cjd-player said:
... Interesting that the Music 123 ad has no reference to a warranty.
Hi Carl; it's just a guess but Music 123 doesn't call it second-hand or say that it's stamped 'Used'. If, as all the eBay resellers say, the cosmetic blems are so minor that they are easily remedied by their repairmen, then it follows that Guild could have packed all the unsold 'C' models in a truck and sent them off to Nashville or wherever their repair facility is, done the same thing, and recovered their cost and estimated gross margin less the cost of shipping and repair. To us, FMIC repairing bad guitars or replacing them with good ones might seem like the stand-up thing to do but to FMIC, it represents spending good money after bad.
It's all speculation on my part but I think the problem with all these 2009 post-Tacoma 'C' models is the fact that they have neck blocks and not cosmetic problems and Guild decided that whatever they could get over and above the incurred cost of the guitars wasn't worth deepening its warranty exposure. Chances are FMIC wrote the cost of the remaining 'C' inventory off and put the loss in the plant closing costs subject to $200-$400/unit salvage selling them off the loading dock. I also think the reason there isn't a neck block patent, applied-for or granted, is because the patent application has been withdrawn ... that would explain how come there's no trace of it in the US Patent Office's records. After all, Guild doesn't need a patent on a system they aren't willing to warrant.
I hope for everybody's sakes; Scratch, Jeff, Z, Cuthbert, Jonas ... everybody who bought these that they get years of enjoyment out of them. It would be interesting to know what, if any, effect the 'C' model / neck block played in the decision to close Tacoma. John
