S-100 97'? with a coil splitter?

[BryanBerlin]

Hi all,
I have been playing my Guild S 100 for at least 10 years & loving it sadly getting it ready to sell and trying to identify exactly what guitar this is.
It's marked S 100 the serial number is FB000668 and it has a 2 position switch just south of the pick up switch that appears to be a coil splitter; which I haven't seen on any other models. It does not appear to be a mod it looks factory.
Anybody have any insight on this and what something like this would be worth (it is in great shape) ? I have a feeling I'm going to regret selling it.
Thanks Bryan Berlin

 

[matsickma]

The switch is common on S100's from the 70's and reissue in 90's. The 1st year or two didn't have that function.
Also it is not a coil tap but a phase switch the has tonal impacts only when both pickups are selected with the middle position of the pickup selector switch.
A little tweak of the volume knob on either pickup will alter the balance between how the tone of two pickups combine. Typically pickups out of phase lack low frequency tone and higher frequencies get a little "nasal" sounding.

If the guitar does indeed have a coil tap that would be very unusual especially with the SD-1 pickups as I don't think you can access the individual bobbins on those model pickups.
M

 

[GGJaguar]

Welcome to LTG! Looks like a '97 S-100 with the classic Duncan 59/JB pickup combination. You can check Reverb and eBay for recent sales of them to see what they are fetching these days.

 

[GAD]

As mattsickma said it's likely a phase switch and as such only works in the middle position.

 

[Prince of Darkness]

I really like the out of phase setting on my S-300, not everyone does, but I find it a really useful tone Peter Green's famous Les Paul, which he sold to Gary Moore and is now owned by Kirk Hammett, is out of phase. This was done by accident and I think I read somewhere that the magnet on the neck pickup was flipped, rather than the wiring reversed. Having a phase switch gives the choice between the regular in phase and out of phase sounds. I think it's a shame that the current Newark Street S-100's don't have this switch.

 

[fronobulax]

it's likely a phase switch

Because I'm that guy and there are no kids on the lawn at the moment, I am going to say the factory installed switch in the '70's and '90's S-100s was never a coil splitter and was always a phase switch. The suggestion that it might be a coil splitter is rooted in claims from people who try and extrapolate from what other brands did rather than research what Guild did.

I used the word "never" when talking about Guild so I'm probably wrong but...

 

[SFIV1967]

I am going to say the factory installed switch in the '70's and '90's S-100s was never a coil splitter and was always a phase switch.

90's hangtag and 1975 catalog:



Ralf

 

[SFIV1967]

S 100 the serial number is FB000668

S-100 Polara, Made in 1997 in Westerly, RI. Specs see hangtag above.

Famous user: The guy who said: “I’m not on a first-name basis with my gear; I just know it’s Mr Mesa/Boogie and Mr Guild!”



Ralf

 

[GAD]

Because I'm that guy and there are no kids on the lawn at the moment, I am going to say the factory installed switch in the '70's and '90's S-100s was never a coil splitter and was always a phase switch. The suggestion that it might be a coil splitter is rooted in claims from people who try and extrapolate from what other brands did rather than research what Guild did.

I used the word "never" when talking about Guild so I'm probably wrong but...

Sure, but you can’t be sure that someone hasn’t altered it in 25-+ years of the guitar’s existence which is why I wrote likely.

In my painful experience any time I use a declarative statement I get smacked in the face by it.

 

[fronobulax]

Sure, but you can’t be sure that someone hasn’t altered it in 25-+ years of the guitar’s existence which is why I wrote likely.

In my painful experience any time I use a declarative statement I get smacked in the face by it.

I was expecting to get smacked, but used "factory" instead which shifts the discussion from "what is the spec?" to "has this particular instrument been modified?"

There is an interesting convention here that I expect many people follow but perhaps you don't. The default condition of an instrument is assumed to be "factory". Deviations are noted but if there is no evidence to the contrary assuming factory is the safe and acceptable assumption.

It does not appear to be a mod it looks factory.

seemed sufficient to move "altered it in 25-+ years" from the realm of "probable" to the realm of "possible".

That is a known issue in communications. Sometimes good concise writing assumes something with a very small probability of happening might was well be treated as not happening. But there is room for disagreement about "how small is too small to not bother mentioning?"

 

[matsickma]

It would seem to me that the latest S100 out of Indonesia can readily be turned into the "perfect" S100 "Super" Deluxe. The humbuckers already have the coil taps with switch built into the push/pull volume controls. Adding a phase switch is a pretty simple modification.

I had been thinking of pulling the electronics out of the dark blue S100 Deluxe and installing Z90 single coils and standard volume/tone pots.
Now I'm gonna need to reconsider that plan!
M