Westerly vs Tacoma built

Cougar

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I bit the bullet today and won the bid on a 2005 Tacoma D55.

Well done! Love that abalone rosette (if that's what it is). I gotta get me one of them dreads. You know, diversity. :tiger:
 

jeffcoop

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Congratulations! Should be one heck of a guitar.
 
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Came in today. BEAUTIFUL guitar! Looks as if the previous owner never played it. It came with Elixirs on it (not a fan), so I'll be switching out to D'Addario PB tomorrow, unless someone can recommend something else (light gauge, balanced sound). Ill post a few shots tomorrow. Thanks everyone!
 

Cougar

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....Looks as if the previous owner never played it.....

Man, that's the way you want it! Both my Guilds came in near-unplayed condition, even the Corona-built 12er. Fabulous. May the sweet "marriage" long outlast the "honeymoon"! Looking forward to the pics!
 
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The Tacoma-builts are obviously newer (2005-2008), so it's probably easier to find one in excellent condition. Westerlys are anywhere from 1967-2001. Coronas slipped in there from 2002-2004. I hear you about the F50R. I recently scored one out of the New Hartford plant (2009-2014), and it's just the ultimate 6-string as far as I'm concerned.

Cougar, I'm with you. I sold or traded all of my Westerlies (except my D50) once I got my hands on a New Hartford Guild. Seems to me the company was after more of the boutique market. The list prices went up there and so did the build materials. Both of mine (F47M and D40 BG Jubilee) have red spruce tops, scalloped bracing, high end open back Gotoh tuners and exquisite build quality. These instruments -- to my hands/ears are the best Guild ever made. I do believe that they are different. Now, I never played a Tacoma or Corona, but lived with Westerlies for decades -- lots of 'em.
What do you all think?
 

chazmo

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The New Hartford guys really did Guild proud. It wasn't so much a boutique market they were aiming for, HJM, although I think that's what the Orpheums were. Their goal with the Traditional series guitars was to lighten the builds, incorporate some modern build techniques, and make consistent products. I think they achieved that. The lightening of the guitars was a good move, but that actually started in Tacoma. In fact, many of the Hoboken and early Westerly specs were brought back to achieve those goals. With the Standard series, New Hartford made some fabulous guitars with sound qualities from the Traditional series, but finished differently (with some cost-savings measures).

Tacoma was a very innovative time for Guild, but those folks were unable to keep up with the change orders that were being generated by Fender's luthiers. They were not capable of building the tooling that was needed, and, by contrast, the NH acquisition in 2008 came ready-made with a proper tooling department. That's essentially why Fender shuttered Tacoma, at least as I understand it.

All that said, I think many of the Westerly guitars are simply fabulous. I lean more toward the early Westerly period (because I, too, favor the lighter builds), but I've played MANY LTGers' Guilds from the '80s and '90s that are pure heaven.

I think if we're talking about quality, there was nothing more important to New Hartford employees than that. I can't really say much about any other period in Guild's history because, well, Guild was never open to the public the way that NH was. I think we've found over time that unlike all the others Guild has never really had a period to "stay away from." That's something to be proud of.
 

Taylor Martin Guild

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Don't worry about where the Guild was built.
Find one you like and buy it.
The models that you have posted will be great guitars from any of the locations that Guild built them at.

Be sure to look here for used Guilds.
Great people to do business with.
 

Westerly Wood

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Don't worry about where the Guild was built.
Find one you like and buy it.
The models that you have posted will be great guitars from any of the locations that Guild built them at.

Be sure to look here for used Guilds.
Great people to do business with.

great wisdom here.

and i have it on good authority from Chaz or Frono that if I buy a Guild not built in Westerly, I can still keep my LTG call sign...
 

6L6

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Congrats on your D-55!

Here's a pick of my former 2006 Tacoma D-55NT w/ K&K Pure Mini pickup. It was my only player for over 200 gigs and it never let me down. Enjoy yours!

BTW, I wrote Fender back when I bought it new if they had a black picjguard for it. They did and sent it to me free of charge. I had Gary Brawer install it in San Francisco.

IMG_0223_zps3xkbq3mc.jpg
 
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