Pickguard on '71 S-100

[Norrissey]

I bought my '71 S-100 without a pickguard and initially I didn't miss it. I enjoyed seeing as much of the transparent cherry burst on the woodblock body as possible. At some point @hansmoust advised me that my guitar would originally have had a black pickguard. Recently @GGJaguar and @mavuser kindly brought my attention to someone selling vintage Guild pickguards on Ebay. The seller was a former long term employee of Guild at the Westerly factory. He was kind enough to send a fresh set of screws for the pickguard too which was much appreciated as the old ones were corroded. Anyway the pickguard arrived yesterday and I put it on and to my surprise I really like it. The guitar feels complete now.

 

[GGJaguar]

It looks fantastic!!

 

[BradHK]

Looks great! I ended up buying the rest of the pickguards he had for sale in that package lot as I needed a few of them for current restorations. I now have six S-100 pickguards without owning an S-100! Do you think my wife would accept the excuse that I need to buy an S-100 to fit my pickguard? Probably not. If anybody needs a pickguard for a 1970’s S-100 please reach out to me. I am not trying to sell but if anybody needs one for their guitar (not to resell) I could let a few go.

 

[Guildedagain]

Intense butcher block model.

 

[Boneman]

Looks great! Much better now it’s not naked

 

[Mingus]

Do you think my wife would accept the excuse that I need to buy an S-100 to fit my pickguard?

It's a reasonable excuse!

 

[S100]

Oh, my! That is a beautiful guitar. Congrats

 

[lungimsam]

The most interesting S-100 color snd wood I have seen! Congrats!

 

[petersainovski]

I just inherited a 1975 Guild S100 from my grandfather, but it does not have a pickgaurd

 

[Norrissey]

I just inherited a 1975 Guild S100 from my grandfather, but it does not have a pickgaurd

Congrats! That is a real beauty! I'm pretty sure that guitar would have originally had a transparent/clear pickguard. @BradHK mentions above that he purchased several vintage S-100 pickguards from the same seller that I purchased my one from but my recollection is that the seller I purchased from did not have any clear pickguards, they all appeared to be black. Still, a vintage black pickguard might be better than no pickguard? You may want to contact BradHK to see if he still has one to sell.

 

[Norrissey]

The link below is to another LTG thread that shows a magazine review of an S-100 like yours with a clear pickguard. Not sure if they all came like that. @hansmoust would of course know.

S-100 review

From Beat Instrumental, 1973.

letstalkguild.com

 

[Horuss]

Those clear pickguards never looked good with natural-finish guitars, IMO. That guitar looks way better without one.