1974 Guild F50 pawnshop find

DADGAD

Junior Member
Joined
Jan 10, 2018
Messages
24
Reaction score
0
That strap button on the side of the neck heel is my preferred location. My Taylor is that way and it works great. I’ll have to think about what to do with the F50, if anything.

Regarding the finish on my guitar, the back and neck are a solid shade. The side of the body are sort of sunburst shading. It’s very pretty in person.
 

Rampix

Junior Member
Joined
Sep 2, 2012
Messages
25
Reaction score
0
Right you are, Al. My F40sb has the the light burst on the front,, back and sides. I've been comparing the pics of DADGAD's F50 to my F40 and noting the differences in the upgraded model. The most obvious are the gorgeous flamed back and the addition of the pink triangular inlays in the blocks on the fretboard. Both have bound bodies and necks, but the 50 has additional purfling. My 40 doesn't have a bound headstock, and has the chesterfield headstock inlay vs. the shield on the 50. Mine has gold Grovers, but they are not original.

I have the owner's manual and it is stamped M-450 Phospor Bronze regarding the original strings.

I'd love to hear these two played together, I'm thinking it would be a wall of acoustic sound!
 

adorshki

Reverential Member
Joined
Aug 21, 2009
Messages
34,176
Reaction score
6,790
Location
Sillycon Valley CA
Right you are, Al. My F40sb has the the light burst on the front,, back and sides. I've been comparing the pics of DADGAD's F50 to my F40 and noting the differences in the upgraded model. The most obvious are the gorgeous flamed back and the addition of the pink triangular inlays in the blocks on the fretboard. Both have bound bodies and necks, but the 50 has additional purfling. My 40 doesn't have a bound headstock, and has the chesterfield headstock inlay vs. the shield on the 50. Mine has gold Grovers, but they are not original.

I have the owner's manual and it is stamped M-450 Phospor Bronze regarding the original strings.

I'd love to hear these two played together, I'm thinking it would be a wall of acoustic sound!

HI Rampix: This might just be a "semantic" thing, but I consider the F50 to be a different family than an F40, because F50 has 17" lower bout, F40's were always 16" lower bout.
Until Cordoba recently decided that henceforth F40 will be based on the short-lived F48 which would have been like a "downgraded F50", 17" lower bout.
F47's were the F40's that had F50 appointments.
 
Last edited:

Rampix

Junior Member
Joined
Sep 2, 2012
Messages
25
Reaction score
0
Interesting Al, I hadn't even thought about the size difference. I always learn something new in these conversations. Now I'll pay more attention to the F47's if/when I see one.

Thanks for the info...semantics matter
 

adorshki

Reverential Member
Joined
Aug 21, 2009
Messages
34,176
Reaction score
6,790
Location
Sillycon Valley CA
Interesting Al, I hadn't even thought about the size difference. I always learn something new in these conversations. Now I'll pay more attention to the F47's if/when I see one.

Thanks for the info...semantics matter

I mentioned it because even a couple of guys I expected to know better didn't realize that.
Also , to be fair, I might be wrong about the F47 getting a G-shield, I'm gonna have to go back to Hans' book where I think he mentioned that F47's originally got F50 style necks.
I might be misremembering a response to a question about what Richie Haven's lead guitarist was playing at Woodstock.
Ah, here we are:
latest

I originally thought it was an F50, missing the fact it had no G-shield, now I realize Hans may have actually id'd it as an F48 (I was thinking F47).
Don't have the book handy here, I'll try to remember to check it tonight when I get home.
 

sailingshoes72

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 26, 2014
Messages
1,477
Reaction score
414
Location
Virginia, USA
Been following this thread. The original "Bluegrass" F-47 was introduced in 1964, it replaced the discontinued F-40. It had the same appointments as the F-40. The difference was a change to mahogany back and sides. Previously the F-40 had an arched maple back and maple sides. The F-40 was reintroduced in 1973 as a "Bluegrass" model ( I don't know if the reintroduced model had maple or mahogany B & S). The F-47 was discontinued in 1975.
 

adorshki

Reverential Member
Joined
Aug 21, 2009
Messages
34,176
Reaction score
6,790
Location
Sillycon Valley CA
Been following this thread. The original "Bluegrass" F-47 was introduced in 1964, it replaced the discontinued F-40. It had the same appointments as the F-40. The difference was a change to mahogany back and sides. Previously the F-40 had an arched maple back and maple sides. The F-40 was reintroduced in 1973 as a "Bluegrass" model ( I don't know if the reintroduced model had maple or mahogany B & S). The F-47 was discontinued in 1975.

