When did Guild start using green?

Darryl Hattenhauer

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Does anybody know when Guild started using green finish? And is it true that they started using green to pay off the Irish mafia?
 

hansmoust

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Darryl Hattenhauer said:
Does anybody know when Guild started using green finish? And is it true that they started using green to pay off the Irish mafia?

Hello Darryl,

Emerald Green was first listed in the 1961 Guild pricelist, together with Honey Amber and Ebony Grain.
The reason for these 'new' colors seems to be a 'touchy' subject when talking to some of the people who were around at the Hoboken-plant during that particular period. Even today, not too many people are willing to speak openly about it. Here's the story in a nutshell:
It turns out that the Italians had claimed their own flashy Red Starfire model in 1960. This caused some trouble in the multicultural society that Guild had always been, and soon after that the Latinos, who didn't want to be identified with the typical blonde and sunburst (which they jokingly referred to as 'sunburned') models, came up with their own sweet looking Honey Amber. It only took a short time for the black community to claim their Ebony Grain. At that time the Irish were not a problem yet. However, the forces at Guild did forsee some trouble in the New England area as well. The Irish were big in Boston and since a big part of Guild production was going over there, it was decided that the Irish would get their Emerald Green.
There seem to have been questions about whether or not to introduce a color to satisfy the Chinese, but according to reliable sources Al Dronge must have said something to the effect of:
“The Chinese are not interested in doing anything with the guitar yet. They're still struggling with their own Pentatonic scale. If at some point they want their piece of the pie, we simply offer them part of the Guild production in their own country, but I do not forsee that happening within the next 30 or 40 years”.

Hope this answers some of your questions.

Sincerely,

Hans Moust
 

Walter Broes

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So....were there any dutch people working for Guild Hans? :lol:
[img:646:1564]http://www.ggjaguar.com/x160f.jpg[/img]
 

hansmoust

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Walter Broes said:
So....were there any dutch people working for Guild Hans?

Actually, it was not so much the people working at Guild as the surrounding community they were trying to please. But there were some people of Dutch origin who, in search for the 'true roots' of American music, wanted their own color as well and decided that some sort of 'dark blue' would be the appropriate color for them. The official designation for this color was going to be 'True Blue' but it turned out that all the 'Blues' they came up with, came out looking 'Black' on stage anyway, so the whole idea was scrapped.

Sincerely,

Hans Moust
 

northbayj

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Dutch humor

You had me going there for a minute Hans...

By the way, the case for X500 has this cool dark green fuzz lining. Has that been standard on Guilds? Just wondering.
 

hansmoust

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X-500 case

northbayj said:
By the way, the case for X500 has this cool dark green fuzz lining. Has that been standard on Guilds? Just wondering.

If you're talking about a fairly recent X-500, then yes, the dark green lining is standard on the Deluxe case.

Sincerely,

Hans
 

john_kidder

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It's too bad, given that a substantial number of Guilds ended up in Canada, and especially now that we know about the Irish green and the Duitch orange and the Black ebony, that no guitar was made in a sort of Polar White for us northerners. Another great marketing idea lost.

Ah well, my daughter still has her Aqua F-20 - probably a special issue for folks in the Caribbean.
 

hansmoust

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john_kidder said:
Ah well, my daughter still has her Aqua F-20 - probably a special issue for folks in the Caribbean.

Hi John,

I believe that was the original idea, but it turns out that the Cubans with the swimming pools in Florida claimed that color and they have no intention of sharing it with the rest of the Caribbean. From what I understand Fidel didn't like the color anyway. He ordered a batch of instruments in 'Havana Brown' quite some time ago but the guys at US Customs keep sitting on the paperwork. It doesn't look like Fidel will ever get them.

Hans
 

coastie99

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Thank goodness there wasn't a New Zealand community near the factory. The politically-correct wankers among them would have demanded that all headstock logos and prinred matter be in two languages, English and Maori. Furthermore, there would have been special NZ models, featuring a bookmatched top - one half in Pacific Puce and the other in Milky Euro.
 

hansmoust

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Guild colors

Darryl Hattenhauer said:
I'm trying to think of some way to keep this going, but I can't keep up with you guys.

Oh come on Darryl! You've been in Europe! You must have tasted some of our sick humor!

Let me help you! What about 'Bay of Pigs Pink'?

Sincerely,

Hans
 

Darryl Hattenhauer

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What I liked tasting in Europe was the beer, the bread, the beer, the cheese, the beer, and the beer. I say about American beer what Coastie says about Australian beer: How did they get the cats to squat over the cans?

On the other hand, some Europeans don't know America makes some good wine, almost all of it from California.
 

hansmoust

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Darryl Hattenhauer said:
The swimmin' poo? Winnie the Poo? Shampoo? Or poo poo?

I can't believe an adult just wrote that.

Well, it looks like we're running out of suitable colors, but anyway .........
1961 was the introduction year for Emerald Green.

Sincerely,

Hans Moust
 

Darryl Hattenhauer

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When the original emerald green guitars came out of the factory, were they as light and emerald colored (not dark olive green) as they are today? In other words, is the dark olive green we see on old Guilds entirely a matter of aging? Or were the originals as light and emerald colored (not olive) the way they are today?
 

hansmoust

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Darryl Hattenhauer said:
When the original emerald green guitars came out of the factory, were they as light and emerald colored (not dark olive green) as they are today? In other words, is the dark olive green we see on old Guilds entirely a matter of aging? Or were the originals as light and emerald colored (not olive) the way they are today?

Hello Darryl,

Actually, I cannot give you the answer to that question because I wasn't around at the time. But I have seen (and photographed) a lot of Emerald Green guitars and there doesn't seem to be one specific shade of green.
First of all there's a big difference between maple bodied and mahogany bodied guitars and obviously, the maple ones tend to be the lightest.
I've seen them vary between a light walnut color to an almost black shade and most of the discoloration seems to be caused by the influence of sunlight. It turns out the dyes they were using weren' t all that resistant to UV, so depending on the amount of exposure to direct sunlight they are more or somewhat less faded.
When you remove a pickup or a tailpiece, the lacquer in that location usually shows a lot more color and I've found the Emerald Green on the maple guitars is usually the brighest kind of green but I've never seen an older Guild guitar on which the color was as bright as say...... the Guild Brian May guitars from the early '90s.

Sincerely,

Hans Moust
 

hideglue

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Not A Color But A Name.....

I've also heard of the Cuban connection at Guild. Interestingly enough there were quite a few Argentinians during the '80s there as well. So as a salute to this sect, the Guild brass took a cue from the ever inspiring words of Che Guevara....

"I am not a liberator. Liberators do not exist. The people liberate themselves."



The Guild Liberator

Yup, true story....really.
 
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