hogwldfltr said:
There is currently a conversation in the UMGF regarding the differences between two F-112 NTs. One is a '70 and the other is a '71. They have different shapes and the question arrises as to where they were built and when the design change came into play.
Hello hogwldfltr,
There was an earlier thread about this on this forum although the thread was not necessarily about the F-112 but about Guild shapes in general.
After the move from Hoboken to Westerly was completed it turned out that a lot of the fixtures that had been used in Hoboken were worn out and had to be replaced to enable the increase in production that the people in charge had in mind and which had been the reason for the move in the first place. A lot of new molds and the corresponding collars had to be fabricated and for some reason the shapes of most of the F-style flat tops, some of the X-style archtops and what was left of the acoustic archtops, were somewhat altered.
The instruments on which the change of shape was the most dramatic were the F-30, the F-112, the F-47 and the F-212 that used to have more or less smaller, 'folk style' bodies but became almost 'small jumbos' even though they kept about the same width at the lower bout. The change was even more obvious in the depth of the bodies, which was increased quite a bit on some of the models.
The reasons behind the alteration of the shapes are not all that clear. After talking to some of the people who were in charge at the time, it seems like the change of the shapes was not considered a major issue. It was something they liked and the rims might have been easier to produce as well. In general they seemed to be pleased with the final sound that the extra depth gave them.
Both the guitars that are discussed on the UMGF were made in Westerly, but the older one was still made with the old fixtures and possibly with body parts that were left over from the Hoboken period. The new fixtures were fabricated during 1970 and the models with the new shapes were gradually introduced during the period that followed.
Sincerely,
Hans Moust
http://www.guitarsgalore.nl
