Why I prefer 1976-79 electrics & the story of my 1977 S-100

With just a cursory glance at the forum, there seem to be quite a few fans of the circa '73 era. I'm wondering why that is.

I wrote this in a PM just now but thought it might be worthy to open the topic up to the community.

Anyway, we all have our favorite years. Mine is the 76 to 79 era. The angled neck feels more comfortable to me, I prefer the wider frets (though I don't know when that started, but the late 70's ones all seem to have fatter frets). The pulled back angle of the neck also makes a smaller heel where the neck meets the body. Finally, bringing the stop piece closer to the bridge means the low strings are less likely to unseat from the roller, and I hear fewer to no ghost notes, so no need to dampen the strings between the bridge and the stop piece.

I've owned several early 70's solids, and none of them had the feel of my trusty 77. Now I'll only shop for 76 to 79's.

What are your favorite years of production, and why?

Re: What years and why?

No place else to put this post, so I'll put it here: The story of my black '77 S-100:


I've done so many horrible things to the 77. I've covered it in stickers and eventually scraped them off.

I used to wear a heavy ring and slap the tail piece to get a particular "clang" sound through the speakers, now the stop piece has all these pock marks all over it.

And finally, I was once on stage and someone passed up shots. everyone thought it was vodka, but it turned out to be high-octane rum. Disgusting. So I splashed the headstock of my guitar with it and lit it on fire. There was no lasting damage, thank god but that story has been retold about 1000 times by my old bandmates.

But somehow through all that, guitar has settled in "just right" for me.

But that's not the worst of it. I moved to Chicago in 1999 and had no money. I got a 30 day pawn loan on the 77. like $100. I went back on day 30 to get it back, and the shop was closed.

I went back the next day - day 31 - and the guy said it was too late and they didn't have the guitar anymore. I was crushed.

A few months later, I finally got a good paying job. I started shopping for a replacement. I went into Chicago Music Exchange to look around. And that's when I saw it. It was my guitar. Sticker marks? Check. Pock marks? Check. Serial Number? Check. I bargained and bartered and lied to them about all the after market changes I made to it (not true) to get them to come down off the price. I finally bought it back for $700.

This guitar will never leave my hands again. We are now one.

Interesting to know about some of those differences - frets, neck angle, position of stop piece etc.

Do you notice any consistent differences with regards to neck width & neck profile?

Zelja said:

Interesting to know about some of those differences - frets, neck angle, position of stop piece etc.

Do you notice any consistent differences with regards to neck width & neck profile?

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That's a good question.

I'm certainly no expert, and these instruments are pretty rare compared to say Gibsons, so I've had the pleasure of playing maybe only 20 different guitars from that era. I've found that the necks of starfires, s-100's and other solid bodies from the late 70's are pretty consistent, and I also have not noticed a huge difference in width or profile from the early 70's guitars. I do know that compared to the 60's starfires I've played, there is a big difference. Believe it or not, i had a 66 SF12 for a while and the nut felt narrower on that 12 string than the nut on my 77.

Zelja said:

Interesting to know about some of those differences - frets, neck angle, position of stop piece etc.

Do you notice any consistent differences with regards to neck width & neck profile?

Click to expand...

Shame on you, Zelja . Here's Qvart's thread on the neck angles
http://letstalkguild.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=21903

As far as the rest i.e. fatter frets, position of the tailpiece I think the change happened somewhere in 1975-76 (take this with the grain of salt, I don't remember for sure).

As for neck width & neck profile I thought they those changed with the reissues but not throughout the 70s.

Russian Guy said:

Shame on you, Zelja . Here's Qvart's thread on the neck angles
http://letstalkguild.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=21903

As for neck width & neck profile I thought they those changed with the reissues but not throughout the 70s.

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Sorry! :lol: And I thought I read most of these threads. Guess not. Thanks for the link.

Zelja said:

Russian Guy said:

Shame on you, Zelja . Here's Qvart's thread on the neck angles
http://letstalkguild.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=21903

As for neck width & neck profile I thought they those changed with the reissues but not throughout the 70s.

Click to expand...

Sorry! :lol: And I thought I read most of these threads. Guess not. Thanks for the link.

Click to expand...

You're welcome. After all that's one of the reasons we post here - to help each other and share experiences

Yeah, thanks RG!

Still no analysis on fretboard width or neck radius but I'm a new guy here, and I'm sure that's been covered, too!

Los Angeles said:

Yeah, thanks RG!

Still no analysis on fretboard width or neck radius but I'm a new guy here, and I'm sure that's been covered, too!

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I think most of it is covered in the Sticky thread on S-100s plus Qvart, Thunderface, Hammer and Danerectal around here had had the most number of S-100s so they will be a good source of info. Not to mention Hans Moust who literally wrote a book on Guilds, The Guild Guitar Book. He always sheds a light on all things Guild.

Vadim

I was going to write this in a P.M., but I thought I would share here.

This is a little known thing, but if you like the feel of the late 70's S-100's the way I do, I recommend that you look out for the Washburn Idol Series, particularly the high-end "Pilsen" model from the Chicago custom shop.

Now, look out, the company was sold a couple of years ago and they destroyed the electric production line. New ones are overseas POS's that they give away at $200 or so.

I'm talking about the washburn idol guitars from the custom shop from roughly 2000 to 2009 or 10. And it's a one-piece set neck guitar made mostly of mahogany and very resonant.

I've played three of these guitars and the necks felt very VERY close to my 1977 s-100. It felt so close that I actually was shopping for one when I ran into a Bari version in black. I got the Bari and it was like playing a long S-100. The neck feel, the frets and the tone (unplugged) were an excellent comparison.

I've tried many a time to match up a gibson to a quild. I've been through so many thinking that I was going to at least come close and it's never worked out.

These Washburns are great guitars, you can get them for a tiny fraction of the original prices (Custom shops were 2500-4000 new - since the division was gutted, they sometimes go for $500-1000 - which is insane.

Anyway, Definitely play it before you buy it, but I recommend looking into it.