1978 F50 Black finish

[pmard]

Hello!

This is my first post to this forum, so greetings to you all!!!

I have a question regarding Westerly made F50 from 1978. I bought one from Southside Guitars, NY, few days ago and I'm wondering how common is it to find F50's in black finish? New models can be found in black, but I haven't seen black Westerly F50's before..

Link to the guitar;
http://www.gbase.com/powered/gearde...30ec-b15b-41a7-9b9b-0675fecf3be4&item=2337781

Any information is highly valued.

pmard

 

[killdeer43]

pmard,

Don't have any info for you and I don't even recall having seen a black F50 before. Interesting.

On the other hand, I can say, WELCOME to the forum!
You'll like it here so stay tuned and stay in tune. :wink:

Joe

 

[hansmoust]

I have a question regarding Westerly made F50 from 1978. I bought one from Southside Guitars, NY, few days ago and I'm wondering how common is it to find F50's in black finish? New models can be found in black, but I haven't seen black Westerly F50's before.. Any information is highly valued. pmard

Hello pmard,

Welcome! Great looking guitar you have there!

Black finished guitars have always been available from Guild on special order, as early as the '50s. For some reason black guitars were never that popular, except maybe for electric guitars, and consequently you will not find that many black finished acoustic guitars from the '50s, '60s and '70s.

During the early '80s Black would become a more regular finish on acoustic guitars. Offering ‘black’ as a standard finish was also a practical way of dealing with guitars that had minor imperfections in the wood which would have looked less than perfect under a glossy translucent finish. Your guitar could have been one of those.

I do not know if you looked closely at the label, but it looks like the ‘Blk’ designation was added later, so there is a possibility that the finish on your guitar was re-done at a later date. That still could have been done at the factory but there’s no way for me to know for sure. At this point it’s all speculation. All that really matters is that you like the guitar.

Let me know what you think of the writing on the label!

Sincerely,

Hans Moust
http://www.guitarsgalore.nl

 

[pmard]

Thank you Hans for your reply!!!

I've also noticed that the "blk" is written in different ink color, and could be added later to the label.
The guitar is still in transit, so I can't review it myself. I sure hope that the painting is done in the factory. I wouldn't be too happy receiving a guitar that's been modified later, but sold original.

Guitar itself will be welcomed warmly to my collection, I've long wanted a jumbo 6 string without any electrics for different kinds of recording work etc.
I also own a -98 JF65-12 and I've loved it ever since I bought it used couple years ago.

Petteri