Central Florida Folkie
Member
The big box sat outside my door, waiting for me to get home. All day, I knew it was there - I couldn’t get home fast enough. You know the feeling, right?
I tore open the tape, flung aside all the bubble wrap and there it was: the most beat-up case I’d ever seen in my life. But it was original to the guitar, so all the wear-and-tear was part of the story of this 52 year-old child of Westerly. Would what awaited me inside of that case meet the expectations and hopes I’d had building inside of my head and heart since I accepted the offer made to me to buy it?
I unlatched the latches (the ones that still work) and looked in and saw History - the oldest guitar I’ve ever owned. It was like going into my great-aunt’s attic, digging around and finding treasure from time long since past. The guitar smelled old, it looked old, it even “felt” old. The seller had detuned it for travel, so I eagerly began to tune it up and….THWANG….both high E strings broke. Not having any 12 string sets in the house, I quickly ordered some D’Addario Ultra Lights, along with some bone bridge pins (it came with ebony pins). I took the other 10 strings off, cleaned it a bit, and just enjoyed looking at it. I noticed some things I hadn’t in the pics from the seller. The Guild logo on the headstock, which I thought was just the same as on my ‘79 D25M, actually looked like it was made from wood grain. There were little cloth strips all along the inside of the body - something I’d never seen in any other guitar I’ve ever owned. The grain of the Rosewood fingerboard was even more spectacular in person, as is the bridge. And then there are all the imperfections that just make you wonder where this thing has been, how many songs has it sung, and all that has happened in the world since it left Westerly on Dec 27, 1972 according to the date stamp that’s on the label. That label also tells me this was a factory second - I wonder why? Who can possibly tell at this point.
Today, I put the new strings on it, tuned it up and got to know it. It is not hyperbole to say that playing a guitar from that era when so much of the music that formed me was in the Zeitgeist of popular culture is a transcendent experience. As I fingerpicked “Leaving On A Jet Plane” I really thought I was gonna cry. That SOUND. I‘ve owned a few 12 strings in my life, including a really nice 1980 G212 and a 1979 Yamaha L5-12. There is nothing that I‘ve ever heard that sounds like this guitar. Nothing. There it was - the sound of Folk History ringing in my living room. I heard Denver, I heard Peter, Paul and Mary, I heard Pete Seeger, James Taylor, Paul Simon, Lightfoot (I know, Gibsons, but you hear me…), New Christy Minstrels, Havens, Croce, Chapin; I heard my very early childhood when music began to make an impression on my DNA. That’s what this guitar sounds like: Memory. I was four when this guitar was built, and playing this guitar I go right back to those days of earliest memory when that music echoed in my house from the record player, went straight into my spirit and stayed there. That music, that memory, is in this guitar. I just can’t believe it.
My 16 year old says it’s the best purchase I’ve ever made, and it ”plays like butter.” He says that because of the Ultra Lights compared to the Mediums on my D25M, but his commentary isn’t lost on me, cuz he’s right. It does play like butter. I have it at concert pitch and it is just so easy to play. The action is 2mm (ish) at the 12th, the neck is a dream, and there isn’t one thing I’d change about this guitar. I felt so incredibly lucky to get the D25M - I feel equally if not more so to have this ‘72 little gem.
Could I be any happier or feel any more lucky than to have this dream team of vintage Guilds? Nope…no I could not.
I tore open the tape, flung aside all the bubble wrap and there it was: the most beat-up case I’d ever seen in my life. But it was original to the guitar, so all the wear-and-tear was part of the story of this 52 year-old child of Westerly. Would what awaited me inside of that case meet the expectations and hopes I’d had building inside of my head and heart since I accepted the offer made to me to buy it?
I unlatched the latches (the ones that still work) and looked in and saw History - the oldest guitar I’ve ever owned. It was like going into my great-aunt’s attic, digging around and finding treasure from time long since past. The guitar smelled old, it looked old, it even “felt” old. The seller had detuned it for travel, so I eagerly began to tune it up and….THWANG….both high E strings broke. Not having any 12 string sets in the house, I quickly ordered some D’Addario Ultra Lights, along with some bone bridge pins (it came with ebony pins). I took the other 10 strings off, cleaned it a bit, and just enjoyed looking at it. I noticed some things I hadn’t in the pics from the seller. The Guild logo on the headstock, which I thought was just the same as on my ‘79 D25M, actually looked like it was made from wood grain. There were little cloth strips all along the inside of the body - something I’d never seen in any other guitar I’ve ever owned. The grain of the Rosewood fingerboard was even more spectacular in person, as is the bridge. And then there are all the imperfections that just make you wonder where this thing has been, how many songs has it sung, and all that has happened in the world since it left Westerly on Dec 27, 1972 according to the date stamp that’s on the label. That label also tells me this was a factory second - I wonder why? Who can possibly tell at this point.
Today, I put the new strings on it, tuned it up and got to know it. It is not hyperbole to say that playing a guitar from that era when so much of the music that formed me was in the Zeitgeist of popular culture is a transcendent experience. As I fingerpicked “Leaving On A Jet Plane” I really thought I was gonna cry. That SOUND. I‘ve owned a few 12 strings in my life, including a really nice 1980 G212 and a 1979 Yamaha L5-12. There is nothing that I‘ve ever heard that sounds like this guitar. Nothing. There it was - the sound of Folk History ringing in my living room. I heard Denver, I heard Peter, Paul and Mary, I heard Pete Seeger, James Taylor, Paul Simon, Lightfoot (I know, Gibsons, but you hear me…), New Christy Minstrels, Havens, Croce, Chapin; I heard my very early childhood when music began to make an impression on my DNA. That’s what this guitar sounds like: Memory. I was four when this guitar was built, and playing this guitar I go right back to those days of earliest memory when that music echoed in my house from the record player, went straight into my spirit and stayed there. That music, that memory, is in this guitar. I just can’t believe it.
My 16 year old says it’s the best purchase I’ve ever made, and it ”plays like butter.” He says that because of the Ultra Lights compared to the Mediums on my D25M, but his commentary isn’t lost on me, cuz he’s right. It does play like butter. I have it at concert pitch and it is just so easy to play. The action is 2mm (ish) at the 12th, the neck is a dream, and there isn’t one thing I’d change about this guitar. I felt so incredibly lucky to get the D25M - I feel equally if not more so to have this ‘72 little gem.
Could I be any happier or feel any more lucky than to have this dream team of vintage Guilds? Nope…no I could not.
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