Hello fellow forum insiders:
I am somewhat perplexed. I am being told that a D40C is a Blue Grass Jubilee, but nowhere on the guitar or under the hood (Hate that expression) does it identify the guitar as a Blue Grass Jubilee? Could it be a BG Jube? Were the cutaways only Blue Grass Jubilee's? This sounds a bit funny to me. Am I all wet?
SHORT Answer:
Guild originally called the D40 the "Bluegrass Jubilee", introduced in '63, along with the D50 "Bluegrass Special".
Both of 'em used sitka spruce tops.
Guild dropped the use of names in the early '70's, they just fell out of fashion, and by the time the D40C (cutaway) was introduced ca '75, it was only called the "D40".
They never used the name "Bluegrass" again until 2005 in Tacoma WA, when they reintroduced the name on D40's and D50's with red spruce ("adirondack") tops.
I don't think Tacoma made and D40 cutaways of any type, but could be wrong, can only see an '08 price list right now:
https://web.archive.org/web/2008091...celists/2008_summer_guild_MSRP_price_list.pdf
I don't think any of the cutaways were Bluegrass Jubilees, either in the '70's or in New Hartford, where they were
not consistently labeled as "D40-BJ" but did have specific decoration like tortoise shell binding.
If the guitar in question is a New Hartford and has a satin-finish neck it cannot be a D40 Bluegrass, those were always fully gloss finished.
I believe New Hartford only offered cutaways on the "Standard" models, and one of the features of those was a combined satin/gloss finish, although we've seen reports of later production being full gloss.
This 2013 New Hartford catalog is my reference:
https://web.archive.org/web/2013061...ts/?gtype=acoustics&series=Traditional+Series
Hopefully that'll help ID it by process of elimination.
Oh yes, if it's a Corona, I can assure you it's not a Bluegrass Jubilee, either.
They didn't use adi there, even though they might have made some D40C's, just can't recall for sure if they made a cutaway there or not.
(Ah, I see Dave slipped in while I was composing with the "Name logic" answer, so at least I could contribute some insight about the cutaways from New Hartford (Look in the "Standard Series section in that catalog link:
https://web.archive.org/web/2013061...ments/?gtype=acoustics&series=Standard+Series