Production numbers on Guild X79 Skyhawk?

Karl Logan · Aug 10, 2014

Hi all, new to the forum here.

I just purchased a very well-cared-for, beautiful solid-black X79, with the serial number of AD100978. I don't know how to read serial numbers, and yes, I've seen those pages showing the Guild serial numbers for certain years, but I don't know how to read them. Can anyone help me out to understand the actual number of this guitar?

Second: --- and this is my main question. If the guitar I have is "978" (?!?) what exactly are the production numbers for this guitar run? I've seen numbers on various sites claiming numbers from "only 172" to claims of 1,476, and one of 1,890. The disparity in claimed numbers is baffling. Can anyone tell me what the definitive number for the production run was? I know this is a "rare" guitar by most standards, but HOW rare?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Karl

walrus · Aug 10, 2014

Those are cool guitars - welcome to LTG! We may have to wait for Hans to answer this one...

walrus

fronobulax · Aug 10, 2014

Welcome. The dating Charts are not always right but are the place to start from. Your X79 would seem to be 1984 since at this time the chart shows the last serial number made in each year.

MODEL 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985

X79 AD100304 AD100342 AD100509 AD101705 AD101790

If the first one was AD100000 then it is reasonable to conclude 1790 were made during 1981-85. However past attempts to estimate production from serial numbers have been provably wrong. I'd go with 1790 until Hans Moust comes along and offers his answer. Hans wrote "The Book" and has access to records Guild threw away or no longer has.

hansmoust · Aug 10, 2014

Karl Logan said:
Hi all, new to the forum here.

I just purchased a very well-cared-for, beautiful solid-black X79, with the serial number of AD100978. I don't know how to read serial numbers, and yes, I've seen those pages showing the Guild serial numbers for certain years, but I don't know how to read them. Can anyone help me out to understand the actual number of this guitar?

Second: --- and this is my main question. If the guitar I have is "978" (?!?) what exactly are the production numbers for this guitar run? I've seen numbers on various sites claiming numbers from "only 172" to claims of 1,476, and one of 1,890. The disparity in claimed numbers is baffling. Can anyone tell me what the definitive number for the production run was? I know this is a "rare" guitar by most standards, but HOW rare?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Karl

fronobulax said:
The dating Charts are not always right but are the place to start from. Your X79 would seem to be 1984 since at this time the chart shows the last serial number made in each year.

MODEL 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985

X79 AD100304 AD100342 AD100509 AD101705 AD101790

If the first one was AD100000 then it is reasonable to conclude 1790 were made during 1981-85. However past attempts to estimate production from serial numbers have been provably wrong. I'd go with 1790 until Hans Moust comes along and offers his answer.

Hello Karl,

Welcome! The numbers you find on a lot of websites are not correct or are seriously lacking.
In the case of the X-79, the first production number was #AD100001 and the last one was #AD101790 during 1985, which brings the total to 1790 officially produced instruments.
The ending numbers for the years 1981-1985 should be:

#AD100304 - #AD101342 - #AD101509 - #AD101705 - #AD101790

It should be clear where the mistakes were made and your guitar, with ser. #AD100978 was produced during the year 1982.

Hope this answers your question.

Sincerely,

Hans Moust
www.guitarsgalore.nl

Karl Logan · Aug 11, 2014

hansmoust said:
Hello Karl,

Welcome! The numbers you find on a lot of websites are not correct or are seriously lacking.
In the case of the X-79, the first production number was #AD100001 and the last one was #AD101790 during 1985, which brings the total to 1790 officially produced instruments.
The ending numbers for the years 1981-1985 should be:

#AD100304 - #AD101342 - #AD101509 - #AD101705 - #AD101790

It should be clear where the mistakes were made and your guitar, with ser. #AD100978 was produced during the year 1982.

Hope this answers your question.

Sincerely,

Hans Moust
www.guitarsgalore.nl

First of all, thank you to all who have replied and welcomed me. I appreciate the warm welcomes, and the information, walrus, fronobulax, and Hans!

Thank you Hans, for a sharing your knowledge. I sincerely appreciate that. My curiosity stems from wanting to believe that this could be my old guitar which I bought way back in....1983, as it turns out. Who knows?! I regretted selling it ever since, as the neck on it is killer-fast, and it's just such a aggressive-yet-elegant shape. I sold it because I needed a "bar guitar" to play half the cover songs I was playing with my then-band. It's been a great pleasure to get my hands back on an exact copy, if not the one that I had back then. Same color, and in awesome shape too. Still actually waiting for it to come in from UPS!

Nice to see, too, that there are genuinely knowledgeable people here. Some of the other sites.....(sound of wind blowing....)

warm regards, Karl

Karl Logan · Aug 13, 2014

Guys,

Thanks to all for the warm welcome, and for the information! I appreciate you taking the time to respond. Hans, thank sincerely for clearing that info up for me!!

