This blonde X-700 has a Westerly label. The pickups look like HB-1s. The serial number doesn't seem to fit with the numbers shown on westerlyguildguitars.com and other sources. When would it have been built?
How interesting! Hans, how does a mistake like that get made? Did they mistakenly think this should be the serial number, or did they (intentionally) substitute and "F" for the "A" (say, they wore out the "A") in the stamping press that they used to create the headstock brand? Just curious.Hello X-170AB,
That first F in the serial number letter prefix is a mistake; should be AK. That particular guitar should have SD-1 humbuckers and was completed during 1998.
Sincerely,
Hans Moust
www.guitarsgalore.nl
How interesting! Hans, how does a mistake like that get made? Did they mistakenly think this should be the serial number, or did they (intentionally) substitute and "F" for the "A" (say, they wore out the "A") in the stamping press that they used to create the headstock brand? Just curious.
how does a mistake like that get made? Did they mistakenly think this should be the serial number, or did they (intentionally) substitute and "F" for the "A" (say, they wore out the "A") in the stamping press that they used to create the headstock brand? Just curious.
Here is the guitar that peghead and label are attached to:
And yet one more source of omissions and errors in the s/n records? (no sarcasm intended)Going from one model to the next, the worker forgot to change that first digit back from "F" to "A" and it took a couple of instruments before he noticed his mistake. I know that because I had already seen a couple of instruments with a similar serial number prefix next to the guitar that is the subject of this thread. There is a chance that he didn't even notice his mistake and those were the X-700s that he did that day after which he changed to the next model!
Hans Moust
www.guitarsgalore.nl
Great piece of sleuthing, Hans! Thanks!No, they didn't think this was the correct serial number and it was definitely not the intention to substitute the "A" for an "F".
It was an honest mistake made by the person who had to change the various digits while going from one model to the next. It's too long a story trying to explain how exactly it all worked, but if you look at the various serial number prefixes that were used around that time, you will notice that there were 36 models that had a serial number that started with an "A" and only 4 models of which the serial number started with an "F".
Going from one model to the next, the worker forgot to change that first digit back from "F" to "A" and it took a couple of instruments before he noticed his mistake. I know that because I had already seen a couple of instruments with a similar serial number prefix next to the guitar that is the subject of this thread. There is a chance that he didn't even notice his mistake and those were the X-700s that he did that day after which he changed to the next model!
Sincerely,
Hans Moust
www.guitarsgalore.nl