Guild F-312 Model 12 String Flat Top Acoustic Guitar (1970), made in Westerly, RI, serial # AS-544, natural lacquer finish, rosewood back and sides, spruce top; mahogany neck with ebony fingerboard, black hard shell case.
This rosewood Guild 12-string dates to the beginning of the 1970s, just as the company was completing the move to Westerly Rhode Island from Hoboken. The mahogany Guild F-212 is generally considered to be one of the true standout postwar 12-strings, but this upscale sister the F-312 is much rarer and slightly more refined.
The F-312 is built on the same not-quite 16" wide mahogany body pattern as the F-212 derived from the 6-string F-47, with an X-braced spruce top. The rosewood on the back has a nice straight grain figure, the wide mahogany neck has a center maple strip lamination and an unbound ebony fingerboard. Despite being fairly chunky in profile this round-backed design is quite comfortable, built with an unusual double truss rod system that works quite well. The openback Japanese-made tuners are original, if a bit downscale for this higher-end instrument; Guild stopped using them soon after.
This model was introduced in 1964 as a higher-end companion to the better known F-212. The first Guild 12 strings have a flat radius fingerboard (like an old Stella!) but this example from 1970 has a radiused board most players find more comfortable. Another quirk of early Guild 12-strings is the fingerboard has no position markers; it does have small side dots. The top is multi-bound in white/black celluloid, with a large distinctively patterned bridge and a tortoise celluloid pickguard also in the typically unique Guild shape. This guitar's serial number is a late example from the coded system Guild used from 1965-70, which was discontinued soon after.
The F-212 was a world standard acoustic 12-string when new in the 1960s, one of Guild's signature instruments. The much more expensive F-312 is a comparatively obscure model but more than its equal sonically. The number built in 1970 is not recorded, but fewer than 500 total were made between 1965 and the end of that year. This one shows some typical wear and repair but plays excellently with a powerful but still transparent chime, with the extra depth rosewood typically provides.
Overall length is 43 in. (109.2 cm.), 15 3/4 in. (40 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 4 7/8 in. (12.4 cm.) in depth at side, taken at the end block. Scale length is 25 1/2 in. (648 mm.). Width of nut is 1 7/8 in. (48 mm.).
Overall this is a relatively clean 55+ year old guitar, showing some typical minor maintenance repairs but really not much play wear. The finish shows some rather random scrapes and dings, but virtually none of the common pick marks. There is a noticeable scratch to the top behind the bridge and a few deeper scratches to the back but overall the guitar is pretty clean. The small ivoroid heelcap has some small cracks but is not seriously deteriorating.
There are two small tightly repaired cracks on the lower back, neatly sealed but visible. There are no cracks to the top, and no evidence of the neck block shifting as is sometimes the case with these. The neck does not appear to have been reset and the angle is better than most (congratulations to the Westerly crew for getting this right) but the bridge has been lowered just a bit in the center section, and has a neatly repaired split through the back bank of pins.
While not a Hoboken made example this is a fine playing and sounding instrument, and feels lighter and somewhat more artfully made than later 1970s examples. Internally the guitar is untouched, with bracing a bit more crudely carved then the Hoboken models but holding up fine. In general post-Hoboken Guild 12-strings do not come much better than this, especially in the rarer rosewood mode. It is housed in a 1970s Japanese-made OHSC that shows some wear but is still fully functional. Overall Excellent - Condition.
