Hello
You win for being closest and most active :watermelon: :watermelon: :watermelon: - ( why do we not have a smiley with a wheelbarrow ? )
I feel so vindicated!! :glee:
If they routed a bunch of bodies at one time - some slabs being dryer than others - not using them all at same time - thus allowing some shrinking before assembly and painting.
I suspect they would have, it would be one way to economize on time as long as they had the jig set up, but also suspect they didn't do too many at a time.
"IIRC" Hans has mentioned before that a typical "batch" was 8 guitars or multiples thereof. (HANS IF YOU SEE THIS PLEASE CORRECT ME IF NECESSARY)
Seems to me that demand would be low enough to keep S4CE's down to 8 or 16 at a time.
If the wood shrinks that much after the guitar was finished I would expect more visible marks in paint. Now it is just normal cracks and checking.
In Westerly the wood was carefully dried and housed.
I'd swear I saw a reference to kiln-drying in the '96 or '097 catalog but can't find it right now.
Still, storage is specifically mentioned in this article about Willie Fritscher their wood selector for over a generation:
http://www.westerlyguildguitars.com/articles/woodselection.pdf
In counterpoint it's been mentioned before that one reason Fender didn't invest in upgrading Westerly was the sheer cost of converting the old factory to a climate controlled environment better suited for consistent quality.
The production floor was definitely subject to seasonal humidity variations.
So although I suspect the primary cause of those size variations is simply batch variation, yes it was possible for wood to expand and contract during production.
Final note is that "IIRC" many superstructures would be completed as a batch but might sit on a rack awaiting orders before being completed with hardware and finish colors.
That explained why some guitars with for example a 1967 s/ns got shipped with hardware that was introduced later on.
Sort of strange - when I first laid my eyes on Songbird years ago I could not imagine nothing but natural top - the first red was sort of disappointment but I bought it while there was no natural available. Then when it came I quite quickly started to like the colour and now it feels way better than natural - so starting to lust after the white immediately after seeing first picture was only natural. Perhaps that is a good sign showing, that I am not too petrified despite of my age . . .