Hello from Lexington, KY- New to group.

[polkadothound]

New to the group! 1st post.....
Hello fellow Guild lovers. I have been a huge fan of Guild guitars since I got my first one, a Polara S-100 sunburst back in 1965. (age 13) It was one year old and played like a dream. The following year I traded it off for an old '59 Telecaster because all of my friends and bandmates played Fenders. The tele is still with me, but so is another '64 Polara S-100 which brought me back to my Guild loving senses. Now in addition I have a '63 DE-500 and am considering picking up a '61 X-500.

I still want and covet a Thunderbird S-200 and someday will find a nice one under $5K.....if you see her let me know!

I'll post pics as soon as I can...you've got to see the Duane!

Eric

 

[Thunderface]

Welcome to the show, polkadothound. Glad to hear you got another Polara S-100, to make up for trading your first one. Can't wait to see it and the Duane Eddy.

 

[Ravon]

Welcome from Ohio Co., Ky ! Member Grot just posted a pic of his wonderful looking D/E Eric , great looking guitars. Hope you get some pics up soon

 

[Treem]

Welcome to LTG! Can't wait to see the pics of your Guilds!!

 

[Jeff Haddad]

Welcome! Nice bunch of guitars already, and some nice additions planned. Please post pics promptly!

 

[killdeer43]

Welcome, Eric, from the cool Pacific Northwest.
We're all Guild lovers here so join the ranks and stay in tune. :wink:

Joe

 

[southernGuild]

A big welcome from Downunder as well. With those Guilds you're off to a mighty good start. :wink: Welcome Eric.

 

[The Guilds of Grot]

Welcome from Ohio Co., Ky ! Member Grot just posted a pic of his wonderful looking D/E Eric , great looking guitars. Hope you get some pics up soon

And here's a photo on my '65 S-200 Thunderbird just to tease the new guy!

(We do a lot of that around here!)

Welcome polkadothound!

 

[griehund]

New to the group! 1st post.....
Hello fellow Guild lovers. I have been a huge fan of Guild guitars since I got my first one, a Polara S-100 sunburst back in 1965. (age 13) It was one year old and played like a dream. The following year I traded it off for an old '59 Telecaster because all of my friends and bandmates played Fenders. The tele is still with me, but so is another '64 Polara S-100 which brought me back to my Guild loving senses. Now in addition I have a '63 DE-500 and am considering picking up a '61 X-500.

I still want and covet a Thunderbird S-200 and someday will find a nice one under $5K.....if you see her let me know!

I'll post pics as soon as I can...you've got to see the Duane!

Eric

Welcome, welcome, welcome. Oh BTW, Do you have hounds with polka dots????

 

[Geo]

Welcome!


George

 

[Ravon]

Polkadot, here's you an S-200 for $5500 but there's a make offer option (we like to enable here as well :twisted: ) http://www.ebay.com/itm/GUILD-S-200-THU ... 2320015d5b

 

[polkadothound]

Thanks to everybody for the warm greetings! I'm looking forward to learning a whole lot more from all of you Guild guys. To answer a couple of questions, Yes, I do have Dalmations...hence the twisted form of my user name. Yes, I really want to get pictures of my babies posted, but as it is not just a cut/paste operation, I am having to figure out how to post pictures....

The DE-500 is a special order- Sun Burst with nickel trim rather than Gold plate. I am blown away by it and play it nightly in the confines of my practice room. I play it through my '62-63 blonde Fender Bandmaster, which gives it that warm, fat tones, and compaired to my Fender and Gibson, it roars!! So much tone and bite.

I looked at the S-200 on Ebay, and it is what I'm looking for, but I have a line on the X-500, and if I can swing the price, (about half of the S-200) I'd rather bring the 500 home.

Good luck to all- I'll be posting again with pics soon.

Eric

 

[polkadothound]

OK- Let's see if all of this works....

