Love all the information, very much appreciated.
A few years back I tried a 12-string set of DR strings.
I was disappointed there was corrosion on the unwound strings.
I sent them an email with pictures.
They responded and arranged a replacement set of strings in newer, improved packaging ... and they commented that they were pleased to see a Guild guitar in my picture.
They are the grand children of Alfred Dronge - founder of Guild guitars.
I'm guessing you guys already knew that but it's a nice story.
Yes actually his son Mark founded the company but perhaps his children are still involved.
Nice to hear about the customer service attitude, though.
The only other way could be to have a look under the new MIRC number label...I wonder if it is a paper or "plastic" tape label they used and what glue it has.
We've already seen or heard of several examples where there's paper pulled from the face of a label where an MIRC label obviously was.
Having some experience in selling label stock, that indicates it's probably an acrylic adhesive that just bonds to the paper permanently, and you can't pull it off without pulling off the paper surface it's stuck to. And it just gets stronger and stronger as it ages for the first month or so.
Heat won't have any effect on it, and it probably even has "block-out" agents in the adhesive itself**.
That also fits with MIRC's commitment to permanently eradicate any trace of original s/n just as effectively as burning out the headstock digits.
I still think it can't possibly be later than a mid or even early '03 based on the color but even more relevant is the fact that it's a finish-issue instrument which was primarily found in first-year production due to inexperience in spraying NCL at Corona.
(@Bruce: It's not just the spraying technique that needs to be mastered, but in NCL even formulations vary, and I suspect that perhaps there was some experimentation going on with proportions of "solids", "plasticizers", "solvents", and that they actually had colors that had been compatible with Westerly's NCL formulas but didn't blend well with the Corona formula.
Sheer speculation on my part but could also explain why the "crossover" colors didn't last long on the acoustics.)
In counterpoint, I've always said the finish on my D40 was the best of the 3 for gloss and smoothness, and it is a bit thicker than the 2 Westerlys.
It only finally started to shrink into the grain on the top within the last couple of years where the Westerlys were showing that in less than 10.
Hans dated it as between late '03 to early '04 back in '09, as he was still working on getting his Corona records organized.
Point being, by mid '03 they had their finishing
down.
**
https://www.mactac.com/Catalog/Applications/Sheets/Cover-Up-Blockout-Labels/MTP1218MOPS-2
That outfit also makes rolls of the stuff on a plastic base that an outfit could print their barcodes on, just like MIRC.
They actually make the new pressure-sensitive US Postage Stamp stock where the same purpose is desired in reverse: you can't remove the stamp to use it again.
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