Hans, maybe you could set us straight then? I'm not sure, but I think Jamie is talking about the branded back of the headstocks.
(Before I proceed, please pardon the butt-insky)
Yes Frono was talking about s/n stamps in
electric headstocks.
I think Hans was answering Frono's question about electric necks specifically, because he also mentioned the exception of bolt-on necks which wouldn't apply to acoustics.
Since this thread is about an acoustic guitar I think that's confusing the conversation a little, and I suspect Jamie assumed all necks were handled the same way whether acoustic or electric, ie, built en masse and then stamped when completed, to await readiness of bodies to attach 'em too.
That got me wondering yesterday if that was in fact true.
And IF I understand Hans correctly, that's definitely not correct for electrics, even if only in the detail of which necks got s/n stamps.
I suspect acoustic necks didn't get stamped until a given number of 'em were ready to be mated to their intended instruments.
There was some commonality of necks such that a given "type" might be usable on more than one model (like D25's and D35's, and D40's and D50's), but it just seems to make sense that they wouldn't actually s/n stamp any of 'em until they knew exactly how many bodies of a given model were going to get their necks installed "that day".
And it seems like it'd be easier to stamp 'em before they were mounted, than after, just seems like they'd just be easier to handle that way, but that's not as important as remembering that labels were copied from headstock stamps.
RE the question about
acoustic headstock stamps in general:
Yes as far as I can recall all acoustics got an s/n stamp on the headstock until Tacoma.
(Ok, I seem to recall some of the very early M20's may not have all been stamped? But not the point here, being an exception rather than rule)
Do you know when that was done in the build process (roughly)? And, was it consistently done the same way?
If you mean the
date stamp, Dave mentioned the one on the top corresponded to the completion date of the
top, I think if that was incorrect Hans would have pointed it out.
The one on the heelblock corresponded to completion of (I always forget the term) "the rim"(or superstructure? but I always think that means the stage just before finishing when top's already installed),
before the top was installed (again, "IIRC": I know I've got the concept right but the details might be in error)
Don't remember if it also preceded neck installation though, or if that was ever mentioned.
The practical effect is that date stamps always preceded "final completion" date by some amount of time.
It looks like they simply changed the date stamp location for whatever reason, but don't recall when the heelblock stamps started, only that it actually lasted until
late '90's , '98, "IIRC".
I just remember that they actually stopped before close of Westerly.
Back to "neck construction":
In the first
Guild Gallery (Spring and Summer '98) there's an article about how D-55 necks were built, and besides the expected attention to detail and constant hand-fitting and adjustment, the takeaway is that yes acoustic necks were built as complete ready-to install subassemblies before they were moved on to meet their final destinations in the bodies.
The second
Guild Gallery describes the construction of the body and the mating of the neck but still no mention of just
when the neck got stamped.
But if I recall correctly, a guitar date-stamped very late in one year could conceivably get an s/n stamp that corresponded to the following year if there was enough delay between the "date stamp" date and the date it got s/n stamped and sent to finishing.
In Westerly, at least.
PS what also occurs to me after all that is that I was assuming that Westerly always did things the same way and in the same order throughout their production era.
AHAHAHHAHHAHHAHHA!!!!!!!!!
:smile: