NS S100 First Impressions

Spent a good part of this evening playing around with this thing, and I have to say that I'm also very impressed with this one.

And yes, this is another case of me taking a pic or three before I restrung it and oiled the board. :wink-new:

First the dislikes, because they are few:

I don't like the smaller open-gear tuners because I really love the late-70s era Guild tuners. This guitar is targeted for my 15-yo daughter, though, and she loves them because she has small hands. That makes this dislike moot.

The guitar is heavy. I haven't weighed it because I can't find my postal scale due to recent home renovations, but I'm mentally comparing this with a Gibson SG-P90 that I used to have (GOTW model) and this one is much heavier. Still, it's a smallish guitar, so the weight is not concerning - just noticeable. Hell, I think the weight being centered in the body will prevent it from doing the neck-dive thing when standing with a strap. Again - no biggie.

What I love:

Playability is superb. Nice action, nice modern neck width, and a nice neck depth that isn't a baseball bat and isn't shredder-thin either. Very nice.

It sounds *great*. I think these new HB1s are damn-near a home run. I haven't A/B'd the guitar against my vintage HB1 Guilds, but I'll tell you that if I didn't have one of those, I wouldn't worry about it. My daughter and I spent the evening playing around with the guitar plugged into my Axe-FX Deluxe which even my tube-snob self likes a whole lot. We set the rig to sound like a Marshall JCM800 and went to town. All I can say is, "wow!"

My daughter is a huge Green Day fan, and she was pumping out Green Day riffs left and right, and they sounded *good*! The problem is that not only did she fall in love with the guitar, but she also fell in love with my Axe-FX! Now she wants me to build her a Marshall clone. That's my girl. :applause: We cranked up the gain and played some Muse riffs and they sounded spot-on. With a nice drop-D this guitar makes that absolutely filthy (in a good way) sound that we were chasing.

The pickups sound great. I may need to adjust the height a bit on them because I think they could do with a bit of tweaking. We'll see how that goes. They're surprisingly articulate which is a big deal for me. Usually when I pick up an electric guitar I play it unplugged for an hour or so, then plug it in at which point I often decide within seconds to replace the pickups and/or electronics. I did not get that feeling with this guitar, and let me tell you, that's a big deal.

The frets are great. The neck is straight. It's got new strings on it so no idea if it stays in tune yet, though I have no reason to think that this will be a problem.

Things to notice, but don't matter to me:

The fretboard isn't what I'd call high-end, but with some bore oil it darkened a bit. The edges of the inlays aren't the best, but the big deal to me is that I can't feel those edges, so they don't bother me.

The bridge is a tune-o-matic piece of... let's just say that I'm not a fan of tune-o-matic style bridges. Still, as of right now there are no problems with it so no complaints aside from my own prejudices.

I dislike the yellow plastic switch tip, but I understand this to be period correct. I'll likely replace it with a chrome one unless my daughter likes it as-is.

I don't like the goofy Guild logo on the pick guard.

Required pic:




This and the X175B I wrote about in the other section are my first forays into the world of NS Guilds, and I have to say that I'm very impressed.

I bought them both used here on LTG, and as I wrote about the X175B, these import Guilds absolutely crush the competition in the same price range.

Awesome review GAD ! I`m glad you like it. Congrats mate. I didn`t like the goofy logo on the pick guard either so I`ve replaced it with a plain black one with 3 ply black/white/black edge.

Cheers
Rob

Great write-up. Your impressions pretty well mirror my own with the NS S-100. That, and the new Bluesbird, are outstanding values.

My old '71 had the same pickguard logo. I like it better then the newer "script" logo. Plastic switch tip is not period-correct. Too bad Guild didn't reproduce the old tall, flat-topped metal ones when they tooled up to reproduce old knobs, pickup covers, etc. for these.

kakerlak said:

My old '71 had the same pickguard logo. I like it better then the newer "script" logo. Plastic switch tip is not period-correct. Too bad Guild didn't reproduce the old tall, flat-topped metal ones when they tooled up to reproduce old knobs, pickup covers, etc. for these.

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I complained about the switch tip in another thread when the NS line first appeared and someone told me it was correct. Maybe that was on the X175s? Dunno. Regardless, I don't like them.

hagmeat said:

Awesome review GAD ! I`m glad you like it. Congrats mate. I didn`t like the goofy logo on the pick guard either so I`ve replaced it with a plain black one with 3 ply black/white/black edge.

Cheers
Rob

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Did you buy it or make it?

I also like the goofy pickguard logo. My '71 has it. That guitar's large metal switch tip is cool too.

Also cool is having a rock & roll loving and playing daughter.

Sounds like I'll be getting a set of the new HB-1s to try out in my Nightbird!

-Dave-

I like the yellow switch tip on the Aristocrat and X175, but it's not right on the S100.

It would not be a big deal to have reproductions of the 70s flat top switch tip made up. I'll try to get a feel for what the cost would be.

nice GAD, congrats. im a big Green Day fan btw, among many other bands.

GAD said:

Did you buy it or make it?

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I had it made by a luthier. I had a spare plain black pick guard from a `70s S100 but the holes didn`t line up, so the luthier just copied the one that was on there. [/URL]photo hosting[/IMG]

Today I put it up against completely unfair competition - my Nightbird with vintage HB1s. Few of my guitars have names. The Nightbird has the name, "The best electric I've ever played." It's that good.

Understand that this is a $2000 (used price) guitar against a $500 (used price) guitar. They are also made very differently with different materials and designs. They are VERY different guitars. Still, I own them both, so I played them side by side. Note that there is a fair bit of "law of diminishing returns" going on here, as well. My daughter, who's only been playing for a year or so, can't feel the difference between the two guitars yet, though she can feel the difference between them and a $250 Ibanez in Guitar center.

The Nightbird is, as expected, magnificent in every way. The S100 held its own. Are they equals? No, but here's what I observed:

The S100 has more midrange, which I attribute to the solid hunk of mahogany. The Nightbird is brighter. It's also hollow, has a maple top, and was hand-crafted by elves. That's fine, though - different guitars should sound different. But what about the pickups?

The vintage HB1s are better, but it's the kind of better that I can hear as a musician but my wife and kids can't discern. My wife thinks I'm nuts because "They sound the same." The vintage HB1s are more articulate; there's a greater sense of the individual strings ringing out. While this is evident in the modern HB1s, the vintage ones are more pure.

The new HB1s seem to have some sort of, for lack of a batter word, "fizziness" to them that I couldn't seem to dial out. It's only there under heavy distortion, and it's slight, but it's there. I lowered the bridge pickup to see if the pickup was just too close to the strings, but even with it being too low I could still hear that bit of "fizz".

I should point out that I've played guitar since the '70s, and as such I've played some stellar and some truly awful instruments. I am well acquainted with both excellent and crappy pickups, and when I say "fizz", I don't mean the kind of sound we used to get from terribly made import instruments from the '70s. I mean the pickups sound great, but there's a little bit of fizz. I'll try and record both later in the week, and we'll see if it's even recordable.

I'm not sure what's causing it, either. It could be the electronics (I haven't opened it up), it could be something inherit to the pickups like different wire, different metal, etc.

I still like the new HB1s. As I said in another post, I often feel the need to gut new electrics and I still don't get that feeling with the S100. I'd say the difference is that the S100 and its modern HB1s sound really good, while the Nightbird with its vintage HB1s sounds magnificent.

Like I said, it's not a fair test, but then life's not fair. :05.18-flustered:

Re. "fizziness": in my experience much of that is the difference between a new pickup and an old(er) one of the same basic spec. I hear it even in the boutique pickups made by various skilled & expert makers compared to 40–60 year old originals. IMO there's something about the aging process that rounds off the edges of these things and enhances what we consider pleasing & musical about 'em.

-Dave-

If you want to be really obsessive, you'll swap pickups b/w the two and see whether the sounds follow the guitars.

BTW, these toggle switch tips look damn near factory to me: https://www.allparts.com/SK-0040-010-Schaller-Chrome-Switch-Tips_p_3431.html Definitely closer to the tall sides-shallow top look of the originals than the domed top Gibson look.

P'ups lose some magnetism over the years, and that makes em sound a little nicer?

I had a p'up builder tell me "never lean the guitar against an amp, the magnetism of the speaker can affect the magnetism in the guitar p'ups". I've been leaning guitars against amps for decades, and I probably won't stop now.

I remember a guy sending me a pair of open coil Gibson p'ups a few years ago for an Orville LPC (Les Paul Custom) I was fixing up a few years ago, the p'ups in it sounded weak from the moment I plugged into a test amp at the guys house (my Roland Micro Cube), and when I plugged into a real amp, it was confirmed, they absolutely sucked. So I got the Gibson p'ups in the mail, installed them, and went to record, and they had the strangest overtones, just bizarre... The guy had stuck the p'ups to each other in transit (I usually don't do that to p'ups), which in fact restores their magnetism, and that's what was making the p'ups sound awful. After a few days they mellowed out, after a few weeks they sounded like a million bucks. Interesting experience...

