Unbranded acoustic with model number -- help!

[barkess67]

I recently got a 6-string acoustic flat-top dreadnaught on eBay. It has no sticker inside to identify the maker and no name on the headstock. On the reverse of the headstock is a small metal tag which says "model WG 65".
It appears to have a cedar top (at least that is the color) and fretboard could be rosewood and bridge may be maple. There is a plastic cover for the adjustable truss rod on the headstock and the metal bridge has adjustment screws on each end. There is also a small design/inlay on the headstock. I will try to attach a link to a photo or two. I don't have the guitar in hand as yet as I am awaiting its arrival from the eBay seller (and hoping I did not buy a piece of junk) -- got it for a $41 bid.

Thanks for whatever ideas/answers anyone may have.

Larry[/img]http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?VISuperSize&item=370524170080

[VintAxe]

Hi barkess67.

I can't get your link to work so I haven't seen your new guitar. WG most likely stands for Western Guitar. Once you get the guitar in hand post pictures of the body, headstock, and metal model plate. Someone might recognize it.

[barkess67]

I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to get the original eBay photo to load. Will try again when I can take some photos myself. I may have more information once I can examine the guitar thoroughly myself.
Thanks for the reply.

[Grogel]

http://cgi.ebay.com/370524170080?ru=htt ... 3D1&_rdc=1

Here is a link to your auction

[barkess67]

Thanks Grogel! I'm afraid I am way back on the learning curve for a lot of tech stuff (I try to chalk it up to being 68 this year, but that is a lame excuse).
Anyway, with luck someone out there may be familiar with some aspect of the guitar (there were a number of photos on the eBay listing) to know age, country of origin, general idea as to quality and maybe even the maker. I have played acoustic guitar off and on since I first bought a Slivertone for $20 back in 1964 when I was in the Army. I have had a Takamine, Yamaha, Epiphone, Lucida, Taylor and even a Martin (cheap end of the line) at one time or another but it has been a few years since the last one, so this was just a shot at picking up something cheap that looked OK for my purposes.

[Grogel]

DIASTONE is the one guitar company name that comes up when googling WG 65.

[barkess67]

Yes, I discovered the Diastone thread as well but none of the posts talked of anything but a model that was like a specific old Gibson Hummingbird or a WGT model that was a 12-string. There was also a post about Diastone making fake Martins at a time when the Martin company had employees on strike. A couple posts had photos which showed the Diastone label. There is no label in the guitar I have (will have soon) and none of the Diastone posts mentioned any device/design/logo on the headstock, which my guitar has. I am really eager to have the guitar in hand so I can examine it thoroughly -- perhaps there is some indication that there once was a label or maybe even some sort of number inside on the base of the neck? Who knows.
Ah well, it will be an intriguing quest!
I have a new set of Martin SP phosphor-bronze custom lights waiting to replace the old strings that are on it
Have you looked at the photos? Any thoughts on the woods?

[barkess67]

It arrived today and, after a clean-up, a bit of action adjustment (verified that the truss rod was still adjustable as well as the adjustable bridge), and a new set of Martin SP custom lights, it sounds great! Inside the body back I found a black stamping of "71C30" -- does that help anyone to further identify the guitar? The rosette around the sound hole is an inlay, not a decal, and the small figure/design/whatever on the headstock is a pearloid (or some such material) that my wife insists is NOT an inlay, but affixed to the surface. Fret dots are inlays, as are the two dots on the bridge piece.
The top sure seems to be solid spruce (the color in the photos looked more cedar, but in the flesh, so to speak, it is spruce. The inside edge of the soundhole is bound, like the fretboard, so I can't see the edge of the top so there is the possibility that it is a laminate/plywood, but it doesn't look like it from underneath when I checked with an inspection mirror and small light.
But, whatever brand/non-brand it is, it sounds great -- just have to see how well the tuners will hold the tune.
BTW, the back of headstock label actually says "Model No. WG 65" and is a silver-colored paper (i.e., not metal) label.

[koolmotor]

What you have is a Montgomery Ward Airline Jumbo Western Guitar. It's identical to the one I got for Christmas in 1971, 40 years ago next month, (and which I still have). Not sure who actually manufactured it, perhaps Kay. Don't think it has a solid top, especially given the odd rectangular top bracing pattern and (as you have observed) the telltale painted soundhole edge, usually a sure sign of a laminated top.

Kevin

By the way, the headstock emblem is indeed, as your wife insists, simply attached to the surface (not inlaid). I know becasue a piece of mine chipped off many years ago.