nibs208
Junior Member
Yep. 145550 to be exact.
Highly evolved S-100 owners roster
- Thread starter Thunderface
- Start date
nibs208
Junior Member
Brothers?
adorshki
Reverential Member
Oh most definitely, both from the first run of pieces to be shown at the '94 NAMM show, IIRC:
http://www.letstalkguild.com/ltg/showthread.php?199692-1994-s100-sn-fb000002
nibs208
Junior Member
As soon as I got a clear look at the serial number and saw the December 93 date I thought there was a good chance it was a NAMM 1994 guitar. Would be really exciting if there was a picture of all the guitars at their booth that year to confirm.
adorshki
Reverential Member
Somewhere around here I think SFIV1967 (Ralf) mentioned there were 3 (S-100's) and confirms these 2, but don't have time to search at the moment.
Think might have been in one of Koaguild's threads about the Natural.
nibs208
Junior Member
By "confirms these 2" do you mean 002 and 009?
adorshki
Reverential Member
Good question, 002 for sure but 009 isn't ringing the bell as a number, was kind of shooting from the hip that these were the same 2 (I thought) were confirmed by Ralf.
In fact, I owe you an apology, the NAMM conversation I was thinking of was all in Koaguild's thread which I didn't re-read completely.
On a re-read, only #002 is confirmed as a NAMM show piece, post #35 there.
But I distinctly recall some conversation about a green one and how rare they are, could swear somebody said there was one at that NAMM show, and thought that green one was it.
Ralf is normally pretty good about clearing up confusion if he sees it, as well.
Maybe he'll remember something I've got wrong.
nibs208
Junior Member
No apology necessary. Either way I'm beyond happy to have found a green one, let alone one that's from this early in the reissue run. If there were only three to go to NAMM and Natural (koaguilds' 002) is confirmed as one, it would make most sense to me that there'd probably be one in red (Hammer's 003), and maybe a black (GAD's 005) or white (Hammer's 007). The Black Hole Sun video wasn't released until June of 1994 and that's what tipped me off to the power of a green S-100. Green may not have been first priority to go to the NAMM show at the time. Like I already said I'm stoked to have this guitar. Seems like there's a real possibility this was the first or second green off the line.
Edit: Also, very cool how half of the first 10 are floating around this forum. Really blown away at the community around these great guitars.
Edit: Also, very cool how half of the first 10 are floating around this forum. Really blown away at the community around these great guitars.
Last edited:
adorshki
Reverential Member
:smile:
Just for having led you slightly astray.
Good points, and although Guild didn't always seem to follow what most would consider the most logical course, green is not usually a real big mover.
:glee:
In 1969 I was playing guitar with a singer named Oliver who had a few records which were hits. I had met Aaron Newman, and he was talking about the new humbucking pickups Guild was making. Aaron was the guy who made the Guild amps in Elizabeth. Oliver was playing a Gretsch, which stunk, and I had a Starfire V. We went to see Aaron, and we outfitted the band with Guild Thunderbird (I think) amps, and a Starfire bass for Seth Evans, the bass player, and a Starfire for Oliver. I was looking for a solid body after I got fired from Oliver's band, and Aaron told me to wait until the new pickups came in. He also was interested in replicating an unusual setup which Gibson was trying, but it never took off, with a three-way on, off, and out-of-phase switch instead of the usual pickup switch, and a potentiometer knob to switch the pickups gradually. The guitar showed up in Hoboken and Neil Lillien, who was one of the executives at Guild, called me up and said, "Uh, your guitar is here, but I don't know if you're going to like it." I asked why. He said, "It's ORANGE." I told him I didn't care. When I went to pick it up, it was a weird reddish color Guild called Coral Red. I think it was one of the first prototype S-100's with the new pickups. The knob pickup selector was not possible, because it needed a double potentiometer, and the guitar wasn't thick enough for it. So it had a regular pickup switch, and Aaron put in an out-of-phase switch. Later, I had coil taps put in, and Paul Schwartz, at Peekamoose Guitars in New York also put in switches which took the pickups either into series or parallel modes. Some years later, the guitar fell off a bandstand, and over a few weeks, what I thought was a scratch in the finish turned out to be a crack in the body, and the neck was starting to pull away from the body. By then Guild was in Westerly, and I contacted Neil Lillien, and I took the guitar to Rhode Island to be fixed. When I was there, I wanted to get rid of the Hagstrom (I think) whammy bar, and get the ugly color stripped and leave it natural. This happened before Paul had put in the additional coil taps and series/parallel things. Before they did the work, the guys up there said that when they stripped the finish off, the wood in the body was so ugly (I think it was poplar) and they asked if I wanted a mahogany or walnut finish. I think I picked mahogany. When I went to get the guitar, I was really impressed with how great the mahogany finish looked, and when I looked closer I was amazed at how much it looked like the real wood, not just a finish. They told me that they thought the poplar body was so ugly, they simply replaced the whole body with a mahogany body. For $200. This was probably around 1978 or so. In 1982 I got the job as the guitarist in "Cats" on Broadway, and the S-100 did many years in the pit there. Later, when I got a Bluesbird (I posted something about that guitar in the Bluesbird thread here) I switched them back and forth. I tried to find the serial number, but it's been worn away.
Guildedagain
Enlightened Member
Looks like I'll finally be able to wander in here soon.
Is an S-100 a Polara, or is that another model yet?
Is an S-100 a Polara, or is that another model yet?
garyfanclub
Junior Member
- Joined
- Nov 6, 2019
- Messages
- 12
- Reaction score
- 28
Joined the club here! '75 S-100 in "Nature Boy"
S100
Senior Member
Beautiful!Joined the club here! '75 S-100 in "Nature Boy"
chazmo
Super Moderator
I can't recall if I ever posted here after I bought GADs NS S-100, but if I did, that now belongs to another family member.
Snoopycaster
Junior Member
- Joined
- Nov 14, 2021
- Messages
- 18
- Reaction score
- 18
- Guild Total
- 0
Hey Group, I finally got my paws on a Guild S-100 Polara 1973 Natural, from Southside Guitars in Brooklyn, New York. (Through Reverb.com) It took a real beating from its previous owners, but Southside's shop did some amazing repair work. Part of its body was broken near the base of the neck, but it's back in one piece. And it still has the nice variety of tones and playability that I've been after for a long time. It's pretty much like my old S-300 prototype from years ago. And, it's my One Year Anniversary on Let's Talk Guild, so I hope everyone here can get their dream guitars, and have a good Holiday Season!
Attachments
Congrats! These are such awesome guitars. I have also have a beat up '71 S-100 that I purchased last summer. Just got it back from being refurbished by Tom Jacobs and it sounds killer. Will post pics later.