1979 D50 - Brazilian or Indian Rosewood

I am aware of a 1979 D50SB for sale, but the owner does not know if it is Brazilian or Indian rosewood, and the photos appear to be inconclusive.
Does anybody know if by 1979 they had stopped Brazilian. I would guess that to be the case, but does anyone know when the change took place. My 1964 is certainly Brazilian.
I would appreciate any thoughts.
K

1979 would be East Indian Rosewood. I have seen some regular production Guilds as late as 1970 made with Brazilian RW Back and sides but most of that was phased out and changed to East Indian RW back and sides during the late 60's. There was a short period in the 70's where Guild had some nicely figured East Indian Rosewood and used it on D50's among other models. I have seen people misidentify that Figured EIR as Brazilian but it is EIR none the less. Guild did use Brazilian RW for Bridges and Fretboards well into the 70's to use up their stock that they already had on hand but pieces big enough for back and sides were all pretty much gone by 1970.

Guild did however produce a 50th Anniversary 2003 D55 model that was limited to 50 guitars that had Brazilian RW back and sides. There are only three other Modern Guilds that I know of that were made with Brazilian RW Back and sides. One was made around 2003 by Master builder Chris Fleming out of the Corona Custom shop which I own and it is a F47 model. The other two I know of were made during the Tacoma, Wa. era in the F47 body style and one was given to Matt Umanov of Umanov Guitars in NY by Fender. The other went to a High up Fender Exec from what I have heard. Hope that info helps and Welcome to LTG!

TX

Keith, welcome aboard!

Yeah, if it's a '79, it's Indian.

FYI, Tx's post is right on the money except that there were some early '70s guitars with Brazilian sides and Indian backs, and a few that had Brazilian backs as well. The "transition" wasn't entirely clear.

chazmo said:

Keith, welcome aboard!

Yeah, if it's a '79, it's Indian.

FYI, Tx's post is right on the money except that there were some early '70s guitars with Brazilian sides and Indian backs, and a few that had Brazilian backs as well. The "transition" wasn't entirely clear.

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Right, we've seen D50's as late as '73 with mixed backs/sides.
And they even had Brazilian bridges into the '80's, "IIRC". Pretty sure Hans posted a photo of some he had, original Westerly replacement parts, a while back.

Very few guitars were made with Brazilian after the sixties. I'm surprised there were any Guilds as late as '73. They must have just been using up what they had in stock or could get their hands on.

Charlie Bernstein said:

Very few guitars were made with Brazilian after the sixties. I'm surprised there were any Guilds as late as '73. They must have just been using up what they had in stock or could get their hands on.

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Yes that's the point, the backs and sides were mixed on those late D50's because they ran out of suitable size blocks for one before the other, but still had a lot of stuff suitable for fretboards, and bridges in particular, for a l-o-o-o-ng time. But '73's the latest I recall for body wood, maybe '74, not positive about that like I am about '73.
Not that I haven't been wrong when I was sure, before, either, but I've got a pretty good percentage... :friendly_wink: