Westerly SF-II loaded with Guild Buckers in the mix

adorshki

Reverential Member
Joined
Aug 21, 2009
Messages
34,176
Reaction score
6,790
Location
Sillycon Valley CA
What caught me is:
What's that flat-top he's playing?
Got a virtual California brownie for the first correct answer.
Here's another shot:
IMG_7598%2BCactus%2BBlossoms.JPG

And there's enough clues there to nail it down to one possibility.
And just to help out, pretty darn sure it's not the original 'guard.
 

SFIV1967

Venerated Member
Joined
Nov 20, 2010
Messages
18,442
Reaction score
8,956
Location
Bavaria / Germany
Guild Total
8
What's that flat-top he's playing?...pretty darn sure it's not the original 'guard.
Absolutely it is the original pickguard! The F-40 had this pickguard until about 1957. So it could be a 1956 model. (EDIT: 54/55, see post #12 from Hans below).

Also there is a F-312 12 string acoustic in the mix.
I also like the tiny 1953 National Cosmopolitan.

Ralf
 
Last edited:

walrus

Reverential Member
Gold Supporting
Joined
Dec 23, 2006
Messages
23,956
Reaction score
8,019
Location
Massachusetts
Good eye, Ralf - I can see the top of a ghost label in the last photo!

walrus
 

adorshki

Reverential Member
Joined
Aug 21, 2009
Messages
34,176
Reaction score
6,790
Location
Sillycon Valley CA
Absolutely it is the original pickguard! The F-40 had this pickguard until about 1957. So it could be a 1956 model.
Like the mythical check, "The brownie's in the mail."
:glee:
And thanks for the pg note!
It does resemble very early guards I've seen such as on F20s but didn't recall ever seeing one on an F40 before.
Given the age and potential for repair thought it might be a replacement.
When image searching to confirm my memory of details, found a '58 with no guard; but sure enough here's an old listing for a real beauty of a '56 with interesting notes about neck, bracing, and "voice":
"These have a unique bracing pattern that gives them an almost archtop like bark in the midrange."
https://trcrandall.com/products/1956

In fact I'm gonna bookmark it.
:smile:
Good eye, Ralf - I can see the top of a ghost label in the last photo!
walrus
Yep, that, with the "lips" and early "G" and bound fretboard with block markers were the identifying details.
 
Last edited:

SFIV1967

Venerated Member
Joined
Nov 20, 2010
Messages
18,442
Reaction score
8,956
Location
Bavaria / Germany
Guild Total
8
I can see the top of a ghost label in the last photo!
That's not a ghost label. Check Hans book page 28, it is the "guitar silhouette label" as used until 1959. The ghost label was introduced in 1959.
Ralf
 

adorshki

Reverential Member
Joined
Aug 21, 2009
Messages
34,176
Reaction score
6,790
Location
Sillycon Valley CA
That's not a ghost label. Check Hans book page 28, it is the "guitar silhouette label" as used until 1959. The ghost label was introduced in 1959.
Ralf

Thanks again. I just recognized "old" and I think some of us just habitually call 'em "ghosts".
Just comes to mind more readily than "silhouette", I think.
 

walrus

Reverential Member
Gold Supporting
Joined
Dec 23, 2006
Messages
23,956
Reaction score
8,019
Location
Massachusetts
Thanks again. I just recognized "old" and I think some of us just habitually call 'em "ghosts".
Just comes to mind more readily than "silhouette", I think.

...also much easier to spell!

walrus
 

hansmoust

Enlightened Member
Joined
Jun 10, 2005
Messages
9,201
Reaction score
3,504
Location
Netherlands
What caught me is:
What's that flat-top he's playing?
Got a virtual California brownie for the first correct answer.
Here's another shot:
IMG_7598%2BCactus%2BBlossoms.JPG

And there's enough clues there to nail it down to one possibility.
And just to help out, pretty darn sure it's not the original 'guard.



Absolutely it is the original pickguard! The F-40 had this pickguard until about 1957. So it could be a 1956 model

Ralf

It's earlier than that! Most likely a late-1954 or very early 1955.

Sincerely,

Hans Moust
www.guitarsgalore.nl
 

SFIV1967

Venerated Member
Joined
Nov 20, 2010
Messages
18,442
Reaction score
8,956
Location
Bavaria / Germany
Guild Total
8
Last edited:
Top