Both are possible. Maybe @hansmoust knows?And as I mentioned, the most logical explanation is that they were making both types at the same time, but I don't think they would ahve put a spruce top on a flatback D25 except as a mistake.
Or a re-top?
D25 Flat Back
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adorshki
Reverential Member
I still ask: Why put a spruce top on a flatback D25 when there was already the D35? It just don't make no sense.
Westerly Wood
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I am going to disagree with Guild and that label and from now on refer to this gem as a D35C.
GardMan
Enlightened Member
IIRC, we have seen one other example of a "spruce-topped flat back D-25" from the mid-70s, maybe ten years ago or more... Again, IIRC, in that case, the label listed it as a D-25, but the neck block was clearly stamped D-35.
Kurtle
Junior Member
Wait. Are you the guy selling it? JK
mavuser
Enlightened Member
it looks like a flat back D-25 from 71-72, that was not completed until 74. that is an entirely feasible scenario. By 1974 D-25's had a spruce top, so that is what they used.
A 1974 D-35 has slightly different trimmings (rosette, purfling, tuners)...this is a D-25 (a very cool one!)
I would definitely buy it, especially around the prices you are talking. maybe don't bring up the year with the seller. they may very well know its a 74 and just accidentally hit the 8 instead of the 7 on a keyboard. but i wouldnt bring it up. good luck!!
A 1974 D-35 has slightly different trimmings (rosette, purfling, tuners)...this is a D-25 (a very cool one!)
I would definitely buy it, especially around the prices you are talking. maybe don't bring up the year with the seller. they may very well know its a 74 and just accidentally hit the 8 instead of the 7 on a keyboard. but i wouldnt bring it up. good luck!!
fronobulax
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I don't think so. We are enablers and there are very few Guilds we don't encourage someone to buy. I understood the comment as meaning - this guitar passes all of the "sniff tests", has "good genetics", is potentially unusual and potentially available at a price where resolving problems is affordable.
adorshki
Reverential Member
D35's didn't offer a Cherry finish. And yes it IS possible it's a 'hog top.
I was just going along with the assumption it was spruce for the purpose of explaining why it had to be an oddity for an as-yet unknown reason, and not a "transitional model".
I'm willing to bet there's no difference between the flatback D25 and D35 bodies, they were even introduced together. So I don't believe a flatback body that suddenly turned up after being missing for a couple of years would require a (current) D25 top just because as supposed to be a D25.
On the other hand, if the heelblock was already stamped "D25" (as a converse of Gardman's story of a D25 with a D35 stamp), maybe on this day they decided to go by the heelblock, spec change be damned?
Now, if the guitar needed a re-top, and they no longer had any dread-sized 'hog tops to use....
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mavuser
Enlightened Member
that looks like a textbook spruce top for sure. which is exactly what Guild would use on a D-25 in 1974. the mystique is in the flat back, not the spruce top. probably just a leftover from a few years earlier. a *really cool Guild dread. maybe there are a few more out there??
Guildedagain
Enlightened Member
Willie's guitar is a Martin Classical, and it's been nearly beyond the luthier's help for a long time now.
That's what I see and guess happened as well. There are certainly lots of examples of guitar bodies that sat around a while before being completed and shipped out.
As for what "transitional" means... This is still a guitar from the period where the D-25 was changing in spec between an all-solid mahogany guitar to an arched-lam-mahogany, solid-spruce topped. I don't see any evidence in the picture (which admittedly is not much to go on) of a re-top.
Kurtle
Junior Member
I ended up getting it for $400. She’s pretty beat up with worn frets, a couple repaired cracks, and some cracks that can use some lovin, buts sounds sweet. GardMan hit the nail on the head. Label says D25, but the neck block is stamped D35. It looks good with my little Guild family.
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Nice! You could prob put $800 of work into it and still not be upside down on it.
I’m sticking with my hypothesis that someone thought the top was too ugly for a D-35 and converted it to a cherry D-25 while in prod. But could someone have special ordered a cherry D-35 and the person who filled out the label got confused? Then again, weren’t the labels put in before finishing?
I’m sticking with my hypothesis that someone thought the top was too ugly for a D-35 and converted it to a cherry D-25 while in prod. But could someone have special ordered a cherry D-35 and the person who filled out the label got confused? Then again, weren’t the labels put in before finishing?
davismanLV
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Naptha is a good solvent for removing pretty much everything but the finish. Doesn't hurt the lacquer but takes off all the polish and crap that life deposits. Then wipe down with a damp cloth. You're probably gonna want to humidify the heck out of it before you cleat that crack. That should help.
Exactly. Try naptha -- (lighter fluid).
