Im trying to date this JF65-12.. made in WRI. No date stamp on neck block! May be one that was started in RI and finsished in CA?
Hi Milligan, welcome aboard. The s/n charts basically cut off at '97 for whatever reason. They stopped stamping neck blocks ca 2000 but we recently saw a Corona with a date stamp on the
heelblock so now wonder if that may have started in Westerly. So you've got a new place to check if curious.
Guitars weren't "Started in Westerly and finished in CA". It's known some kits of partially assembled pieces were sent to Corona to give their new builders practice experience, but I've never seen credible confirmation any of those made it to market and they would have got Corona s/n's in any case. I do suspect some completed Westerly necks were used in some early Corona production instruments as we've seen evidence of it notably on D40's and JF30's, but I believe that's as far as it went.
When did Westerly Guild start using 'hog on twelve string necks instead of maple? Was it that they knew the factory was closing (in Aug. 2001) and they simply ran out of some woods and were using up what they had left? Good to be back and thanks.
'80 F50 R
'84 D40 NT
'87 D50 NT
'96 DV6 NT
'97 D55e NT
'98 D25 12 NT
'98 D30 AB
'01 JF30 NT
They started using 'hog necks ca '98 and the '99 catalog shows 'hog necks on maple body 12's. 'Hog is actually more dimensionally stable than maple but suspect maybe their source was "drying up" as well.
Don't think "Using up what they had" was a concern as far as raw wood, it's pretty obvious all Westerly's raw wood stock went to Corona, but they likely had incentive to finish whatever was in process (neck assemblies, fretboards, bodies in white, etc) as economically as possible.
