1976 s-300 with bolt on neck??

Hey guys! First post here. I'm hoping to become a guild owner this week, but have a couple questions about a particular s-300 i've found. This guitar is sunburst, and owner says it's from 1976, but didn't they start up in '77? The biggest freakout is that it's a bolt on neck, and the neck looks to be maple. Can anyone help me here? It's going for $750 which seems pretty good, but I want to make sure it's legit. Has the Guild pickups in it.

Thanks!

Jordan

It's likely legit. I have an S-300 with mahogany body (black) and bolt on maple neck. There is no serial number anywhere, so I've always assumed it to be custom. The neck is two piece with a thin mahogany strip down the center, and an ebony fingerboard that appears to have finish on it(!?!) The neck is the standard against which I compare all others!

I would likely buy the one you're looking at myself, assuming it's straight.

I know you guys like photos, and there's probably someone that doubts what I have is really a guild...

I bought this around 1980. The guy I bought it from didn't know much about it except that it didn't have a serial number, so must be a prototype or something like that. It was my absolute favorite guitar of all time until I got my Nightbird. Now I love them equally.



Notice the master volume control. I've never seen one on this body style. The extra mini-toggle is a coil splitter that I added shortly after I got the guitar. Is the TRC on right?



Yes, it really does have a bolt on neck. And I'm sure the body is mahogany not ash. I like the tone; the maple neck is snappy while the mahogany body has a round woody sound.



The finger board is ebony, but not bare; there is finish on it. It has proven to be VERY durable. Seriously, the frets have wear, I would expect a bare wood fingerboard to show wear, but this stuff is just a little dull in the usual spots. The guitar body shows signs of checking as you'd expect from nitrocellulose lacquer, but whatever is on the neck seems to be tougher.



Wha? No serial number?



If there was ever a label it was gone before I got the guitar.



Notice the coil tap...

And, just as a bonus, the 1937 Gibson L7 that I bought rescued from a kid that decided it need a polyurethane finish. I bought it right around the same time as the S-300, but unlike the Guild it sat in the case until a few months ago when I had Bernie Lehmann refinish it. It's sitting next to a 1938 Gibson L7 in Bernie's showroom. Which has the original finish?

All the S300's I've seen have been set neck with 24 frets, short scale...

Hans would be the one to comment on this one.

buy it! ask questions later, cuz if you dont I will!

Weren't the bolt-on S300s determined to be prototypes or something?

Yes, I believe that was a prototype. Often, the factory would crank out several versions of a prototype for the salespeople to show to dealers. When they were done with them, they'd sell the guitars to whatever dealer wished to buy.

The brass at Guild weren't too concerned with potential collectibility. I could have bought the prototype of the redesigned M-80, but passed on it. A mistake. I think Tony Colantonio snagged it.

I would buy that guitar immediately, my friend. It's a rare bird.

Let me quickly interrupt this S300 love-fest to welcome both Jordan and DT to LTG!!

Jordan - buy it now!

DT - great photos and interesting background on that guitar!

walrus

Thanks so much guys! Excited to be here. Will snag asap

Here it is!

Hey guys,

Here's the s-300. I picked it up yesterday. Hans helped me to confirm that it is in fact one of the try-out models from '76. Looking pretty good for a nearly 40-year-old guitar! Curious to hear what you guys think. Feels amazing and is solid as a rock. I would say the pickups sound pretty dark to me, but I've seen many people mention that. I'm all for leaving things the way they are, but also wondering if any of you guys do any small tweaks etc. to any of yours. Thanks for the support!

Jordan

jordansears said:

Thanks so much guys! Excited to be here. Will snag asap

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Good move. Buy it now. It's sheer speculation that it will ever become truly valuable as a collecible, but if you like it, you'll have the satisfaction of knowing you own a really rare Guild prototype.

Welcome to both Jordan and DT! And a thanks to Bob for bringing his inside knowledge. A good asset to the group (take a little of the pressure off Hans.) Maybe we should make you an honorary Senior Member.

jordansears said:

Thanks so much guys! Excited to be here. Will snag asap

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Welcome to LTG Jordan! If you still have any doubts feel free to post some pictures so we can give you any additional advise. (You cannot upload pictures here, you need to link them)

And welcome to DThomasC as well.

Ralf

Thanks. I'll take that.

I would not touch a thing. That's a relatively rare piece of Guild history.

That's a beautiful guitar Jordan. Probably a collector's item, but a great bargain even if not. Maybe I should feel guitly for beating the hell out of mine for the past 35 years, but, well, I don't! We've had fun together and will have lots more! irate:

jordansears said:

First post here. I'm hoping to become a guild owner this week, but have a couple questions about a particular s-300 i've found. This guitar is sunburst, and owner says it's from 1976, but didn't they start up in '77? The biggest freakout is that it's a bolt on neck, and the neck looks to be maple. Can anyone help me here? It's going for $750 which seems pretty good, but I want to make sure it's legit. Has the Guild pickups in it.

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Hello Jordan,

Welcome! The guitar you're looking at is one of a small batch of 'try out' guitars that pre-date the official introduction of the S-300. I'm not sure how big that batch was, but so far I've come across 4 of them. They all had serial numbers.

DThomasC said:

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The black guitar that was posted by DThomasC was made of parts of an earlier try-out version of the model. It doesn’t have the 24-fret neck yet and there are several other details that make it different from the one that Jordan is interested in.
For several reasons I don’t think that the black guitar came officially from the Guild factory in that configuration. I believe it was put together by someone at Guild who had access to the parts and who completed the guitar outside the factory.

I’ve seen an even earlier version, which was probably the first incarnation of the model and this guitar also has a serial number. The body shape was not exactly what we now consider the final S-300 shape, but the basic idea was there.

Sincerely,

Hans Moust
www.guitarsgalore.nl

very nice!

That's a pretty handsome guitar there. Beautiful finish and it appears to be in great shape for its age. Total keeper.

DThomasC said:

Maybe I should feel guitly for beating the hell out of mine for the past 35 years, but, well, I don't! We've had fun together and will have lots more! irate:

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They are Made to be played!



Ralf