Questions about transition from Westerly to Tacoma.

[jmm55]

Sometimes companies will use up old labels even after they are no longer correct. In fact, Fender apparently did this more than a few times with Stratocasters in the sixties, with patent info.

What exactly is known about label status for the last Westerly Guild guitars, and perhaps D-55's in particular? The Guild webite shows no other serial number information after 1998 and the last serial number there 550691, but I am pretty sure I saw D-55's referred to in threads with serial numbers after that one, and described as Westerly.

Are there any Tacoma made guitars that say Westerly? Date wise, when did the last Guild Guitars roll out of Westerly?

 

[adorshki]

Sometimes companies will use up old labels even after they are no longer correct. In fact, Fender apparently did this more than a few times with Stratocasters in the sixties, with patent info.
What exactly is known about label status for the last Westerly Guild guitars, and perhaps D-55's in particular? The Guild webite shows no other serial number information after 1998 and the last serial number there 550691, but I am pretty sure I saw D-55's referred to in threads with serial numbers after that one, and described as Westerly.
Are there any Tacoma made guitars that say Westerly? Date wise, when did the last Guild Guitars roll out of Westerly?

Hi Jmm, Welcome aboard by the way!
Our resident expert Hans Moust has already written a book on Guild history up through '77 (the Guild Guitar Book) and is working on Vol 2, I'm just establishing his creds. He's pretty emphatic about the fact that even the s/n listings on Guild's official website are incomplete and not 100% accurate either, for (understandable) reasons which have been discussed on this forum.
He also stated recently that NO product which was not shipped from Westerly bore a Westerly label. Westerly closed down at end of 2001. My F65ce shipped out of Westerly in Nov 2001 (I have a letter from Fender/Guild's customer support center in Scottsdale AZ).
Corona CA ( Fender's "Custom Shop") was actually the next place of manufacture. Coronas bear a "Crafted in Corona CA" label, like my D40. Corona s/n's will start with "C". Although I'm not up on Tacoma production dates, I can't recall seeing a Tacoma-built model being described as earlier than '06, and my now less than perfect memory seems to recall production possibly having started there in '05, or at least tooling was being set up much like it was being set up in Corona before the official closing of Westerly. Tacoma built guitars will show Tacoma on the label and s/n's will start with "T", with the exception of the "Contemporary series" which start with "C's".
Ebay and Craigslist are the biggest sources of misinformation about Guilds that I can think of. One of the most common issues is the mis-identification of the place where a given guitar was built, and a further problem is the mis-identification of the imported "Guild Acoustic Design" models by using only their domestic model call-outs instead of the "GAD" prefix which identifies them as imports. Not to belittle the imports, but only to point out something else to be on the watch for. There are such things as GAD-50's for example.

 

[Ian]

Hi Guys,

My D55 is # 551800, has Westerly label, I have a letter from Hans stating it was made in Westerly July 2000. To further muddy the waters at the earlier end of the scale my 1970 F30 has a hoboken label A2 2771 on label, A1 2774 on headstock, which Hans says was actually manufactured at Westerly where they used up the last of the labels I assume ?

Dont know if that helps really !!

Cheers, Ian

 

[fronobulax]

We're pretty good at putting words into Hans' mouth and sometimes we get it right. The other times he steps in and corrects us. I agree with the statement that no Westerly labels were used on guitars made elsewhere which covers the time period of your interest. However there are early Westerly made instruments that have Hoboken labels or no label at all. My '71 JS II is an example of the latter. (I am the original owner and Hans has confirmed that there were instruments with no factory label from that time).

 

[chazmo]

Yup. Some of the transition labels between Hoboken and Westerly did not even mention either place. Hans can indeed clarify the specific situation with most guitars because he has the records because the labels are simply not conclusive from that era.

Just a plug, jmm, to go pick up a copy of Hans' book if you haven't seen it. I think it's out of print, but used copies are out there.

In general, some of the budget models were the first to get going in Westerly production while the Hoboken overlap continued. E.g., you'd see M-20s coming out of Westerly earlier than F-50s...

Now, I don't know if it was clarified for you already, but Guild moved to Corona, CA from Westerly in 2001. Then, in 2005 Guild was moved to Tacoma, WA. Then only recently Guild was moved to New Hartford, CT in 2008 (Tacoma closed its doors in Jan, 2009). I don't know if there was any label overlap between Westerly -> Corona or Corona -> Tacoma, but I'm certain there's none between Tacoma and New Hartford.

Confusing enough?

Oh, also, "custom shop" is confusing. When most of us refer to the Guild custom shop, we're talking about Nashville, not Corona. Nashville built/modified some Guilds back in the '90s. I don't know if/when that actually closed down, but today Guild service is done in Nashville (I don't know if that's the same facility that used to the custom shop or not).

 

[jmm55]

Very good information on several fronts. Thanks to all.