New member with a 75(?) S-100

[Anarchris]

Hello everyone ,I just joined LTG. I didn't see an intro section so I thought I'd start here along with my question. I'm a home player who plays for the joy of it. I'm not very good but who cares? I have a bunch of electric guitars I've accumulated over the last 30 odd years including a few Guild or Guild related. The first Guild I ever played or tried to was a white X-79 my friend had back in '80 or so... I was so jealous!

Anyway I recently acquired a beautiful 70's S-100. I love this guitar! So... the serial indicates its a '75 , the pots date to '74 but what's confusing me is the position of the stop tail. If I'm not mistaken , and I very well could be , the stop tail wasn't moved closer to the bridge until sometime in '76. I'm just wondering what year this guitar actually is... not that it matters but it would be cool to know o anything else you can tell me
Thanks
Chris

 

[Anarchris]

couple more

 

[chazmo]

Welcome aboard, Chris. Nice S-100!!!

 

[mushroom]

That’s a super nice looking S100 you have there.

 

[GAD]

Welcome! Beautiful Guild! ‘75 looks right to me based in the charts. I wouldn’t worry about the position of the tailpiece. Most of what we know about stuff like that is from observing guitars that we’ve seen. The people who obsess over such things will be along shortly. We all obsess over something. This just isn’t my thing.

 

[mavuser]

The serial number is for the superstructure (neck and body). The guitar was probably completed in 1976, the following year. This is typical for Guild. In many cases the pots will date the year after the superstructure. Yours date the year before, but it is no different. Possibly it was complteted in 1975, and would be one of the first with relocated tail. If that did not start until 76, than it was completed in 76 (still one of the first with new tailpiece location, but Guild did not take superstructures for completion in numerical order...)

 

[Anarchris]

Thanks ! Its become a pretty special guitar for me... there's just something about it. After a fret level and crown it plays amazing and the pickups sound fantastic
No worries at all about the tail piece , just curiosity as I've seen them close and further from the bridge. I honestly don't know if one position has an advantage over the other ...

 

[Anarchris]

@mavuser thanks for that

 

[mavuser]

Thanks ! Its become a pretty special guitar for me... there's just something about it. After a fret level and crown it plays amazing and the pickups sound fantastic
No worries at all about the tail piece , just curiosity as I've seen them close and further from the bridge. I honestly don't know if one position has an advantage over the other ...

great to hear!

on the tailpiece(s), the earlier version has it further back, which almost resembles the Guild harptail design a little, with all of that space between the tail piece and the bridge (look at a 1974 S-50, and you can really see this visual):

Thus, one can play "behind the bridge," ala Kim Thayil from Soundgarden.

When the tailpiece was moved closer to the bridge, like yours, I belive this was done to create more of a break angle on the strings over the saddle. I'm not sure how different they sound or play, but I have never heard a bad thing about any S-100/90/50 at all whatsoever, certainly not one with that tailpiece. maybe some mixed reviews for the earlier one piece bridge/tailpiece in an S-50 or S-90, and the Hagstrom tremar (both of which I am quite fond of), but the standard Westerly variants are all very well regarded. Some of them have quite skinny necks, into the second half of the 70's, and were advertised as such ("super slim extra fast action neck" ...or something close to that), but that may have only
been for S-50, not sure. There is literature out there that says that.

 

[hansmoust]

Anyway I recently acquired a beautiful 70's S-100. I love this guitar! So... the serial indicates its a '75 , the pots date to '74 but what's confusing me is the position of the stop tail. If I'm not mistaken , and I very well could be , the stop tail wasn't moved closer to the bridge until sometime in '76. I'm just wondering what year this guitar actually is... not that it matters but it would be cool to know o anything else you can tell me
Thanks
Chris

Hello Chris,

Welcome! In my book, 'The Guild Guitar Book' in case you're not familiar with it, I gave ca. '75 as the date for the move of the tailpiece closer to the bridge, so you're all good!

Sincerely,

Hans Moust
www.guitarsgalore.nl

 

[Anarchris]

@mavuser , surprisingly the neck is not as skinny as I had anticipated. Its skinny but quite comfortable. What I really had to get used to is the flatter fretboard radius and low frets ... but after leveling and crowing the frets I'm able to get a nice action and the guitar plays really well. Eventually I'll have to refret

@hansmoust , thanks for replying. I do indeed know of your book although I have never read it. Perhaps its time I do
Thank you and everyone for all the info

 

[chazmo]

^ Chris, if you really want the lowdown on Guild guitars, Hans' book is "the bible" in LTG lingo around here. In fact, that's even in our lingo thread. Careful, you will end up with GAS (see also the lingo thread)!

Forum-related Lingo FAQ

What follows is a bunch of abbreviations, terminology, and just factoids to help people navigate the waters around here. Some of this is just web-speak, but most of it is specific to guitars/amps/Guild stuff in general. If something belongs on this list, PM a moderator with additions or...

letstalkguild.com

Excellent on your fret treatment! That sounds like it was very worthwhile. Glad you're enjoying your S-100!

 

[Anarchris]

@chazmo, I have terminal GAS lol The more money I spend searching for a cure the worse it gets!! I don't understand lol