Sb-203

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Just inherited a 1983 SB-203 Guild bass and was wondering if anybody has any info on this. I was told they were only made for 1 year and are rare. It has 3 pick-ups and 3 small toggle switches that can put the pick-ups out of phase. Plays smooth. Great shape. Can't find much about these. Anybody?
 

guilded one

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I have an SB-203 and they are most definitely rare. It took me about six years to find mine. I have six total of the SB-201 and SB-202 models but my SB-203 is my prized bass. It's candy apple red with a black pickguard. I believe that Guild only made 452 (maybe less) of the SB models total and doubt that many SB-203 models were ever made due to the fact they are just about impossible to find. Congrats on your bass. What color is it?
 
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Thanks for the info guilded one. Mine is black. Some of the pics I've found on-line have 2 standard pick-ups and 1 split type. This one has 3 standard. Yours? Also the guy I got it from said this was #402 of the run. (the serial # ends in 402)
BTW I tried to upload pics here but it asks me for a URL? Can't I just add from my files?
 

fronobulax

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Welcome. You have to host your pictures somewhere and then enter the URL to them. See here.

Below is a SB-202 that belongs to guildsofgrot.

1982dSB-202.jpg


Statements about production volumes based on serial numbers are often incorrect just because of the way Guild managed (or even kept) their records. Perhaps Hans Moust will comment since his book ends in the 1970's.
 

guilded one

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Mine also has the three single coil pickups. I have a couple of SB-202's that have the split pickup and single coil. I once owned a B-302 but the SB series basses are more balanced and much more comfortable to play. Any other SB-203 owners out there?
 
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First,thanks for the info all! This is really all I could find about this bass,after some serious searching on-line.

Now here's the thing...I was given this bass by a guy whose house I was working on. Because of health issues he can no longer play and it had been sitting around for years. He adamantly refused to take any money for it and just wanted it to go to a good home. I'm a guitar player but my son and girlfriend both play bass,so it WILL get played (and be taken care of)

Now that I see that this bass is somewhat rare, I feel that I should do SOMETHING for this guy. I already told him that I would come do some odd jobs at his house to help out,but I don't want to feel like I'm taking advantage of him.(not doing enough)

So....does anyone have a ballpark figure on the worth of this thing? It's in pretty good shape. One small scratch. You can tell it's been taken care of.Plays great.
I would not want to sell it.I just want to know I'm being fair (more for my conscience.The guy REFUSED to take ANY money.)

I was thinking somewhere in the $500-$700 range. Am I way off?
Any input would help!
 

fronobulax

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I was thinking somewhere in the $500-$700 range. Am I way off?
Any input would help!

There is an SB-201 with an asking price of $1,250 here. I am pretty sure that the same bass was listed by that dealer at that price over a decade ago. I feel pretty comfortable saying that very few used Guild basses sell for much more than $1,200 unless they are Starfires or M-85s. So the market does not seem to value scarcity. $500-$700 seems reasonable to me all things considered. My opinion plus $2.50 will get you coffee at Starbucks and some change :)
 

mavuser

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i agree. some pieces are so scarce that the demand is barely there at all, simply because no one knows about them, or of their magic. plus the value of Guilds can tend to be all over the road. Those SB series basses are second to none though, $500-$700 sounds fair to me. a good deal especially if it has the case. could easily fetch more in a shop, but for your purposes thats fair
 

guilded one

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I paid around 550.00 for mine and felt I like I got it at a very good price. I was willing to pay up to 1,000.00 if I had to, that's how bad I wanted it. I plan to never sell mine because it took me so long to find one and I feel like it's a great and very underrated bass.
 
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I have an SB-203 and they are most definitely rare. It took me about six years to find mine. I have six total of the SB-201 and SB-202 models but my SB-203 is my prized bass. It's candy apple red with a black pickguard. I believe that Guild only made 452 (maybe less) of the SB models total and doubt that many SB-203 models were ever made due to the fact they are just about impossible to find. Congrats on your bass. What color is it?

Hi guilded one, you may own the twin of my SB-202 candy apple red! I bought the bass new in 1986-7 (now I'm thinking it was Feb 1987) -- was a leftover in Westerly long after the Pilots were released. I live in RI and a local dealer dealer told me he got it cheap, couldn't even sell me a case for it.
20160702_200418-jpg.898947


The sn is AE100374 -- which appears to be before the known number range for these basses. I don't know if someone had it hanging at Guild as a floor model or what, but I've only recently discovered how rare these basses are.

I stripped mine to natural stained wood finish in '94 and added EMG/EXB preamp before that. I'm curious to know anything else about these SB-20X. Having the pickups near the bridge seems to be the most rare. In '88 I ordered a 2nd pickguard from Guild to cut out the EMG-P, I completely ruined the first one. They told me it was very unlikely they'd have a pickguard for me but somehow found one.
This bass is exactly how mine started out:
post-7211-0-57203600-1452256332.jpg


I don't know if yours is exactly the one pictured above, but it's something I've never seen around.
 

fronobulax

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The sn is AE100374 -- which appears to be before the known number range for these basses.

I don't think you are reading the chart correctly. It lists the last serial in the year so I would date AE100374 to 1982 with a high degree of confidence.
 
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I don't think you are reading the chart correctly. It lists the last serial in the year so I would date AE100374 to 1982 with a high degree of confidence.

Ah you're right, and not the first time I've read a chart wrong either. What I never understood was the reason this bass would sit at Guild for almost 5 years!? I did buy brand new and it came directly from Westerly; it didn't sit in a local guitar shop more than a week before I bought it. The shop owner made a point to tell me it was a leftover.

Thank you for the reply and clarification.
 

fronobulax

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The online Guild serial number charts are known to have mistakes. Any time someone has 'trouble' with one it is usually educational to check their work, check Hans Moust's book and then just ask Hans.

Guild did many things that don't make sense. They put serial numbers on the neck when the neck was built but there are a few documented cases where several years elapsed before the neck was used, resulting in an instrument that appears to date to one time but has features that were introduced much later. There were at least two pickup configuration in the early days of the JS bass before Guild standardized on the humbuckers. We have also seen a JS body with the pickups and pickguard of a B-302 installed. There are also factory conversions of a Starfire I to a Starfire II bass. So if they built an instrument and it sat around for five years, stranger things have happened.
 

hagmeat

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We have also seen a JS body with the pickups and pickguard of a B-302 installed.

I think you might mean a Long Scale JS2 body with the pickups and bridge of a B301/2 or a SB201/2. I`ve never seen a JS2 with a B301/2 pickguard. My prototype has a custom pickguard.

Here`s a link to another prototype with the same specs as mine. Hans said they made a very small batch of them. This is the only other protoype that I have ever seen apart from mine.

https://www.talkbass.com/threads/holy-mother-of-holy-grailness-guild-content.1039538/

Cheers
Rob
 
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