D15M......where is the love?

Bonneville88

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1985 D15-12-CH... gone but not forgotten :tears_of_joy:

Photos
TsB5KT.jpg
 

geoguy

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Bonneville, I would be interested in learning how you do such a fine job photographing your guitars!
 

beecee

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Bonneville, I would be interested in learning how you do such a fine job photographing your guitars!



+1

it sure helps with cool guitars to shoot
 
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wileypickett

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1985 D15-12-CH... gone but not forgotten :tears_of_joy:

Photos
TsB5KT.jpg

I have that same guitar -- well, probably not exactly the same one, but same model, same finish. Mine looks brand new. Different animal than the jumbos, which I prefer, but it has its own thing going on, and plenty of authority.
 

cupric

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Yes, Bonneville you take great photos.Good stuff!
Love the D15-12. I had one many moons ago and it was a nice compliment to my D15. Another one I let go and wonder why?
 
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wileypickett

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Yes, Bonneville you take great photos. I had perfected something similar with my mineral photography.....but there's a huge difference in scale. Good stuff!
Love the D15-12. I had one many moons ago and it was a nice compliment to my D15. Another one I let go and wonder why?

Yep, for the money these typically go for, they're a terrific deal IMO. At least when I bought mine (used) it was very cheap.
 

Bonneville88

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Appreciate the comments on the photos... yes, being in love with your subject matter helps :wink:

Setup in the basement is anything but glamorous...

Base under the paper is a 32 x 48 x 3/4 piece of MDF sitting on four 5-gallon buckets.
There's currently 42" wide paper hung on 3 sides minimum, sometimes two additional vertical sections at 45° angles
with a gap for the camera to poke through, illuminated by standard 24 x 48 4-bulb diffused fluorescent fixture in a dropped ceiling.

Sometimes white or black card held in a boom tripod, also generally at an angle to the guitar.

Cropping followed by levels adjustments in photoshop to get a clean background, but not much else.

Guitar is positioned so that the stand is concealed.

Camera is a Canon T5i on a tripod in manual mode, no flash, various bracketing going on but
generally slow shutter speeds.

The D25 in the second photo (Corona-built, fantastic instrument!) was shot without using the additional 45° angled paper
or card in the boom tripod, hence the darkness on the left side of the top of the guitar - which can be ok,
depending on what I'm trying to show.

EPFk7BC.jpg

UnYM7ts.jpg
 
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Bonneville88

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Wileypickett & Bowenite - agreed - inexpensive to buy and my D15-12 had the sweetest, easiest, near-electric action.
Great sounding, so comfortable to play.
Sold mine because I was chasing something else - and now that's for sale too.

It can be an affliction, this Guild madness...
 
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geoguy

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Thanks, Bonneville . . . I greatly appreciate the time you took with that write-up.

That's a remarkably compact stand that you use!
 

cupric

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Thank you Bonneville...great stuff.
Now I want anot her D15-12!!!
 

hearth_man

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Hey Folks,

I'm a bit late to this discussion but I recently picked up a 1984 D15-12 for a crazy low price, less than $400. This guitar is like new, hardly played after 34 years. I've never played a mahogany top guitar much less a 12 string but for that price I had to go for it. I'm a fan of late seventies to early eighties Guilds (pre snake headstock, no offense Mr. Gruhn)

I've had a couple of Guild 12 strings that were great guitars, G212, F212XL, but this mahogany top does something for the blending of the strings that I find wonderful. I'm not one for the 12 string jangle in general. I like a more unified sound, one that sounds more like a chorus of guitars. The mahogany top gives that type of mid range emphasis that I had not heard before.

I am also at a loss as to why this and other older lesser known Guilds are considered of little value. I mean really, how many other high quality American made vintage guitars can you buy for under $1000? I would say that most of the Guilds I've bought over the years, electric and acoustic and basses, were under $1200 in good to great condition. These are guitars that will last you a lifetime.
 

Bonneville88

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You're making me regret selling mine :sentimental:

I'd reason it this way - waning interest in 12-strings of any era by upcoming players, and for those
interested in a 12, who do happen find their way to Guild, the Jumbos cast a big shadow (literally
and figuratively, LOL) rendering everything else an also-ran by degrees. I've owned 4 Westerly-built
dread 12s including the 15, all excellent instruments, and I'm still more inclined to
pick up a dread over a jumbo 12 these days when the 12-string itch needs scratching.

I don't have numbers but I don't think many D15-12s were produced, and I've pondered
why they ever were - guessing for a time Guild felt an lower-priced ("entry-level"?)
dread 12 was needed in the line-up.

I'd buy another in a heartbeat if the price was right, and probably will at some point.
In addition to being a sweet playing, great sounding, well-built guitar, there is to my
eyes an oddly compelling aesthetic austerity to the D15-12 - and D15s in general -
that I'm drawn to - and if you like looking and looking some more, good chance
you might end up owning :love-struck:
 
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adorshki

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I don't have numbers but I don't think many D15-12s were produced,
S/n charts suggest about 211 between '83 and '85 (last s/n on record EL100211)with 26 D17/12's thrown in.
That is pretty low.
http://guildguitars.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/history_of_your_guild.pdf

and I've pondered why they ever were - guessing for a time Guild felt an lower-priced ("entry-level"?)
dread 12 was needed in the line-up.
Interesting question because both F112 and D212 (D25-12) were available prior to (F112) and concurrently with the D15/12.
I think they saw a potential demand for the hog-top 12 but apparently there wasn't enough to keep it in production compared to the D212.
For that matter it looks like the D212 only ran about 3 years itself before being dropped for 3 years until the D15-12 was brought in.
There were D4-12's, too.
But they never brought back the F112 (or any F30-sized 12 under another number) that I can see.
I think that probably reflects the big shift in demand to dreadnought bodies.
 
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adorshki

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Thanks Al!

Yeah, for all the glitches there's a lot of interesting stuff to be found in the records, and I think the "good info" actually far outweighs the goofs.
Only wish we could actually see model breakouts for those periods when only the s/n's themselves are available, but then that's one of the reasons we love having Hans around!
 
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