Guild S-100 Polara Solid Body Electric Guitar (1965)
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Guild S-100 Polara Model Solid Body Electric Guitar (1965), made in Hoboken, NJ, serial # 44185, sunburst lacquer finish, alder body, mahogany neck, rosewood fingerboard, original grey hard shell case.
One of the comparatively forgotten solid-bodies of the 1960's, the S-100 Guild Polara is a great vintage American guitar STILL waiting to be discovered. This model was the middle of Guild's early-1960's solid-body line, perched between the flashier (and now more highly collected) S-200 Thunderbird and the entry-level one-pickup S-50. The S-100 has the same two-pickup and vibrato layout as the Thunderbird with a (slightly) more conventional body shape and without the complex Fender Jaguar-inspired double tone circuit, featuring instead a classic Gibson-style 4 knobs and switch array. The pickups are the white plastic-covered "Mickey Mouse" single coil units peculiar to Guild in the mid-late '60s, the company's most Fender-like options.
Another eccentricity of this series is that the body wood varied with the finish; cherry S-100s were mahogany, but sunburst models like this one are alder like a Fender, giving a slightly brighter sound. The neck is always mahogany with an unbound, dot-inlaid rosewood fingerboard. It is topped with an oddball fluted headstock originally designed for a stillborn Guild Merle Travis model, here adorned with a pearloid "Chesterfield" inlay under the Guild logo.
The Hagstrom adjustomatic bridge and tremolo unit are featured, along with Grover Sta-tite individual tuners. The instrument also features the infamous Guild "built-in guitar stand" feature (Patent pending). This cheerfully optimistic device (offered "at no extra cost!") is a metal bar hinged out from the back; extended, it supports the guitar upright at a rakish angle which fortunately in this case has never led to a tumble and a broken headstock!
The list price on this model in 1965 was $280, plus $49.50 for the hardshell case. The S-100 is an slightly eccentric but eminently playable 60's guitar with a great trash, twang, and thunder tone perfect for surf, garage or rockabilly stylings while being versatile enough to go beyond them. It is also one very cool guitar we cannot think of a single well-known player ever using; there's still time to stake your claim!
Overall length is 38 7/8 in. (98.7 cm.), 14 in. (35.6 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 1 3/8 in. (3.5 cm.) deep. Scale length is 24 3/4 in. (629 mm.). Width of nut is 1 11/16 in. (43 mm.).
This guitar is VERY clean and 100% original and complete looking not really much used at all since the 1960s. The all-original finish has some very light wear with a few scattered dings and chips, but still shines like it did when LBJ was in the White House. Even the often-shrunken plastic headstock veneer shows only very minor movement. This is simply the nicest example of this rare 60's American solid-body we have ever seen, in the original hard shell case with some light external wear. In the case are an original period Bobby Lee strap and the original time-payment receipt from 1966. The original buyer got the guitar and case at $300 but Ouch! They really nailed him with finance charges! Overall this is just a spectacular period find, if an obscure one! Overall Excellent + Condition.
One of the comparatively forgotten solid-bodies of the 1960's, the S-100 Guild Polara is a great vintage American guitar STILL waiting to be discovered. This model was the middle of Guild's early-1960's solid-body line, perched between the flashier (and now more highly collected) S-200 Thunderbird and the entry-level one-pickup S-50. The S-100 has the same two-pickup and vibrato layout as the Thunderbird with a (slightly) more conventional body shape and without the complex Fender Jaguar-inspired double tone circuit, featuring instead a classic Gibson-style 4 knobs and switch array. The pickups are the white plastic-covered "Mickey Mouse" single coil units peculiar to Guild in the mid-late '60s, the company's most Fender-like options.
Another eccentricity of this series is that the body wood varied with the finish; cherry S-100s were mahogany, but sunburst models like this one are alder like a Fender, giving a slightly brighter sound. The neck is always mahogany with an unbound, dot-inlaid rosewood fingerboard. It is topped with an oddball fluted headstock originally designed for a stillborn Guild Merle Travis model, here adorned with a pearloid "Chesterfield" inlay under the Guild logo.
The Hagstrom adjustomatic bridge and tremolo unit are featured, along with Grover Sta-tite individual tuners. The instrument also features the infamous Guild "built-in guitar stand" feature (Patent pending). This cheerfully optimistic device (offered "at no extra cost!") is a metal bar hinged out from the back; extended, it supports the guitar upright at a rakish angle which fortunately in this case has never led to a tumble and a broken headstock!
The list price on this model in 1965 was $280, plus $49.50 for the hardshell case. The S-100 is an slightly eccentric but eminently playable 60's guitar with a great trash, twang, and thunder tone perfect for surf, garage or rockabilly stylings while being versatile enough to go beyond them. It is also one very cool guitar we cannot think of a single well-known player ever using; there's still time to stake your claim!
Overall length is 38 7/8 in. (98.7 cm.), 14 in. (35.6 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 1 3/8 in. (3.5 cm.) deep. Scale length is 24 3/4 in. (629 mm.). Width of nut is 1 11/16 in. (43 mm.).
This guitar is VERY clean and 100% original and complete looking not really much used at all since the 1960s. The all-original finish has some very light wear with a few scattered dings and chips, but still shines like it did when LBJ was in the White House. Even the often-shrunken plastic headstock veneer shows only very minor movement. This is simply the nicest example of this rare 60's American solid-body we have ever seen, in the original hard shell case with some light external wear. In the case are an original period Bobby Lee strap and the original time-payment receipt from 1966. The original buyer got the guitar and case at $300 but Ouch! They really nailed him with finance charges! Overall this is just a spectacular period find, if an obscure one! Overall Excellent + Condition.