How Many USA Made Guild Bluesbirds Were Built ?

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Hello, I am a new member and I would like to know how many USA built Guild Bluesbirds reissues were made. I have had a look at the serial number tables on the Guild website, but I can only see entries for 1997. I am thinking primarily about the Florentine cutaway models from the 1990's, but comparisons with production of solid body instruments from the 1970's could also be interesting.
Any information or assistance will be greatly appreciated.
 

SFIV1967

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Welcome to LTG. I am not sure if the first serial number in 1996 (?) was 100 or 101 or 1 or 10 but one of the last from 2001 has CL002769, so at least around 2669 were made in Westerly I'd say. Later in Corona more were made, a 2003 or 2004 serial number was for instance CM000809, so at least 809 more were made in Corona (Corona started with S/N 1 I'd say as I have S/N CM000009 in my database)
Ralf
 
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Thank you for your welcoming reply Ralf and your information regarding Bluesbird reissue production. So that would be a minimum of 3342 guitars built in both Westerly and Corona. Did production of these reissues only start in 1996? I thought it might have been earlier.
 

adorshki

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Thank you for your welcoming reply Ralf and your information regarding Bluesbird reissue production. So that would be a minimum of 3342 guitars built in both Westerly and Corona. Did production of these reissues only start in 1996? I thought it might have been earlier.
Not shown in '96 catalog, but does appear in Guild Gallery magazine #1 dated "Winter '97-'98", so I don't even think they started in '96.
Also if they had been made in '96 I think they would have shown up for sure in the s/n charts, in spite of the known flaws there.
Final note is that although the last " '97-'99" chart implies it covers up through '99, Hans Moust has advised us it doesn't.
I think it's really only '97, as there're several models they made after '97 that don't even show up:
F30's, M20's, D40's come to mind right away..
 

txbumper57

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Welcome to LTG. I am not sure if the first serial number in 1996 (?) was 100 or 101 or 1 or 10 but one of the last from 2001 has CL002748, so at least 2648 were made in Westerly I'd say. Later in Corona more were made, a 2003 serial number was for instance CM000694, so at least 694 more were made in Corona (Corona started with S/N 1 I'd say as I have S/N CM000009 in my database)
Ralf

In Corona Production was the prefix "CM" only for Bluesbirds or did that include other models as well? The reason I ask is my old X160 Rockablilly and X150D shared the same prefix with consecutive serial numbers. For example they had the same letter prefixes but the number on my X160 Rockabilly was 00019x and my X150D was 00020X. That may be because they shared the same basic body but I am still curious.

TX
 
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adorshki

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In Corona Production was the prefix "CM" only for Bluesbirds or did that include other models as well? The reason I ask is my old X160 Rockablilly and X150D shared the same prefix with consecutive serial numbers. For example they had the same letter prefixes but the number on my X160 Rockabilly was 00019x and my X150D was 00020X. That may be because they shared the same basic body but I am still curious.
TX

I suspect you're right about that detail of using the same prefix because of the shared body, but SFIV's for example used "CW":
http://www.fenderforum.com/forum.html?db=&topic_number=465684

The only other model I'd expect to have a "CM" would be a Blues 90 but a quick internet search only yielded a Chris Fleming "prototype" from Corona, and I can't remember if they actually made any "production" Blues 90's there.
 

GAD

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When you refer to a Corona Blues 90 are you referring to a Bluesbird with P90 pickups? If so I have one and the serial number includes the CM prefix. It can be seen on page 33 of the Bluesbird "Sticky Thread" above.

