Hoboken made F50 serial Number AD439
- Thread starter Upperlake
- Start date
SFIV1967
Venerated Member
Welcome to LTG! That means your guitar was made in year 1970 and most probably already in Westerly even that Hoboken labels were re-used.
Ralf
Upper lake
Welcome to the best guitar forum on the Internet (IMHO). There are many who can answer your question and I feel sure you will receive a reply, shortly. Hans Moust is recognized as the foremost authority on Guild guitars and gives of his knowledge, freely. And there are others who nip at his heels but he is king.
Lots of love for F50s here.
Join in often and we love pictures.
I see Ralf responded as I typed and Ralf is an A+ student on Guild guitars.
Welcome to the best guitar forum on the Internet (IMHO). There are many who can answer your question and I feel sure you will receive a reply, shortly. Hans Moust is recognized as the foremost authority on Guild guitars and gives of his knowledge, freely. And there are others who nip at his heels but he is king.
Lots of love for F50s here.
Join in often and we love pictures.
I see Ralf responded as I typed and Ralf is an A+ student on Guild guitars.
Thanks for responding and it makes sense…finally. The confusing part was having the Hoboken Tag with an AD439 serial number and all online records show AD419 as the last listed with that nomenclature. Then in 1970 they changed the serial number format to just numbers.
HeyMikey
Enlightened Member
Hi and welcome Upperlake! The online references are a handy tool, but they are far from perfect because they are not official records. There have been many examples where guitar s/n’s have been found outside of the published ranges.
Inside the guitar where the neck meets the body there is sometimes a stamped date, but I don’t know if that was done throughout Guild history across the various plants.
Some pictures of your F50 may help, and we do love to see nice old ones!
Inside the guitar where the neck meets the body there is sometimes a stamped date, but I don’t know if that was done throughout Guild history across the various plants.
Some pictures of your F50 may help, and we do love to see nice old ones!
SFIV1967
Venerated Member
Understood, it is very confusing. The change back to only numbers happened sometime during 1970, so many 1970 made guitars still have the two letter plus number S/N format. And also Guild was "cheap" (today one would say "environmental friendly"), they didn't throw away old unused labels and just used Hoboken labels in Westerly until they were gone. Obviously nobody thought about that the factory location would matter in the future.
Ralf
Hans' bible probably covers this, but I don't have it handy.
Ralf, do you think the F-50 had made the transition to Westerly by 1970? I would've guessed Hoboken built...
SFIV1967
Venerated Member
O.k., honestly I don't know, only Hans can say this for sure.
EDIT: Page 18 of Hans book.
Ralf
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No idea either, Ralf. I just remember reading (bible?) that some of the low-end models had made the transition by 1970, but I guess the jumbos were among the last. All conjecture. Is AD-439 beyond the bible's list? I don't have my book because I'm not home.
From what I generally have seen, the models that were made concurrently in both locations used labels that said neither Westerly or Hoboken on them. Also they started making cheaper guitars first in Westerly as they transitioned. So while there is no way toknow for sure, but I would wager this is probably one of the last guitars made in Hoboken.
Situation isn't that simple, Boomer... There were Hoboken labels used in Westerly. But, anyway, hope we find out sometime.
SFIV1967
Venerated Member
I don't have Hans book in my hands right now, but I believe those were the labels used once they run out of Hoboken labels in Westerly. And strictly in Westerly I believe. I would doubt a Hoboken made guitar had a label without the town printed on.
Ralf
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I'm going from what my dad mentioned from the same book but he seems to be under the understanding that they switched to those labels when they started moving. If they only sent them to Westerly, then that makes it pretty simple for guitars with those labels.
In that case, the only way would be production logs. Were any F-50s made in 1970 in Hoboken? Were some made in Westerly? If both are yes, we will never know.
SFIV1967
Venerated Member
My '70 Starfire IV has been confirmed as Westerly built by Hans, so I would suspect the same for this one. Mine does have the later label that just says "Made in USA" though.
hansmoust
Enlightened Member
Hey Sandy,
The label on your Starfire says 'Guild Guitars, Inc.' and does not mention the city and/or country!
Sincerely,
Hans Moust
www.guitarsgalore.nl
Westerly Wood
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The cool thing is you have a leftover Hoboken Truss Rod Cover. I bet that is one great acoustic, congrats!
I have an old 1971 Guild acoustic that has some Hoboken parts but was made in Westerly, RI.