Well, I stand corrected. I went looking for one of the posts where Hans corrected me. I haven't found it yet because my search-fu isn't working. But I did find a post in
this thread where I say
"Hans Moust has rather patiently explained to me that during the '60's Guild produced instruments in batches and it is not guaranteed that a lower serial number left the factory first."
I don't think that changed much during the first few years (if ever) of Westerly, either, and I recall a more specific reference to building whole batches in order to service an order for maybe a few guitars, and then putting the completed "white" bodies in racks until following orders came though. THAT was when no particular attention was paid to which s/n came off the rack, as well as a cause of anachronistic hardware installation, and I have that associated with Westerly methods in my memory.
And it doesn't actually refute your memory of how necks were handled specifically (unless you yourself are sure of your own error), yet, and in fact after some percolation time that description does ring a vague bell, and I think it may have been specifically in reference to solid body necks?
I think the "batch production being one reason for out-of-sequence s/n dates" has come up more than once.
There's also the obscure issue of Guild accidentally re-using some s/n's but I can't remember when, exactly.
Just that it was during Westerly and I think they were Hoboken s/n's.
Think Mavuser mentioned that one a while back, when I expressed doubt that the same s/n would appear on 2 different instruments of disparate age.
That strongly suggests to me that Hoboken was the factory referred to and not Westerly. The guitar example makes a lot of sense if they were Hoboken necks moved to Westerly and then misplaced for a couple years.
Yes. Or that they simply kept doing what they did before and the necks weren't even misplaced..
I'm going to stop counting how many times I am wrong in a post. I think I have already reached my quota for 2018.
If you're not careful you'll catch up to me.
:glee:
But I still think that Fender probably changed "the system" a bit when they revived the electrics and one result was no more anachronistsic s/n's, whether intended that way or not..