f412

[charliea]

But I got the feeling that the ones before Fender are better.

There is absolutely no reason why guitars before 1995 would be better than guitars after 1995...That's a myth on other forums...
Ralf

IMO the New Hartford guitars are superior to Westerly production. At least the quality, but lighter and louder with better necks. When I tried my first from NH, the Westerly guitars went on the block and I went all NH. Never looked back. I believe the new designs began at Tacoma, so I image they're great guitars, also.

 

[chazmo]

If the build date is correct (and we'd need to see a label to be sure), then it's a Tacoma-era instrument. 2008 was the last year Guilds (or anything) was built there. No instruments were sold to the public in 2008 from New Hartford, unless you run across a prototype. In 2008, NH was ramping up. The first NH instruments were seen at NAMM 2009 in January, so it's a pretty clear transition point. And, I believe, the ONLY instruments being made at that time in NH were D-55s. F-412s didn't come until later, and I'm not sure exactly when -- somewhere around summer of 2009.

Either way, the serial number is all we need to date this instrument because it contains the year and Julian date.

 

[redta]

Thanks guys, I'm actually looking at both a 2008- f412 and a 2007- f512. Both great guitars and different sounds. f512 is a little more money.