jthrel
Member
Hello Folks,
Since acquiring a 1976 Guild F-512 12-string acoustic last year, I have become a guild enthusiast. Although I joined the LTG board only recently, this on-line community has proven to be outstanding source of information. I now have a fascinating mystery that is in need of your collective skills to unravel.
Based on the stunning tone and playability of my F-512, I decided to add a Starfire XII to the herd. I was fortunate enough to locate one in Delaware. The Starfire had been recently purchased from an estate sale but that person was not interested in keeping the Starfire. I volunteered to take her off his hands in exchange for a number of green pieces of paper (money). The only history this recent purchaser obtained on the guitar was that it was played regularly by a gentleman well into his eighties. That gentleman had passed recently thus the estate sale. Regrettably, the original hard case was not with the guitar at the sale.
This particular Starfire is a 1968 vintage and is unusual for a number of reasons:
- The body color is Amber; a factory feature verified by the Guild tag inside the body. The most common finishes for Starfire XIIs were cherry and sunburst so this is different. She’s a real beauty as evidenced by the images below.
- The serial number is DC 898. The serial numbers inside the body and on the headstock match (photos below).
Now the plot begins to thicken! The 898 serial number of this guitar is MISSING from the Guild serial number database. According to the factory serial number list (http://support.guildguitars.com/downloads/datingyourguild.pdf), only one serial number was issued to a Starfire XII in 1968: DC 897. The serial numbers for 1969 begin with DC 899 - MYSTERIOUSLY SKIPPING my guitar’s 898 serial number.
- This guitar has the number 02 stamped on the Guild tag (pic above) AND on the inside wood of the body (pic below). This leads me to think this may have been a factory second.
- A significant neck repair has been performed on this guitar. NOT the usual broken headstock. There is a 7 inch by three quarter inch section of wood grafted into the neck (photos below).
The repair is visible when you look closely but it doesn’t affect the playability. The top edge (headstock end) and bottom edge (heel end) of the graft are detectable as very slight ridges. The long edges (parallel with the neck) are flush with the original neck profile. The neck has a dark finish so the repair is not apparent when the guitar is viewed from a distance. A checkout by a good luthier showed the truss rod to be fully functional, the fretboard firmly attached and no other serious structural or functional problems. It just looks like this guitar had a honkin’ slice of neck wood re-inserted at one time.
So, my questions……… brief puff on the Sherlock-style Rohan pipe……..
1) Is this guitar indeed a Guild factory second and does that status warrant banishment from the Guild serial number database? If she is not a second, why is the serial number 898 obviously skipped in the Starfire XII database?
2) Is AMBER the base color for a standard sunburst finish? If so, this might explain the apparent non-standard/custom color. If the guitar became a factory second during production, the factory may have lost interest in completing the sunburst finish on the body leaving this striking amber color without the dark spray around the edges.
3) Could it be that the Guild factory inserted the neck graft causing this guitar to become a factory second? Would the Guild factory even bother with such an extensive repair of a second? Alternatively, is this repair more likely to have been done by a previous owner?
4) What sort of horrid accident or flaw would necessitate this type of neck repair? Have you seen the movie UNFORGIVEN with Clint Eastwood? Similar story because of the scar inflicted on a beautiful woman.
5) Does anyone have first- or second-hand knowledge about the history of this guitar? I purchased her in the general geographic region of the Guild Hoboken production facility (within a 4-hour drive). The owner before me (the older fellow that played her frequently) lived in the same geographic region. She's in good shape so the previous owner(s) took great care of her. Has this guitar been spotted at a gig along the eastern seaboard, perhaps in the company of an older man?
Thanks in advance for any insights, thoughts or comments.
Al
Since acquiring a 1976 Guild F-512 12-string acoustic last year, I have become a guild enthusiast. Although I joined the LTG board only recently, this on-line community has proven to be outstanding source of information. I now have a fascinating mystery that is in need of your collective skills to unravel.
Based on the stunning tone and playability of my F-512, I decided to add a Starfire XII to the herd. I was fortunate enough to locate one in Delaware. The Starfire had been recently purchased from an estate sale but that person was not interested in keeping the Starfire. I volunteered to take her off his hands in exchange for a number of green pieces of paper (money). The only history this recent purchaser obtained on the guitar was that it was played regularly by a gentleman well into his eighties. That gentleman had passed recently thus the estate sale. Regrettably, the original hard case was not with the guitar at the sale.
This particular Starfire is a 1968 vintage and is unusual for a number of reasons:
- The body color is Amber; a factory feature verified by the Guild tag inside the body. The most common finishes for Starfire XIIs were cherry and sunburst so this is different. She’s a real beauty as evidenced by the images below.
- The serial number is DC 898. The serial numbers inside the body and on the headstock match (photos below).
Now the plot begins to thicken! The 898 serial number of this guitar is MISSING from the Guild serial number database. According to the factory serial number list (http://support.guildguitars.com/downloads/datingyourguild.pdf), only one serial number was issued to a Starfire XII in 1968: DC 897. The serial numbers for 1969 begin with DC 899 - MYSTERIOUSLY SKIPPING my guitar’s 898 serial number.
- This guitar has the number 02 stamped on the Guild tag (pic above) AND on the inside wood of the body (pic below). This leads me to think this may have been a factory second.
- A significant neck repair has been performed on this guitar. NOT the usual broken headstock. There is a 7 inch by three quarter inch section of wood grafted into the neck (photos below).
The repair is visible when you look closely but it doesn’t affect the playability. The top edge (headstock end) and bottom edge (heel end) of the graft are detectable as very slight ridges. The long edges (parallel with the neck) are flush with the original neck profile. The neck has a dark finish so the repair is not apparent when the guitar is viewed from a distance. A checkout by a good luthier showed the truss rod to be fully functional, the fretboard firmly attached and no other serious structural or functional problems. It just looks like this guitar had a honkin’ slice of neck wood re-inserted at one time.
So, my questions……… brief puff on the Sherlock-style Rohan pipe……..
1) Is this guitar indeed a Guild factory second and does that status warrant banishment from the Guild serial number database? If she is not a second, why is the serial number 898 obviously skipped in the Starfire XII database?
2) Is AMBER the base color for a standard sunburst finish? If so, this might explain the apparent non-standard/custom color. If the guitar became a factory second during production, the factory may have lost interest in completing the sunburst finish on the body leaving this striking amber color without the dark spray around the edges.
3) Could it be that the Guild factory inserted the neck graft causing this guitar to become a factory second? Would the Guild factory even bother with such an extensive repair of a second? Alternatively, is this repair more likely to have been done by a previous owner?
4) What sort of horrid accident or flaw would necessitate this type of neck repair? Have you seen the movie UNFORGIVEN with Clint Eastwood? Similar story because of the scar inflicted on a beautiful woman.
5) Does anyone have first- or second-hand knowledge about the history of this guitar? I purchased her in the general geographic region of the Guild Hoboken production facility (within a 4-hour drive). The owner before me (the older fellow that played her frequently) lived in the same geographic region. She's in good shape so the previous owner(s) took great care of her. Has this guitar been spotted at a gig along the eastern seaboard, perhaps in the company of an older man?
Thanks in advance for any insights, thoughts or comments.
Al
