1956 Guild® CE-100 Sunburst, Brand New, $1,750.00

Summary: While Guild’s famous Slim Jim T-100 was designed as a student model, the upscale full-body CE-100 was a decidedly more professional instrument. This example is a beautiful early Hoboken-built jazz box with tons of character and tone.

Body: Fully hollow body with single sharp cutaway. Maple back and sides. Arched bound maple top with f-holes. Sunburst finish on top; mahogany stain on back and sides. 16 3/8” lower bout width. 2 7/8 “ body depth.

Neck: Mahogany with center stripe. Bound rosewood fingerboard with pearl block inlay. Black headstock overlay with pearl shield/logo inlay. 24 3/4” scale.

Electronics/Hardware: One Franz single-coil pickup. Volume and tone control. Adjustable rosewood bridge with Guild lyre-style tailpiece. Three-per-side open-gear Grover Sta-tite tuners, nickel-plated hardware, raised multi-ply black pickguard.

Cosmetics: This guitar is good condition. It has some binding replacement (it’s common for these old Guilds to shed their original binding). It’s had a refret and the current frets are in great shape with very little wear. The finish has tons of character with extensive crazing, fading and dark spots: signs of a long and eventful life. The mismatched binding (tortoise on back, ivoroid on top) adds to its special mojo. The finish has flaked around the added strap-button on the neck and the binding along the treble side of the first fret has come off. Overall, this is a solid player’s guitar with a cool look and a lot of history.

Playability: This guitar has a comfortable C-shaped neck with newer frets and plays smoothly with no buzz or dead spots. The single Franz pickup at the neck has the warm and throaty qualities of a good P-90. Roll back the tone a bit and access a tone perfect for jazz.

Mods/Repairs: Refret. Added strap button on neck heel. Top rebound in seven-ply ivoroid. Back binding and heel-plate rebound in tortoise binding.

Weight: 5 lbs, 14 oz.

Case: Original hard shell.