blakeley311
Junior Member
Ok so here’s the story. I was inspired to write this after reading LA’s account of his 77 black S-100. Here’s my story.
I have owned no less that 30 electrics in the past 15 years. My friends all think I am OCD and nuts, which is probably true. The issue is I am either bummed out by the neck profile, the “deadness” of the body (lack of resonance) or the overall shape of the guitar. I have owned 5 PRSi, 5 LPs, numerous Epiphone LPs (3??), Strats (2), Gretsches, Teles, SGs, Explorers, Flying Vs, a Firebird…you get the point!
So a few years ago I moved to Nashville and started playing guitar quite a bit again. I was interested in getting a band going etc. until I realized how gnarly EVERYONE is at playing guitar here. Luckily I moved here because I had family near and could count on my college degree to land me a “real” job.
I moved with my 67 RI Flying V (the ONLY electric I have consistently owned and the neck profile by which all others are judged) and my Gibson acoustics. I immediately bought an LP and started jamming only to hate the skinny, flat neck on the LP. I did some reading and bought a white RI S-100 and LOVED it. Months went on and I developed what I thought was Carpal Tunnel. I sold the S-100 to a guy in NH and sold my Rivera amp as well. I stopped playing guitar and eventually had surgery on my wrist, which forced me to literally re-learn how to pick, alternate pick, finger pick…well PICK!
So fast-forward to the present, three LPs later and a couple of PRSi, I got the itch while looking at my LP classic to have my white S-100 again. I always regretted selling it and have yet to see another one on eBay. For a while I had an alert every time an S-100 came up. I saw a few green ones that, at the time I wasn’t into, but now wished I had bought. One sold for something crazy like 450.00!
I had no way to contact the guy with my S-100 but had his eBay name. I messaged him a month ago and sold my LP waiting for his response. Oddly enough, he was on LTG casually talking about selling said white S-100. I didn’t hear back then saw LA’s black ’94 on eBay. I know the 70s S-100s are better but I have GIANT hands and knew the nut width was small and the necks were thin albeit rounded. I would own one in a second now, for the record.
A week after getting LA’s black one and having some wiring issues worked out, I get an email with the white one for sale. I put my Rivera combo on eBay (I sold that in 2006 and bought it back in 2008 from the guy) and sold some pedals I had lying around and a 32” TV that has been collecting dust since my old lady and I merged our stuff a few months ago.
Now I am proud to announce that I have BOTH S-100s. I am sure I’ll sell one of them eventually but that’s the nature of this “disease!”
Sorry for the novel. I am normally a lot wordier if that’s any consolation.
Initial report:
The black Guild has a MUCH slimmer neck, the bridge radius doesn’t seem to match the fingerboard radius perfectly and the high E string is pretty close to the edge of the frets. The tone is killer, the guitar has a fair amount of mojo and I dig the all black. A lot.
The white Guild is much more yellow than I remember it, but all of my pics and the recent pics of it make it seem whiter as well. The guitar feels heavier and like there is more finish on it. I LOVE the neck profile and the bridge. I haven’t plugged it in yet but I have 4-5 songs I recorded with it during my initial tenure and know exactly what it sounds like plugged in. It is a little more muted than the black one but the strings need to be replaced and it needs a good cleaning, a turn on the truss rod and the pickups adjusted. Apparently the rhythm pot is scratchy (seller informed me of this) and I’ll fog it down with some contact cleaner.
How many of you guys play the single channel amp game with just a volume knob to clean things up? Do you find the taper on the stock knobs to be adequate? If you modified it, what knob did you use?
Forgive the typos and grammar; I am in a rush to go to a co-write and would spend 45 minutes over-correcting myself.
Blakeley
I have owned no less that 30 electrics in the past 15 years. My friends all think I am OCD and nuts, which is probably true. The issue is I am either bummed out by the neck profile, the “deadness” of the body (lack of resonance) or the overall shape of the guitar. I have owned 5 PRSi, 5 LPs, numerous Epiphone LPs (3??), Strats (2), Gretsches, Teles, SGs, Explorers, Flying Vs, a Firebird…you get the point!
So a few years ago I moved to Nashville and started playing guitar quite a bit again. I was interested in getting a band going etc. until I realized how gnarly EVERYONE is at playing guitar here. Luckily I moved here because I had family near and could count on my college degree to land me a “real” job.
I moved with my 67 RI Flying V (the ONLY electric I have consistently owned and the neck profile by which all others are judged) and my Gibson acoustics. I immediately bought an LP and started jamming only to hate the skinny, flat neck on the LP. I did some reading and bought a white RI S-100 and LOVED it. Months went on and I developed what I thought was Carpal Tunnel. I sold the S-100 to a guy in NH and sold my Rivera amp as well. I stopped playing guitar and eventually had surgery on my wrist, which forced me to literally re-learn how to pick, alternate pick, finger pick…well PICK!
So fast-forward to the present, three LPs later and a couple of PRSi, I got the itch while looking at my LP classic to have my white S-100 again. I always regretted selling it and have yet to see another one on eBay. For a while I had an alert every time an S-100 came up. I saw a few green ones that, at the time I wasn’t into, but now wished I had bought. One sold for something crazy like 450.00!
I had no way to contact the guy with my S-100 but had his eBay name. I messaged him a month ago and sold my LP waiting for his response. Oddly enough, he was on LTG casually talking about selling said white S-100. I didn’t hear back then saw LA’s black ’94 on eBay. I know the 70s S-100s are better but I have GIANT hands and knew the nut width was small and the necks were thin albeit rounded. I would own one in a second now, for the record.
A week after getting LA’s black one and having some wiring issues worked out, I get an email with the white one for sale. I put my Rivera combo on eBay (I sold that in 2006 and bought it back in 2008 from the guy) and sold some pedals I had lying around and a 32” TV that has been collecting dust since my old lady and I merged our stuff a few months ago.
Now I am proud to announce that I have BOTH S-100s. I am sure I’ll sell one of them eventually but that’s the nature of this “disease!”
Sorry for the novel. I am normally a lot wordier if that’s any consolation.
Initial report:
The black Guild has a MUCH slimmer neck, the bridge radius doesn’t seem to match the fingerboard radius perfectly and the high E string is pretty close to the edge of the frets. The tone is killer, the guitar has a fair amount of mojo and I dig the all black. A lot.
The white Guild is much more yellow than I remember it, but all of my pics and the recent pics of it make it seem whiter as well. The guitar feels heavier and like there is more finish on it. I LOVE the neck profile and the bridge. I haven’t plugged it in yet but I have 4-5 songs I recorded with it during my initial tenure and know exactly what it sounds like plugged in. It is a little more muted than the black one but the strings need to be replaced and it needs a good cleaning, a turn on the truss rod and the pickups adjusted. Apparently the rhythm pot is scratchy (seller informed me of this) and I’ll fog it down with some contact cleaner.
How many of you guys play the single channel amp game with just a volume knob to clean things up? Do you find the taper on the stock knobs to be adequate? If you modified it, what knob did you use?
Forgive the typos and grammar; I am in a rush to go to a co-write and would spend 45 minutes over-correcting myself.
Blakeley
