Though a well-known brand in the music business, Guild guitars have only been around since 1952, when a Polish music-store owner named Alfred Dronge founded the company in New York.

During the 1950s, Guild staked its reputation on archtop guitars. Some of the most collectible vintage Guild guitars from that decade are its acoustic archtops, such as the A-50 Granada, which had a laminated-maple body with a sunburst finish, a rosewood bridge and fingerboard, and a three-piece mahogany and maple neck.

Production of flattop guitars started in 1954, and by the 1960s, Guild had mostly left its archtop origins behind. Of its early F-body guitars, the Bluegrass F-40 was introduced that first year—along with the F-50, it is particularly collectible. The Bluegrass had a celluloid-tortoiseshell pickguard, an arched maple back, and pearloid inlays on the fingerboard, beginning at the third fret...