F612

Below and in separate posts to follow are pictures with comments/questions. Basically, the guitar sounds beautiful, and has a deep, complex tone. It plays nicely, with low action. The action is higher up the neck, but I am not sure a neck reset is necessary or required. I will find out for sure after it is looked at by a professional.

There are some cosmetic issues, seemingly minor. There is crazing on the heel. The pick guard is fully attached, but has lifted up and has an air pocket. I assume it will have to be replaced. There is a small crack by the sound hole. There is an obvious problem by the strap pin on the bottom of the guitar (not sure what this section is called).

I am no expert, so I am sure there are plenty of issues I overlooked or cannot identify.

I look forward to your feedback.



No issues that I can see with the front of the headstock.
The back, however, is a different story. Not sure if anything can or should be done about this.





The neck is in good shape, and is comfortable to play. The inlays seem intact, and I found no issues with the fingerboard.









Not clear from the photo, but visible cracks on the heel.





More to follow.

No issues that I can see with the bridge and saddle. The bottom of the pick guard is where the bubble is. Hard to see from the photo. If it needs to be replaced, must I try to replicate it as closely as possible? I actually prefer solid black.






Only minor wear issues so far as I can tell.



Except for this small crack by the sound hole.



The back is in excellent condition.



This is an obvious problem.



The action is higher up the neck. Not too difficult to play, however. There is no fret buzzing.



Not sure if either strap pin is original.

Gorgeous. Big lady.

Fantastic! But really, if anything is to be done to it, Kim at Guild is the one to contact...I am sure they would love to have their hands on this!

Hey A, Great guitar, I'd just enjoy it for a while,and bond with it.Did you find out any history from the old owner?Looks like it may need a fret levelling at some stage( looks like the old owner loved to play It).....the more you play the more you'll love it.If it was mine I'd just play it for a while till I figure out where I want to go with it.But Mate she's a beauty.I love the fret markers and the bindings.Hope no ones pulls it apart here,and says this and that,but when it comes down to it.You have a great ol' guitar that there aren't many of,and your herd of Guild is amazing.Brilliant mate just brilliant.Oh and thanks for the pics,I know that takes time to do.
Stu

That is truly a nice guitar. Doesn't look like it's ever had a reset, but I'd say it needs one. Doesn't have to be too expensive. The rest of the conditions look pretty minor. Age considered, it's in really good shape!

Beautiful guitar! My F412 has the exact same issue around the strap pin on the bottom of the guitar. I'll be interested to know what the repair/fix will be... Thanks for sharing the pics of your gorgeous big 12er
Cheers,
Mick

I love my old 512, but being part of this open minded and appreciative geezer and gentle folk minded community, I really love the Gibson ad that showed up on the bottom of this page this time round.

Wow. just wow!

Most of the issues would appear to be cosmetic. The pickguard/soundhole crack is fairly common, but could be indicative of problems in the neck block area. I think the high action is more of a concern than anything else.

This is truly the stuff of dreams and fantasies.

Cheers!

Thanks for the pictures and review! But I would strongly suggest not to do any of the repairs by yourself, this instrument is so rare that I would only trust Kim Keller at Guild to fix the issues. I wouldn't even touch the pickguard. The only serious issue is the crack next to the neck and the soundhole. That one needs attention. Only after it is fixed the neck angle can be evaluated. The damage to the heel cap and the end wedge is not a problem at all and can be easily fixed by a good luthier (or Kim at Guild). The SSN at the back of the headstock can also be filled with fine sawdust in lighter color and touched up with aged and toned lacquer, a good luthier would know suitable techniques to do it.
If you are interested how such repairs in general can be done, have a look at the following links from Frank Ford:
http://www.frets.com/FretsPages/Lut...tural/Cracks/D45FBTopCrack/d45fbtopcrack.html
http://www.frets.com/FretsPages/Luthier/Technique/Guitar/Structural/HeelCap/heelcap.html
http://www.frets.com/FretsPages/Luthier/Technique/Guitar/Structural/NewEndWedge/d28endwedge.html
Anyway, as already recommended by others, a field trip to Kim Keller in NH should be on order.
But mind that lacquer needs many weeks to dry, so whatever repairs you order I would calculate half a year or so where the guitar needs to stay with the luthier or Guild. You need patience for that. But I guess you are prepared for that (and some good money for the repairs), otherwise you would have not bought that F-612. Good luck and I hope you do the right things, in the meantime enjoy it!
Ralf

awagner, you've bought yourself an amazing and rare Guild. Looks to be in fairly good shape for its age. As others have said, and from that photo of the action down lower on the neck I'm thinking neck reset. Out of curiosity, how does it do with the straight-edge test. Take a 24 or so inch straight edge and place it on the fretboard, then slide it down to extend over the soundhole towards the bridge. If it falls much lower than the TOP of the bridge, then you're in neck reset territory.

