have that many each themselves!

 

[Uke]

It seems to me the only possibility would be to go to the serial number charts and do the math, and then assume it is - at best - an approximation.

So it looks as if no one has taken this on as a research project. It appears the best answer to my question would be, "a lot" ! Thanks for playing, all.

 

[GAD]

A million?! Heck, Richard, Grot and GAD have that many each themselves!

C’mon. It’s only half that many!

 

[Guildedagain]

Guitar production can actually grow over the years.

And maybe it does, with access to a time machine.

I think they realized some decades ago that there were more Les Paul flametops in existence than were actually made, and that's because people have been making fakes for a long time.

So, if something is of a value that it can be faked, new ones may pop up.

 

[F312]

I think Martin has a good handle on numbers.

 

[richardp69]

A million?! Heck, Richard, Grot and GAD have that many each themselves!

Oh by the way Glenn, you are no slouch when it comes to numbers of guitars. In fact, you are right up there my friend with the rest of us out of control Guild lovers.

 

[wileypickett]

Oh by the way Glenn, you are no slouch when it comes to numbers of guitars. In fact, you are right up there my friend with the rest of us out of control Guild lovers.

Yeah, there is an “embarrassment of riches” over here (or maybe an “embarrassment of Riches,” since a few of these Guilds came from you!).

 

[fronobulax]

I think Martin has a good handle on numbers.

One owner, almost 200 years of operations and more than one author who has chronicled the story. Not a fair comparison by any means.

 

[dreadnut]

My '76 D25M serial number is 146147. Is it possible that's how many guitars they had made by that time? That works out to an average of about 6,600 per year to that point.

 

[wileypickett]

One owner, almost 200 years of operations and more than one author who has chronicled the story. Not a fair comparison by any means.

Yep, and unlike Guild, Martin from the beginning has bordered on compulsive in their record keeping. When they built their millionth guitar, no one disputed that that number was correct, or as close to it as didn’t matter.

 

[fronobulax]

The serial chart says the first number made in 1970 was 46694. The last number in 1979 was 211877, as of the end of the third quarter. So that is about 19,000/year over 8 3/4 years.

Pick the answer you want and I'm sure we can find a way to to get that number by extrapolating from what we think we know and making assumptions to get a "lifetime" total.