Hoboken serial numbers = production numbers?

[383roller]

Do the serial numbers spread between the years indicated translate to the actual numbers made of that model In that year?
like: AA 101 1965 to
AA 113 1966 = 12 made in 1965?
Then assuming you can get a grand total of a production of that model up to a certain year?

 

[fronobulax]

Maybe? There are many documented instances where serial numbers don't say anything about production. There are other cases where a model was pretty much in continuous production and the serial number scheme did not change over a few years and the guesses made from serial numbers might be reasonable. Since you picked 1965 there is also the possibility that the model of interest was made made before the serial number change happened and there is nothing that says the change happened on January 1. Finally you are looking at a time period when production was beginning to move from Hoboken to Westerly and I'm not really certain there were no gaps in the serials when production was moved.

If you are specifically interested in Artist Award (or some other model) you might get a more reliable or defensible estimate by asking about a specific model and time frame. But as a general rule Guild production numbers are hard to come by. Your best data backed guesses will come from from The Guild Guitar Book by Hans Moust (out of print and commanding prices above $100 when copies are available) or asking him, if he doesn't chime in or no one steps up with an answer from previous conversations.

 

[GAD]

It is very rare to get a definitive answer to the “how many were made” question when it comes to Guilds.

Anyone online who definitively states “there were xx made” whether for a specific year or over the entire run is probably assuming something or parroting someone who was. There is a lot of misinformation bandied about as fact out there.

Pretty much only exception to this is Hans, and Hans rarely makes such declarative statements in regards to numbers made.

 

[383roller]

So much for simplicity.

 

[adorshki]

So much for simplicity.

. Yep.

The cases where specific numbers made are known are generally very low-production "Special" and Custom Shop models. Wouldn't surprise me if Hans knows exactly how many AA's were actually made, for example, but I was thinking more along the lines of models where only 10-12 or so actually got finished, like @davismanLV 's D65S.

 

[GAD]

So much for simplicity.

Even where it is simple people make stuff up that gets repeated as fact.

 

[GGJaguar]

It's never simple. For example, at G&L there have been duplicate serial numbers used at times as well as serial numbers that were never used. So, there's just no way to know if there were 101 guitars made from serial number G000100 to G000200 because of these two factors. And to make it even crazier, sometimes the same serial was re-used (but not duplicated) because when a guitar was returned for warranty reasons that could not be corrected, the parts were stripped from it and re-used include the serial numbered neck plate or bridge!