Guild D40 Natural 1964

A vintage Guild is, of course, always an interesting guitar, but this 1964 dreadnought has some very special specifications that make it truly unique!

At first glance, we appear to be dealing with a traditional dreadnought, but nothing could be further from the truth! Hidden beneath the spruce top is an experimental bracing, more closely resembling fan bracing in shape rather than the traditional X-bracing. In the 1960s, Guild built a few guitars with this bracing.

Due to this bracing, the guitar's sound is distinctly different from what we are used to from a dreadnought. For instance, the guitar has less volume, and the bass is less prominent. However, the guitar does have good sustain, and interesting overtones are present when the chords ring out. In terms of playability, this Guild is also unique; the neck is quite wide and, like a classical guitar, has a flat fingerboard.

As mentioned earlier, this Guild D40 was built in 1964 and comes from the factory in Hoboken, where Guild produced its guitars from 1956 to 1967 after the New York City location became too small.

The pickguard crack, common in vintage guitars, between the pickguard and the bridge has been repaired using internal cleats. Furthermore, a few dings on the top have been filled in, after which the finish in those areas has been touched up. Some spots in the lacquer on the bass side of the body have also been touched up, as well as on the back of the neck.

The guitar is currently playable, but given the somewhat lower bridge saddle, it could benefit from a neck reset in the future. A refret was performed at some point, but the guitar still features its original Grover tuners, pickguard, and bridge, and comes in its original Guild hardshell case.

This instrument has been carefully inspected for originality, condition and playability, then set up to our Gold Standard by a luthier. We make sure it arrives in your hands exactly as it should: sounding its best, playing effortlessly and ready to be enjoyed from the very first note.