'69 Guild SF-V - Is this a good deal?

[sonicreducer]

Hey guys, so my 4 year quest for a Guild SF-V with mini hbs almost came to a joyous end today, when I came across someone with a '69 cherry red Starfire in the shop! The asking price is $1700. I almost jumped on it, but I wanted to run it by the experts first. First and foremost, when did Guild start using Guild labeled Grover rotos? This one has the patent pending tuners, while my D50 has the namesake labels.
This guitar has a non-original pickguard, and the bottom rim has two horizontal holes showing on either side of the new bracket. The aluminum floating Hagstrom bridge is glued down, but is intonated properly. Still, I'm concerned that the guitar's intonation is at the mercy of the current placement.
The Guildsby doesn't have the felt pads under it, but I think that should be an easy fix. Doesn't seem scratched up under there.
There's no sticker inside the F-hole. There is an EM serial on the headstock, which I stupidly forgot.
Last of all, there is no hardshell case with it.
But it plays great! Feels good. I just want to know if this is a good deal. The guy said he'd be willing to go down a hundred bucks. Thank you, and I hope to join the electrified ranks of the lot of you real soon!

 

[dapmdave]

Hey guys, so my 4 year quest for a Guild SF-V with mini hbs almost came to a joyous end today, when I came across someone with a '69 cherry red Starfire in the shop! The asking price is $1700. I almost jumped on it, but I wanted to run it by the experts first. First and foremost, when did Guild start using Guild labeled Grover rotos? This one has the patent pending tuners, while my D50 has the namesake labels.
This guitar has a non-original pickguard, and the bottom rim has two horizontal holes showing on either side of the new bracket. The aluminum floating Hagstrom bridge is glued down, but is intonated properly. Still, I'm concerned that the guitar's intonation is at the mercy of the current placement.
The Guildsby doesn't have the felt pads under it, but I think that should be an easy fix. Doesn't seem scratched up under there.
There's no sticker inside the F-hole. There is an EM serial on the headstock, which I stupidly forgot.
Last of all, there is no hardshell case with it.
But it plays great! Feels good. I just want to know if this is a good deal. The guy said he'd be willing to go down a hundred bucks. Thank you, and I hope to join the electrified ranks of the lot of you real soon!

Just my opinion, sonic, but while vintage SF4s have seen increases in value of late, this price seems high for an example with issues. Try to get it down to something more like $1300 or so and get the issues corrected by a pro.

Is this a consignment guitar, or a trade in? Sometimes the shop will add as much as 30% to a consignment, which pushes the price out of shape. If they own it, they should have more room to dicker.

And, sorry but my Guild Book is out on loan. Can't answer the tuner question for you.

Dave

 

[fronobulax]

And, sorry but my Guild Book is out on loan.

Shouldn't you own two then? :wink:

 

[MojoTooth]

my 69 sfiv has open back tuners, but i think they are Guild tuners.

 

[dapmdave]

And, sorry but my Guild Book is out on loan.

Shouldn't you own two then? :wink:

Probably should. But they're hard to get (mine's a hard cover).

Dave

 

[sonicreducer]

Im sure its not a consignment guitar. The condition is unbelievably mint for a 60s vintage. Not a scratch or gouge, hardly any wear. It's hard to believe it didn't come with a case because it looks like it's lived in one its whole life. I just wish they hadn't glued the floating bridge down. My luthier and second and third opinions are telling me to walk away from the glued bridge.
Also, I wish I could compare the mini hbs to an hb1. I've never heard the latter but heard several formers, and I wonder if I'm missing anything.

 

[Fixit]

Me being the guy that has Daves bokk I thought I would look this one up in Hans's book According to the book the SF-V started with the Kolb tuners with the diamond shaped perloid buttons but switched to the Grovers with the serial number prefix EN in 1965. The book also talks about the bridges used for the guitars with the Bigsby's as being alum. designed to be able to rock back and forth as the tremolo was used. It goes on to say that they worked best with strings that were not to light and that also had a wound 4th. Just my opinion! the fact that the alum. portion of the bridge is glued to the top would not concern me all that much. Especially if it was glued directly to the finish. more than likley, the owner just didn't like the bridge being able to move when he re-strung the guitar? Also unless he did something really stupid, like using epoxy to do it, the bond between the alum. and the nitro finish should be fairly easy to break without any damage to the underlying wood. If the intonation is good you could just leave it the way it is. But I do agree with Dave on the price issue! You should be able to use the issues to negotiate a better price.