Up for sale is a very rare Guild M-65 DP - the suffix standing for "double pickup". This is a factory-original 2-pickup variant, not a later modification. The guitar is all original except for the bridge saddle and in great condition, with just some scattered nicks around the edges. These tuners were not standard hardware on any Guild model, but they are correct for the period and there is no evidence that other tuners were ever installed. The serial dates to late 1960. Action is great, neck plays fine, the guitar is very playable right now. It comes with its original hard case.
Think of it as an Aristocrat light - with a much lighter price than an Aristocrat as well: I'm asking $ including Paypal fees and shipping within the US. I'll consider partial trades that come with at least $1K in cash; there's nothing in particular that I'm looking for, but let me know what you have.
Last edited by Noah Miller on 10 Dec 2016 5:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.
PS Folks, the 2-pup version is extremely rare. These are harder than hen's teeth to find. If you're tempted, strike while you have the chance. You might never see another one.
Steel crazy after all these years.
$100 reward for info leading to the purchase of a fender D8 white, yellow, or butterscotch.
There are a handful of these out there known to exist - but only a handful; it's not clear whether they were custom-ordered or just an attempt by Guild to create a new product.
I'm convinced that the tuners are original. I took off one side to check, and they had made a firm impression into the finish, but there was no mark from another set of tuners. I'm skeptical about the bridge saddle simply because it's a piece of Gibson hardware; Guild did use hardware from other manufacturers (particularly Hagstrom) but I've never seen them use Gibson components.
The biggest differences are that this guitar has f-holes and a maple top, while the Artistocrat had no f-holes and a spruce top. This guitar also has dot markers and nickel/chrome hardware, while the Aristocrat had block markers and gold hardware. The Aristocrat also had a more ornate headstock veneer.
In terms of pickups, wiring, neck profile and sound, this guitar is identical to the Aristocrat.
I currently own a M-65 and have had one other in the past. Both have the guild logo in gold script and a single P-90 type pickup at the neck with a white cover.
The original tuners on both were cheap row tuners (3 per strip/side)and had white plastic buttons.
The bridge on both was wood and had a wood base. The bridge in the picture is a replacement.
The routes for both pickups should be identical... rounded on all four corners to the same radius as the corners of the pickup covers and not square or close to square... would like to see a frontal close up of the bridge pickup and a frontal close up the neck pickup.
Guild may have shipped the occasional M-65 with a wooden bridge base, but at least the vast majority of them shipped with the "cup" feet shown on this guitar. The saddle was noted to be a replacement in my original post.
Noah Miller wrote:Guild may have shipped the occasional M-65 with a wooden bridge base, but at least the vast majority of them shipped with the "cup" feet shown on this guitar. The saddle was noted to be a replacement in my original post.
My current M-65 and the one that I previously owned have/had wood bases.
I currently own 9 Guild Hollow Body guitars and have owned at least a half dozen more in the past. The woods bases on the M-65 I own/owned were original to the guitars. No offense.