Ladies and Gentlemen...may I present the "DUANE"... my best baby...next to my loving widow...who is going to reap the benifits of my folly. I will post the S-100 next, and then the war room....

Thanks Everybody!

Eric

 

[polkadothound]

And here is my Polara S-100 and a look at the war room.

:lol:

 

[Jeff Haddad]

Nice group shot, and the DE is beautiful!

 

[kyguild]

Hey there, welcome from a Eastern KY....you'll like it here!

kyguild

 

[hansmoust]

Hello Eric,

Welcome here! Still waiting for your e-mail to let me know that you're ready to check some of the specific details that I was interested in!

Anyway, I was in contact with the seller of this guitar while it was on eBay. I should add that the seller had his own theory why the guitar looked like it did and that I definitely did not agree with him. However, it is a very nice example of a 'Special' with somewhat different specs than what would be normal for a DE-500 from that particular period. This particular guitar did leave the factory with chrome/nickel hardware as opposed to the usual gold, as did several other DE-500s around that time. What makes this guitar a little more unusual is that it did not come with a Bigsby but a regular 'harp' tailpiece. I've described both variations in the 'Special Order' chapter on page 164 of The Guild Guitar Book. The Regular B-6 Bigsby that's on the guitar now is not the right one that would have been used by Guild on a thinline guitar. The Bigsby bridge that is on the guitar is the correct Guild Spec. bridge, but that must have been added later as well, since the guitar was most likely set up with an 'adjusto-matic' bridge. I guess the set-up works pretty good like it is, so there's no reason other than 'non originality' to change it. Personally I would probably install an original Bigsby tremolo with the Guild logo, so at least it would look like Guild would have done it.

And here is my Polara S-100

Really nice one! By the specs and the color of the finish I would say that this S-100 is probably one of a medium sized batch with serial numbers going from #32262 - 32291, which they they did during 1964. Most of those had this typical variation on a sunburst finish with mainly red and black.

When I look at the headstock I think I see oversized tuner bushings, so this guitar probably has a history with replacement tuners.

Being a guitar repairman myself I realize that most guitars have some sort of 'history' and personally I would never pass up a good guitar, simply because it has a few non-original parts.
I must admit though that it's nice to see an original guitar; especially when everything works the way it was supposed to work. I agree that cheap machineheads are a drag but too many guitars have been altered, simply because people think they can 'improve' it.

Sincerely,

Hans Moust
http://www.guitarsgalore.nl

 

[polkadothound]

Hello Hans-

Ah yes! The mystery tailpiece. I am getting ready to try some new strings on the Duane, and will plan on removing the tailpiece at that time. I have pin guages, calipers and micrometers. so we will be able to get you acurate measurements, and expolre the issue in greater detail.
You are correct about the tuners on the S-100. I know this, as there are very small drill holes in the head where upgraded tuners were once installed. The original opened gear tuners are now back in place, and she holds tune excellently. My original one had the white De'Armonds on it, while this one has the chrome covers, but sound-wise, I believe them to be equal. Now if you want to see real modifications........take a look at my old Tele....I had her since I was 15 years old and through all of my rock and roll years.....and as a kid I was a bit over the top about modifications...it was once covered in fur, and had a red, white, and blue flag pickguard. Who knew these things would actually be worth money back in '66.

I'll be back in touch shortly.

Thanks.

Eric Everett

 

[hansmoust]

You are correct about the tuners on the S-100.

Actually, I am more curious if I was right about the color/batch; serial numbers going from # 32262 - # 32291.

Sincerely,

Hans Moust
http://www.guitarsgalore.nl

 

[Thunderface]

And here is my Polara S-100 and a look at the war room.

:lol:

Great collection you have there, PDH. That Duane is stunning, as is the Polara, and it looks like that Tele has seen a lot of play.

Here's my Polara that I bought from fellow LTGer Rhinestone Cowboy, is a refin that originally was cherry, thanks to some detective work from Hans.