Hey that is a really good question, thanks Frono! It is marquetry without question, but so finely done it is virtually invisible to the naked eye. There is only one tile line I can see against the light, but the difference between the rings and the blocks can be seen. However, with a closeup against the rising East Anglian sun (romantic aren't I..sorry! It comes from living in the village where John Constable did many of his famous paintings!) it is very easy to see the individual blocks of the inlay in the photo on the left. Wonderful quality!
For comparison, the second photo, on the right, is inlay on my '79 seven string by the mighty Grit Laskin, master of modern inlay. (I also collect guitars from the Jean Larriveé school of makers, its a Canadian thing - L'arriveé (Victoria and Vancouver), Laskin, Ted Thompson, and one day I hope Linda Manzer, Sergei DeJonge...) You can see how impossibly fine Grit's inlay is, but the Guild stands up as the same thing..marquetry in the great tradition of classical guitar rosettes!
Incidentally, the fan struts on the Guild (5 + bass bar) are beautifully tapered into the kerfling - something that can only be done by hand, like in the pic in Hans' book of Carlo Greco shaving struts on an early Guild classical.
Has anyone got any ideas on who made the Guild classicals in the '80's? Whoever they were, they really knew their stuff! I got this guitar in 'as is' condition (but noted 'excellent' by Elderley) and it turns out to be near-mint ($500 US if you want to know, including original Guild case). The 3rd photo shows unplayed frets (I gave them a lick of polishing) on a lovely Indian Rosewood board. The bridge is oiled Brazilian rosewood, exactly as it should be.
