1959 Guild M-20 0-Size Guitar

Oh, my -- Hoboken-made '50s Guilds are not easy to find. This cute little thing is also not easy to put down. It has the specs of a Martin 0-15 -- solid mahogany top, back, and sides and a Martin-ish 0-size cut to the body shape -- but it handles more like a '60s Gibson with its thin, fast, C-shaped neck and ~10" radius fretboard. The sound is somewhere in-between the two. It has the woody, punchy, mids-centered chocolate voice of an 0-15 but less-refined and more to the point -- getting closer to a a hybrid between an LG-0 and LG-2 sound. It's loud, though!

This one arrived here for consignment and, interestingly-enough, it's almost entirely original but does have some oddities. The finish is very worn through the body (pics at the end of the post) and the back has lost more than 1/3 of the original finish. The bare areas were top-coated with poly many decades ago just to seal it. That loss of finish can happen when the old nitro finishes start flaking due to lots of use or a belt-buckle-happy player.

Also note that the headstock logo has been sprayed-over (probably around the time it was made) with grey paint. I'm assuming that was to negate some sort of contract a player might have had with another guitar firm if it were to be used in photos or on TV or in movies. That's the usual reason you'd see that on an old guitar.

Repairs included: a neck reset, fret level/dress, saddle-slot recut and new bone saddle, and setup.

Setup notes: it plays bang-on and fast with 3/32" EA and 1/16" DGBE action at the 12th fret. The neck is straight and the truss rod works. Strings are normal 12s gauged 54w, 42w, 32w, 24w, 16, 12 low to high, though 11s sound good on these guitars as well.

Scale length: 24 3/4"

Nut width: 1 9/16"

String spacing at nut: 1 3/8"

String spacing at bridge: 2"

Body length: 18"

Lower bout width: 13 1/2"

Side depth at endpin: 4"

Top wood: solid mahogany

Back & sides wood: solid mahogany

Bracing type: x

Fretboard: rosewood

Bridge: rosewood

Neck feel: slim C-shape, ~10-12" radius board

Neck wood: mahogany

Weight: 3 lb 7 oz

Condition notes: as noted above, the finish is a bit rough on the top and sides but still looks great and is all-original. About 1/3 of the original back finish is missing and has been top-coated with some sort of poly a long time back just to seal it. The back of the neck's center section has the finish worn-through but it has not been sealed or top-coated, so it looks "loved-in" per-normal. There's a repaired smaller hairline crack on the top-treble-lower-bout. Please see the pics with lots of glare on them lower down the post.

It comes with: an era-correct hard case -- possibly original?