Once again, congrats on a REALLY legendary Guild!! What a score!

Saw this on e-bay. Glad someone from the forum picked it up.

I thought about bidding, but the SSN carved into the back of the headstock put me off too much. Not sure what if anything can be done about that, but if you come up with something let us know.

AZLiberty said:

...but the SSN carved into the back of the headstock put me off too much. Not sure what if anything can be done about that, but if you come up with something let us know.

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Should be no problem to remove that number. Filling it with matching (lighter) sawdust/superglue and building up a new aged/tinted lacquer finish is one possibility but you still will see the SSN somewhat afterwards, but much less obvious. To completely remove it I would use a fixed Dremel router and rout a thin layer away that covers the entire SSN and put two matching wood veneers (the middle strip and the hog color) in that routed area and afterwards build up an equal looking finish with matching aged/tinted lacquer. A good luthier can do this. But it takes many weeks to finish the individual layers of lacquer but afterwards there would be no trace of the SSN anymore. You still would see there was a repair, but if you document it with pictures you have proof it was not a broken neck or something, in case you want to sell it later again. Those would be my ideas how to address that issue, I am sure there are other suitable fixes. If sent to Kim at Guild I would let him do that anyway.
Ralf

All I can say is, "WOW"!!!!!!

Enjoy the heck out of that incredible axe!

Bill

I took the F612 to Barry Lipman this weekend and here's where we are at:

1. A neck reset is required. Once the neck is removed, the structural issues that caused the crack in the soundhole will be addressed. He thinks he will find a crack internally that extends to the neck block. Since this issue was most likely caused by string tension, I will keep this guitar tuned down to D in perpetuity.

2. The pick guard has come off slightly due to shrinkage, but it is not causing any damage to the guitar, so I am going to keep it as is until it absolutely needs to be replaced.

3. The heel cap and end wedge will be replaced and matched in color with varnish.

4. The guitar will be refretted.

5. We are not going to touch the SS# on the back of the headstock. Any work would be detectable, and would cover an area much larger than where the carvings occurred.

6. Numerous minor cracks will be fixed, as necessary.

It will be a few months before he can even get to the neck reset (which will itself take a few months), so I am holding on to the guitar until he is ready to start the project. In the meantime, I will probably contact Guild and take a trip up there for a second analysis, although I am comfortable with Barry performing the work described above. If they think they can remove the SS#, I might reconsider my position. However, I consider this issue to be a lower priority than the ones that affect the structural integrity and playability of the guitar.

I will probably also take the guitar to Mandolin Bros. to obtain a formal insurance appraisal.

I'm so glad to see that you're doing this restoration! It won't be cheap and it seems like these things always take much longer than the estimated time. But I have no doubt that you will be so pleased. It would be so wrong not to bring this rare wonder back to full function.

Good Luck!

' Strang

I have a feeling that Barry Lipman knows what he does, so good move to contact him! Anyway I would consult Kim Keller at Guild and see what he would propose. He might be able to do it faster than Barry.
Ralf

It's a shame you're not closer to our own Fixit. He has more experience resetting Guild necks than most. Quite possibly more than the guys at NH, and he rarely needs months to get the job done. Nor does he charge glamor rates for honest work.

charliea said:

It's a shame you're not closer to our own Fixit. He has more experience resetting Guild necks than most. Quite possibly more than the guys at NH, and he rarely needs months to get the job done. Nor does he charge glamor rates for honest work.

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Normally I would give a gigantic +1 to what Charlie just said, but I don't know that I'd want to expose a guitar this rare to shipping ever again. If it were me (and there's no bigger fan of Fixit on this forum than myself), I would drive this straight up to New Hartford and let them do the work. A Guild this rare that need this kind of work belongs nowhere else.

awagner said:

....5. We are not going to touch the SS# on the back of the headstock. Any work would be detectable, and would cover an area much larger than where the carvings occurred......

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I am in Ralf's corner here, in that I would not let that SS# remain. With my friend's prized Martin guitar, he had to shave the entire backside of the headstock to remove similar damage done by the previous owner, including the ghosts and holes from numerous tuning machine replacements over the years. He didn't bat a eye to such an intrusive repair, nor the cost, and boasted that his Martin will always be worth ten times the value of my Guilds in any case.....:smiley_simmons: I must say that until he showed me photos of the original damaged headstock, I had no idea that that headstock had ever been damaged.

Tommy