1957 Guild Aristocrat in super solid player shape. Had this up on Reverb long ago, almost sold it, decided to play/love/keep it for a while longer. Now it's back up here and ready to move on.

Bought it with a broken headstock maybe fifteen years ago. Repair done back then by Geoff Benge, a renowned guitar builder/fixer/luthier in Chicago. 100% solid since, pro work.

Original Franz pickups--*great* sound. Franz PUs are pretty variable, and whoever was in the shop were on their game on this particular shift of winding work. Original knobs and tuners, I believe.

The pickguard is a replacement. The pics show a missing strap peg on butt of guitar--it is NOT missing anymore...replaced. Binding was reattached by Geoff and is totally stable (see pix--normal kind of gapping).

The bridge is a new one cut by Geoff to get the guitar intonated properly. It's remarkably in tune.

The frets are in great shape. I think they are original. If someone refretted it, they did a great job.

Finish is typically aged and crazed, looks great to me. Lovely burst as you can see.

Some nimrod put tiny marker dots in Sharpie on the face of the guitar, by each knob. To mark his dumb settings, I guess. I bet they'd come off, but I didn't care about them and didn't want to mess with the finish. You can see one in the main picture.

Plays like a freaking dream all up and down the neck. Set up really well. Sounds awesome.

#4330 on back of headstock.
I was told it was a '57 when I bought it.
Seems about right, looking at other guitars.

The case...it might be the original case. It might be a year or two later.
It's an Aristocrat case. Fits perfectly. The lower back edge of the case is busted up a bit. I think you can see it in the pic. Totally functional and latches fine. Nice interior.
I *can* swap it out for a newer, more padded Gator case that I was using when I played it out.
If you're picking it up, maybe we can do both cases as part of the deal.

This guitar destroys the reissues, and a less-worn one of this vintage with a pristine headstock would be more. I don't think there are too many player-grade old Aristocrats around. If you want one to use like a normal guitar, this is it.