I was hoping to find out the general info about this instrument because I had the exact model and color back in 1983 but sold it for a bar with a tremolo system which I needed for some of the cover songs my then-band was playing. Though it's a long shot, this could be the very guitar that I owned!

It came via UPS yesterday, and I have to say that I'm seriously impressed with its playability and tight sound. The pickups are serious, and the craftsmanship, top-notch. It's a small-bodied guitar, and feels nice against the body. All in all, a great buy.

Thanks again to all who have responded, and HEY MODERATOR--this is the second reply I have typed--how about getting this one up already? It's not nice to leave a post un-replied-to?!

Sincerely, Karl

fronobulax · Aug 13, 2014

Karl Logan said:
Thanks again to all who have responded, and HEY MODERATOR--this is the second reply I have typed--how about getting this one up already? It's not nice to leave a post un-replied-to?!

Sincerely, Karl

Hey Karl. Sorry. The mods are unpaid volunteers and sometimes Real Life gets in the way and we can't do things as quickly as we would like.

Karl Logan · Aug 16, 2014

fronobulax said:
Hey Karl. Sorry. The mods are unpaid volunteers and sometimes Real Life gets in the way and we can't do things as quickly as we would like.

My apologies, then. I just didn't want to appear as if I was ignoring the helpful posts of the members who replied. :blushed::single_eye:

fronobulax · Aug 16, 2014

Karl Logan said:
My apologies, then. I just didn't want to appear as if I was ignoring the helpful posts of the members who replied. :blushed::single_eye:

Just ignore that fronobulx character. Sometimes he gets cranky and sometimes he sounds crankier than he really is. Glad you got the information you wanted.

Matt L. · Aug 28, 2014

Maybe Hans can confirm, but I've heard the "only 172 made" number might refer to the X-80 Swan. I believe I've only seen maybe 10-12 over the past 10 years, so it seems likely.

Also, is there any documentation for the X-79-3 model? They seem to be even more scarce than X-80s.

The Guilds of Grot · Aug 28, 2014

Here's my X-79-3;

Joined by it's brother;

And their cousin;

Matt L. · Aug 28, 2014

Here's my trio, in the ubiquitous dark red....a couple of well-played X-79s and a pretty nice X-79-3-

hansmoust · Aug 29, 2014

Matt L. said:
Maybe Hans can confirm, but I've heard the "only 172 made" number might refer to the X-80 Swan.

The number of 172 guitars seems to indicate that. It is very well possible that the models were mixed up while looking at the serial number list.

Sincerely,

Hans Moust
www.guitarsgalore.nl

Guild x79 · Mar 16, 2015

Hi everyone, I'm new to the forum. I'm glad I found this great resource. I bought an x79 recently. The serial number is AD100032. It has the older style headstock as opposed to the futuristic one seen on all the x79's I've seen. Some online info. Said this could have been made in the late 70's as a prototype. One of the pots was dated from '78. I called Guild support and they had no idea. The production info. From Hans Moust was really helpful and dated it an '81. Is all that talk about it being a prototype false? Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.

Guild x79 · Mar 17, 2015

I have an x79 with the old style headstock, serial # AD100032. I had read this may be an older prototype made in the late 70's. One of the pots dates from '78. Anyone know if this could be true??

hansmoust · Mar 17, 2015

Guild x79 said:
I'm new to the forum. I'm glad I found this great resource. I bought an x79 recently. The serial number is AD100032. It has the older style headstock as opposed to the futuristic one seen on all the x79's I've seen. Some online info. Said this could have been made in the late 70's as a prototype. One of the pots was dated from '78.

Hello Guild x79,

Welcome! That story regarding the X-79s with regular Guild headstocks being prototypes has been doing the rounds for many years. It is not correct though.
The first batches of X-79s all had the traditional Guild headstock, so there are plenty of those around; plenty being a somewhat relative term in this case!

What finish color is your X-79?

Sincerely,

Hans Moust
www.guitarsgalore.nl

Guild x79 · Mar 17, 2015

Thanks Hans! It's a red finish like the one in the photos above posted by Matt L. Thanks for the info. Nice to meet you

daddyoh1972 · Dec 18, 2015

I have just purchased an X-79 BUT it is a X-79LTD I cant seem to find anything on the "LTD". Its BLUE and the serial number is AD101442. By the serial number description above i assume mine is a 1983. Can you help me with the LTD designation.

I have wanted a Guild when i was a kid. I am now 58 and picked up playing guitar again the last couple years. I bought the X79... this X79 is the greatest.

Thanks for your help
PAUL

Production numbers on Guild X79 Skyhawk?

Karl Logan

Probationary Member

walrus

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fronobulax

Bassist, GAD and the Hot Mess Mods

hansmoust

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Karl Logan

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Karl Logan

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fronobulax

Bassist, GAD and the Hot Mess Mods

Karl Logan

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fronobulax

Bassist, GAD and the Hot Mess Mods

Matt L.

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The Guilds of Grot

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Matt L.

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hansmoust

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Guild x79

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Guild x79

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hansmoust

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Guild x79

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daddyoh1972

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