Vintage Archtops

fronobulax

Bassist, GAD and the Hot Mess Mods
Joined
May 3, 2007
Messages
24,708
Reaction score
8,836
Location
Central Virginia, USA
Guild Total
5
Furthermore I'm hoping my purchase of "said 60' , now told it's a 62' is not devalued in any way, shape, or form. Did I overpay since it is "newer"?

For the most part the value of a vintage Guild does not depend upon age. People who are not looking at "birthyear" instruments generally do not care whether an instrument was finished in 1960 as opposed to 1962. They do care about condition and they would care if the specs changed between '60 and '62 but the issue is the spec change and not the age. In general the more you know about Guild manufacturing and catalogging practices regarding features, serial numbers and chronology the less practical a concern with "when was it made?" becomes.
 

gilded

Senior Member
Joined
May 2, 2007
Messages
3,479
Reaction score
197
Location
texas
Greg, love your instruments. And don't sweat the small stuff about the value difference between '60 and '62. If you look in the Vintage Guitar Magazine Price Guide, page 211, '60-61 Starfire IIIs show a range of value between $1850 and $2400 for guitars in excellent shape. The '62 models show a value range of $1750 to 2300, a whole hundred dollars less.

The great thing is that Hans does what he always does and looked through his old Guild factory ledgers. Accordingly, it's been established that your guitar was officially born a Starfire III and not a Starfire II that was changed out by some dealer in 1962 who couldn't get a Starfire III quick enough from Guild and bought a Bigsby from the factory then marked an extra Roman numeral I on the label through the sound hole (it happens a lot). That would have dropped your guitars value about $500!

If you get the chance, though, you might want to read Hans' book. It is simply masterfully written. That's why we rely on his opinion here at LTG.

Best, gilded
 

kakerlak

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 6, 2009
Messages
2,354
Reaction score
128
Location
Oklahoma
Greg, love your instruments. And don't sweat the small stuff about the value difference between '60 and '62. If you look in the Vintage Guitar Magazine Price Guide, page 211, '60-61 Starfire IIIs show a range of value between $1850 and $2400 for guitars in excellent shape. The '62 models show a value range of $1750 to 2300, a whole hundred dollars less.

The great thing is that Hans does what he always does and looked through his old Guild factory ledgers. Accordingly, it's been established that your guitar was officially born a Starfire III and not a Starfire II that was changed out by some dealer in 1962 who couldn't get a Starfire III quick enough from Guild and bought a Bigsby from the factory then marked an extra Roman numeral I on the label through the sound hole (it happens a lot). That would have dropped your guitars value about $500!

If you get the chance, though, you might want to read Hans' book. It is simply masterfully written. That's why we rely on his opinion here at LTG.

Best, gilded

Harry, is that a pic of you standing in the old Record Town? I heard they sold and moved it a while back.
 

gilded

Senior Member
Joined
May 2, 2007
Messages
3,479
Reaction score
197
Location
texas
Yeah, buddy the very same. I'll send you another pic, too. It was around 2014. I like the hat!
 

Greg Feo

Member
Joined
Sep 25, 2008
Messages
139
Reaction score
73
Read Hans Moust's The Guild Guitar Book and then feel free to discuss the documentation, or lack thereof. Your questions suggest that a) you are not ready to accept Hans as the authority others accept him to be and b) you are asking for data that was never recorded or has since been lost. :)
No I fully accept, and I'm grateful for Han's extensive knowledge shared here, there, and everywhere!
 

hansmoust

Enlightened Member
Joined
Jun 10, 2005
Messages
9,202
Reaction score
3,507
Location
Netherlands
i'd like to see any "source" that "batches" were documented? Or any range of serial numbers, are production totals available by year? or not .

you are asking for data that was never recorded or has since been lost.

It was never recorded with that intention; the documentation of batches that is! However I was in a position to research the ledgers that were kept on the Guild work floor by some of the foremen. These ledgers showed all the instruments with their individual serial numbers that were worked on in that department on any given day and from that information I was able to reconstruct most of the batches during the period that the ledgers were kept.

Sincerely,

Hans Moust
www.guitarsgalore.nl
 

Greg Feo

Member
Joined
Sep 25, 2008
Messages
139
Reaction score
73
Love to get your book, Hans, but I'm afraid price I see is out of my range. I'm old school. Like to turn pages, no Kindle for me . Thanks for your time , sir .

PS
If I read you right you've reconstructed the batch our, my guitar was in?
 

hansmoust

Enlightened Member
Joined
Jun 10, 2005
Messages
9,202
Reaction score
3,507
Location
Netherlands
If I read you right you've reconstructed the batch our, my guitar was in?

Not just that batch, but most batches from that particular period; somewhere in between 25.000 and 30.000 instruments, so it can be quite a search if your looking for the completion date of a guitar that was not completed with the other instruments from that same batch. It can be fun though!

Sincerely,

Hans Moust
www.guitarsgalore.nl
 

Greg Feo

Member
Joined
Sep 25, 2008
Messages
139
Reaction score
73
Not just that batch, but most batches from that particular period; somewhere in between 25.000 and 30.000 instruments, so it can be quite a search if your looking for the completion date of a guitar that was not completed with the other instruments from that same batch. It can be fun though!

Sincerely,

Hans Moust
www.guitarsgalore.nl
Hans,
Thanks,I'm all ears.
Hope you got email sent yesterday. Your site item(s) interested in.
G
 

fronobulax

Bassist, GAD and the Hot Mess Mods
Joined
May 3, 2007
Messages
24,708
Reaction score
8,836
Location
Central Virginia, USA
Guild Total
5
The problem being, that first one has to find Hans Moust's book... Not easy to do since they seem to last about 90 seconds whenever it hits eBay.

In the same way that a frozen pizza is better than no pizza at all, I've been told the Kindle edition is better than nothing (says someone with a paperback for reading and a signed hard cover for bragging rights).
 

PittPastor

Member
Joined
Sep 26, 2017
Messages
756
Reaction score
59
Location
Western Pennsylvania
In the same way that a frozen pizza is better than no pizza at all, I've been told the Kindle edition is better than nothing (says someone with a paperback for reading and a signed hard cover for bragging rights).
I'd be happy to get the Kindle version. Is that new? I don't remember seeing it last time I looked.
 

GAD

Reverential Morlock
Über-Morlock
Joined
Feb 11, 2009
Messages
22,594
Reaction score
17,816
Location
NJ (The nice part)
Guild Total
112

HeyMikey

Enlightened Member
Joined
Jul 12, 2018
Messages
5,422
Reaction score
4,733
Location
MA
Guild Total
9
I'd be happy to get the Kindle version. Is that new? I don't remember seeing it last time I looked.
Be warned the Kindle version does not display well on MS Windows machines. Ask me how I know.

And... here’s hoping that when Part II comes out there will be a reprint of Part I in some fashion.
 
Top