Westerly Employees Since Plant Closing

dash-riprock

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A few months back I found myself at the ex-Guild factory in Westerly, while driving home to NJ from Boston, and was dismayed to discover that it's now a thrift store / food bank.

The experience has stuck with me, so I'm planning on writing a short article about the factory, particularly what the ex-Guild employees might have done since the plant shut down, i.e. what kind of work they moved into, if they stayed in Westerly, etc...

Please feel free to post here, forward to anyone you may know, or email me at avpdashriprock@yahoo.com.

Thanks so much!

Dash
 

Westerly Wood

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Wow,that is a really big thrift store or food bank, as I remember that building being uniquely long or rectangular.
kudos on the effort!
 

wileypickett

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Good luck with the project -- I look forward to reading your piece.

I visited the site a few years ago, also while traveling between New Jersey and Boston.

There are actually a half dozen or more businesses in that block-long building, but the thrift store is at the same end as the entrance to the place when it was the Guild factory, at least so far as I can tell from old photos of the Guild plant.
 

Quantum Strummer

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I've walked past the old Neumann Leathers building in Hoboken. 1996 or so. Don't remember seeing anything to indicate Guild had ever been there…

-Dave-
 

SFIV1967

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chazmo

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Ah, I thought it was Tastykake that had a distribution unit there, but I see from Ralf's link that JonnyCake is a food bank. I hope that location is serving them well.

If you're interested in ex-employees, Dash, you might want to try to reach WorkedInWesterly or hideglue, as they are both members here on LTG. Hideglue posted recently, but I haven't heard from WiW since New Hartford shut down (he was working there).
 

Westerly Wood

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cool article and thanks for the updated pic of Westerly plant.
 

Ron from Texas

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Thanks for the article link . I can look at that building and say "Hey my D35NT was made right here !" . Kinda like looking at the home I best remember when I was a young brat and saying there is a lot of memories right there in that home !
 

rampside

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A deep breath along with a little sigh, I have three damn nice Guilds that came out of that building. Now, I like 'em a whole lot more.
 

Westerly Wood

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A deep breath along with a little sigh, I have three damn nice Guilds that came out of that building. Now, I like 'em a whole lot more.

yes. mine is from Westerly as well. I am grateful there are so many Westerly guilds out there to be had. they made so many guitars, just incredible. I know TAcoma, Corona and New Hartford are adored to different degrees on here, but if I buy another Guild dread, it will be a Westerly RI. I only wish I had known it was there when I was growing up in Newport as a kid. Would have been great to visit there in the 80s.
 
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wileypickett

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Thanks for sharing this. As I mentioned above, I've also visited the old place a couple times (and also on jaunts between Boston and New Jersey).

I don't know how many Westerly Guilds I own, or have owned, but a good number. Visiting that old building, with its distinctive saw-tooth shaped roof, is a special kind of a thrill.

I recommend it to any LTGers who find themselves anywhere in the vicinity with a little time on their hands.
 

Neal

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By the way, the first Guild "factory", a second-story 1,500 sq. ft. loft located at 536 Pearl Street in lower Manhattan, is now the site of the U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit.
 

wileypickett

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And the Hoboken, NJ, Guild warehouse is now a bunch of rehearsal spaces for bands. (I was told this by Lee Renaldo of Sonic Youth, who rents one of those spaces.)
 

JohnW63

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Now, you can appreciate the handful of guys who kept the Ovation building in good shape, at New Hartford, just in case they could bring it back to life. And it worked, on a Custom Shop scale. I look at a building like the Westerly place and wonder just how much it would cost to buy and do SOMETHING guitar and Guild related with it.

No, I'm not made of money to actually do that, but you have to figure if a food bank is using it, it must not have cost much to open.
 

adorshki

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Now, you can appreciate the handful of guys who kept the Ovation building in good shape, at New Hartford, just in case they could bring it back to life. And it worked, on a Custom Shop scale. I look at a building like the Westerly place and wonder just how much it would cost to buy and do SOMETHING guitar and Guild related with it.

No, I'm not made of money to actually do that, but you have to figure if a food bank is using it, it must not have cost much to open.

We've seen reports here that the a major factor in Fender's decision to close was the expense of upgrading the building for controlled climate, more appropriate to guitar construction. Those huge windows on the top would have needed complete replacement, for starters. They were literally vents IIRC, operated with hand cranks. OK for late 1800's when built but expensive to change.
And while that article's pretty informative, I do take exception to the phrase
"Meanwhile, Fender Musical Instruments, Guild parent company since 1995, moved the production of Guild guitars a few times around the country since leaving Westerly in 2001, while outsourcing most production to China."
OK it's vague but I'd like to see the production figures that validate that.
I got a suspicion it don't wash.
Also it didn't happen for at least a couple of years after close of Westerly (I first saw 'em in spring '04 price list) although granted Fender may have been trying to put together the GAD line for a year or more before it was announced.
As we've seen it takes a while to get an existing plant up and running again (6 months between purchase and first Guild production in Tacoma), let alone finding a reliable source in China and setting up all the supply chain logistics besides.
And Corona was on the ropes at the time of introduction. So I suspect there was lot more to the creation of the GAD line than we'll ever know.
One thing's for sure, even naysayers here have conceded Guild probably wouldn't have survived as a brand if there hadn't been something available to cover the costs through all the relocation trials .
OK I get that it's a blog and it's editorial opinion and the author's playing on the James McMurtry "We Can't Make It Here" lament, but little inaccuracies like that give some folks a reason to question the validity of the issue.
And lack of background causes other folks like Westerly Wood to misidentify the real problems.
Dash, no snark intended, I think that's your blog, right?
Final note is that the new owner Cordoba Music Group is responsible for the "Westerly Collection" (not "Series") moniker.
(And no I don't like it either, it's already being used confusingly on internet seller's sites.)
B-u-u-t....maybe an update about the miraculous survival of our beloved brand through all these trials would be of interest.
They even still have the same steam press that was used in Westerly to make their signature arched backs in place there in Oxnard.

:friendly_wink:
 
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mavuser

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i am actually stunned to learn that there is a food bank, or anything even remotely of that nature, located anywhere within the entire state of Rhode Island. i was way off on my demographics.

when it was a guitar factory, that place was a pot of gold.

kgW8sh.jpg
 

fronobulax

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Interesting perspective but just one person's opinion. I personally would write a different article that does not try and tie the factory closing to a general economic trend because I don't think it was, but then that is my opinion. I also don't share the sentimental attachment to the previous uses/occupants of a building. If I did, I'd still be in therapy because my beloved elementary school was renovated into office condos.
 

adorshki

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I also don't share the sentimental attachment to the previous uses/occupants of a building. If I did, I'd still be in therapy because my beloved elementary school was renovated into office condos.

And kids go to pre-schools in strip malls now.
 
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