Welcome aboard Dan and General D!
I think this may be the first time we've seen 2 new members in the same thread.
:glee:
There are others here who know much more about the guitars built outside of Westerly. One difference I have seen is that at sometime, somewhere since Westerly they started using mahogany necks on the JF30. The Westerly builds have the 3-piece maple neck and I don't know the difference sonically, but I love the aesthetics of the maple necks.
JF30's ( as distinct from the
GADJF30 imported version) were only built in Westerly and Corona, a quick google image search indicates the change occurred sometime between '02 and '03.
The very earliest first year ('02) Corona JF30's used what I assume were leftover Westerly necks, the giveaway is the narrow "snakehead" headstock (as well as still being 3-pc):
The strap button above is not original btw, and in a location that could promote wood-splitting tendencies to boot.
By '03 the mahogany neck is in evidence and uses the wider at the top "paddle" headstock:
JF30's retained very consistent specs over the years at least as far as size and body woods. That neck wood change is kind of significant, though.
A 3-pc neck resists twisting torque more readily than a one-piece, but to be fair I can only recall one reported case of neck twist on a Guild 6-string flattop with a glued-in dovetail neck joint.
The change in neck wood itself (and even the headstock size)
does have some effect on overall tone but how
noticable it is would probably vary from player to player.
I'm with Dan, though, even beyond aesthetics I'd prefer the 3-pc neck, which they
did retain on the 12-string versions even after going to 'hog.
Definitely a wise move for the 12-strings and evidence that they didn't just implement changes for the sake of economy if there was a reliability compromise.
The first-year '87's were shown as having scalloped braces but I don't know if that was consistent over the years. It's not spec'd in the '01 price list but that may simply be an error of omission.
Corona guitars
were more heavily built according to most feedback (including me); but still deliver high-quality sound especially after aging for about ten years, at least in my case and according to an increasing percentage of owner feedback.