Gruhn's Guide to Vintage Guitars by George Gruhn, Walter Carter (1999, Paperback, Revised)

I give a qualified recommendation to the Gruhn's Guide to Vintage Guitars. I bought a copy to establish dating of vintage guitars I already own; and to help me verify dating of vintage guitars listed on E Bay,and elsewhere.
Generally I am very satisfied with the information. My qualification regards the fact that some smaller though significant guitar manufacturers are completely left out of this guide.
My primary interest is the vintage lap steel guitars produced from the thirties through the sixties. The information in this regard is incomplete for most companies. What infomation there is, I did find very helpful. National is fairly well represented for example. Gibson,and Fender are very nicely described;and identified by model,materials used,serial numbers,and dates produced.
On the other hand the Lap Steel maker ,now long out of business,Magnatone is completely missing. This was actually not a small company ,and produced lap steels under their own name ,and for several small independent names like Amerloha. Dickerson was the parent company for Magnatone,and is also totally missing.
I guess you can't be all things to all people,and the primary companies that everyone is familiar with are really very well described. One of the authors of this guide ,Walter Carter,worked as historian for Gibson for several years. If the Gibson company is of interest,buy this book!
Dobro lovers will also find this guide a valuable resource,as that brand name is very well covered.Epiphone,Gretsch,and Guild are all quite throughly covered by model,year of production,and materials used. Many useful notes are also included on the collectibility of these guitars.Unfortunately no exact values are given. THIS IS NOT A PRICE GUIDE!! Vintage Guitar Magazine has a nice price guide if exact pricing is of more interest to you. You really have to read between the lines, and do a lot of extra homework to figure values from the Gruhn guide.
The Rickenbacker lap steels,as well as Rickenbacker electric guitars in general,are quite nicely covered in the Gruhn guide. There is never ending controversy it seems regarding model years of production for Rickenbacker/Rickenbacher. Their own serial number system , on their own web site for example, is very spotty; on both accuracy,and years of production availability. I entered a serial number into the Rickenbacker decoder for a lap steel I know for a fact was produced at least as far back as the fifties;and the Rick decoder told me it was produced in the eighties. They were not even making lap steels in the eighties! The Gruhn guide helped me at least come close to the date.
The primary author of the guide,George Gruhn,runs one the world's most famous vintage guitar restoration shops,and his direct hands on knowledge of vintage fretted instruments should not be underestimated.Mandolins,ukuleles,Banjos,solid body/hollow body electric guitars, flat tops & other assorted acoustics are all included. Independent names like Benedetto,Collings,D'Angelico,D'Aquisto,Gilchrist,Monteleone,and Stromberg are included.Ovation acoustics are given some coverage,and Martin is very throughly covered! Washburn is barely mentioned unfortunately.
Body shapes,sizes,woods,and other materials used in production are all here for the given guitars.Bindings,inlays,finishes,serial numbers(where available),identification charts,and 100's of B&W photos are provided.
Just remember one source can not do it all, but Gruhn really helps!