2000 Westerly Buesbird AAA - weight relieved?

archiestone

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Pardon me if this has been discussed before but I'm curious to know if the 2000 era Westerly-made Bluesbird AAAs were made of an extra light mahogany or if they were weight-relieved in some way (Gibson style swiss-cheese holes under top?) if anyone knows. Seems this toneful guitar is a tad lighter than it should be at around 8.5 lbs -- not a bad thing! Thanks in advance.
 

GAD

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They're completely hollow inside! Take off the control cavity cover and you can see for yourself.
 

GAD

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Really? It's nice & light but I wouldn't exactly consider it a hollowbody... semi-hollow maybe?

There is a chunk in the middle to support the pickups and such, but the surrounding area is hollow. I suspect "chambered" is a better word, though it's one big wrap-around chamber.
 

GAD

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I have pics somewhere but I'm heading out. I'm sure someone will oblige shortly.
 

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Here is an x-ray of a Guild Blues-90 from around 2000 or so (if memory serves)

2000-Bluesbird-P90-XRay.png
 

GAD

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Pic of the control cavity in my Westerly Bluesbird:

Guild-97-Bluesbird-Electronics-1024x682.jpg
 

DThomasC

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Here is an x-ray of a Guild Blues-90 from around 2000 or so (if memory serves)

2000-Bluesbird-P90-XRay.png

Thank you for finding that image. It was originally posted by K.O.M.A. and is actually a Corona made Bluesbird P-90, evidently sold to JHJ, and then up for sale again in 2014. I don't know if there's a difference in chambering between the Corona and Westerly made Bluesbirds, but I think it's safe to say they're similar.

archiestone, the cavities you see in the image are all in the mahogany back. The carved maple top is solid. I believe that the small cavity under the bridge goes back to the Nightbird and George Gruhn's insistence that the guitar be hollow under the bridge. It's really not much of a cavity, but technically it meets George's demand.
 
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SFIV1967

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Here is an x-ray of a Guild Blues-90 from around 2000 or so (if memory serves)

2000-Bluesbird-P90-XRay.png
That's actually a Corona version, so after 2001. (DTC beat me with that info)
In the Corona catalog it was called "Semi-Hollowbody" with a "chambered" body.

And yes, Westerly Bluesbirds looked a bit different inside. You can see it easily on the changed shape of the potentiometer cavity, Westerly versions have a rectangle lid versus a parallelogram shaped lid on Corona versions.

Ralf
 
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kakerlak

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I remembered there being a good photo of an unfinished back in an old Guild catalog that showed all the routing for these, but this was the best/only pic I could find of it online:
DD8Fw4qh.jpg

Maybe one of you paper hoarders has whatever catalog this is from and can scan a better image of that lower corner?
 

F312

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Just checked the weight on my Westerly Blues 90, 7lb 11oz.

Ralph
 

gilded

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Guild-Catalog-P12-Bluesbirds-Chambers.jpg


GAD, there appear to be 2 extra potentiometer holes on the 'top' piece of wood in that pic! I've seen the pic before, just never noticed it.
 
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