Thank you for your replies.
To be more specific, I was wondering about the technical differences between:
F-1512
F-2512
D-1212
and their Westerly and current counterparts.
Unless somebody here reports on things like bracing dimensions I doubt we'll ever know if that critical element was directly copied in the MIC guitars.
When first introduced as the GAD (Guild Acoustic Design) series, the line was described as being based on Guild design concepts, so they're not just "contracted" with the Guild badge being pasted on a complete non-Guild product.
In fact, in the late '90's Fender instituted a project of codifying/formalizing the specs for the Guild line, since no blueprints had ever been made, described here:
Since its beginnings in 1952, Guild has gone through many changes in ownership, location, marketing approach, and design philosophy. 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...
www.vintageguitar.com
A couple of years ago it occurred to me that those prints could very well have served as the seeds of the GAD series. So I have a very strong suspicion that the specs are as close to US-built as possible in the high-volume manufacturing environment at Grand Reward Education and Entertainment, the Chinese factory that has been making the MIC imports since day one.
Some of the MIC models offered 1-3/4 nuts when domestic models didn't, like the GADF30. And some MIC models got wood binding and even bone nuts and saddles where their US counterparts still used plastic.
One MAJOR difference is that all the MIC guitars have their truss adjustment nut located inside the heelblock, whereas all US-builts have it in the headstock.
Also, we've noted small fractions of an inch difference in lower bout dimensions between the F512 and its MIC Counterparts, the MICs are a tad smaller.
I also don't know if the MIC 12-ers ever had dual truss rods as all the US-builts did until ca '07 in Tacoma.
