Help valuing this vintage Guild?

[NippleWrestler]

Wassup guys, this is a 1979 Guild D25m. Purchased from House of Guitars in Califon, New Jersey (not by me).

Made in USA, solid spruce top, solid mahogany sides, and the laminated arched mahogany back without bracing for added volume (according to Guild). The neck is one piece mahogany with a rosewood board, potentially Brazilian but 1979 was the transition year so could be, could be not. The bridge is reportedly Brazilian and certainly looks it.

Has a fully nitro finish.

Cosmetically it's not great as you can see. Structurally it's not bad and obviously isn't showroom fresh.









The bridge has been glued down at some stage judging from the missing finish around there. I can't get a feeler gauge around it so it's solid enough despite looking like it does. There are no loose braces. The pickguard has shrunk/buckled and is also coming loose, probably a good thing as they were notorious for pulling the top inward when they shrank being made of actual celluloid.

Action is 2.25mm on the low e and around 1.6mm on the high e. Comfortable stuff. The neck is a bit of a beast.



Neck join seems fine:



Now for the good stuff, the bridge that's ok from a distance but not amazing up close. The bridge pins are ebony though which is nice.





Pickguard, which I will probably lift off and secure properly.





I've done my best to show it looking at its worst with the angle of photo and despite its appearance it sounds big and raw and brash like a Guild should, especially with a pick. Very loud when strummed and responds well to a heavy hand. Playing cowboy chords on this thing is a blast. Zero subtlety, and will make Taylors cry.

So after all that, any ideas where we're at with value? There's not many Guilds about, especially from the original factory so it's hard to gauge. It's perfectly playable, makes a nice tone, looks like it would smoke rollies and drink whisky in a NY subway station and you could probably fend off drunken assailants after a night gig with it.

[robthemac]

$1200-2000 seems to be asking price on Reverb. Given the tanking market it in NZ and condition, $800 maybe?

https://reverb.com/marketplace?query=gu ... hips_to=XX

[Slowy]

I have just filled this slot in my arsenal. If not, I would be very interested in this. I would hope to acquire it for less that $1500 if it had nothing but cosmetic issues.
What I have, which is very comparable to this will ultimately owe me around $1400 when finished.

[Slowy]

$1200-2000 seems to be asking price on Reverb. Given the tanking market it in NZ and condition, $800 maybe?

https://reverb.com/marketplace?query=gu ... hips_to=XX

https://reverb.com/marketplace?query=Gu ... ic-guitars

There must be two Reverbs!

[robthemac]

$1200-2000 seems to be asking price on Reverb. Given the tanking market it in NZ and condition, $800 maybe?

https://reverb.com/marketplace?query=gu ... hips_to=XX

https://reverb.com/marketplace?query=Gu ... ic-guitars

There must be two Reverbs!

I searched for D-25M specifically

[NippleWrestler]

$1200-2000 seems to be asking price on Reverb. Given the tanking market it in NZ and condition, $800 maybe?

https://reverb.com/marketplace?query=gu ... hips_to=XX

https://reverb.com/marketplace?query=Gu ... ic-guitars

There must be two Reverbs!

I searched for D-25M specifically

The M is just the finish code (for mahogany). Looking for D25, expanding it to 'ships to - everywhere' then looking at sold listings throws up a lot of D25Ms that aren't marked as such. And, not very helpfully, values are all over the place. It's fun how some guys pay more for beaten up stuff than pristine, but I wouldn't trust a pristine guitar from the 70s and would wonder why it hadn't been played more.

[StrummersOfThunder]

Yeh reverb seems to show a range from $800-2000 (I may be seeing all wood varieties)
I think k nz is firmly set in a ‘low end’ of the price bracket for all but the most desirable stuff
I’d probably pitch it at $1200 and see where the wind blows

[bender]

Ive been after a rad old guild for a while- let me know if/when he’s keen to sell. I’d be keen to check it out.

[NippleWrestler]

Ive been after a rad old guild for a while- let me know if/when he’s keen to sell. I’d be keen to check it out.

He in this context is me It's my guitar, I'm just not the original purchaser since I wasn't born then. Sorry for that confusion, reading it back it may have been worded a bit shittily.

[olegmcnoleg]

I really love old acoustics, and love the mahogany tone. But I'd be concerned about the break angle and the maxed-out bridge insert. For me, this sets the value. Getting the best out of this guitar could require work? The question then becomes: how does it play now, and how does it sound now? Got any sound clips? How high is the action?

