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Guild Serial Numbers Westerly10/24/2021
How to determine Guild Nightbird I The Gear Page Introducing: The Westerly Collection Guild Guitars. The factory in Westerly.DATING YOUR GUILD KSG 12ga serial numbers. The serial number is stamped on the back of the headstock, and at (semi) acoustic guitars on the bottom inside of the body or stamped on the neck block If you want to know the year of manufacture of your Guild guitar, you can decipher it with the serial number decoder, or find it in the tables below.The New Hartford Plant is strikingly similar to the one left behind in Westerly, Rhode Island. Guild Guitars Serial Number Decoder.In the course of a change in ownership and three moves, the Guild line has seen major changes in materials, structural specifications, equipment, personnel, and techniques.The Corona made Rockabilly serial number prefix starts with CB000. Is stenciled with DeArmond by Guild above the guitars serial number.Since its beginnings in 1952, Guild has gone through many changes in ownership, location, marketing approach, and design philosophy. As you can see from the photos, its in beautiful condition, with only minor cosmetic marks here and there.The Guild Guitar Company was founded in 1952 by Alfred Dronge and George Mann. In 1972 according to the serial number lookup. This is an American-made Guild acoustic guitar, made in Westerly, R.I.In 2001, its factory was closed and production moved across the country to the Fender plant in Corona, California.That operation closed in 2005, when Fender bought the Tacoma Guitar Company, and production was moved to the Tacoma factory in Washington. When Fender bought the company in late 1995, Guild was headquartered in Westerly, Rhode Island. GoldMy guess is this guitar was made in 2000, Guild Serial numbers went out the window when Fender took.It has been a strange odyssey, indeed. I’ve not measured a Westerly example personally, but I’ve read reports that the Corona X160 Rockabilly has larger frets.Here we have an Guild JF55-12 NT, Westerly R.I.
Guild S Westerly Serial Number Is StampedAnd second, through it all, those involved want the traditional Guild guitars to remain faithful to the brand’s legacy while not being slaves to it.The Fender/Guild facility in Nashville, started by guitar veteran Bruce Bolen in 1995, was initially Fender’s center for artist relations in that city. One is that Guild’s management knows the changes in locations, marketing strategies, and other aspects of guitar production and sales left the company with major obstacles to overcome if the brand is to prosper. So, twice in the last decade, Guild has traversed the continental United States.Two truths become clear when one researches the Guild brand. This was where the “vintage defensible” strategy was implemented. They did not have engineering drawings, and the process was not portable, since none of the Rhode Island crew would move to California. Others argued space was available in a modern plant with state-of-the-art climate control, and moving the tooling to California, combined with a careful start-up, would create Guild guitars rivaling or surpassing anything that had been done before.The move necessitated major changes to the guitars the folks in Westerly made guitars based on long-practiced techniques evolved over time. Some believed that in closing the Westerly plant, the brand would lose years of expertise not easily replicated in California. Saying the cost to retrofit the plant would have been enormous, it moved production to Corona – a decision not made easily or taken lightly. (RIGHT) The latest version of the Guild D-50, made in New Hartford.It didn’t work. (LEFT) The first-year (1964) Guild D-50, made in Hoboken, New Jersey, before Guild’s move to Westerly, Rhode Island. It was up to Tim Shaw and Jon Kornau to spec the guitars, insure their quality, and keep faith with the Guild tradition. Yet, none of the people who made Guilds in Rhode Island moved to either new plant. So in that regard, there was some consistency of manufacture. Those drawings reflected what had been learned in the “vintage defensible” investigations.Most of the tools and tooling from Westerly were sent to California, and to the Fender plant in Mexico where braces, raw necks, and internal parts such as tail blocks were made. In addition, electric-guitar sales were growing and Fender wanted more space to make them. However, management and control issues led Fender to believe that flat-top guitars needed to be built in a separate facility. For example, back braces were lightened yet again, in the late-Corona period, top braces were scalloped on most models, and bridge plates on most models were changed from rosewood to maple. Spraying lacquer and building flat-tops was difficult, time consuming, and a much more finicky process.There were very important specification changes in the Corona era. “red”) spruce for the tops of F-30, F-40, D-40, and D-50 guitars. The most significant was the switch from Sitka to Adirondack (a.k.a. Some guitars changed cosmetically, with different binding or rosettes. Resale value for these instruments has not, however, been impacted nearly as much as those built in Corona.The move to Tacoma brought more changes to the Guild line. The same occurred with Westerly-built guitars when that plant closed, and later with the remaining Tacoma inventory. This is due to real problems that some of the Corona guitars had and the fact that after the move to Tacoma, Corona-built Guild guitars were sold off by the company at steep discounts, thus devaluing them both in terms of price and reputation. Sam broadcaster for mac torrentThe Nashville folks played an important role in training Tacoma’s employees and providing consistency with the past.Many of the Tacoma-produced guitars are outstanding. Again, no builders went with Guild from California, so much of the consistency with the past had to come from oversight and specs. The latter were not used since there were more-modern machines in Tacoma. Shortly after moving to Tacoma, the factory started to make its own bracing and other parts that had been made in Mexico during the Corona era.Most of the Guild tooling, side-bending machines, and forms, went to Tacoma, as did some tools. Rather, designers and builders were trying to create an instrument that, while still sounding and looking like a Guild, was something that had never existed – a pre-WWII Guild.Top bracing was changed yet again with the pattern, size, and radius of the braces being reworked, while the dovetail neck joint was modified to improve neck pitch and stability. These changes were made while Donny Wade was the marketing director for Guild.This was clearly not an effort to copy what had been done in the past. In either case, Guilds that made it to market from Tacoma have finishes that are well-done. Some say the transition from the poly finish of the Tacoma-branded guitars to the Guild nitro was a steep learning curve, while others say it was easily accomplished. The changes made to the Guild line kept the essence of Guild, but with important new elements that made the line more appealing to a modern market. Again, no staff moved, not even Meaulnes Laberge, who was in charge of Guild research and development for much of the time it was in Tacoma, and who was central in creating the new specs and drawings that defined new Guild flat-tops.Also staying in Tacoma were the tools and tooling, with the exception of the machine that bends the backs for arched-back guitars. After a few short years, Guild was on the road again, and the latest move – to New Hartford, Connecticut – provided something of a rebirth. (RIGHT) CNC device, now used to bend sides.As with Corona, however, all was for naught.
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