Are there different versions of this guitar?
There are several different models of the "FXXce" series, but the F4ce was the entry level: 'Hog archback body and minimal bling.
While it does superficially resemble the
S4ce's and Songbirds, they're completely different animals.
ALL the S4's are solid 'hog routed bodies, but all of the "Fxxce's" are traditional acoustic built instruments with a cutaway and UST.
All of 'em are based on the F40 body outline (16" lower bout width)
I see images of some with no binding on the back (kinda look like the milled out songbird type body) and I see images of double bound ones that look more like a traditional acoustic guitar. The guild spec says only 3" deep, but the double bound ones appear a bit deeper to my eyes... ?
Depends on the model.
Some of the Fxxce's were 4-1/2 or even 4.8" inches, those were based on F47 body depth, but others like my F65ce are only 3" deep.
Also, early (pre '94) versions had a shortscale neck (24-3/4" neck, usually with 1-11/16" nut), while later (post '94) versions had a 25-5/8 scale neck, usually with 1-5/8 nut.
See the Westerly Guild Guitars website for a pretty comprehensive overview of the variations.
You have to go all the way down to the "Grand Auditorium" section to see 'em.
The F15 and F45/F47 series are the deeper bodies while the others tend to the 3" deep bodies.
It's also been observed that the earlier shortscale models are the ones that are likely to be less loud acoustically, especially the F65ce's that have maple tops, but I can tell you my '01 F65ce with spruce top and long scale gives up very little to my dreadnoughts acoustically.
Some have a truss rod cover that says "True American" on them.. what is that?
I've only seen
that TRC on dreadnought bodies, never on "F" bodies.
It was a marketing logo more than anything else, used by Guild to call attention to their line of acoustic-electric dreadnoughts starting with the DCE-1, DCE-3 and DCE-5, which were new and priced to fight the Japanese influx of low-priced A/E dreadnoughts in the early '90's.
They were supposed to have the most natural amplified acoustic sound of any instrument on the market at the time.
Nothing "special" about the builds, just the TRC, which is gold silk-screen, not engraving.
I think they just made a whole lot of TRC's and started putting 'em on D4's and D25's too (mine has one) until they ran out.
You can see the DCE-1 has the "True American" TRC on the Westerly Guild Guitars site, and the photo is from an earlier catalog than the '99 dated spec sheet, but the 2 other DCE's shown there don't have the TRC and appear to be photos from later catalogs.
The '97 catalog has a "NEW TRUE AMERICAN" header over the D4HG which had just been introduced, for example.