Lunch time Guild find at GC: 1980 D46 for 300 bucks

[tjmangum]

So I had a quick lunch and thought I would check and see how badly the nearby GC was mistreating the Martins and Taylors. As I put down a Masterbilt Epi (heck of a deal for the money) I almost stub my hand on this Guild. Pretty cool - a D46. A bit worn with 25 plus years of dings, but great sound in spite of the old strings and the Ash is very pretty. So I take it out in the light, out of the acoustic room and look some more. I ask my tatooed sales peep, with little wood things carved into his ear lobes, if there is a case for it. He hunts it down. The tag on the guitar says 400. Sales guy says oh yeah the case is 50 more. The manager swoops in as I start to make faces and says, nah we can do better than that. (The case is missing some latches and beat and looking closer I see the bridge on the D46 is pulling a tiny bit and has a small split.) As the manager trys to figure out what they took for it in trade I point these obvious defects out and he looks at it and he makes a face and asks if I really want it. I say for the right price, yes. He asks what that might be. I say 250. He plays with the computer a bit more and says how about 300 out the door, including tax.
Done deal.

This has truly brought some sunshine into this dreary, rainy California day. I hope I'm not jinxing it by telling the story. I'll play with it for a couple of days and take it to my guy and see if theres anything major going on. After that I'll share some pictures.
Cheers!
tj

 

[FNG]

Nothing like boning GC and getting a solid Guild at the same time!! He shoots, he SCORES!!!!

 

[Default]

<makes face>

You weasel! (but I mean that in an empowering way :lol: )

Nice score, even if it needs work.

 

[GardMan]

Sounds like a steal... my D-46 has really become my main player. Hope it checks out well... even if it needs a bit of work, at that price, you can afford it! D

 

[Dr Izza Plumber]

Not a shabby deal! :wink:

 

[Graham]

Very nice Tj, I hope the only thing it needs it a bridge reglue.

 

[West R Lee]

Hey, for $300, I don't care what it needs, you got a deal. Nice going TJ.

West

 

[Frosty]

excellent, tj! it pays to poke around gc every once in a while.

 

[Guildmark]

Very cool, tj! Congratulations!
I'm wondering if the sales guy had any recommendation on earlobe polish. Dunlop? Fender? Lemon oil?

 

[High Mileage]

Helluva deal. I bought mine for $600 about 4 years ago, and I thought I stole that one!

A nice one sold for $1200 on eBay a while ago.

They are really tremendous guitars. Good for you!

 

[krysh]

great deal, congrats.
I bought mine for more than double of this (without case) last autmn - ok over here in germany.

 

[dreadnut]

Nice score!

 

[Metalman]

It is stories like that that makes guitar buying so much fun. I was in Manny's a long time ago, and I had my eye on a used white fender Jaguar, made in Japan. This was before they started making them in their custom shop in California.

The salesman looked up the price, and quoted me $200. I put $50 down on it, and came back in a week to pay the rest and pick up the guitar.
The salesman preceeded to tell me the mistake he had made in pricing it, saying $200 was what THEY paid for the Jaguar. However, they honored their quote, and I walked out of there with a $200. deal. they even threw in a set of strings. I asked for the more expensive Elixers, and they wouldn't budge.

Prologue. That guitar turned out to be piece of garbage, and I ended up selling it to some kid who was going to paint it black. Whatever, have fun . . .

I'm real glad I didn't pay real money for that guitar. Maybe the American made Jags are better, but this one had no tone, no body, nothin'.

 

[chazmo]

It is stories like that that makes guitar buying so much fun. I was in Manny's a long time ago, and I had my eye on a used white fender Jaguar, made in Japan. This was before they started making them in their custom shop in California.

The salesman looked up the price, and quoted me $200. I put $50 down on it, and came back in a week to pay the rest and pick up the guitar.
The salesman preceeded to tell me the mistake he had made in pricing it, saying $200 was what THEY paid for the Jaguar. However, they honored their quote, and I walked out of there with a $200. deal. they even threw in a set of strings. I asked for the more expensive Elixers, and they wouldn't budge.

Prologue. That guitar turned out to be piece of garbage, and I ended up selling it to some kid who was going to paint it black. Whatever, have fun . . .

I'm real glad I didn't pay real money for that guitar. Maybe the American made Jags are better, but this one had no tone, no body, nothin'.

So, metalman, I'm sitting here laughing... What's the moral of this story?

 

[Default]

Back when I was a teen Sam Goody had a Guild X-79. The price kept dropping lower and lower until it was floating at about 200. I finally made up my mind to buy the thing and of course it was gone. Somebody has to make up for the deals I missed! :lol:

 

[Metalman]

It is stories like that that makes guitar buying so much fun. I was in Manny's a long time ago, and I had my eye on a used white fender Jaguar, made in Japan. This was before they started making them in their custom shop in California.

The salesman looked up the price, and quoted me $200. I put $50 down on it, and came back in a week to pay the rest and pick up the guitar.
The salesman preceeded to tell me the mistake he had made in pricing it, saying $200 was what THEY paid for the Jaguar. However, they honored their quote, and I walked out of there with a $200. deal. they even threw in a set of strings. I asked for the more expensive Elixers, and they wouldn't budge.

Prologue. That guitar turned out to be piece of garbage, and I ended up selling it to some kid who was going to paint it black. Whatever, have fun . . .

I'm real glad I didn't pay real money for that guitar. Maybe the American made Jags are better, but this one had no tone, no body, nothin'.

So, metalman, I'm sitting here laughing... What's the moral of this story?

Ah; hmmm . . Moral? Gee, I wazn't' thinking about that

But it got you to laugh - that's something . .

Oh, yeah; the moral is I guess what I said in the beginning, that snaring deals like that and the 1980 D46 is what makes guitar buying so much fun.
Anybody with $1400 - $1800 in their pocket, or a clean balance in their credit card can walk into the music store and snare a good Tacoma Guild. Yes, for some, myself included, that is a big obstacle. But in the light of pursuing and buying a good guitar that is hard to get and and hard to find, and getting it for a good price, well, that makes it more interesting.
There.
The moral of the story!

 

[tjmangum]

Here's so quick pictures

Raining out today, but got a decent shot of the back. Cleaned up nicely with some Virtuoso polish.
Some more good and bad: Good, a passive pickup is installed and sounds very nice plugged in. Bad, there is a repaired crack in the grain along the side at the waist. Looks like someone super glued it? All in all, still thrilled. Definately a keeper.
tj

 

[GardMan]

Lookin good! Think I'll have to go down and strum mine a bit...

 

[Metalman]

That is a nice axe! I love the rosewood stripe down the back.