Guild GMA-CE Ukelele

Bonneville88

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Wondering the same thing... if it is the real deal, how the heck does this move into the
public domain the way it has? A very-finished looking instrument just shows up
on OfferUp or Reddit one day... no known prior appearances, at least that
we've found as of yet...
 
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SFIV1967

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tiny possibility it was a fairly recent one off/prototype for something not put into production...or a complete fake...
This doesn't look like a fake to me. That's a real Guild Uke, produced in China I'd say.

Curious how some individual can get an odd prototype like this. Do they give them away to staff in California?
CMGs office is in Santa Monica. And Glendale isn't too far. It might have been a trial for something that management decided against at the end. Think about how many different prototype versions from different factories they made for the new Jetstar. And who knows which way it took. Strange but possible.

I think this might be the same exact one. I traded a Kala U-Bass with someone in/near the Glendale area, thinking if it's a Guild, it's got to be good. I went home, wasn't able to find any info, and so...here I am.
Welcome to LTG! What an entrance! It is the same Uke by the way if you compare the grain of the top wood. The soundhole pickup is a Guild marked pickup as far as I see. Interesting as well.
My guess for that one-off Uke would be mid to late 2016 or early 2017 as manufacturing date.

Did you look inside the body if there is a second label on the neck heel? It could show the Country of Origin at least, well, I bet China. Maybe even more info there. Indeed the whole Uke looks different from Cordoba's Ukuleles as well different from Fenders Ukuleles. I like it a lot!
The label is like the production label from the new arched back guitars where I am not sure which factory in China makes them.

003_1706.jpg


And no, I have no explanation for the GMA-CE model number. "Guild MAhogany-Concert Electric" or so...

Ralf
 
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chazmo

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Yup, I agree with you guys... It's legit, but just a prototype, I guess, since Guild isn't talking about it.

Welcome aboard, akumaninja
 

akumaninja

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Did you look inside the body if there is a second label on the neck heel? It could show the Country of Origin at least, well, I bet China. Maybe even more info there. Indeed the whole Uke looks different from Cordoba's Ukuleles as well different from Fenders Ukuleles. I like it a lot!
The label is like the production label from the new arched back guitars where I am not sure which factory in China makes them.


And no, I have no explanation for the GMA-CE model number. "Guild MAhogany-C Electric" doesn't make too much sense...
Maybe we simply have to wait for Summer NAMM.

Ralf

Thanks everyone for chiming in to help me solve this mystery! And thanks for welcoming me in. I'm a bass player, so I always thought my first guild would be an acoustic bass--been lusting after one ever since Alice in Chains Unplugged. But here we are with a weirdo/prototype/one-off/something uke instead!

I hadn't thought to look at the neck heel--for obvious reasons, it's difficult to get a picture, but I'll try in a minute--but I was shocked to find a SERIAL NUMBER!

It says:

Guild
SERIAL NUMBER
G2150977
Made in China

:O
 

SFIV1967

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Great. So that is the Chinese factory that I had called as "G2", same as the 200 series archback models. The 15 behind indicates a 2015 manufacturing date. So no hope for Summer NAMM 2018 obviously. Looks like it was a one-off prototype.

Here's a picture of a 2017 made D-240E, same label just 5 digits now behind the year:

G21707338-serial-large.jpg




And the pickup seems to be the same Guild AP-1 pickup which is also used in the 200 series guitars: (The pictures are large, I just post a link):

In your case it shows Volume and Tone, the one on Reverb showed Volume and Bass, maybe it came from the Jumbo Junior Bass:

https://images.reverb.com/image/upl...0,w_1600/v1491759057/d6nkyz7njzx7z2myqpxq.jpg

https://images.reverb.com/image/upl...0,w_1600/v1491759060/sngnhxe3mdchazf8rfml.jpg

https://images.reverb.com/image/upl...0,w_1600/v1491759060/tiybzaxkuwtltaqzn6c7.jpg



Ralf
 
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akumaninja

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Ahh makes sense. I looked at Guild’s serial number decoding doc, and I couldn’t figure it out. Thanks!
 

AZLiberty

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What size uke is it? Looks like a Concert size not a Soprano. In which case -CE probably equals Concert/Electric
 

Stuball48

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Welcome to LTG and give us your opinion of how it sounds? If it sounds as good as it looks, it's a "keeper."
 

adorshki

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Ahh makes sense. I looked at Guild’s serial number decoding doc, and I couldn’t figure it out. Thanks!
That doc only applies to USA production.
Originally, the MIC guitars ("instruments") were actually managed entirely by Fender Corporate and none of the documentation was in Guild's hands, nor was any of the actual product.
I'm realizing that was actually made during the period when Cordoba had already purchased Guild but hadn't begun US production yet.
And yes I'm kind of surprised it has an s/n, too.
Makes me wonder if in fact there was an actual "run" of them even though it's the only one we've ever seen.
I do consider Ralf to be our resident expert on Guild's Chinese sourcing, though.
He's done some great detective work ID'ing the likely factories.
 

12 string

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Amazing the way you guys figured it out!

' Strang
 

akumaninja

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Update: I decided to have this uke confirmed by Guild.

"Having shared these photos and serial with my Products team, I can confirm this to be an unreleased prototype; whiel not a on-off, it is onbe of only a handful of prototypes."

"This uke looks to be made entirely of Mahogany; likely why it is call GMA-CE, wherein MA stands for Mahogany."
 
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