CPM000230 is the D25 serial number. Be nice to know what year it was really built if anyone knows?
Yep absolutely a Corona prefix.
I'm gonna guess that #230 is low enough to be an '02, but they were only made for about 2 years in Corona, anyway.
By the spring '04 price list, the D25 was replaced by the Chinese-made GAD-25.
Then Corona was shut down in late '04 and Fender moved Guild production to the newly-acquired Tacoma Guitar factory in Washington.
Pretty sure Hans Moust can nail it down if you want to be sure.
He's been organizing his Corona s/n records for quite a while now.
Contact:
http://www.guitarchives.nl/guitarsgalore/
Thanks for the info guys! With the D25 Corona I cannot find it’s serial number on the Guild dating page
Fender got lazy about updating s/n info after the move to Corona.
Hans Moust has verified the numbers don't go past '97 even though some wording implies they do.
I was going by what was told to me by the Guild collector I purchased it from
Understood, must not be a very serious collector, though, not to know the history.
.. but I see now that Guild didn’t change hands until after 2000.
In fact Fender's purchase of Guild was finalized in November of '95, while they were still in Westerly.
It's a common item of confusion, that misconception that Fender didn't acquire 'em until the move to Corona.
Kind of ironic when ignorant or disingenuous sellers tout late (post '95 )Westerlys as being from the period "Before Fender screwed 'em up".
In fact there's more than a few of us here who consider that period to be one of Westerly's high points.
One of the guys who was there at the times explained that QC reached a high point under Fender in Westerly, he meant they achieved the highest pass rate percentage due to Fender implementing a check list system to ensure no QC steps were missed.
I think the '96's in particular show Fender was on a mission in that regard, in their first practical year of ownership.
Not to dismiss Corona quality (I have a Corona D40 myself), although there actually were some teething pains that gave the brand rep a black eye there.
And now that I look at the DV6 label it says NT so I think cedar is out. It sure does have a nice vintage look to it tho.
My bad, forgot whether that was part of the cedar-topped label ID (think all the cedars were "Natural"), but means "Natural Top".
Yes, most likely sitka, but they had
really great wood at the time.
Seems like they always did, actually.
EDIT: Y'know what, just saw the pic on Imgur and I see what you mean now, it is definitely a different shade than the JF-30-12 and the D4, but maybe it's due to the finish and/or the camera angle too.
Is it an "HR" (Hand Rubbed) finish?
That
might explain it, otherwise I'd give Hans a "call" to be sure.
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