Thanks GardMan, I'm going through theses two threads right now..Very valuable comments and very interesting comparisons...
It's nice to be called a gentleman !, thanks Al (doesn't happen that often :fat: )...And don't worry, West forgave me anyway...
:friendly_wink:
Doesn't seem to be in this post like I thought, but I think I read you saying somewhere Dvs had AAA tops : it's true of the DV 52s
I mentioned it as showing up on the specs page of the '97 catalog, but not in the actual product description I quoted.
and I just wanted to add that comments on Reverb even mentioned AAAA tops on DV 72s and DV 73s...
Thanks all
Bernie
I'm skeptical of the Reverb comments, I suspect puffery on part of sellers to help justify their asking prices.
Nowhere have I ever seen a "AAAA" top spec in Guild lit, (and granted not that I've seen a whole lot of it), but not even the Custom Shop models or the other top-of-the-line flattops showed anything higher than AAA, even in the 2001 price list when they had hit the height of their quality in Westerly.
Even the Benedettos used older more traditional grading terminology when they described an actual tap-tuned top:
"hand-graduated,
tuned,
very select, aged European spruce top", as seen here:
http://www.westerlyguildguitars.com/files/Guild2001.pdf
I don't think Guild ever even subscribed to a "AAAA" rating system which is largely determined by a given maker in any case; the rating system itself actually has no concrete standards and is primarily cosmetic in reference.
In counterpoint, it's been said before that what was "AA" and "AAA" for Guild might well have been "AAA" and "Master Grade" for makers like Gibson and Martin simply because Guild's buyer Willie Fritscher was so discriminating, hand-selecting the batches himself at the point of milling, as described here:
http://www.westerlyguildguitars.com/articles/woodselection.pdf
Note that article itself only specifies "AAA" as being the spec reserved for their highest end models.
Also note that a very high percentage of online ads with decent pics of Guild tops from the '70's forward usually show a nice degree of silking even on the entry-level models.
Anyway, coming back full course, that's why I mentioned I suspect in the end the sound quality of any of the DV's is going to come down to actual wood quality and bracing style, as opposed to any actual tap tuning, BUT:
It wouldn't surprise me if they actually took pains to ensure the top blanks were checked to be a certain thickness, maybe a little different than what would be spec'd for F50's and D55's for example, and corrected if necessary.
And although we never see it spec'd and rarely even discussed, I think they may have actually specified different top thicknesses for different body sizes.
I've often suspected my F65ce's top is a bit thinner than my dreadnought tops although like Dave I never got around to micing 'em.