1960's and 70's Guild Lefties - braced righty?

[elasticman]

I posted over on Leftyfrets about my Lefty F-20. It's a '68. The fret dot markers face down from the player and I was wondering if the guitar was originally a righty that was converted. Some members over there were pretty sure Guild used right-handed bracing in ALL it's 60's and some 70's acoustics. Can anyone confirm this?

If this is true, is it reasonable to assume that if I really want a particualr lefty Guild (Rosewood F30, hint, hint) I might be better off looking for a good vintage righty and having my luthier convert it? After all, other than the pickguards what's the diff?

All 3 of my Guilds are lefty and sound magnificent!

Dan

 

[GardMan]

I posted over on Leftyfrets about my Lefty F-20. It's a '68. The fret dot markers face down from the player and I was wondering if the guitar was originally a righty that was converted. Some members over there were pretty sure Guild used right-handed bracing in ALL it's 60's and some 70's acoustics. Can anyone confirm this?

If this is true, is it reasonable to assume that if I really want a particualr lefty Guild (Rosewood F30, hint, hint) I might be better off looking for a good vintage righty and having my luthier convert it? After all, other than the pickguards what's the diff?

All 3 of my Guilds are lefty and sound magnificent!

Dan

You would need to fill in the bridge slot and rerout it for a lefty (or replace the bridge entirely), or you intonation would be off. Dave

 

[adorshki]

Some members over there were pretty sure Guild used right-handed bracing in ALL it's 60's and some 70's acoustics. Can anyone confirm this?

Hi Elastic, welcome aboard! Hans Moust is the man for that question. I do seem to remember his confirming something like that about a 12-string some body had the same question about, so a search of his posts as author ("Hansmoust") may give some immediate insight. The more I read around here though, the more I see that such a blanket statement usually has significant exceptions when it comes to Guild.

If this is true, is it reasonable to assume that if I really want a particulalr lefty Guild (Rosewood F30, hint, hint) I might be better off looking for a good vintage righty and having my luthier convert it? After all, other than the pickguards what's the diff?

I'm assuming that by saying "have my luthier convert it" you're just leaving out the details like the nut and the bridge (saddle angle) for the sake of brevity. Otherwise, I'd consider the bridge at least to be fairly major detail.
In principle I also hope it's as easy as you hope it is. Can't fault that mod for a serious owner/player!

 

[elasticman]

[/quote] I'm assuming that by saying "have my luthier convert it" you're just leaving out the details like the nut and the bridge (saddle angle) for the sake of brevity. Otherwise, I'd consider the bridge at least to be fairly major detail.
[/quote]
yes, I did leave that out for brevity. What I was saying is that if in fact the bracing is the same in factory Guilds from the 60s and 70s - my search options have just opened up, since the "innards" are the same. Bridge, nut and saddle are all the only issues. If that can be done for under $200 I'd definitely go for it.

 

[cjd-player]

LTG member: Appalachian Blues posted about that some time ago, and I believe that was for a 12 string.
I'm pretty sure that the answer was that they were all braced "righty" whether six or twelve strings.
You might want to check his posts for the reply from Hans.

 

[chazzan]

Yes, this is what I heard from several Guild dealers, that the Guilds ALL are braced right handed, and the factory lefty models just have a lefty nut, bridge, and pickguard- that is the only difference.

As a lefty myself i have "turned around" several Guilds with no problems whatsoever! Sound is not changed, except MAYBE a little more treble due to the bracing; I personally like how it sounds because the bass and treble are more balenced to my ears.

glad you kept your f-20! It's hard to find really good guitars- which is why I thought of but did not sell my 70's f-30, I would not find a guitar like it.

I agree that if you look at right handed guitars to convert you do have more , much more of a selection to pick out the best one.

 

[adorshki]

I'm assuming that by saying "have my luthier convert it" you're just leaving out the details like the nut and the bridge (saddle angle) for the sake of brevity. Otherwise, I'd consider the bridge at least to be fairly major detail.
[/quote]
yes, I did leave that out for brevity. What I was saying is that if in fact the bracing is the same in factory Guilds from the 60s and 70s - my search options have just opened up, since the "innards" are the same. Bridge, nut and saddle are all the only issues. If that can be done for under $200 I'd definitely go for it.[/quote]
Simply for reference sake since it could vary widely by region, bridge reset alone in Sillycon Valley is going to be upwards of $250.00. Getting it off the top without damage to wood/finish is VERY delicate. I'd expect filling and re-routing to be much less, but I might be a little nervous about bridge integrity after that even if I was ok with the cosmetic flaw.