Refinishing a relic... should I?

[basey]

I have an heirloom guitar given to me by my dad. It is a 1963 hand made guild archtop acoustic. It has 2 fholes on each side and no horns cut in to it. its got a blood red sunburst finish with white binding. I eventually want to give this guitar to my daughter after she has children. It is in good shape for its age but lately I was thinking about making it look new and preserved so it will last for a couple more generations. Would that ruin the guitar? somehow? or Is there some way to do it "legitimately"? I know there's alot of vintage guitar people in this forum. I lurk around here quite a bit. any advice would be appreciated.

[Brian]

The only legit way to restore it would be to send it off to Guild for the refinish. Basicaly anyone interested in an original would prefer the nicks and wear over anything else.

So if your going to restore it yourself even though you could do an excellent job, chances are it would degrade the value of the instrument.

Just an opinion, based on a lot of forums chat

[basey]

Thanks, I was kinda thinking that was the case. I'm gonna have to think about this one. I don't want to devalue it, but it's starting to be easily scratched because of the finish is getting brittle. I'm starting to not want to play it.

How can I tell if its nitro laquer or shallac? Maybe I could just get it french polished.

I tried talking to guild (fender) but there's really no-one left that had anything to do with the new jersey shop guitars.

BTW: great site and forum , It's the best of its kind on the net IMO. Lots of info in one spot.

[Devon Headen]

I would keep it how it is...well, personally I would sell it, cause the market is good for vintage. If it has much sentimental value, that's out the window, though.