SAVED! Mahogany 76 bound for the fire...

[Adam Stone]

I got his as a lot of four guitars that were all essentially trashed. 2 twelve strings a cool VOX Serenader British Version and this 76 Guild.
The Vox is on the bench now waiting for a new top. The Guild has been reworked/refinished. I had thought about leaving dried out/unrestored it but it is such a nice guitar that I went ahead and fixed the cracks and put a new pickguard on it and then refinished it with Nitro. Cue the "it's worth more unrestored" negspeak.
I also put a K&K pickup in it. I sounds SO GOOD, so full and rich. Very different than my Spruce/Rosewood 35 which is much more bright.

Before Pics.

 

[Westerly Wood]

love it! can we see a pic of the refurbished version?

 

[Adam Stone]

Absolutely, just need to find a few spare moments for pictures.

 

[Westerly Wood]

These are the best acoustics, for me, anyway. I don't mean the brand or model, I mean a really beat up mojo well loved over the decades acoustic that you fix up and it sounds incredible. I have always been looking for something like this. Congrats!

 

[twocorgis]

In this case, it's definitely not worth more unrestored!

 

[GGJaguar]

Wow, cool project and labor of love to save a Guild. Kudos!

 

[sretsbor]

These are the best acoustics, for me, anyway. I don't mean the brand or model, I mean a really beat up mojo well loved over the decades acoustic that you fix up and it sounds incredible. I have always been looking for something like this. Congrats!

Absolutely, I love a good rescue, be it a dog, a cat or a guitar!

Rob

 

[NM156]

Thanks for saving a vintage Guild acoustic! The craft and the choice of woods available make it special, in my mind.

 

[Adam Stone]

So this guitar had dried out and cracked the top. No tuners. Basically it looked like someone stored it in a barn or attic. I cleated the backside of the cracks. Then I took mahogany strips and sanded them to fit the gaps after I re-hydrated the guitar. After that I drop filled the remaining gaps. were stripped and redone with dark red mahogany from Stewmack and then countless coats of nitro, including over the new pick guard. It has developed some blush in spots (its been a while since I did this project) and the cracks while less noticeable are still visible in relief, no gaps anymore. When it was first finished it was pretty seamless. A few season of temp and humidity change were enough to make them stand out. New bone nut and bridge. Ebony abalone dot pegs. I managed to have a set of original style open backed tuners that matched pretty well.

 

[Boneman]

Thats really cool, I love me a good project too. so what is that, is that a D25?

edit: posted this same time as after photos, that looks awesome with that color choice!

 

[Adam Stone]

Some with sunlight...

 

[Adam Stone]

Yeah D25M Full mahogany body and top. From what I have read these were real workhorses back in the day.
Overbuilt solid players that, when new, didn't break the bank.

Not sure what is up with the focus. My eyes or the camera....both of us are old.

 

[GGJaguar]

The final result looks great! Better turn that truss rod cover right side up or the truss rod police might catch you.

 

[NM156]

Beautiful restoration

 

[Br1ck]

Great job. The thing that is great or bad about Guilds is that collectors have never gotten on the Guild bandwagon. I was once shown a very early Les Paul gold top that was unplayable. Put new frets on it, value drops by 50%. One of the best guitars I've played was a J 45. It had a forties body, but a fifties neck. I wish I had that one, even at half the cost of an intact forties guitar. Prices are certainly more than they used to be, but not nearly as bad as a Martin. A D 18 needing a lot of work, say a 74, is still going to be $2000. So better to be a Guild fanatic rather than a Martin collector.

 

[adorshki]

So this guitar had dried out and cracked the top. No tuners. Basically it looked like someone stored it in a barn or attic. I cleated the backside of the cracks. Then I took mahogany strips and sanded them to fit the gaps after I re-hydrated the guitar. After that I drop filled the remaining gaps. were stripped and redone with dark red mahogany from Stewmack and then countless coats of nitro, including over the new pick guard. It has developed some blush in spots (its been a while since I did this project) and the cracks while less noticeable are still visible in relief, no gaps anymore. When it was first finished it was pretty seamless. A few season of temp and humidity change were enough to make them stand out. New bone nut and bridge. Ebony abalone dot pegs. I managed to have a set of original style open backed tuners that matched pretty well.

Truss Rod Cover's upside down. It's one of the first things we look for around here...

BTW technically "D25M" was the archback spruce top version that was in production by '74, with a Mahogany color stained top.
That guitar, if actually a '76 (which I now doubt) would be VERY late for that version. Have only ever heard of one other.

The vast majority of all-hog archback D25's were from '73 with some outliers reported from '72-'75. No snark intended, (not one of those "it's worth more unrestored" 'negspeakers' ), but what's the s/n and what does the label say? It's tough dating those '70's models because they didn't differentiate 'em by model.

It won't surprise me if it says "D25M" since we've seen examples of labeling inconsistency on those several times now. Think it must have been due to making 2 versions or "mixed production" (a hypothesis on my part since they obviously built both versions between '73 and '74).

 

[Uke]

So this guitar had dried out and cracked the top. No tuners. Basically it looked like someone stored it in a barn or attic. I cleated the backside of the cracks. Then I took mahogany strips and sanded them to fit the gaps after I re-hydrated the guitar. After that I drop filled the remaining gaps. were stripped and redone with dark red mahogany from Stewmack and then countless coats of nitro, including over the new pick guard. It has developed some blush in spots (its been a while since I did this project) and the cracks while less noticeable are still visible in relief, no gaps anymore. When it was first finished it was pretty seamless. A few season of temp and humidity change were enough to make them stand out. New bone nut and bridge. Ebony abalone dot pegs. I managed to have a set of original style open backed tuners that matched pretty well.

Man, you just made my day! Beautiful !

 

[HeyMikey]

What a beautiful restoration! The top grain of that mahogany is terrific. Play and enjoy the heck out of that baby!

 

[chazmo]

You're right, @Adam Stone . That guitar was headed for firewood. Did you have no problems with the neck / playability once you put it all together?

Great job with the rescue! Let us know if you find a serial number on the label or back of the headstock so we can look up the date for you. Al's probably right that it's earlier than a 1976 model.

 

[Adam Stone]

OK, Thanks for the correction. Label is totally smudged out. After the serial number look up (98117) looks like 1974. Definitely solid mahogany top. Stripped and gentle sanding brought out that lovely grain. I worked on "mahogany" martin and it was that muddy brown painted on look. Nobody liked that guitar...

Totally playable, which was surprising. I was blown away there was no twist or warp on the neck. No need for a neck reset.
I actually put a temp nut and bridge on it and strung it up in its' "firewood" state. Played OK
The action was/is not great but much better after fussing with the new nut and bridge.
Cowboy chords and easy work up to the 10th fret is fine. I'm no bluegrasser so no worries for me. I play rhythm behind my kid. This and my 12 string (soon to be posted) are my go to guitars for acoustic. I haven't taken my D35 out in a looong time. I tend to mute out strings I don't mean too because of the thin neck on that one.

In case anyone was curios this was $100 for guitar and maybe another $100 in the refinish/parts. Yeah, not the same as a Martin. No offense but the Martin people tend to be kinda snobby and I've never really signed on for the hype. With that said there is a 48' OM that has THE BEST harmonics I have ever heard (my guitar exchange buddy has that one).

I'll change the cover right side up so everyone can breathe easy on that front. Thanks for all your replys!