Recently Acquired S-100

Hi All

Just acquired an s-100. Have an SG standard but have wanted an s-100 for some time.
I do have some questions about it though.

1) What year would you say is is? I am thinking late 60's early 70s due to the hagstrom tremolo
The back of the headstock does not have a serial number. I does say SB and to the right it looks like it has been touched up...maybe the serial number was covered....maybe this is a defect guitar (not sure this is the correct term)


2) See the volume knob on the top right...is this original? It is different than the other three in that is has a screw that holds it on to the pot.




3) Not sure about the holes under the last set of tuners on the back of the headstock...any thoughts on what these may be from?.


4) What do you think about the body....should I leave it alone or have some the dings touched up?








5) Pics of the pickups (no too clear)






6) Case....anyone have a suggestion on where to get an original or otherwise that fits this axe

Thanks for your time, much appreciated

parsox

Killer guitar! I am as interested as you are to know more about it. I have a pair of them but both are reissues. How do you like it compared to your SG? How's the neck for you?

I don't know anything about S-100s. But those look like the Kolb tuners that Guild used from the late 60s into the 70s.

Dave

Welcome and congrats on the guitar. I actually looked at it myself a few weeks ago and wrote about it here. I think the guitar is from 1970. As I recall, the seller said that the extra screw holes are there because when the tuners started to become loose they were flipped upside down so that they could be screwed in more tightly in new holes. They were then flipped back, revealing the holes.

How does the guitar sound? I didn't get to hear it plugged in...If I had, I probably would've bought it! Even without hearing the thing, I came very close to buying it. In fact, before seeing your post, I was thinking that I'd check in with the seller again this weekend and maybe take a second look.

-K

blakeley311 said:

Killer guitar! I am as interested as you are to know more about it. I have a pair of them but both are reissues. How do you like it compared to your SG? How's the neck for you?

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A kslam states in his post, the guitar is light. I would say notticably more than than the SG. The neck is great, nice and straight, similar in size to the SG.

Thanks for the info.
When I saw the add, I had figured it would have been sold, but I had to email the seller anyway.
He stated he had lots of inquiries into the guitar but no takers as of yet. :shock:
I talked to him for quite a while.
He stated the neck was straight but that is was missing 1/4 inch of binding....I currently have the guitar at a local luthier who is going to replace the missing piece (no other work is being done at this time)...in the military and recently moved to IL so had to find a luthier by word of mouth at a local music store.....
He did state that when he plugged it in, only one pickup worked....I took a chance on this....when it arrived only one pickup worked like he stated...so I took of the back cover and used some contact cleaner on the pots....viola....sound from all three settings of the switch .....just like new in that aspect.
It is missing about 6 screws....some from the backplate covering the pots and 2 from one of the bezels around what I assume to be HB1s....the luthier is also going to provide replacements.
Sounds good....keep in mind I jam around the house, nothing professional, just an interest in playing music and always trying to learn...
I would say it has less "strength" in terms of sound when compared to the SG but it plays well and is light, just as you say....and hey its a vintage s100....just can't go to your local music store and buy one now and days.


Once it gets back from the luthier I will have to look at the pots and see if I can get a date range from them to help identify the year of this guitar

Kslam said:

Welcome and congrats on the guitar. I actually looked at it myself a few weeks ago and wrote about it here. I think the guitar is from 1970. As I recall, the seller said that the extra screw holes are there because when the tuners started to become loose they were flipped upside down so that they could be screwed in more tightly in new holes. They were then flipped back, revealing the holes.

How does the guitar sound? I didn't get to hear it plugged in...If I had, I probably would've bought it! Even without hearing the thing, I came very close to buying it. In fact, before seeing your post, I was thinking that I'd check in with the seller again this weekend and maybe take a second look.

-K

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parsox said:

Once it gets back from the luthier I will have to look at the pots and see if I can get a date range from them to help identify the year of this guitar

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Hello again Eric,

Welcome to the forum!

It's real easy really. The use of the SB serial number prefix was ended during the year 1970 and the big format HB-1 humbucker was introduced towards the end of 1970, which makes it an S-100 from 1970. The numbers of the ser. # were obviously removed!

Sincerely,

Hans Moust
http://www.guitarsgalore.nl

Hey parsox, welcome to LTG and congratulations on a great looking guitar. I'm sure you'll come to your own conclusion about whether to touch up the dings or not. Some people pay to have their guitars look (unsuccessfully) as imbued with age, wear and "been there, done that" street-cred as this one. but they do look damn fine in restored condition too.

How are the tuners, intonation, and general feel? I'm also an SG lover who bought an S-100 and for me the first thing was try to make this great sounding guitar play as well the trusty and comfortable SG. It is nearly there and the tone is mainly what makes me love it so much. I now you've found the tone not as strong as an SG. Before I had to sell it I played through an Axe FX and Mesa 20:20 poweramp. On some amp models it sound milder than the SG (mine had p-90s) and on others it really shone. Particularly Mesa Boogie models.

Oh by the way, the truss-rod cover is the wrong way around. I'm surprised our TRC police haven't been on to you yet. Maybe there's an amnesty for new members :wink:

Fearless... Thanks for the tip on the trussrod cover. I noticed the same on the pic floating around on the evolution of the sg tremolo....didn't know if the factory installed them this way or not.... Will have to reverse it as soon as it is back from the luthier

fearless said:

Oh by the way, the truss-rod cover is the wrong way around. I'm surprised our TRC police haven't been on to you yet. Maybe there's an amnesty for new members :wink:

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No amnesty, just weekend for the TRC police! :lol: :lol: :lol:
Ralf

parsox said:

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:shock: Fix it! :mrgreen:

Hammer said:

parsox said:

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:shock: Fix it! :mrgreen:

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I'm on it as soon as it come back from the luthier :lol: