What is a 1964 A-50 worth?

[marcellis]

I'm thinking of trading one of my handmades for
this guitar. It's a 1962 (I think). It's had some mods.
Fair to good condition.

Depending on which hand-made I trade, I'd be paying
$350-700 + shipping. My Vietnamese hand-mades all cost
around $250-400 w/electronics. But after mods, one of them -
the Rosewood jumbo slothead cutaway costs a lot more.

Is it worth it? I already have a nice archtop.
It's not a Guild though.

 

[Graham]

Here's a very informative thread about A-50s. I really like the looks of them, but I've yet to play one. Any that I have seen listed seem to be in the $700 - $800 range.

 

[marcellis]

Thanks.

Here is a pic.

 

[Graham]

Thanks.

Here is a pic.

There is something about them that I really like. And I love the headstock. :mrgreen:

 

[walrus]

Hi marcellis - based on the picture, assuming the pickup is original, that's an X-50. A-50's are acoustic archtops, no pickup, otherwise exactly the same. I have a 1961 A-50, and I love it! A little "tinny" playing full strum chords (compared to my D-64 - although that is a cannon!), but when playing solo riffs, jazzy stuff, etc. it is very very cool. Has an electric sound to it even though it is an acoustic. Can't tell you much about how the pickups would sound, though. The guitar is also very light.

To answer your original question, that's hard to say. I paid around $700 for mine a few years ago, it is in close to excellent condition - a little paint missing here and there, binding, fretboard, neck, tuners etc. all original and in excellent shape. It will soon be more worn, as I play it every day!

Perhaps what's most intriguing to me is that the neck plays and feels exactly like the neck of my 1999 Starfire II. Talk about consistency in manufacturing...

My opinion is that you can't go wrong picking up this guitar. Let us know how you like it if you snag it!

walrus

 

[walrus]

By the way, there's a mint 1958 A-50 on eBay right now...gives you an idea on pricing at least.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Guild-Archt ... dZViewItem


walrus

 

[john_kidder]

assuming the pickup is original, that's an X-50.

Don't think either the pickup or the bridge are original on that guitar - they'ren not original X-50 equipment, for sure.

 

[Jeff]

A 50's pop up here occasionally, this one at the Seattle Guitar show last year.

The guitar wasn't quite as nice as the pictures indicated & it sold in the first couple hours of the show.

X 50's ?? Not often.

 

[walrus]

Jeff - nice photo - that A-50 looks just like mine, except my pickguard has the "Guild" script on it.

walrus

 

[walrus]

Good call on the pickup, John. I should have looked more carefully. Here's a link to a 1965 X-50 (blonde) on http://www.archtop.com - some very nice photos, and a very very nice guitar! Clearly a nicer pickup on the original.

Another example of pricing strategy for you, marcellis.

http://www.archtop.com/ac_65x50.html

walrus

 

[Zanzispot]

That blonde A-50 B that Marc posted the picture of is mine. I bought it in 1973 for 125 bucks. It had a Krylon Flat Black spraycan finish. I removed the sloppy spraypaint finish with a can of auto rubbing compound. All I did was remove the black, revealing the natural finish.

I had the tailpiece gold plated, bought a Gibson gold plated tuneamatic bridge, gold schaller tuners, and a Gibson Johnny Smith pickup and pickguard with a single volume pot. I fashioned the floating pickup bracket out of a piece of brass stock.

I played it that way for a number of years, until for playings sake, removed the pickguard. I then rewired the pickup and ran the guitar input to a hole I drilled on the bottom of the guitar for the 1/4" input.

 

[Graham]

Welcome to LTG zan.

So this started life as an A-50? The mods were yours?

 

[Zanzispot]

As stated in the post, yup. The guitar was in a junk store. I used to play the guitar backing up a Roger McGuinnish band for a number of years in the middle to late seventies. I played it through a twin-reverb and a champ at different times. It was a great mix with acoustic guitars, has a great lightly amplified sound, sounded much better than its acoustic sound.

I have gotten some great recorded acoustic/electric sounds by running the guitar through a submixer and mixing the miked and the plugged in sounds together. I tend to do that sometimes on most electric guitars, even solid bodies. (old Buddy Holly/Norman Petty trick)

 

[marcellis]

Mr. Zanzi and I are old pals.

I've heard the archtop. It's a Maple sound, although
I think it's laminate Maple. The archtop history thread
in this forum would place that guitar in the transitional
era from the banjo kind of sound into the more jazzy
sound.

Sound-wise I really prefer my hog archtop.
But the man has a vintage Guild. No doubt about it.
1964 was a pretty good year.

I could bring that guitar to Vietnam, get it restored
to perfection. I'd do it sunburst like the photo
of the A50 from Seattle. It would probably need
some neck work too. Don't know. But a neck reset
would be normal for a guitar that old. Hell, two neck
resets would be normal for a guitar that age.

 

[Zanzispot]

Marc is right, it is plywood, maple plywood, but plywood just the same. I have always thought that was the reason I never had feedback problems playing it live.

 

[Jeff]

.

I could bring that guitar to Vietnam, get it restored
to perfection. I'd do it sunburst like the photo
of the A50 from Seattle.

Shop owner just last week told me the blondes are more desirable, he quoted some mythical figure, like one out of 50 or a 100 is good enough to be a natural blonde.

Course he was trying to sell me a blonde T 100D for $1800, or My DC5E, DV62 + $200. Isn't that nice a T 100, he's still got his stuff & I still have mine.

 

[john_kidder]

trying to sell me a blonde T 100D for $1800, or My DC5E, DV62 + $200.

Now there's a generous offer. Hope he does lots of business that way - gosh, I might fly the Learjet down just to get a sniff at a T-100 for only $1800.

 

[john_kidder]

Here's a '57 X-50, for comparison.

'57 X-50

 

[marcellis]

I love it. Binding replacement, wood repairs & refinishing are what Vietnamese luthiers do extremely well and very inexpensively. They don't do so well at restoring or repairing stock bindings. But they can put new ones on made of Water Buffalo bone that beat anything you can buy in the US. I could fix a guitar like that up beautifully. I'd estimate $200-300 to make it like new again.

Fret jobs & setup are two jobs Vietnamese luthiers don't do very well. But those too, they do inexpensively.

Problem is - I already have a hand-made Mahogany archtop that kicks serious **s. Plus I'm bringing two Guilds back to Vietnam as it is in December. How many more can I bring?

--
For those who are interested, Mr. Zanzi is a person I'd trust as a seller. I've known him a long time. He has a great singing voice too. Think Roger McGuinn - with more range.

 

[Smiert Spionam]

A-50's are interesting basic guitars, but I sure wouldn't be putting much money into one. The archtop.com price is crazy. It's a plywood archtop without a pickup -- what's the point? An X-50 gets you a great Franz pickup, and they're regularly available for well under $1000.