Are Westerlys still from Westerly

AcornHouse

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Hi Charlie,
The "Westerly Collection" from present-day Guild are made, like the Newark Street collection, in Asia. Westerly, RI Guild production ended around 2000.
 

adorshki

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I noticed on the Guild website that the new Westerlys aren't in the Guild USA section.

Anyone know where they're made?

Thanks!

Hi Charlie:
You're asking a question many of us feared would become all too common when Cordoba introduced this line.
"The Westerly Collection" is made in China.
Fender closed the Westerly RI plant and stopped new production in late summer '01 although they were still shipping out completed inventory as late as December (my F65ce was shipped out on Dec. 17th '01).
Production of new flattops was moved to Corona CA late in '01, '02 was the first "official' model year.
Anyway, we're already seeing internet offers of "Westerly" instead of "Westerly Collection" Guilds which is causing some resentment among not a few of us who feel that this is a problem because:
It invites those disingenuous dealers to try to capitalize on the reputation of the US-built vintage pieces and dilutes their identity and market value in the process.
Grrrrrrr......(not at you, sir)
 
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Westerly Wood

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I used to be pretty upset over the pilage of the great Westerly name by CMg, however after playing a maple jumbo junior that was nigh flawless in build and tone, well, they are doing good work over there :)
 

Tico

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I hate that Guild is naming their Chinese imports, "The Westerly Collection".
It's deceptive and tacky.
It insults shoppers.

They should call them, "The Chinese Collection".
Being made in China is nothing to hide or be ashamed of.

I have two Guilds, a 1977 D-55 and a 1977 F212-XL.
Since they were made in Westerly, RI USA I consider them to be in the REAL and the ONLY Westerly Collection. :rolleyes:
My students LOVE them and request to use them over my other 7 guitars, including a Martin Authentic, when we record.

One student told me she was going to buy a new "Westerly" Guild.
She was surprised and bummed out when I told her they were actually made in China.

I haven't played one yet, but everyone says Guild's Westerly Collection guitars are great for the price.
Regardless, IMO the deception makes Guild look bad.
 
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txbumper57

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The answer would be China. The "Westerly Collection" is the newest incarnation of the "GAD" series of Guild Guitars that began production in China in the early to mid 2000's. When Cordoba purchased Guild in 2014 they changed the name of their import line of acoustic guitars from the G.A.D Line which stood for "Guild Acoustic Design" to the "Westerly Collection". That had a lot of folks around here pretty upset as it was seen as a Blatant attempt to Blur the lines between Westerly Rhode Island USA Made Guilds which were in production from 1967-2001 and the Cheaper Chinese Import line they were trying to sell. They even go as far as not putting "China" anywhere on the label itself of the "Westerly Collection" and instead have "Designed in California" on the label of the imports. "Westerly Collection" Chinese made guitars are good guitars for the money but personally they don't come anywhere close to the Original Westerly USA Built Guilds. Ironically you can buy a nice used Westerly USA built Guild with a Nitro Finish that holds it's value for similar prices when compared to the "Westerly Collection" import line with a Poly finish. On the Used Market I have seen the "Westerly Collection" imports selling for close to half of their new price which means when you buy a new import you lose almost half it's value if you go to resell it. Hope this info helps out a bit!

TX
 

D30Man

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Aside from what you have surmised is a very controversial name, these are pretty well made guitars. I have played a few that were downright good. Definitely worth their price point.
 

Nuuska

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Hello

Price/quality-ratio is excellent - at least on the one I bought some time ago - and promised to tell about it - I will - pictures and sound clips. Might take few weeks to materialize.
 

Charlie Bernstein

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I'm sure they're great. There's no reason for them not to be. I'm stuck on US-made instruments, though. My '76 D-35 is the best folk guitar I've ever owned, and I've had Martins, Gibsons, and more.
 

swiveltung

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I have played a couple China Westerly's. They seemed pretty good to me. Not necessarily worthy of Guild name IMO though. Many inexpensive Chinese or Korean guitars play quite well actually. I find no reason to buy a Guild over others if you start looking at and playing them. Some Epi's are good, Ovations too, Eastwood are probably a step up, Takemine, Ibanez too. I played an amazing sounding and playing off brand $120 guitar a while back. I have a feeling it may be full of cracks etc in 5-10 years but for $120...
One thing I have noticed about asian guitars in general, they are apparently made from wood that is not aged enough. That makes sense as today's world "wants it now". Also, luan and other non mahogany woods are labeled mahogany. I bought a Takemine a few years back. In my research, I noticed that many had linear cracks in the spruce tops. The wood had shrunk and cracked. These were older Takemines. Probably due to a rush of business and no proper wood available. The other thing that is done on some asian guitars is multipiece necks. Not a new trick, but my suspicion is that it's done to keep the neck stable with cheap wood. There are old USA models that did that, but I doubt it was because of cheap wood.
 
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adorshki

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One thing I have noticed about asian guitars in general, they are apparently made from wood that is not aged enough.
In the case of the GAD's made under Fender specifically, Fender said they selected and shipped the wood into the GREE factrory in China.
Ostensibly to maintain their quality standards but I suspect there was a CITES compliance benefit too, in that they had control of the chain-of-custody and compliance paperwork.
No waiting to get it to Customs when time to ship.
Haven't heard if Cordoba's doing this as well.
 

Br1ck

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I have the same issue with Epiphone. My 1965 Texan is a very different animal from today's Epiphone Texan.
 

tommym

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I'm going to hold out for the Hoboken Collection......preferably with a ghost label.......:tongue-new:

Tommy
 

Tico

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I'm going to hold out for the Hoboken Collection......preferably with a ghost label.......:tongue-new:

Tommy

Sorry, but Guild has spoken.
By naming it the Westerly Collection Guild has revealed what they think their best factory was.

Sorry.
 

beecee

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I used to be pretty upset over the pilage of the great Westerly name by CMg, however after playing a maple jumbo junior that was nigh flawless in build and tone, well, they are doing good work over there :)

I gotta get one of those!!
 

fronobulax

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Sorry, but Guild has spoken.
By naming it the Westerly Collection Guild has revealed what they think their best factory was.

Sorry.

I'm going to respectfully disagree. We will be forever in Cordoba's debt for buying Guild and keeping it going. But CMG has pretty consistently demonstrated that they know next to nothing about the history of the brand. I'll claim they named it the Westerly Collection because the only other factory they knew about was New Hartford.
 

dbirchett

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A question on this. Are they made in mainland China or Taiwan? I thought all of these MIC guitars were coming from mainland China but discovered that many are made in Taipei, Taiwan.
 

chazmo

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Let's set the record straight here, folks. Cordoba didn't start the confusion; Fender did. First, Fender put Guild on the headstock of the MIC GADs. Then, later, Fender named the MIK electrics "Newark Street" when they introduced them. More recently, Fender stopped using the "GAD" moniker and started calling the MIC instruments the 100-series guitars, thus blurring the distinction even more.

I really don't blame CMG at all for capitalizing on some of Guild's history by using the "Westerly" name as part of its cachet for the brand. It's purely marketing. Let's be very clear, though, that CMG didn't break the ice here.

All that said, another thing you guys should know is that Fender is wholly responsible for the design of the MIC guitars. Also, if Tim Shaw (Fender) is to be believed, wood selection and many of the manufacturing aspects were overseen and perhaps impacted by (US) Fender employees.
 
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