Checking the serial number chart that you linked to in the above post, the second letter indicates the year of manufacture. But according to the chart info, that dating system was introduced by the Tacoma guitar manufacturing plant in 1998; so the letter B is for that specific year (1998).
B=1998
I=2005
M=2009
N=2010
If I'm reading that correctly. I was interested because I was checking out a NH built D-50 on craigslist recently. Does anyone know exactly when Res Furguson went to work at the New Hartford factory?
(quote from the PDF).I = 2005 • J = 2006 • K = 2007 • L = 2008 • M = 2009 • N = 2010
Does anyone know exactly when Ren Ferguson went to work at the New Hartford factory?
I'm going to say 2012. But it is generally acknowledged that the first instrument out of New Hartford that he actually contributed to was the 60th Anniversary (2013) and even then it was mostly his name and the bling. It's pretty much a production F-30. The Orpheums are his but I could argue you can't tell the difference between a pre-Ren and a post-Ren D-50 from NH. If you want to buy Ren's Guilds, go for Oxnard production.
A June 2014 Hartford Courant article quotes a NH staff member: "In the last year [before the NH plant closed], the crew of 47 was generally making about 14 guitars a day... most were Guild guitars."
I have never seen a Guild serial number from New Hartford that had greater than “12” for the last two digits.
My guess is that there are fewer than 10,000 New Hartford Guilds, total.
Thats a lotta guitars, when you think about the whole market...so, where are they all? :smile-new:
What does NR mean? ThanksI'm not sure there's anything written that's sort of a history of New Hartford production, Robert, but I can give you a few facts.
The facility that Fender bought was part of Kaman Music. It was building Ovation and Hamer guitars at the time, and started building D-55 prototypes after the purchase through a good part of 2008. First production was January of 2009, D-55s only, shown at winter NAMM that year. This was very shortly after the actual shutdown of Tacoma in 2008, but there was no overlap (not including the prototypes that is). So the 2009 builds were all "NM" prefixed serial numbers.
New Hartford was shut down during the spring of 2014. Can't remember whether it was end of May or June, but something like that. "NR" prefix.
Production numbers are not actually published anywhere. They might be known, but it'd be a little complex figuring it out as New Hartford also build Fender acoustics a bit. There was a log book that some of us saw which every guitar that went through final assembly got registered in. But, I'm not aware that anyone actually saw it in its entirety to do a real count.
It's a serial number prefix. N = New Harford, R = 2014What does NR mean?
I have to admit, that is a weird numbering designation and system. Even for Guild.It's a serial number prefix. N = New Harford, R = 2014
The serial number on my F50R is NO147013. It's a good one, too.I have never seen a Guild serial number from New Hartford that had greater than “12” for the last two digits.
Well they were using something similar at least as early as 2005 so 10 years later it's just how they do things.I have to admit, that is a weird numbering designation and system. Even for Guild.
Yeah, the serial numbering system that New Hartford used came from Tacoma. That evolved from Tacoma's own home-brand guitars. The good news about this system is that you can tell very quickly what the year of origin was. I.e., the second letter, I = 2005, J = 2006, ... R = 2014.Well they were using something similar at least as early as 2005 so 10 years later it's just how they do things.