[NippleWrestler]

I really love old acoustics, and love the mahogany tone. But I'd be concerned about the break angle and the maxed-out bridge insert. For me, this sets the value. Getting the best out of this guitar could require work? The question then becomes: how does it play now, and how does it sound now? Got any sound clips? How high is the action?

In backwards order: action is around 2.25/2.5mm on big E and around 1.6mm ish on the high E.

No sound clips but I'm sure I can rustle something up once I change the strings to my preferred elixirs as the Daddario I put on feel very scratchy to me after 10 years with elixirs.

It sounds... Massive I think would be fair to say. It's a very loud thing when you want it to be. The arched back sounds like it does its job well, it just fires volume out the front.

It plays well given the age and the 15 years it spent in the case since the old owner died (I bought it from his son who doesn't play) and is waking up more and more. The old owner was a busker around NZ form what he said. The neck is a big ol thing so I don't think you'll be winning the hot fingers contest any day soon, but it's a vintage Guild, that's not really it's thing. It feels the guys at Rhode Island took great care in shaping the neck up until the 5th fret then just said "yeah that's fine" for the rest. It loves cowboy chords strummed hard. Higher up stuff frets well and cleanly but I find the neck a bit big for prolonged time up there.

After poking around in the guild forums, the high bridge (around 10mm) is a hallmark of this era. They're oversized so they could be shaved down later on. The bridge on my Furch is 7mm, my Yairi was the same, so there's plenty of latitude here to both shave some extra weight off there and restore the break angle. It's already a very loud guitar but I guess that would make it even louder.

[olegmcnoleg]

I really love old acoustics, and love the mahogany tone. But I'd be concerned about the break angle and the maxed-out bridge insert. For me, this sets the value. Getting the best out of this guitar could require work? The question then becomes: how does it play now, and how does it sound now? Got any sound clips? How high is the action?

In backwards order: action is around 2.25/2.5mm on big E and around 1.6mm ish on the high E.

No sound clips but I'm sure I can rustle something up once I change the strings to my preferred elixirs as the Daddario I put on feel very scratchy to me after 10 years with elixirs.

It sounds... Massive I think would be fair to say. It's a very loud thing when you want it to be. The arched back sounds like it does its job well, it just fires volume out the front.

It plays well given the age and the 15 years it spent in the case since the old owner died (I bought it from his son who doesn't play) and is waking up more and more. The old owner was a busker around NZ form what he said. The neck is a big ol thing so I don't think you'll be winning the hot fingers contest any day soon, but it's a vintage Guild, that's not really it's thing. It feels the guys at Rhode Island took great care in shaping the neck up until the 5th fret then just said "yeah that's fine" for the rest. It loves cowboy chords strummed hard. Higher up stuff frets well and cleanly but I find the neck a bit big for prolonged time up there.

After poking around in the guild forums, the high bridge (around 10mm) is a hallmark of this era. They're oversized so they could be shaved down later on. The bridge on my Furch is 7mm, my Yairi was the same, so there's plenty of latitude here to both shave some extra weight off there and restore the break angle. It's already a very loud guitar but I guess that would make it even louder.

Good to know, thanks. So the string height is already in the right ballpark, and I hear you regarding the bridge...there is enough meat for it to be removed, planed and refitted, which will give a better break angle and probably improve both the tone and the volume. But this is not urgent.

it is interesting that your example has such a thick neck. I've played versions of this guitar with really thin necks too. I prefer them thicker.

[NippleWrestler]

You don't need to remove the bridge to shave the top down, it stays on, it gets masked off, top gets planed/sanded. Anything else is just making extra work.

[NippleWrestler]

I really love old acoustics, and love the mahogany tone. But I'd be concerned about the break angle and the maxed-out bridge insert. For me, this sets the value. Getting the best out of this guitar could require work? The question then becomes: how does it play now, and how does it sound now? Got any sound clips? How high is the action?

A couple of very quick recordings, bearing in mind I don't know what I'm doing with recording stuff like this and/or playing haha. Recording acoustics with a vocal mic is a bit of a blind spot but hopefully these work.

here's the URL as the embed code doesn't seem to be working: https://soundcloud.com/the-endless-ocea ... ead-melody

And a mono version with just the single guitar track.

[Jay]

You don't need to remove the bridge to shave the top down, it stays on, it gets masked off, top gets planed/sanded. Anything else is just making extra work.

Is the saddle slot deep enough to allow for that? Or does it needs 'deepening' to maintain saddle support?