The Guild D55 became a flagship model, first appearing in 1968 as the 'TV' model, but only as a special order item until the 1973. The D-55 appeared on countless recordings and performances, and was very favoured by bluegrass, folk and country players. These guitars have a great tone and feel, and importantly for performance they are rather loud and project well.
This Guild D-55 NT, for Natural Top, was built in early 1981; the last D55 serial number for 1980 was DE100661, and this is DE100684 so this is the 23rd D-55 guitar built during 1981. It features a Sitka Spruce top paired with Indian Rosewood back and sides and two piece mahogany neck. The headplate, fingerboard and bridge are Ebony. The head and fingerboard have multi-layer binding, with a mother-of-pearl G logo on the headstock. The block fingerboard inlays are mother of pearl with an inset abalone triangle. The tuning gears are gold-plated Guild branded, likely made by Schaller.
This guitar is in overall good shape with some expected play wear. Guilds typically had fairly large but not overly thick pickguards (compared to Gibson Hummingbird or Dove pickguards) so the tops tended to stay protected from pick marking. Fret wear is light to moderate. There is some finish shrinkage near the nut on the fingerboard sides. The decorative strip on the tailblock has loosened, and this could be repaired. The neck angle is good, with a fair amount of saddle still showing on the bridge. The original truss rod cover has been replaced with a card in the correct shape. The original hard shell case is included.
This is a very nice guitar to play, with a big sound.