YES thank you "Shoes" !
I did look that up this AM but forgot to update the thread.
Also realized it must be an F47 at Woodstock because F48 didn't exist yet, a-a--a-a-nd:
VERY early F40s actually did get G-shields but still not quite as fancy a headstock as the F50's.
F47's only ever got chesterfields, through '75 at least.
Not sure when it was re-introduced but it did get revived, and the versions I've seen all have chesterfields.
Revived F40 got arched maple back like the original.
 

West R Lee

Venerated Member
Joined
Nov 19, 2005
Messages
17,740
Reaction score
2,662
Location
East Texas
'Did I do good"? Man, that's one of those dream finds. I've always sort of had this dream of walking into a garage sale and finding a mint, early 40's Martin. That's what this reminds me of. Congratulations.

West
 

gjmalcyon

Senior Member
Gold Supporting
Joined
Feb 6, 2011
Messages
4,179
Reaction score
2,417
Location
Gloucester County, NJ
Guild Total
13
Not sure when it was re-introduced but it did get revived, and the versions I've seen all have chesterfields.
Revived F40 got arched maple back like the original.

Tacoma produced maple and rosewood F-47's, and I think West Hartford continued them, yes?

Don't know about Corona....
 

adorshki

Reverential Member
Joined
Aug 21, 2009
Messages
34,176
Reaction score
6,790
Location
Sillycon Valley CA
Tacoma produced maple and rosewood F-47's, and I think West Hartford continued them, yes?

Don't know about Corona....
Connecting the dots between price lists posted on Westerlyguildguitars.com and other known history, I think they lasted at least until '83 or '84, when Gruhn was approached to design 4 new models, 2 dreads and 2 F bodies, which begat the F44 and F46 seen on the '86 list.
On 87 list we see the introduction of the "GF" 's, all of which have the definitive 16" lower bout that makes me think these filled the F40 niche in the offering, in all 3 tone woods many different woods with both flat and arched back options in 'hog and maple.
It looks to me like the most extensive offering of F40 variants they ever listed at once.
F45ce was also present in '85 at least as Acornhouse can attest, and I think that lead to F47 coming back in early '90's, but when you look closely it looks like all those "F--CE" a/e cutaway guitars are based on the F40 "16 lower bout F body.
While the 47 specifically is absent from the '96 and 97 ctalogs, it was present on the 2001 list ,and was offered in Corona as well.
And New Hartford.
SO.....not to steal the thunder from our new members' find, but the 16" lower bout F40 is actually a Guild staple that they've revived in many forms over the years.
 

jylarkin

Junior Member
Joined
Nov 17, 2014
Messages
22
Reaction score
2
DADGAD, I don't know if anyone mentioned this earlier, but the F-50 is truly one of Guild's iconic models. Many folks got their minds blown when they eventually got to play one of these instruments, and it made them Guildphiles for life. There are other "jumbos" out there, but none of them sound like the F-50.


chazmo, you're so right. If was the F-50 which made me first fall in love with Jumbos, Maple, and Guilds more than 30 years ago!

John
 

DADGAD

Junior Member
Joined
Jan 10, 2018
Messages
24
Reaction score
0
Showed the F50NT to a friend this week. He used to own one like it but sold it in order to buy a Gibson J200. To this day, he regrets that decision.

Wednesday night, I led a group of fourty or so adults in song with the Guild. It was plenty loud and sounded heavenly. Whatta guitar! Wow!
 
Top