Guild Duane Eddy DE-400 Thinline Hollow Body Electric Guitar (1965)

Guild  Duane Eddy DE-400 Thinline Hollow Body Electric Guitar  (1965)
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$5,500.00 + shipping
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Item # 11491
Prices subject to change without notice.
Guild Duane Eddy DE-400 Model Thinline Hollow Body Electric Guitar (1965), made in Hoboken, NJ, serial # 41838, sunburst lacquer finish, laminated mahogany back and sides, spruce top; laminated mahogany neck with rosewood fingerboard, original black hard shell case.

The DE-400 Duane Eddy Standard is one of Guild's coolest but less common 1960's offerings, a serious professional grade guitar with most of the features of the higher-end DE-500 at a somewhat lower price. The Duane Eddy line was inaugurated by Guild in the early 1960's, as they jumped at the chance to create an instrument endorsed by the then-top instrumental artist of the time. The original signature model was the DE-500, a very high-end thinline hollowbody introduced in 1962 featuring DeArmond pickups, a Bigsby vibrato and a master volume knob on the cutaway, features specified by Duane familiar from his Gretsch 6120. The De-500 was a very expensive instrument, so Guild soon added a second model to the lineup.

The DE-400 (briefly called the "Duane Eddy Junior") was added to the line in early 1963 as a more affordable option with the same construction and handling but less fancy cosmetics. Both models are among Guild's most sought-after electric guitars today but were not good sellers at the time. The DE-400 sold only about 200 units from 1965-1970, the DE-500 far less. While Guild may have hoped Eddy's mostly teenage fans would flock to his signature instruments, the reality was even the DE-400 was priced above the even most of them could consider in the mid-60s.

This DE-400 from early 1965 is built on a thin-line 17" single-cutaway body, finished in Guild's typical bold 1960's sunburst on all surfaces. It is made of laminated maple with a spruce top, triple-bound top and back. The pickups are Guild's then-new 1960's humbuckers as used on most of their line after 1963, which replaced the DeArmonds at that time. The tailpiece is the standard Guild-branded Bigsby unit paired with the aluminum Bigsby adjustable bridge. The tuners were sourced from Kolb in Germany and have distinctive stepped plastic buttons. Duane Eddy's signature appears on the stepped Guild-logo pickguard, which is made of back-painted Lucite.

The bound mahogany neck has a maple center laminate and is topped with a block-inlaid rosewood fingerboard. The center-peak headstock has the standard mid-60's Guild plastic overlay with "Chesterfield" column inlay. This guitar has a livelier acoustic sound than the familiar Humbucker equipped Starfires, mostly due to the spruce top. This is quite a versatile instrument, excellent for everything from jazz to country to garage-band rock and of course Duane Eddy songs! This 1965 example is an very fine player and a very good value in a high grade vintage 1960's hollowbody guitar.
 
Overall length is 42 in. (106.7 cm.), 17 in. (43.2 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 1 15/16 in. (4.9 cm.) in depth, measured at side of rim. Scale length is 24 3/4 in. (629 mm.). Width of nut is 1 11/16 in. (43 mm.).

This guitar is quite clean overall, with some small finish dings and chips here and there but very little actual play wear. The deep sunburst finish has kept a nice vibrant color with little fade and just some light checking. The plastic headstock overlay shows none of the typical shrinkage and is completely intact. The guitar remains all original with no alterations, there is a bit of wear to the treble side of the aluminum bridge base.

This is a very good playing and great sounding Guild, an super find in a 1960's thinline hollow body. The original frets have very little wear; indeed the guitar simply does not appear played much since new. It resides in the original deep-body 17" Guild hard case; the company never bothered to create a special thinline case for this slow-selling signature series! The original Guild hangtag with the matching serial number is included in the pocket. Overall Excellent Condition.