1978 Guild D-40

adorshki

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Ah good catch! I'll remedy that asap. Also, I asked him about the saddle pins and he said they were all original. I'll see if the 12's fit or not. It's a TUSQ brand, so some sort of hard polymer?
Yep, but I think it's supposed to be as workable as bone or micarta, that was my initial concern.
 

sitka.bc

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I guess since it was cut for Extra Light strings, opening it up for Lights shouldn't be a problem. How much does it cost/time for a luthier to widen them? I'll try 12s.
 

mavuser

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beautiful D-40, congrats and enjoy! 1978 is the peak of the mountain
 

adorshki

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I guess since it was cut for Extra Light strings, opening it up for Lights shouldn't be a problem. How much does it cost/time for a luthier to widen them? I'll try 12s.

Never dealt with it myself, but .012's might be close enough that work's needed Ideally you don't want 'em riding too proud of the slot, like just clearing the top, but the slots do look pretty tight in the pic.
I think all it really takes is a little work with nut files, but that's a fine art. If you cut a slot too deep I'm guessing that probably ruins the whole nut, with Tusq.
It occurs to me it might take a few passes, too, as he may want to do a bit a time until it gets just deep enough.
I wouldn't blink if a guy told me $25.00, knowing it was delicate precision work?
Other members might have better insight, and "standard rates" vary in different regions.
Example if I asked for an installed and set-up bone nut here in Silicon Valley I'd expect to hear at least $50.00 from the guy I'd trust to do it right.
 

sitka.bc

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Here's a demo, I haven't switched the 11's to 12's

https://soundcloud.com/kingsound87/guild-d-40-demo

This may be totally off, but I've seen somebody open up a nut slot by just taking the wound string of the new gauge and using it to file the slot to size using the string width as the guide. I have no idea if that's even appropriate but just a thought. I won't be doing that FYI!
 
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Rayk

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I love this guitar, just picked it up and spent an hour on it. Very responsive to light flat picking, and you can really strum hard on it and it doesn't break up. When it comes to finger style, it's so well balanced across the strings, almost like a piano. The neck is a thicker profile that feels like my Gibson J-50, but has a very subtle V-point which I like. Frets are clean and it's fast to play yet comfortable to chord on. The tuners are very smooth and accurate. Very happy going with Guild for my second acoustic. The case is also in pretty nice shape. Some pics:

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OMG those photos are just plain sexy !
The silking is crazy nuts no pun intended but at the same time the word sexy should be removed from the above sentence!
Ya know as crazy as I am about silking none of my guilds shine in that area , hmmmmmmm .
 

sitka.bc

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Wow, I just had to look up what silking is and now that I look at the guitar in the photos, you see all these medullary rays!!! That's cool :) So does it affect tone or just strength of the top?

Also, any idea where Guild sourced their Sitka spruce and mahogany in the 70s? I think I read an article that the Sitka spruce is from the Pacific Northwest. How about the mahogany and rosewood? The build quality is actually better than my 2007 Gibson J50, and I think that guitar sounds and plays nicely too.

Lastly, the label on the inside, the top edge is starting to peel off. What's the best way to re-affix it?
 
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Rayk

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Wow, I just had to look up what silking is and now that I look at the guitar in the photos, you see all these medullary rays!!! That's cool :) So does it affect tone or just strength of the top?

Also, any idea where Guild sourced their Sitka spruce and mahogany in the 70s? I think I read an article that the Sitka spruce is from the Pacific Northwest. How about the mahogany and rosewood? The build quality is actually better than my 2007 Gibson J50, and I think that guitar sounds and plays nicely too.

Lastly, the label on the inside, the top edge is starting to peel off. What's the best way to re-affix it?

Sorcing is top secret Errrrrr got me lol
Silking is a and has been a up in air thing tonaly but if you ask me .... it kicks *** and it’s visible pleasing though some might take it another level lmao :)
I like it so you get Ags seal of a proval ! Lol
 

Bonneville88

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Sweet D40, congrats!! Damn good demo too, very demonstrative of
the expressive sound & tone of the guitar!
 
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sitka.bc

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Haha I snuck in Stairway to get some reactions ;)

This guitar is a classic rock acoustic riff machine, yet can do the subtle finger picked stuff just as easily.
 
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F312

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OMG those photos are just plain sexy !
The silking is crazy nuts no pun intended but at the same time the word sexy should be removed from the above sentence!
Ya know as crazy as I am about silking none of my guilds shine in that area , hmmmmmmm .

Well, you know what to do about that.

Ralph
 

F312

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The Guild sound is loud and clear, enjoy.

Ralph
 

marius

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I feel like I’m missing something. I don’t see silking in the photos. Not saying it’s not there but the photos seem too low res to see it. Maybe in the original seller’s photo of the top scratch?
 

sitka.bc

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I feel like I’m missing something. I don’t see silking in the photos. Not saying it’s not there but the photos seem too low res to see it. Maybe in the original seller’s photo of the top scratch?

If you look at the last picture, you see squiggly wavy lines perpendicular to the grain.
 

Tico

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My first Guild was a c. 1974 D-40, bought new.
I sold it in 1977 to help pay for my current D-55.

That D-40 was a superb guitar.
I wish I could have kept mine. :chargrined:

Great guitar there, great condition, great price.
Enjoy.
 
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adorshki

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Wow, I just had to look up what silking is and now that I look at the guitar in the photos, you see all these medullary rays!!! That's cool :) So does it affect tone or just strength of the top?
It's actually primarily a cosmetic (grading) thing and is due largely to how the planks are cut from the logs ("quartersawn" being ideal) but there is a school of thought that along with "tight grain" it indicates denser (stronger) wood.
Means you can make a slightly thinner top, resonates better.
That's actually what makes Adirondack spruce desirable, but there's no evidence they used Adi until Tacoma, and it probably wasn't readily available until then anyway.
Over the last couple of years of seeing so many for sale listings, I've just realized that Guild tops in general were just always pretty d--n gorgeous, and at least starting in the '70, thanks largely to the efforts of their buyer Willie Fritscher:
http://www.westerlyguildguitars.com/articles/woodselection.pdf

Also, any idea where Guild sourced their Sitka spruce and mahogany in the 70s? I think I read an article that the Sitka spruce is from the Pacific Northwest. How about the mahogany and rosewood?
Re Sitka, see the note above about Willie.
I think the issue was more about the skill of the buyer/grader as opposed to specific source locations within the range.
Mahogany was most likely what's known as Honduran but is found in a range in Central America, Honduras was just probably the most common source at the time, up through late '90's when they did need to start looking for more sources.
Rosewood in '70's just about guaranteed to be East Indian. Again, it was just the most common source at the time.
Last known "regular production" use of Brazilian was '73 (?; or '74, don't remember for sure right now) on D50's that actually had mixed backs and sides of Braz and EIR.
Full Brazilian backs and sides very rare after '69, suspect they saved it for the top-of-the line models D55 And F50R for the next couple of years 'til they couldn't do it anymore.
Thus the mixed D50's.

Lastly, the label on the inside, the top edge is starting to peel off. What's the best way to re-affix it?
Think were actually put on with hide glue but a little slightly watered-down Elmer's should be be fine
 
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