I bought a 2003/4 SF III for $700 and always felt it was an amazing deal the construction and finishing are perfect. Only issue is the bland pickups in my opinion. I read they were shipping unfinished hollowbody kits from Westerly to Corona to keep production going.
Hi Car-Guild, welcome aboard!
That's the first time I've ever heard that
hollow-body kits were shipped from Westerly to Corona, and "to keep production going" doesn't seem to follow.
It sounds like a myth based on the known fact that
acoustic kits were sent to Corona to give the novice
flattop builders something to practice with, but they were unrelated to the electric shop, they got their own brand new dedicated Guild (acoustic) assembly area.
As I mentioned earlier in thread, I believe there were some minor size differences between the Westerly and Corona builds, and Corona was building the Guild electrics BEFORE they started building acoustics, while Westerly was still technically "open", but Westerly was completely shut down by end of '01.
They actually stopped new production in ether August or September (I forget which), and spent the last quarter clearing out finished inventory (my F65ce was shipped out in December of '01, one of the last shipments to leave) and shipping parts and equipment to Corona.
I suppose it
is possible that unfinished electric instruments were sent to Corona early on, but that just couldn't have happened after end of '01.
And all of that doesn't "prove" that perhaps Corona Starfires were built from Westerly bodies and it took a couple of years to use 'em up..?
I think the only person I'd trust to tell reveal the truth right now might want to save it for future publication, that's our member Hans Moust, author of "The Guild Guitar Book".
Anyway, very happy at the time I couldn't see if the finish was solid or translucent, when it was delivered I was rewarded with a highly flamed, translucent red example.
Well we do know that Guild had some pretty darn magnificent spruce and maple in their inventory even before Corona opened, and I always suspected at least some of the Corona-builts must have used leftover Westerly raw materials.
Bluesbirds in particular received the benefits of that high-grade maple, see this thread:
http://www.letstalkguild.com/ltg/sh...ds-Owners-amp-Long-Time-Borrowers-List/page13
Particularly posts 82-92.
Oh yeah folks around her are suckers for pics.
And let us know when you get your Bluesbird! (It's almost a forgone conclusion).
:glee: