S-400?

The Guilds of Grot

Enlightened Member
Joined
Oct 10, 2006
Messages
9,547
Reaction score
4,716
Location
New Jersey Shore
Guild Total
117
Somebody posted this photo on one of the Guild facebook groups. He says the guitar on the right is an S-400! Did we know that existed?

FB_IMG_1596408671973.jpg
 
Last edited:

GAD

Reverential Morlock
Über-Morlock
Joined
Feb 11, 2009
Messages
22,594
Reaction score
17,816
Location
NJ (The nice part)
Guild Total
112
Check your email. :)

He lives 10 minutes from me. I've seen two S400s. Here they are, including this one:

Two-Guild-S400s.jpg


I have begged him to sell it to me and he's so far refused. At one point he was going to let me photograph it but then the world turned to pudding.

His S400 has a bound body, neck and hedstock, and a G-shield inlay.

The other one looks more like the B402 bass.
 

GAD

Reverential Morlock
Über-Morlock
Joined
Feb 11, 2009
Messages
22,594
Reaction score
17,816
Location
NJ (The nice part)
Guild Total
112
LOL - Gruhn is wrong again. I've seen two and both are Ash. They're not laminated, either. One's got six knobs and the other is bound.

Actually I can't say for sure they're not laminated, but I can't see why they would be.

Now, if there's a bunch more out there that I haven't seen then I'm happy to be wrong (I'm wrong so often it's just easier to be happy about it), and if there are more out there then I WANT THEM.
 

AcornHouse

Venerated Member
Joined
May 22, 2011
Messages
10,216
Reaction score
7,226
Location
Bidwell, OH
Guild Total
21
LOL - Gruhn is wrong again. I've seen two and both are Ash. They're not laminated, either. One's got six knobs and the other is bound.

Actually I can't say for sure they're not laminated, but I can't see why they would be.
Look at the top of the next column: S-400A. Can’t speak about the binding, but the unbound one in your pic looks decidedly custom/altered/modified that it could be something else. The ash ones in both pics have the same config.
 

GAD

Reverential Morlock
Über-Morlock
Joined
Feb 11, 2009
Messages
22,594
Reaction score
17,816
Location
NJ (The nice part)
Guild Total
112
The unbound one has an obnoxious MIDI pickup on it. Dudes got an uber-rare guitar and sticks that monstrosity on it.

I missed the -A. Now that means there's a variation out there! I need them all.
 

walrus

Reverential Member
Gold Supporting
Joined
Dec 23, 2006
Messages
23,957
Reaction score
8,020
Location
Massachusetts
What are the odds the owner of an S400 lives 10 minutes away from you? That is crazy!

walrus
 

Rambozo96

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 14, 2020
Messages
1,659
Reaction score
1,192
Location
Texas
Guild Total
5
Had no idea a bound version of the S300 existed. Guess they didn’t sell well?
 

Rambozo96

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 14, 2020
Messages
1,659
Reaction score
1,192
Location
Texas
Guild Total
5
More shots of the S-400A variant. Quite a lot going on in the active EQ set up. If I had to fancy a guess this version probably had just a handful made or flat out never saw full scale production as I think not long after this the whole onboard preamp, add as many splits, taps and phase switches as humanly possible fad was on the way out in favor of more stripped down superstrats. That and this model undoubtedly would be quite expensive as well.
 

Attachments

  • DC1CC007-E4B3-403B-8938-785817C0C1DD.jpeg
    DC1CC007-E4B3-403B-8938-785817C0C1DD.jpeg
    118 KB · Views: 245
  • 93265BD5-59EF-40CD-879B-10E5D92EE417.jpeg
    93265BD5-59EF-40CD-879B-10E5D92EE417.jpeg
    124.3 KB · Views: 248

SFIV1967

Venerated Member
Joined
Nov 20, 2010
Messages
18,442
Reaction score
8,956
Location
Bavaria / Germany
Guild Total
8
More shots of the S-400A variant. Quite a lot going on in the active EQ set up.
If it would be a prototype with LL serial number, that would explain it.
But no, it has a EB serial number which is a S-300A serial number. The S/N is from 1979 if the list is correct.

