adorshki
Reverential Member
As so often happens, stumbled across this while looking for something else:
"Prototype Guild D40 Omega Brace, Richie Havens"
Seems like the D40 was the subject of much R&D prototyping.
This is the 3rd one I can recall from the period of Late Westerly through Tacoma and the second Tacoma piece.
The first one was a test mule for the dual-action truss rod.
Another one was acquired by a member in the last few months from an ex-Nashville Custom shop employee, described as one of 3 built to test consistency, IIRC, and from the period immediately prior to the relocation to Corona, also "IIRC".
The description of its provenance doesn't have any glaring contradictions to my humble knowledge of the period, and it appears to be well supported by photos.
Initially I thought the graphite x-brace meant it was some kind of development mule for the notorious Contemporary series but if the top was built in '08 that postdates the introduction of the Contemporaries so something else was going on.
But it's one more item verifying Tacoma's role as a hotbed of innovation which saw the introduction of:
Dual action truss rods.
Single truss with flanking (graphite!) stabilizers in 12-strings.
Graphite neckblock w/ "spider" bracing. (Contemporary Series)
Red Spruce (Adi) bracing and tops.
Kinda wish I could boast that set up in my Richie Havens Signature D40.....
"Prototype Guild D40 Omega Brace, Richie Havens"
Seems like the D40 was the subject of much R&D prototyping.
This is the 3rd one I can recall from the period of Late Westerly through Tacoma and the second Tacoma piece.
The first one was a test mule for the dual-action truss rod.
Another one was acquired by a member in the last few months from an ex-Nashville Custom shop employee, described as one of 3 built to test consistency, IIRC, and from the period immediately prior to the relocation to Corona, also "IIRC".
The description of its provenance doesn't have any glaring contradictions to my humble knowledge of the period, and it appears to be well supported by photos.
Initially I thought the graphite x-brace meant it was some kind of development mule for the notorious Contemporary series but if the top was built in '08 that postdates the introduction of the Contemporaries so something else was going on.
But it's one more item verifying Tacoma's role as a hotbed of innovation which saw the introduction of:
Dual action truss rods.
Single truss with flanking (graphite!) stabilizers in 12-strings.
Graphite neckblock w/ "spider" bracing. (Contemporary Series)
Red Spruce (Adi) bracing and tops.
Kinda wish I could boast that set up in my Richie Havens Signature D40.....
