WTB Looking to buy a F47rce

[14canari]

Hi ,
It got in my head that I have to buy myself a F47rce. You know that feeling, you imagine that the whole life improvement depends on it. Well I have a F50R(Corona) and a JF55(Westerly) and treasure them both but I imagine that adding a new member to the family will make me even happier. Selfish I know!
I have looked for the past few months and seems that I'm running out of options.
If you guys have any ideas or anyone knows where would be still one for sale , or any help in this direction would be appreciated. Also I keep hearing what big difference is between a Westerly Guild and a late Fender Guild. Personal I didn't notice that but I'm not saying it couldn't be, what is actually that difference?
Thanks and all the best for you all.
Adrian

 

[chazmo]

Welcome aboard, Adrian.

I moved your thread to WTB. Good luck in the hunt.

 

[fronobulax]

Also I keep hearing what big difference is between a Westerly Guild and a late Fender Guild. Personal I didn't notice that but I'm not saying it couldn't be, what is actually that difference?

Welcome. In a way I'm sorry to respond to this in WTB but...

If you A/B a pre- and a post-Fender Westerly guitar and you are saying that you can hear a big difference then that is certainly an opinion and based upon personal experience. If, however, you are saying that based upon internet chatter you wonder if there is really a big difference between pre- and post-Fender Westerly then the consensus opinion at LTG would seem to be No, at least in the sense that the guitars changed when the owners did. The two points to be kept in mind: People who worked in Westerly before and after Fender have stated that quality control improved under Fender and thus, in their opinion and in some circumstances, post-Fender Westerly guitars were better built and sounding; and Many people believe a guitar improves with age and so, just because they are older, a typical pre-Fender will sound better than a typical post-Fender. IMO YMMV

 

[adorshki]

IMO YMMV

Is that Roman for "1995", the year Fender bought Guild? :lol:
Ok, smarta$$ing aside, the Westerly employee most often cited as the source of that info is our member Hideglue, and I beleive this is his most recent observation about Fender QC at Westerly:

i have red here, that Fender-Guilds westerly production in the last years was somehow the "highwatermark" in quality control on the Guild guitars.

I said that very recently. I was repeating a statement of member "West R Lee" who stated he received that opinion from former Westerly employees. This is specifically the period from 1995 -2001. Fender acquired guild in 1995.
In fairness many others here feel that Guild quality has been consistently high, especially in comparison to their competitors at certain times.

Exactly.
FMIC's implementation of an actual QC Dept. in no way meant that it was necessarily needed. But instead brought in for mandatory consistency along certain criteria.
A punch list already in place & used by the dedicated long before Schultz & Co.

That quote can be can be found here: viewtopic.php?f=23&t=33364
Offered in the spirit of maintaing historical accuracy whenever possible. :wink:
I will offer that compared to my 2 Westerlys, my Corona's a tank, weight-wise. BUT build quality is every bit as good as the other two and finish in fact is the best of the bunch. :wink: (Fender moved Guild production to thei factory in COroan CA from very late '01 to late '04 or possiblet early '05, then to the Tacoma guitar factory in Washington in no later than '05 if I remember correctly. Both of those locations' products suffer poor reputations in the market and are thus undervalued and probably very good buys because of that. But be aware there are some "dogs" out there, if you see something you're interested in from Corona or Tacoma be sure to check here for feedback)

And by the way, welcome aboard, Adrian!!
I also happen to think 3 is a perfect number of guitars to own..much like the prophet said about the ideal number of wives... :lol: