Interesting or old news? Fascinating or ho-hum? Too much free time? You tell me…. I recently tried out a sunburst Westerly 1 p/u X-150 found on CraigsList. I own a 2 p/u version and wondered how the 1 p/u version would be. I also have a 1 p/u Corona X-150.
The 1 p/u Westerly is s/n AK150840, hand written on the Westerly label and stamped into the back of the headstock. The body is clearly Westerly; small bout 11.75, big bout 16.5, depth 3 3/8, compensated bridge, traditional short-ish frets. The finish looked like my Westerly but I’m not expert in this stuff. Sitting on a guitar stand, it looks identical to my slightly older guitar – AK150802.
I find the Westerly necks to have a ‘D’ shape with a taper of 1/8” or so from the first to 10th fret. In comparison, the Corona guitar has a ‘C’ shape (not the same ‘shoulders’) and little or no taper from 1 to 10.
But…. The neck carve on the CL guitar is identical to that of my Corona 150. So, it a Westerly guitar with a Corona neck carve. Under the truss rod cover I find ‘JT’ on ‘802’ and ‘JB’ on ‘840’ (a little hard to read. It’s a ‘B’ for sure).
I wonder if the guy who did the neck travelled from west to east, or if the partially completed guitar travelled from east to west ???
BTW. The setup on the hybrid was exquisite, thought to be from the factory. All of the big and little things were attended to perfectly !!! A great instrument! I didn’t buy it however. I prefer the larger neck. That’s just me…..
This is all newsworthy to me as I had always thought that Guild necks were really consistent over the years. I guessed they would have finished ‘old’ guitars, the ‘old’ way. Who knew ???