What kind of 1976 Guild do I have? Polara?

[Guest]

Hey guys... I'm brand new. I picked up an old Guild electric and I can NOT find something like it online.

Based on this page:
http://www.guildguitars.com/resources/guild_dating.php
I realize the guitar is a 1976 because the serial number is 136745.

Best I can tell it is some form on a Polara S-100 with some modifications.

Obvious modifications: the Bigsby tremlo was not original (you can see where the old bridge was mounted), and the fretboard inlays are not original (the 12th fret inlays are skulls!). There's also a weird spot on the back of the body of the guitar-like someone cut into it or something (see photo).

Can anyone give me any clarity on exactly what model this guitar is as well as about how much it is worth?

You can see the set of photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/matthewlil ... 752729425/

 

[hansmoust]

Can anyone give me any clarity on exactly what model this guitar is as well as about how much it is worth?

Hello wlj,

Welcome! I've seen this guitar before although I'm not sure if they were the same photos.
The ones you've posted here are not very clear and do not show a lot of detail.
From what I can see I don't believe that this guitar was produced in the Guild factory. The neck is obviously a Guild neck but the way it is set/glued into the body is not the way they would do it at the Guild factory. The body is somewhat inspired by the S-100 Polara from the '60s but I don't think that they used an actual Polara body to produce this guitar.

Without better photos it's hard to say anything definitive. Can you show us a photo of the body with the pickguard removed?

Sincerely,

Hans Moust
http://www.guitarsgalore.nl

 

[Default]

Not many Guild parts on that guitar that I can see. Better pics would be illuminating.

 

[kakerlak]

I was kind of waiting to see what Hans said, but I was thinking the same thing. It definitely looks like a Guild neck, but the heel is too long. The body is similar in shape to a 60s Guild solid, like Hans is saying, but it's a 70s neck and the body really looks like maple, which I haven't really seen with Guilds.

The pickups, knobs and Bigsby are not Guild parts. On the other hand, the bridge is and is consistent with the '76 time period...

Really hard to say what the story is here. Could be something a factory worker made in his spare time with some misc parts he'd ferreted away over the years, or a guitar that was badly damaged and then rebuilt in a custom direction. I'm trying to think what sort of Guild neck would have had that long a heel and am kind of stumped. At first, I thought a full-depth archtop neck, if cut down to a thinner depth would make the heel look that way, but then again, this neck joins the body at the 19th fret or so, which is too long a neck to have come from any archtop Guild.

I will say the rectangular spot filled with wood was almost certainly a battery access hole for a 9V, so this probably once had some active electronics in it.

 

[Qvart]

I can't make out much from the pics either, especially on my phone (I'm at work at the moment). It does look like a Guild neck but not an S-100 with that stripe. Is it ebony or rosewood and how many frets? Could be from one of the S-300 series models.