The first 'professional' guitar that I bought, while I was still in high school, in '74. Serial Number 68243 places it around 1972. It originally came with dual Guild humbuckers and a stop tailpiece. I remember I was looking for a cool guitar that wasn't like all the Strats, Teles, and Les Pauls, but I couldn't afford a Rick. So I traded in the Harmony SG-looking solidbody I repainted (oh, it was pretty, when I sanded it down to the wood I discovered it was plywood, so I painted the beveled edge and back black and left the top natural; it looked plain, so I hand-painted 13 red roses around the edge - nice!), and paid another $100 for a cool 2 year old Guild. It was an S-90 when I bought it, only 1 Volume and 1 Tone and the 3-way switch. So what are the differences between the S-90 and S-100, they're mostly cosmetic. I only have a GUILD decal, the 100 has the 'Chesterfield' logo and GUILD inlayed in 'Mother-of-Toiletseat', the 100 has individual Guild tuners and I had those cheap 3 on-a-plate open gear tuners. They both have beefy Guild made in USA humbuckers, (these pickups were 50% hotter than a 70's Les Paul Goldtop, I measured them using a Navy Differential Voltmeter - that's accurate!) but the 100 had separate Volume and Tone controls and a phase switch.

The first thing I did was drill a couple more holes and wire it for separate Volume and Tone controls for each pickup. Then I added a phase reversal switch too; this made it look and sound like an S-100. One of the chrome pickup covers had a small ding on the front, this was about the time the uncovered pickups started coming out, so I thought I'd cut the tops off with a hacksaw. I left the sides (connected to ground), because I thought that would help shield the coils from noise. Well of course now I wish I hadn't done that, oh well, the things you do as a teen. I finally replaced my cheapo (didn't stay in tune) tuning machines with Grovers, so now it's just about an S-100.

Both pickups are wired normal, not coil-tapped, I think I'll leave 'em that way, this one I'm gonna rewire for lots of tone choices with help from CraigAnderton and GuitarNuts. I'm not sure what I'm gonna do with it yet, I need Nancy to do some painting first. If you have some good ideas that aren't covered by Craig or the Guitar Nuts, drop me an email and I'll let you know if I use it, and give you credit. Bookmark this page with a 'notify when page changes' option, and you'll know when I put it back together.

Keep checking back, when it's done there'll be the 'After' pictures, schematic for what I finally decided, and what's next. I think this one will stay passive, maybe I'll put active circuits in the Baritone guitar (it's got more room!).