RARE 1957 Guild F-30 Sunburst - Hoboken Built New York Era Vintage Acoustic Guitar

Hello Reverb,

Up for sale is my vintage 1957 Guild F-30 steel string acoustic guitar.

1957 Guild

This is a very, very rare iteration of the mainstay Guild F30 model from the original run of the guitar. In 1957, Guild had just moved their factory from New York City to Hoboken, New Jersey -- so this would be from the first year of production in their then new Newark Street location. As a result, this particular F-30 is closer to the first New York Guilds in construction than later ones.

For example, note the "open book" Gibson-style headstock shape, as opposed to the "tombstone" shape seen on Guilds after the early 60s. There's also the extremely rare G inlay without the background 'shield' commonly seen on the G-Shield-style headstock inlay. Though Hans Moust writes about this, I've never encountered another Guild with this.

It also has the pre "Ghost Label" New York guitar body style label, identical to the first Guilds from their NYC days, except with Hoboken, NJ named on the bottom of the label.

This guitar also features the three-piece neck, with a strip running down the back, common among Guilds of this era.

Additionally, this F-30 features the DuPont Pyralin ivoroid binding used by many guitar manufacturers of this era. This is white binding, as opposed to the tortoise shell binding they changed over to in the early sixties builds.

The body is also thinner than my 1964 F-30, as they changed this spec as time went on and made this model deeper.

The finish is the original desirable light sunburst, more a vintage cherryish sunburst, not the tobacco burst this one also comes in.

About this particular F-30

Now, you're probably thinking that this guitar has seen a lot of action -- it's got a lot of cosmetic wear (henceforth known as "MOJO"). I purchased it restored by master luthier Marc Silber. You can Google him -- he's a guy currently out in the Berkeley, San Francisco area of California who has sold guitars to Bob Dylan and others, and makes his own line of guitars. He runs a vintage guitar museum / shop there, and I bought it from there.

Marc told me the guitar was owned by a local San Francisco street musician, so it has been played out regularly through its life.

As a result, the top sounds open and the guitar is extremely resonant.

The restoration for this included regluing the binding and probably the celluloid pickguard, both of which are known to shrink on these old Guilds. I think it likely had a neck reset then, too, which has helped the action. It also looks like he touched up the headstock with some black to blend any areas where wood was exposed under the veneer. I think he probably reglued all the braces, since they're rock solid, but I can't be sure about that. At some point the bridge (and very likely) saddle were also replaced, as a Guild bridge from this era has a different shape and a through saddle.

The Good

• Tone for days. This is one of the best-sounding acoustic guitars I've ever heard or owned. It has a deep, mellow tone with powerful lows that give you that classic Guild / Martin-esque chest thump.
  
•  Playability is good for a guitar of this age. Action measures approximately 2.25mm at the twelfth fret on the low E, about 2.0mm at high e.
  
• Rarity. If you're a Guild collector, this is an extremely early example from their glory days. It would have been built by the same guys building the first Guilds in NYC. It represents the one of the first configurations of the famous and desirable F-30 model. Even rarer finish, especially considering the age, as opposed to the natural finish. This is a piece of Guild history.
  
• Small body -- big, great sound. Lightweight.
  
• Restored by a famous, experienced luthier, so a lot of issues that would normally pop up have been stabilized.
  
• Mojo that don't quit. It may be rode hard, but this guitar looks cool as hell in my opinion, and has actually been played a lot in its long life. The finish and woods look beautiful.
  
• No major cracks. There are one or two that were glued by Marc Silber, but none that are open. There is one in the lower right bout on the front, see picture. No headstock breaks or the like.
  

The Bad

• Bridge was replaced. Not a bad thing in that through saddles more difficult to work with.
  
• Tuners were replaced with Schallers, which work really well. The originals would have been button-style vintage tuners.
  
• There was a little belly forming at the bridge, but it still played fine. There was no bridge lift, but a little tilt, so I added a JLD Bridge Doctor underneath to stop this before it shifted any, which is why it has brass bridge pins. This got rid of the belly. The Bridge Doctor is not engaged very tightly. If you don't want it, you can easily reverse this by removing the brass pins and using the included non-original vintage bridge pins that will come with the guitar. If you do this, I'd recommend using light gauge strings and monitoring for belly. I also shimmed the saddle with one of Bob Colosi's ebony shims, as the Bridge Doctor reduced the belly and lowered the action a lot, so you may need to lower the saddle to your liking if you remove the Bridge Doctor.
  
• There is some pitting in the first several frets and a little on the fretboard. You could get the frets crowned and leveled and the fretboard smoothed out for a little better feel.
  
• The neck is relatively straight, but there's some slight relief to it, and the truss rod still works fine, but is currently engaged pretty far. It may need a neck reset in the future, but the geometry is currently good enough to get low action as mentioned above. As with any vintage guitar, you might need to do some work to get the action where you prefer it, but I like it low, and it's playable for me (but not as smooth as my modern Taylor, for example).
  
• Non-original hardshell case.
  

The Ugly

• Cosmetically worn. Please see the many pictures for clear detail. It has lacquer checking throughout, a couple smaller glued cracks or dings, and a lot of pick wear around the soundhole where the finish has worn off. There are scuffs and marks, and this should be considered players condition for sure.
  
• The celluloid tortoiseshell pickguard is peeling a little around the edges, common on these as they tend to shrink. Looks like Marc reglued the original guard back down so the wood underneath would not be affected.
  
• The brass pins are part of the JLD Bridge Doctor, but can be replaced with the regular white bridge pins that this guitar came to me with.
  
• Some of the original plastic binding has been replaced, but a lot of it is still intact.
  

I realize this is a ton of info, but provided in the spirit of full disclosure. This is a very old guitar that has seen a lot of experience, so I want to be sure any buyers know this. You may need to put some work into it in the future, but it is playable out the box. Since it's a vintage guitar, please note it is sold as is, with no expressed or implied warranties or guarantees, and has been described to the best of my ability. I am selling it because I have a beat up old 1964 Guild F-30 which is worth a bit less, so I'd rather see this piece of history go to someone who will pick it up more regular than I am. With that said, it's extremely cool and historic, it sounds amazing, and plays well. 

Send any questions my way. Thanks for looking, and bless you if you read through this whole thing.