Intro - new guy here

Maxer

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Hi... name's Max. Found this place last night after idly Googling around for S-100 pix and info. I'm a native Torontonian and that's where I currently live. Career-wise I art direct for television and film projects, specializing in graphic design, illustration and photography. I'm also a painter - that's what I do in my spare time when I'm not working or playing my guitars.

My interest in Guilds goes back to 1981. One of my closest friends, by having started a teen band a few years back, had eventually inspired me to get into music much like he had. We were both taken by punk and new wave... The Clash, Television, Gang of Four, the Pistols, The Buzzcocks, Talking Heads... all that stuff. I had first bought a cheap second-hand bass and I'm grateful that led me to the guitar, but pretty soon I realized that, if I really wanted to give myself a decent stab at music making, a quality instrument was the place to start. I decided I needed to score an electric guitar and get down to business.

One day I had a guitarist friend accompany me to a pawnshop downtown. After checking out several guitars, he pointed to this austere black pointy thing and said, very simply, "it's a good guitar." So I bought it. It's an S-100, and it was already ten years old by the time it fell into my hands. There were a few signs of wear and tear here and there, but it was to be myself who, over the next five years in particular, was to inflict the most damage on its formerly fine finish. I played in an unruly, undisciplined garage band with two other pals, splitting my time between bass and guitar duties. Though in the years to follow I was to play less often and intensely, I kept that first guitar and even, in the late 80s, got her refretted and had some Grover tuners put on. I figured that she was already a bit of a rogue guitar when I got her, so it was cool to keep going with mods (I suspect, for example, that the only one of the humbuckers is original, and when I got it the whammy bar was a mod made of aircraft aluminum. I used to use it a lot back in the day but most of the time I just have the tail screwed down firmly against the body. I like looking at the chunky old hardware there but I prefer to play this thing with my own bending and leave the dive bombing duties to a Washburn strat with a Floyd.... all my other guitars are hardtails, which I mostly prefer). This guitar has been around the block and then some.

My relationship to music as a creative pastime has been a wavering one. For reasons I won't go into here, I let it go for a long time. My Guild was confined to a few basements for quite a few years. But maybe six or seven years ago now, I really got excited about guitars and music making again. My career was enabling me to experiment with home recording and scoring tons of used gear via Craiglist and via product placement on the series I've been working on. I became much more adept at playing than I've ever been but(!) I'm still an unschooled player... I'm intuitive but stubborn. It's enough for me to work on my own stuff, play my own parts, sing and record it all at home in the off-season - but a pro musician I ain't. Never stopped me from digging what I do all the same, though. I have a keyboardist friend who just moved back into town after 16 years abroad in Europe. We're going to start working on stuff together again, so soon I will have someone to work with again, someone I know I have great chemistry with. It's such a buzz to be collaborating on music... but then I expect most of you already know that!

Anyway, early this year I decided that I had beaten my poor S-100 all to hell and it was high time it deserved some TLC. I gave it to a local tech friend, along with my own designs for cosmetically covering up all of the scrapes and bruises I myself had imparted to the guitar, especially during my early years with it. I mean, natural relicing is cool and all but to me it just looked sort of sad and disrespectful on my own guitar. Some months later, my S-100came back to me with some serious added mojo - a full stainless steel shield for the body and a smart-looking plate for the headstock. Got her setup again and now it plays, and looks, better than ever. I have several guitars - including guitars that play and ring as well as this one, but none are as old or are as full of character as this one. It's my sentimental favourite. It was the door through which I stepped into the fantastic, intricate, rewarding world of guitar and the music it leads to.

I think the S100s are a real sleeper line of guitars... seriously underrated. I love the necks, I love the classic elegance that the neck binding imparts to the guitar... that cool Guild logo on the headstock and the knobs.... that retro-looking Hagstrom tailpiece... I've owned a couple of SGs in recent years and though I give Gibson a respectful nod for having been the originators of the SG profile, it seems to me that the early S-100s are more than a match for any SG out there. The mods we did to my Guild aren't to everyone's taste, but in any case it's now quite a singular S-100 in a world where there are only so many of these classics to begin with.

Anyway, that's a long enough intro. Thanks for bearing with me. This looks like a great place, and I'm impressed by both the knowledge and dedication people here exhibit in their posts. I'd love to get myself another S-100 sometime, preferably one of the same vintage - although some of the 90's ones look pretty cool too. In any case, here's my own Guild, which I've nicknamed Richmond, after the pawn shop I first found her in all those years ago.

Cheers - Maxer

RichmondA.jpg


RichmondB.jpg
 

guildzilla

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Welcome, Maxer. Thanks for the story. You'll have a good time on here. I'm sure the S-100 experts and devotees on here will feed your passion.

IMO, almost all of the 1970's and 1980's Guild solid body guitars are underappreciated and still a great value.
 

Maxer

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Thanks, Guildzilla!

