Al, great info, thanks. Are you saying that the Guilds peaked after Fender took over?
Yes to many people's surprise.
The confusion is compounded by many internet ads giving the impression that Fender only took 'em over with start of Corona production, and there
were some definite but not pervasive problems in Corona.
So the high water mark was from '96 to what year?
'96 to '01.
I trace the belief in late Westerly quality, here, at least, to a post made by our member Hideglue shortly before I joined.
He worked in Westerly during the Fender takeover, and said that Guild quality
control reached a high point during that time.
After a bit of pushback from owners of pre-Fender guitars he had to take pains a little later to make clear that he didn't mean the guitars were actually
better, but that Fender introduced QC inspection measures to ensure that all of 'em got the complete inspection checklist.
So they were more consistent, with a very low percentage of "duds", thus: "Westerly
QC reached its high point under Fender"
My D25 for example is almost 20 years old with almost 1300 hours of playing time on it and the neck angle's still perfect, and never needed any work other than the 2 complete refrets it needed from my heavy-handed technique.
Many other members report similar durability and exceptional sound quality.
Although Fender made offers, none of the Westerly employees made the move to Corona so the learning curve was steep for people who had previously only made electric guitars and the majority of those, solid bodies, at that.
So Corona saw a high percentage of factory seconds offered on the emerging internet market, especially for finish flaws from a brand new state-of-the art spray booth that apparently also had a steep learning curve.
Coronas also seem to have the highest percentage of new owners reporting "underwhelming sound", myself included, although basic build quality seemed to be generally very good. My Corona has every bit the build quality of the Westerlys, except it's a veritable tank compared to the other 2, and took "forever" (almost ten years) to finally develop (to my Westerly-jaded ears) a Guild-worthy voice.
To be fair they did build some very very good guitars there, just not as consistently as Westerly, and maybe never really got the chance to hit their stride before moving to Tacoma.
Tacoma owners here seem about as happy as late Westerly guys, but again, not enough time, and this, along with the way Fender liquidated a lot of the inventory from those locations, gave the brand a black eye in the marketplace and with their dealers, which New Hartford was only just beginning to overcome before Fender finally threw in the towel and sold the brand in '14.
"02" on the label: yes, that's a "second", often for something as simple as a cosmetic flaw or a build flaw that was so minor it wasn't even noticeable to the average guy, and normally offered with appropriate price adjustment from list.
Your '73 with the generic label: Just my foggy memory about when those were finally phased out.