New Hartford - no headstock serial numbers?

walrus

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Phantom36's thread about dating his guitar got me thinking. My NH F-30RCE does not have a headstock serial number stamp. I searched LTG and did not find anything to answer my question - does anyone know why this is the case? Did NH just decide it wasn't worth it?

Just wondering if anyone knows the reasoning, if there is any.

walrus
 

chazmo

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It started in the Tacoma-era (2005ish), walrus, but yes... unfortunately, New Hartford followed along and did not put serial numbers on the back of the headstocks.
 

twocorgis

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I've never seen a New Hartford made guitar with a serial stamped into the headstock until I got my M85II Bass. No cavity or f holes on that hollow body, so the SN is stamped into the back to the headstock.

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chazmo

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Ah, that's true, Sandy. I did forget to mention that there were a few with S/Ns... I think the American Patriarchs as well, if I recall?

Boy, those are some mondo tuners, eh? :) Kind of calls out the fact that the center strip in the neck lamination is not quite dead center. But, that's only if you're truly anal-retentive and notice **** like that. :) :)
 

adorshki

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Ah, that's true, Sandy. I did forget to mention that there were a few with S/Ns... I think the American Patriarchs as well, if I recall?

Boy, those are some mondo tuners, eh?

It's not yet a widely-known fact that those guitars are secretly Transformers.
The top 2 gears are their eyes.
 
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chazmo

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Damn, that's a MUCH better version of Transformers than the original. Things that turn into guitars/basses! I love it. The real power, though, is in the Marshall stacks! :)
 

F312

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Not a fan of the non-stamp, no. That's not carrying on a tradition.

Ralph
 

adorshki

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Not a fan of the non-stamp, no. That's not carrying on a tradition.

Ralph

Agreed when it meant that paper labels were the only source of ID< since they're too easily damaged or lost.
But at least Oxnard's method with the plate on the heelblock seems to offer a return to durability of the identifying mark.
 

walrus

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Not a fan of the non-stamp, no. That's not carrying on a tradition.

Ralph

Yes, it looks a bit weird without it. But I am so enjoying the guitar itself that I have no trouble living with the headstock back being naked!

walrus
 

walrus

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Sandy, that's awesome! I'm very happy with my single - I am really glad I took the plunge, this guitar met all my requirements and more.

walrus
 

twocorgis

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Jeez, Sandy... Well, yeah, that's a helluvan endorsement! :)

I really believe that too Charlie. Best instruments that ever bore the name, especially the Orpheum series, and I'm pretty sure we'll never see them again.

Sandy, that's awesome! I'm very happy with my single - I am really glad I took the plunge, this guitar met all my requirements and more.

I'm probably going to sell one or more of them, but it's tough because they're all so good!
 

chazmo

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Ditto, Sandy, except I think the custom guitars (kinda' like the Orpheum series) were great from all locations. It's really the main-line Guilds I was talking about as being just remarkably great from NH. But, hey, you and I were there, Sandy, and neither of us saw Guild from the inside before that... Sadly, many of our crew here didn't get to be part of the LMG events and really see things in action through the few years of New Hartford production. And, perhaps even more sadly, Guild was a closed book before that. Very few people ever got to experience Tacoma/Corona/Westerly and even Hoboken and the wonderful people of Guild through the years. I was lucky to spend a day with (Charlie) WorkedInWesterly at the last LMG event and I really, really enjoyed his comparison remarks to me. Boy we had a good time setting up that stage together...

Anyway, speaking of the Orpheum, I kind of think of those guitars as adjacent to Guild... Custom, if you will. I tend to agree that there's little likelihood we'll ever see them again. In that way, Guild was lucky to have Ren (and some other talented luthiers) toward the end of NH.
 

JT339

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Don't get me wrong my Tacoma Guild's are leaps and bounds ahead of any Martin and Gibson acoustics I've played and I'm like a kid in a candy store every time I pick them up.. However if I could snap my fingers and turn them into NH built Guilds I would. My F512 has no business being that easy to play while sounding as good as it does. From what I understand, a lot of the improving the playability was Ren Ferguson's doing?
 
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