'61 CE-100 Black Special

zizala

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Hey all,

After a long worrisome wait for this to arrive via FedEx from Chicago in some very cold weather....my purchase from Reverb showed up yesterday.
I took these photos after giving it a quick look over, set up and new strings, but still need to clean up some dust and smudges and and rub out some serious tarnish on the nickel plated tailpiece.

IMG_2092.jpeg

So here we have a very uncommon or possibly rare 1961 CE-100 Black Special.

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I went to great lengths explaining to the seller how to pack an archtop guitar in it's case, and also asked him to pass my instructions on to the FedEx people who were charged with packing the cased guitar in the carton. I wasn't very confident. I'm OCD about guitar packing.
But fortunately they did a pretty good job, and it arrived packed just the way I wanted and in good shape.....
.....even inside the new chipboard case he bought to ship it in....:oops:
Of course before all this could happen I had to wait hours to gradually warm up the carton and unpack slowly because it was freezing cold on arrival.
That was hard to do!

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This guitar was lightly played and the only signs of age show as some light checking here and there, and a few little bumps, nicks and scuffs.
One downside was that the plastic headstock face laminate had lifted in places....a chronic issue with many older Guilds of this vintage.
Someone unsuccessfully attempted to glue it down with something resembling titebond. Wrong glue for plastic and they were a bit careless with it.
It flakes off and it should be relatively easy to clean that up and do the repair right.

Original frets have no discernible wear, the neck is nice and straight with no twist, the truss rod worked well for a little tweak it needed and all my "happy" boxes were checked.
I restrung it with round wound 12's, adjusted the pole pieces the way I like, plugged it into my '69 Princeton Amp (living room stalwart) and got to hear another great excellent sounding and very strong Franz.

I'm very happy......as much as I try to slow down on guitar purchases, or sell a few off, one like this is a dream come true.
I love black guitars.

Oh....and if anyone has an extra '60-'62 era Guild CE-100 case in good shape, I'm interested!

Here it is lounging on the sofa with my '61 CE-100 DP. They make a great pair.

IMG_2096.jpeg
 
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Guildedagain

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Looks like it cleaned up real good.

I'm very into the monochromatic B&W guitar thing, maybe it's because of my photo background.

The Meguiar's I've been ranting about cleans up nickel nicely, but so does Brasso, or Mother's wad polish, or even Simichrome polish if you could find that these days, I first used it on BSA thumpers decades ago.
 

zizala

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Thanks for the recommends for polishing out the nickel plate.....
Which Meguiars?....I missed out on your rants..... :)

I have some Mother's Mag and Aluminum polish.....have you ever tried that?
 

shihan

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Man, that’s really nice. I’ll bet it’s a joy to play. Congratulations!
 

HeyMikey

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Wow that is a great looking pair! Super cool in black with the single pickup. Definitely went to the right home.
 

BradHK

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Here is a case that just got posted for sale: unfortunately it is listed by and will support Gibsondependable

 
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zizala

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Thanks for the possible case spotting BradHK....

A CE-100 is a deeper bodied guitar than a T-100 and won't fit in a slim body case.
Also I've also never seen a circa '61 Guild case with the black tolex and yellow interior......possibly that's a Gibson case.
I could be wrong.

But I do appreciate the heads up!
I've got a 16" TKL type case that works for now, but hope to find an original.
 
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Guildedagain

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Meguiar's Cleaner Wax, a good all purpose product.

I got a 40's vintage unit in the mail, the nickel was really grown over with fuzz, and the Meguiar's knocked it down, left a nice patina.

I got a 50's unit in the mail, the nickel tuners were all fuzzed over. I remember when I couldn't wait for nickel tuners to age a bit but this was gross and didn't feel good on the fingers, again the Meguiar's dealt with it as part of an overall clean and polish.

Here are the buttons now.

P1050657.JPG
 

zizala

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Thanks Guildedagain,

I'll get some and give it a try.....
I don't mind leaving a little aged patina, but yes, this tailpiece feels "fuzzy" as you describe.
This Meguiar's sounds like the right kind of stuff for working towards a nicer version of "old".

I've always preferred the look of nickel plated parts to chrome.
 

BradHK

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Thanks for the possible case spotting BradHK....

A CE-100 is a deeper bodied guitar than a T-100 and won't fit in a slim body case.
Also I've also never seen a circa '61 Guild case with the black tolex and yellow interior......possibly that's a Gibson case.
I could be wrong.

But I do appreciate the heads up!
I've got a 16" TKL type case that works for now, but hope to find an original.
Great catch! I keep forgetting that the CE Guilds are deeper than the Starfire or Slim Jims.
 

mad dog

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Beautiful guitar Z, great score! Never saw one of these older black ones in person. I like it!
 

zizala

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Well md.....when omicron dies back a bit and the coast is clear you can come by and play it sometime!
I want to play your X-50.....
 

mad dog

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Well md.....when omicron dies back a bit and the coast is clear you can come by and play it sometime!
I want to play your X-50.....

That is an excellent idea. I'm planning on it!
 
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