The Bluesbird-90 has neck binding and block inlays.
The Blues-90 has no neck binding and has dot inlays.
 

adorshki

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The Blues-90 has no neck binding and has dot inlays.
Right, knew about that but still don't know if they actually made any in Corona (besides that prototype) as opposed to BB's with P90's as Guildocaster mentioned.
Went back to dig some more and realized this post appears to be from our very own Jahn, and seems pretty authoritative about Blues 90's specifically not being made after Westerly, although I think his timeline saying electric production moved to Corona at end of '01 may be slightly off, think they were building electrics in Corona in at least mid '01 already.
They started those before the acoustic line was ready to go but I think the acoustic line was already running by end of '01, too, even while Westerly was still in the shutdown process.
Nice shots of the prototype, too:
https://www.thegearpage.net/board/i...ype-chris-fleming-fender-custom-shop.1049740/
 

dklsplace

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Right, knew about that but still don't know if they actually made any in Corona (besides that prototype)

If I'm remembering a past conversation with Hans correctly, I think there were some unfinished Westerly guitars that were moved to Corona & finished there. Seems like my Blues 90 fell in that time period.
 

matsickma

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If I recall correctly the Blues90 has a slightly deeper body than a Bluesbird 90. Can someone confirm that?

M
 

DThomasC

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My Westerly Blues 90 and Corona Bluesbird P-90 have identical dimensions as far as I can tell.

The one from Corona is noticeably lighter in weight, which could be due to a difference in chambering or a difference in materials. I've heard that the bigleaf maple commonly used in the west is less dense than the sugar maple frequently found in the east. But, I don't know how much is Internet lore or even what species was most often used in the Westerly instruments. I've come across eastern silver maple that was surprisingly light weight.
 

jacoby75

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Welcome to LTG. I am not sure if the first serial number in 1996 (?) was 100 or 101 or 1 or 10 but one of the last from 2001 has CL002748, so at least 2648 were made in Westerly I'd say. Later in Corona more were made, a 2003 serial number was for instance CM000694, so at least 694 more were made in Corona (Corona started with S/N 1 I'd say as I have S/N CM000009 in my database)
Ralf

Hi "SFIV1967." That's actually the serial of the Guild I have (CL002748). I thought it was a Blues 90. Is it a Bluesbird? I think it's a Blues 90 because it does not have binding on the neck, but does on the body. And has dot inlays. Thank you.
 
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adorshki

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Hi "SFIV1967." That's actually the serial of the Guild I have (CL002748). I thought it was a Blues 90. Is it a Bluesbird? I think it's a Blues 90 because it does not have binding on the neck, but does on the body. And has dot inlays. Thank you.

It's a Blues90 as explained in your other thread and for the reasons you mentioned (the neck), they used the same serial number sequence(s) for both models as well as the Bluesbird-90's and Bluesbird AAA's.
 
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jacoby75

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It's a Blues90 as explained in your other thread and for the reasons you mentioned (the neck), they used the same serial number sequence(s) for both models as well as the Bluesbird-90's and Bluesbird AAA's.
Thank you. So then my only remaining question (which I started a separate thread to ask) is whether it was built in Westerly (as I believe it was) and by Guild and not Fender (which I believe it was).
 

DThomasC

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Thank you. So then my only remaining question (which I started a separate thread to ask) is whether it was built in Westerly (as I believe it was) and by Guild and not Fender (which I believe it was).

That's two questions by my count.

1) The CLxxx serial number means it was made in Westerly, RI.
2) It was made by Guild during the time that the company was owned by Fender.
 

adorshki

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That's two questions by my count.

1) The CLxxx serial number means it was made in Westerly, RI.
2) It was made by Guild during the time that the company was owned by Fender.
"Yes" and as final corroboration the Corona-built Bluesbird "family" used a "CM" s/n prefix, in case that got missed in that other thread.
 

jacoby75

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That's two questions by my count.

1) The CLxxx serial number means it was made in Westerly, RI.
2) It was made by Guild during the time that the company was owned by Fender.

"Yes" and as final corroboration the Corona-built Bluesbird "family" used a "CM" s/n prefix, in case that got missed in that other thread.
Perfect. Thank you.
 

fronobulax

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"built by Fender" is not a particularly useful description because Fender built Guilds in Westerly, Corona, Tacoma, New Hartford and Nashville (custom shop).
 
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