Thanks, adorshki. I’ll ask Tom next time I’m in the shop, which is practically in my backyard. Both of my Westerly Guilds seem to be of the heavy-build persuasion, as everybody exclaims when lifting them. :subdued:
Yeah "heavy" seems to be as subjective as "skinny" when it comes to necks.
I consider my '96 D25 (built at end of first full year of Fender ownership) to be a real featherweight, at least it's the lightest flat-top I've ever owned, and the Corona D40's a real tank in comparison.
Some folks have said archbacks are supposed to be heavier by definition due to the laminated back, but I don't buy that. The whole purpose of laminating is to achieve superior strength-to-weight ratio in the first place.
Others have also said they feel their late Westerlys are "heavy" but funny thing, we all agree that no matter the build style, they always "sound like Guilds"...:friendly_wink:
Another tell about build philosophy ion '90's was the introduction of the DV52 in '93.
"
Dreadnought
Vintage" build details according to '97 Guild Gallery #1(or else the '96 catalog, I forget which, now) included
backs and sides sanded for
lightness (Nothing was said about tops, interestingly, although scalloped braces were spec'd.
But Guild tops were extremely good quality in late Westerly in the first place, due to the skills of their buyer Willie Fritscher. He would have been there during Tom's tenure too)
Also spec'd were necks and endblocks specially selected for strength and
lightness.
DV-52's are held in extremely high regard around here, but to be fair, just because they did this on DV's doesn't mean it extended to D-55's.
We've learned over the years you just really can't make any assumptions about Guild, they just didn't operate the way the "big boys" did.