Does anyone, Seymour Duncan etc make faithful repros of the old HB1's? There might be a market for this, a business opportunity for someone?

Yellowed switch tips are so easy to change out for something else, it's hardly even worth a mention, but I personally like it, as I also like the vintage looking logo on the pickguard.

But, I don't have any old Guild vs new Guild perceptions, or pre conceived notions or expectations. I don't know that I've ever seen an S-100 in person and I've been around electric guitars since 1980... I've never had a chance to handle one or look at one up close.

To me, they were a bit of a copy of a Gibson SG (also I was never crazy about the asymmetric horns), and I never had any problem finding a Gibson SG, in fact that's all I played from 1980 to... the mid 90's, when I traded my SG Jr. and a bunch of other gear for a Les Paul Flametop.

I have to say that the pic posted of the guitar, logo and switch tip included, that the guitar looks fantastic!

Little details are usually easy to deal with, p'up swaps also.

The guild logo could probably be nearly rubbed out with a little compound, giving the pickguard a nice worn look. A whiter less aged looking switch tip is super easy to get. Sometimes the white-ish tips can blend in a little bit better.

Bu, personally, I think it really sharp, and vintagey as it is.

Nice guitar, and thx for the exhaustive write up ;-)

PS You raised a good girl there, you should be proud!

Guildedagain said:

The guild logo could probably be nearly rubbed out with a little compound, giving the pickguard a nice worn look.

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Assuming it's built like the old pickguards, it's clear plexiglass, with the logo sikscreened from the backside and then painted over in black. To get to the logo, you'd have to strip the black paint off first. OTOH, probably wouldn't be too hard to strip it clean, then respray it black...

Guildedagain said:

Does anyone, Seymour Duncan etc make faithful repros of the old HB1's? There might be a market for this, a business opportunity for someone?

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Yes, Guild makes a faithful repro of the old HB1s, at least that what Gad is reporting. layful:

Yellowed switch tips are so easy to change out for something else, it's hardly even worth a mention, but I personally like it, as I also like the vintage looking logo on the pickguard.

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The deal with the switch tip is that the original S100s had a metal tip with a slightly unique shape. Tapered with a flatish top. Those of us that are used to looking at vintage Guilds just think the amber plastic ones look wrong. It's not a huge deal, at least not for me. I don't need the thing to be perfectly vintage correct or no deal, it's just that the right shape would look, well, right. I put a Gibson shaped metal tip on my Nightbird and promptly forgot about it...

To me, they were a bit of a copy of a Gibson SG (also I was never crazy about the asymmetric horns), and I never had any problem finding a Gibson SG, in fact that's all I played from 1980 to... the mid 90's, when I traded my SG Jr. and a bunch of other gear for a Les Paul Flametop.

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Sure, they resemble an SG, but you're also assuming that an SG is superior and what everyone really wants, that anyone that chooses an S100 is just settling.

In fact, not everyone agrees. We recognize the difference as soon as we play the guitar, whatever it looks like. (FWIW, my first electric was a Gretsch Corvette, so all asymmetric double cutaways are just copies of those as far as I'm concerned.)

Yep, SGs & S-100s are different beasts despite the similar body shapes. No question IMO that Guild was "borrowing" from Gibson regarding the body… The SG closest overall to the earliest S-100s is the Deluxe, made only in '71 and part of '72. But the two—at least the two '71s I have—don't play or sound the same. The necks feel different, the pickups sound different (HB-1s have a dry, clear, woody character while Patent #s are sweeter and a little thicker), the bridges are different and even the string tension is a little different (SG tighter, S-100 springier) given the same string type & gauge. Gotta say I love 'em both and wouldn't want to have to choose between 'em.

Wonder if the new HB-1s have the same square slugs as the oldies?

-Dave-

Quantum Strummer said:

Wonder if the new HB-1s have the same square slugs as the oldies?

-Dave-

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I was wondering that myself. I do have a "spare" new HB1, so maybe I'll pop the cover off when I'm done with my experiments.

The case is nice enough (though I dislike rectangular cases), but the latches are so loose as to be almost useless. Anyone else have this issue on a NS S100 case?

GAD said:

I was wondering that myself. I do have a "spare" new HB1, so maybe I'll pop the cover off when I'm done with my experiments.

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BTW, I placed my order for a set of new HB-1s just now. Think I'll put a 500K tone pot in my Nightbird (currently has a 250K) and convert the mini-toggle switch back to its original phase reverse function.

-Dave-