The owner bough the guitar in a music shop in Munich/Germany in the early 80ies! And it would have been indeed a prototype shown at the Musikmesse in Frankfurt!

"I bought a guitar in the early 80's in a shop in Munich (Germany). According to my knowledge (and the invoice) it is a Guild S400 (I remember the guy in the shop telling me it is a S400AD, the A stands for Ash, the D stands for DiMarzio Pickups). He told me they got it from the music fair in Frankfurt (it was a prototype he said), and I can say I immediately fell in love with and bought her."

"About the controls/switches :
There are two sub and one main gain,
as well as an active eq with bass, mid and high control.
A switch for chosing the pick (3-way)
one switch (2-way) for a bass-boost of the front pick
one for bass-boost of the rear pick
one for high-boost of the rear pick
one for activating the active eq
"

But GAD knows all of this already directly from the owner in Germany...

1596445752450.png


Very clean job inside done by Guild!

1596444807596.png


Ralf
 
Last edited:

GGJaguar

Reverential Member
Joined
Jan 17, 2011
Messages
21,324
Reaction score
31,417
Location
Skylands
Guild Total
49
The tonal possibilities are nearly endless with the on-board EQ (probaby due to endless confusion). :cool:
 

GAD

Reverential Morlock
Über-Morlock
Joined
Feb 11, 2009
Messages
22,594
Reaction score
17,816
Location
NJ (The nice part)
Guild Total
112
Had no idea a bound version of the S300 existed. Guess they didn’t sell well?

I can't say for sure, but I'd guess they were too late in the line. The S400 as described with the active EQ shows up in the 1980 price guides, remain in March 1981, but are gone by September 1981. There's a hole in my price-list collection right about there, but that's when the "new body shape" guitars were on their way out in favor of the S275-types, and as evidenced by the X79 and X82s coming into being, the pointy guitar revolution had begun.

Also I don't see a reference to an S400 with a bound body and S300-type controls, but I only have the price sheets. As always, Hans likely knows more.
 

kakerlak

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 6, 2009
Messages
2,354
Reaction score
128
Location
Oklahoma
That active one feels a lot like what GRD was doing in the late seventies, including the big countersunk brass bridge. Have we seen that bridge on anything else? Definitely looks like a regular Mueller bridge body, but with brass non-roller saddles (and, of course the sustain block/tailpiece combo. I wonder if it's something Mueller was making at the time or something Guild machined.
 

Rambozo96

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 14, 2020
Messages
1,659
Reaction score
1,192
Location
Texas
Guild Total
5
Interesting design. Probably from Mueller. Don't think Guild would have bothered to do that, or?

1596487666686.png


Ralf
The tailpiece seems to be the same concept as the “Quik Change” bridge off of my old Ibanez Studio. Really good for changing strings in record time!
 

S100

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 29, 2014
Messages
1,148
Reaction score
72
Location
Louisiana
Guild Total
4
I like the top binding. Never seen that before. Don’t care for the headstock, though.
 
Joined
Apr 1, 2021
Messages
2
Reaction score
5
Location
Munich, Germany
Guild Total
1
Hi Gents

I reply late (but usually I only look once or twice a year for S400 ...)

I am the one who added the Roland Hex-Pickup to the S400 I bought in the early 80's.
Most of the pics here are from a post I made in another forum trying to find out more about this guitar.

Apparently it seems that even Guild (respectively Cordoba guitar in 2016) don't know anything about this S400 (I had email contact with them). There seems to be no real documentation in the archive :- (((

But I can see that at least in Gruhn's book it is mentioned - and I am pretty sure that I have one of the originals.
The guys in the shop in Munich told me back in 1980 that there were 8 prototypes build - two for each main market (Asian, European, USA and Canada). I heard that the second one for europe market was sold to someone in Great Britain ....

Since there was some discussions about it - if you want any other pic(-angle) or detail then let me know

Regards

Robert

P.S.: I love to play synth-guitar (Roland GR) beside the regular guitar-playing - therefore I decided to 'destroy' the guitar by adding that additional pick-up to this baby ....
 
Top