1970 Guild F-512 Brazilian Rosewood w/ F-612 Inlays

taylorj

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Hi y'all...

[This is ] my 1970 Guild F-512 flattop acoustic 12 string guitar. I bought this guitar many years ago from the original owner. He was in a Kingston Trio cover band in the late 1960s and early 1970s. After a number of successful shows in the New York area sometime around 1971/1972, he took all of his hard-earned money to Manny's on 48th Street and bought this guitar. He gigged with it for many years, always taking extremely good care of it. In the late 1970s, he retired from performing when his group disbanded, after which he kept this guitar at home in its case.

Despite being in remarkably clean cosmetic condition, when I bought this gthe instrument was in desperate need of a neck reset. I took the guitar to Gruhn's in Nashville for evaluation and repair. At Gruhn's, the guitar received a neck reset and refret. There was a very small pickguard crack that was also repaired, and the pickguard was removed and reglued in the process. The quality of the repair work performed is truly outstanding, and the instrument now plays perfectly and sounds magnificent.

George Gruhn himself was very impressed with the instrument. He said he's never encountered another one like it. Being that the F-512 was available through special order only from 1968-1974, this example shows many differences from the standard model and even others built around the same time. This guitar features an arched, laminated Brazilian rosewood back with laminated Brazilian rosewood sides. It features the incredibly rare F-612 style fingerboard inlays. This guitar also has a one-piece mahogany neck with a stacked heel, and a mahogany veneer on the back of the peghead – a feature primarily seen on high-end Guild classical Mark series guitars from the era.

Mr. Gruhn had the guitar photographed and documented while it was in his shop so that it could be featured in an article in Vintage Guitar magazine. I will include my physical copy of the magazine with the sale of this guitar, but the article is also available online here: https://www.vintageguitar.com/29226/guild-f-512/

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taylorj

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Photos are included in the article embedded in my first post. I have more photos but do not know how to upload them.
 

HeyMikey

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Very cool! Best of luck finding a new caretaker. Hopefully someone in the LTG family.
 

adorshki

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ARCHED BACK F-512.
That in itself is extremely rare and exotic.
I don't know if all these early ones were built that way (have to see if answer is in the Guild Guitar Book tonight); but it's only the second one I can ever recall hearing of.
The overwhelming majority f F512's are flatbacks.
Best of luck to you, Taylorj.
If money and room were no object I'd be mightily tempted myself, simply for the rarity and history.
 

Kitarkus

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Wow. Good luck with the sale! Gorgeous....and to think....I just listed my paltry D-40 moments after your listing. Always a bridesmaid but never a bride lol.
 

Cougar

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Wow, that's quite a storied guitar! Hope somebody picks it up!
 

adorshki

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Wow. Good luck with the sale! Gorgeous....and to think....I just listed my paltry D-40 moments after your listing. Always a bridesmaid but never a bride lol.
Nothing to feel bad about.
2 different ladies.
Why I have 3 wives and never took the vows lightly.
They've all got their own personalities.
 

taylorj

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Thanks all for the kind words! I promise I’m not exaggerating in any way... this truly is a remarkable instrument. Hope it ends up with another Guild fan who appreciates its rarity and it’s history.

Also, my apologies for my technical shortcomings. Are those photo links useable? Or should I upload to a different hosting site?
 

wileypickett

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I have an F212XL (first year if I remember right) that also has the F612 fret markers.

There's a website that details John Denver's guitars -- he had one too.
 

adorshki

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Thanks all for the kind words! I promise I’m not exaggerating in any way... this truly is a remarkable instrument. Hope it ends up with another Guild fan who appreciates its rarity and it’s history.

Also, my apologies for my technical shortcomings. Are those photo links useable? Or should I upload to a different hosting site?

NO worries about tech, but yes need to be uploaded to an actual hosting site, Google is not truly a hosting site except for other members.
Tip: Imgur is currently favored by a lot of users for free hosting, as Photobucket seems to be inclined to play games like holding your images hostage when they want to upgrade their service (cost) structure.
Also just remembered moderators appreciate no veering in the F/S threads, so I'll stop here.
 

taylorj

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I tried adding the photos to my original post, hosted on Imgur. Hope y'all can see them
 

merlin6666

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ARCHED BACK F-512.
That in itself is extremely rare and exotic.
I don't know if all these early ones were built that way (have to see if answer is in the Guild Guitar Book tonight); but it's only the second one I can ever recall hearing of.
The overwhelming majority f F512's are flatbacks.
Best of luck to you, Taylorj.
If money and room were no object I'd be mightily tempted myself, simply for the rarity and history.

Wow what a cool guitar. The article reveals that the arched back was made with laminated woods likely using the same approach as the maple Guilds. Now I assume that all layers of this laminate would be rosewood, and not just a rosewood veneer over a different core wood (like most laminates are done)?
 

awagner

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Those will only be visible to those who have a Google account, the linking function won't work for 'em, but the bare links will, for those with acounts:

I have a Google account and I still can't view them.
 

FNG

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If it was me, I would ensure awagner had as many pics as he wanted....lol!
 

taylorj

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Sorry the photos are still not working. Have uploaded them to Imgur but they don’t appear to be displaying in my original post. Can someone direct me to a thread with instructions on how to upload photos? In the meantime, here are the links to Imgur. Maybe these work?

https://imgur.com/LfQNc2h
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wileypickett

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Cool guitar! Thanks for including the link to the *Vintage Guitar* article too -- very interesting. Good luck with the sale.
 
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