A Guild A-500 doesn't come up very often, much less a first year example. This one is a great example of the workmanship that was possible from a guitar company that was only 4 years old at the time since they were able to bring in experienced archtop luthiers who were former Epiphone employees. Acoustically it achieves the tone of some of the best of the Epiphone archtops of the 1940s I've played and the floating Lollar Goldfoil pickup is a great match, equally adept at jazz and rockabilly tones. I'm sure it can do even more.
At the time of its introduction, the A-500 was the top of the line archtop from Guild, as demonstrated by the choice of the finest available woods, multi-ply binding, engraved gold-plated tailpiece, and mother of pearl/abalone split block inlays (reminiscent of those from the Epiphone Emperor). The model was largely used as the basis for the Johnny Smith Award (later Artist Award) model that took the spot as the new top model.
The guitar was professionally refretted at some point and it was done beautifully, right down to hemispherical ends. This allows for superb playability and all notes ringing out clearly. The acoustic tone has the classic Epiphone punch/cut if needed and also sounds great as a solo instrument. This acoustic tone also gives the player excellent responsiveness when plugged in. Check out the short video clip for a sample of the Lollar's tone on this guitar. Video link here.
This example was professionally refinished some time long ago. At that time holes from the original tuner mounting screws were filled, as can be seen in the photo of the back of the headstock. The tuners have been replaced with gold Grover Imperials. The added Lollar Goldfoil pickup is mounted to the replacement pickguard. The volume and tone controls are mounted to the underside of the pickguard for easy use. This is all wired to an endpin jack, shown in pics. The original gold-plated tailpiece is handsomely engraved and shows loss of much of the plating. The finish is in very good condition overall, but does show some light wear and some chipping along the neck heel joint as shown.
Weight - 6.25 pounds
Nut width - 1.66 inches
1st fret depth - 0.90 inches
10th fret depth - 0.94 inches
Scale length - 24.75 inches
The guitar comes with a top end TKL archtop case that is fairly new and is excellent condition.
Ships free in the United States and for very reasonable rates worldwide.