I recently acquired a 1972 flat back Guild D25. I'm interested in it's history because unlike the other 3 Guilds I own it has 2 serial numbers. Also as I research other flat back Guild d25's they seem to come standard with the peak logo and rosewood fretboard but this has the chesterfield logo and an ebony fretboard. Any help is much appreciated. Thanks!
1972 Guild D-25 with 2 serial numbers, ebony fretboard, and chesterfield headstock
- Thread starter JBENT
- Start date
Welcome and congrats on the D25! I love, love, love my all hog '68 D25 flatback. Are you happy with how your one sounds? The '72 models were different, with a heavier build. Boneman is correct, the second number is the date of assembly. That is very interesting that your guitar has an ebony fretboard and the Chesterfield logo. I haven't seen that before and the "Guild Guitar Book" doesn't mention those specs for the D25. It will be interesting to see if @hansmoust , the author of the book, has any comments.
hansmoust
Enlightened Member
Hello JBENT,
Welcome! Without actually holding the guitar in my hands it's not possible for me to give you the definitive answer, but from what I can see in the photos I can think of 2 possibilities:
1) Your guitar has a very dark rosewood fingerboard and a replacement peghead overlay and if that's the case you should be able to see the footprint of the original open back tuners on the back of the headstock.
or
2) Your guitar has a replacement neck and in that case the Schaller tuners may be original for that neck.
Show us the back of the headstock and it may tell us more!
Sincerely,
Hans Moust
www.guitarsgalore.nl
Last edited:
D30Man
Senior Member
Yeah BC at first I thought D-50 neck on a D-25 body. Still it's a beaut with that chesterfield overlay. The texture of the fretboard definitely looks like rosewood though it is extremely dark. The way any rosewood attached to a guitar should be IMO. Great guitar either way.
Thanks everyone! This has been super helpful. As to more information to try to get to the bottom of this.. The haphazardly installed Schaller tuners are not original (the outline and holes of the old tuners can be seen). There is no serial number on the back of the headstock. Where these standard on the flat back hog D-25s? To my untrained eye the neck looks original to the guitar. The neck block is stamped D-25. The neck block is made from 2 pieces of mahogany; you can see the division right above the shadow in the pic. (unlike my other guilds with a single piece neck block). As to the sound... It is super light, resonant, dynamic, and warm... I love the tone! The intonation isn't perfect (the low E and B string are little sharp in the upper frets). I might try replacing the plastic saddle with a compensated bone saddle (?) Or it could be due to a very slight belly in the top of the guitar that makes the bridge angle forward a tiny bit. Personally, I'm leaning towards Han's first theory but maybe it's a replacement neck that was just really well done (?) Can rosewood be jet black? SO far I've used thing CA glue to glue a crack form an overtightened truss rod and I've done a ton of cleaning and polishing the frets and tuners. I think the guitar had been sitting in someone's basement for years. Looking forward to continuing to bring it back to life!
There is a pretty close sibling of your guitar for sale on Reverb right now. Serial #63482. You can see what the original tuners looked like.
The absence of the serial # on the back of the headstock is a clue that your guitar may have a replacement neck. It does look like the neck replacement was well done.
reverb.com
The absence of the serial # on the back of the headstock is a clue that your guitar may have a replacement neck. It does look like the neck replacement was well done.
Guild D-25 Bluegrass 1968 - 1973 | Reverb
Reverb is a marketplace bringing together a wide-spanning community to buy, sell, and discuss all things music gear.
reverb.com
Br1ck
Senior Member
Any comments on the price of the Reverb listing? I would pay more for a flatback, but that much? The figure in the top seems odd for the mahogany of the day. Anyway, nice vintage. Please do something about the tuners, even if it's just filling the holes and redrilling them so the tuners line up.
So I have a few questions myself about my 72 Guild D25…mostly about the top, and at what point or where it might have been replaced with what seems to be spruce…
So like the other 72, I guess this is dated roughly one week before the one in the post…from JBent…
Did they do factory repairs in Hoboken still around this time? The neck has been glued together at some point, and the flat back has some cracks….but the guitar plays fantastic all up and down the board…
Did someone just love this guitar that much to have done all these repairs…?
The way it plays, I might not doubt it…but idk what to think…can anyone clue me in?
So like the other 72, I guess this is dated roughly one week before the one in the post…from JBent…
Did they do factory repairs in Hoboken still around this time? The neck has been glued together at some point, and the flat back has some cracks….but the guitar plays fantastic all up and down the board…
Did someone just love this guitar that much to have done all these repairs…?
The way it plays, I might not doubt it…but idk what to think…can anyone clue me in?
Attachments
Wow! Another interesting modified D25. I doubt the replacement top is from the Guild factory (it would have been the Westerly factory in '72) because the sound hole inlays and the pick guard do not look like standard Guild designs. Puzzling why someone would have made such a modification. Does it sound good? What kind of bracing is on that top?
I’m gonna assume there was significant damage that it needed to be replaced. The headstock was cracked and repaired, the back has some cracking…I’m not exactly sure what kind of cross bracing is under the top…but it plays fantastic…someone must have really loved this guitar to go to all that trouble…but it does play and sound fantastic…all the way up the entire fretboard…it’s really set up well…
