I just heard back from the FMIC rep on the conflicting pickguards we've seen on F-50Rs as of late.
Good news!
Here is his response:
Its a bit confusing without seeing the pictures I sent him, but he is basically saying this:
1) Guild started making thin-style pickguards on the CT Guilds, which we all knew. This happened while production of F-50Rs was happening at Tacoma, but CT was starting production of D-series guitars (not sure about timeframe here).
2) The decision was made to go to the traditional Guild shaped pickguards recently.
3) They are using their existing supply of thin pickguards but will then switch completely to the traditional ones.
Of course, I can only confirm this information on the F-50Rs (as this was the subject of my query), but I am happy nonetheless! From what I've seen, we can see this same switch on the 12 stringers as well.
Update: The expectation is that all pickguards will move to the traditional type, but this is only tentative for now.
Good news!
Here is his response:
Mike,
I got word back…both are actually correct.
While we were making these models in Tacoma we started using the pickguard shape as seen [this is the new style, thin pickguard]... but they’ve decided to change them to [traditional Guild size/shape as seen on ac1dt3st's new F-50R]. So, they’re just starting to use those pickguards but they’re using what they have left of the [thinner, cutoff] ones.
So, eventually they’ll all have the guards that you see... [traditional size/shape]...
Its a bit confusing without seeing the pictures I sent him, but he is basically saying this:
1) Guild started making thin-style pickguards on the CT Guilds, which we all knew. This happened while production of F-50Rs was happening at Tacoma, but CT was starting production of D-series guitars (not sure about timeframe here).
2) The decision was made to go to the traditional Guild shaped pickguards recently.
3) They are using their existing supply of thin pickguards but will then switch completely to the traditional ones.
Of course, I can only confirm this information on the F-50Rs (as this was the subject of my query), but I am happy nonetheless! From what I've seen, we can see this same switch on the 12 stringers as well.
Update: The expectation is that all pickguards will move to the traditional type, but this is only tentative for now.