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Both of mine left the factory with the same tuners. I have read that the plywood was poplar and they veneered it with mahogany. Perhaps poplar is heavier than mahogany? I’m not sure how much glue soaks in to the layers, but to the extent the weight is water, that evaporates out. My assumption is that it’s a larger neck block and extra bracing that adds up to much of the weight difference.Seems to bear out the idea that builds began to get progressively heavier in Westerly in the mid '70's.
It's been proposed that the archbacks are by nature heavier than the flatbacks (in late Westerly Guild lit, even) but I can't believe it's due to the back. For one thing, there's no bracing. Also, laminates are engineered specifically to yield greater strength with less mass. And I can't believe the laminating glue is very heavy, either. After, all it's only microns thick between the layers, which are normally 3, the center sheet being a light wood like larch or poplar, IIRC.
So I think they beefed up sides and top and bracing, but I'd bet the backs are't any heavier than the flatback, only thick enough to support the rest of the build. Also a change from open to closed tuners can add a couple oz's IIRC.
Hoboken and early Westerly ('68-'71 or so) are reputed to be very light resonant builds. It's been postulated that the builds got heavier due to the boom in flattop sales of the period, resulting in higher-than-anticipated warranty claims. Which to be fair certainly had a good percentage of failures due to owner ignorance of proper care.
In any case it's been suggested the fix was to beef up the builds.
I’d love to see a comparison between the structure of, say, a 1967, 1977, and 2023 D-40. The new ones are light like mine, but does that mean they cracked the structural code? Or will the newer ones need resets like the ‘60s models?