Guild S-100 Polara

review
GUILD JETSTAR & S-100 POLARA
94
Guitarist september 2018
sound for some lovely quite single coil-like,
snappy blues voices while the tones are a
little more useful, certainly with the volume
near or fully up. As ever the controls expand
the voice considerably: a vintage-y clean
’bucker voice that might lack the heft of a
thicker mahogany/maple-topped single-cut
but which sits firmly in the classic rock
genre. It has more than enough clarity
without sounding sterile for gained voices
and so long as you use those controls you
can access a host of classic sounds.
Verdict
Dropping into one of the most competitive
market slots, the Jetstar has plenty going
for it. It’s not quite an impulse buy – but the
very sensible price buys you a competent
build and a distinctive retro vibe that’s
matched by the sounds we hear. Add a
decent gigbag and it emerges as a fun guitar
with plenty of serious application.
The S-100, now a cornerstone of modern
Guild, raises the bar a little, not just
cosmetically but sonically, too, with less
of the quirks of the Jetstar and a nicely
vintage voice that’s definitely in the cleaner,
low-output range. At £629 it’s a steal for
all manner of classic and roots rock – and
quite a bit more besides.
8 . Quite closely spaced,
Guild’s four control
layout here uses
‘vintage’ style wiring,
creating a slightly
different drive than the
Jetstar. If you don’t like
it, it’s easy to change
8
PROS Price, ‘deluxe’ style, nice
repros of original HB-1 humbuckers,
weight and resonance
CONS Aside from the fact that Guild
no longer produces a case for this
guitar, it’s a cool enough piece
PROS Original body and headstock
style, great width of sounds, weight
and playability
CONS For the money, not a lot,
plus there’s plenty of modding
scope too
8 9
GUILD JETSTAR
PRICE: £539
ORIGIN: China
TYPE: Offset double-cutaway
solidbody electric
BODY: Mahogany
NECK: Mahogany, ‘C’ profile, glued-in
SCALE LENGTH: 648mm (25.5”)
NUT/WIDTH: Bone/43.4mm
FINGERBOARD: Pau ferro,
5mm mother of pearl dot inlays,
254mm (10”) radius
FRETS: 22, narrow jumbo
HARDWARE: Nickel-plated tune-o-
matic-style with stud tailpiece,
vintage-style tuners
STRING SPACING, BRIDGE:
51.5mm
ELECTRICS: 2x Guild LB-1 mini
humbuckers, three-way toggle
pickup selector, master volume
and tone
WEIGHT (KG/LB): 3.52/7.74
OPTIONS: None
LEFT-HANDERS: No
FINISHES: Black (as reviewed),
Seafoam Green and Vintage white –
all gloss polyurethane
Selectron UK Ltd
01795 419460
www.guildguitars.com
GUILD S-100 POLARA
PRICE: £629 (inc gigbag)
ORIGIN: Korea
TYPE: Offset double-cutaway
solidbody electric
BODY: Mahogany
NECK: Mahogany, vintage soft
‘U’ profi le, glued-in
SCALE LENGTH: 629mm (24.75”)
NUT/WIDTH: Bone/43.1mm
FINGERBOARD: Bound pau ferro,
pearloid block inlays, 305mm
(12”) radius
FRETS: 22, narrow jumbo
HARDWARE: Nickel-plated Guild
tune-o-matic-style with stud tailpiece,
Grover Sta-Tite 18:1 ratio open-backed
tuners
STRING SPACING, BRIDGE: 51.5mm
ELECTRICS: 2x Guild HB-1
humbuckers, three-way toggle pickup
selector, individual pickup volume and
tone controls
WEIGHT (KG/LB): 3.20/7
OPTIONS: None
RANGE OPTIONS: The other Guild NS
solidbodies are the vibrato-equipped
S-200 T-Bird (£809) and the same
model with simplifi ed electronics
and hard-tail, the T-Bird ST (£759)
LEFT-HANDERS: No
FINISHES: White (as reviewed),
Black and translucent Cherry Red
– all gloss polyurethane
GIT437.rev_guild.indd 94 09/08/2018 18:42