One day I'm going to have to try out one of Guild's acoustics. Years ago, I met a guy also named Max. I was around 20 and he must have been in his 50s. He had this big old Guild acoustic that had this indescribable tone. It was clearly his pride and joy... the thing just sang. I'd love to have something like that.
 

capnjuan

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Hi Maxer and welcome; congratulations on finding us and resurrecting the S-100 - mighty fine-looking Guild! Garagitis - hard on instruments and amps.. :shock:


Regards,

cj
 

Maxer

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Well, I'd post more but I only have the one bleedin' Guild! Oh well. Maybe one day I'll augment that with a Guild acoustic and another of the early 70s solid bodies.

RichmondHi.jpg
 

jp

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Hi Maxer,
Welcome to LTG! Very nice makeover. Although I appreciate authenticity, I'm a big fan of the personalized makeover. It can never be mistaken for anyone but yours now. You probably already know that the S-100 is Kim Thayil from Soundgarden's axe of choice!
 

Maxer

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Hey, jp - thanks about the makeover. I do appreciate how it's sort of reinvigorated the guitar and other people's interest in it... compared to my other guitars it commands a lot of attention, maybe because of the attitude it now has. Most of my stuff is more stock, more discreet. Generally speaking, I'm not a really big fan of raging flames and crazy colours in my guitars, although there's always exceptions to the rule.

Yeah, I did know that about Kim Thayil (and he and I are pretty much the same vintage, as it turns out!), but I only found out recently, like in the last year or so - basically when it occurred to me that I didn't know very much at all about my oldest guitar and I had the whole net at my disposal to find out... LOL. Now I'm better off than I was but I still don't know all that much about Guild's solid body lineup of the 70s (and then the 90s stuff too). I hope, by hanging out here, to bone up on some of that stuff... like, ferinstance, what's the diff between an S-100 and an S-90, where does the Polara designation comes in, how the 90s S-100 models differ from my '71 S-100, why do some of the original S-100s have the acorn motif and mine does not - that sort of thing. Question, questions.

All in good time, though. Thanks for the welcome, man. Cheers!
 

jp

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Maxer said:
Generally speaking, I'm not a really big fan of raging flames and crazy colours in my guitars, although there's always exceptions to the rule.

Yes, there are sometimes finite degrees of taste. I'm sure that as an AD know this well. A good reference to explore Guilds a little further is Hans Moust's Book. He's a regular poster here. An interesting read and great pics.
 

fronobulax

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Maxer said:
why do some of the original S-100s have the acorn motif and mine does not

Short answer - the acorn carvings were a factory option on natural finishes from 74-77. There's another thread speculating on why the carved top was offered here.
 

Maxer

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Cool, thanks. I wonder what the carved motif ones cost compared to the other S-100s.

On a related note, there's a 1970 S-100 at a vintage guitar shop here in town. Going for $699 Canadian... natural finish and stock pickups. Not a big fan of the natural finish myself - looks rather plain and dry. But these are great players. I just can't justify dropping the money on a second S-100 right now... got some home renos going on. But someone should snap it up. The thing is, it's been in the store for some time now. I guess people still haven't cottoned on to these guitars and the value they represent. Maybe because it doesn't look flash no one wants it... anyway, here it is:

http://capsulemusic.com/retail/detail.asp?ID=3499
 

hideglue

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Hey Maxer,

Welcome!


"It's always a happy day when YYZ appears on our luggage tags!"

I noticed YYZ for your location. Obviously the Toronto airport code, but is it also in reference to the almighty Trinity (Peart, Lee & Lifeson)?
 

Maxer

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Well, I never intended to reference Rush... yeah, it's just another way of saying Toronto, and also it refers to an influential art gallery I used to dig back in my earlier days.

But nothing against Rush, man. Saw them first opening up for Crowbar, I think, at the Ottowa Ex, back when they had just released the first album. I remember Lifeson ripping through Working Man and being mesmerized. Little did I know what directions the band would go through once Peart joined. I've seen them several times since, but to my shame I must admit I've not attended a live Rush concert in over 20 years now. I ought to check 'em out again. They were a massive influence on me in my teenage years and I still doff my hat to all three of them for their relentless inventiveness and rigorous technical discipline. To think that only three people could put together such an massive yet intricate sound... they really are amazing live. I remember seeing them in Massey Hall when they were touring for the first live album... one of my fave songs has to be "The Trees," especially that instrumental break in the middle when Lee starts getting his bass on and Lifeson breaks out from that great repeating phrase and starts that solo off... fantastic stuff.

But hey - thanks for the welcome? Where are you, anyway? I gather most of us are on continental North America or...?
 

hideglue

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Maxer,

I wish I could have seen Rush back in the early days...Wow!
I guess I caught on right around "Permanent Waves" - they're still one of my favorites.

Anyway, I'm down here in Connecticut, but I have close family your way (Mississauga). Was just up last fall - always impressed with Toronto.
 
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