NAMM 2024: Guild’s S-100 Polara Kim Thayil shown up last fall and represented the conclusion of years of work in between the Soundgarden guitar player and the United States brand name.
Now, having got the job over the line– and done so in some design– the company is taking advantage of the momentum, revealing a considerable roll-out of Polara electrical guitars at a range of various prices/specs.
“This upgraded variety will interest a wide array of gamers including style components that cover from timeless 1970s to contemporary modern-day,” states Guild and, evaluating on the early proof, it appears to have actually provided on that pledge.
The US-built S-100 Polara Kim Thayil Artist Edition now sits atop of a Polara stack (total with handwound Jason Lollar pickups and a $5,999 cost tag), while the brand-new additions– consisting of the Polara Deluxe, Night Edition and basic– will fall under Guild’s overseas Newark St. Collection umbrella.
That’s the sub-brand that plays home to Thayil’s more cost effective signature guitar the Polara Kim Thayil ($899 street), which is by the way, set to get a brand-new Vintage White colorway choice for 2024.
As you may anticipate, the specifications differ throughout the varieties, however the base design sets the design template– including a set-neck mahogany construct with a U-shape neck, rosewood fingerboard and a Gibson-like 24 3/4″ scale-length.
There’s a set of hot-wound (exposed) HB-2+ humbuckers with Alnico V magnets and an uncomplicated control setup of master volume, master tone and three-way pickup selector.
On the hardware front, there’s a resonant string-through-body bridge, Guild’s stopbar and Rotomatic-style tuners.
All in, it’s a function set that uses a great mix of traditional and modern-day and is especially attractive, offered it is available in at a street rate of $549.
The surfaces are an excellent touch, too: using an option of Blue Steel, Phantom Green and Voltage Yellow– the latter definitely stood out of our roaming Editor in Chief (over on the NAMM live blog sitewho called it “a genuine retina-searer”.
At the opposite end of the spectrum, you have the Polara Night Edition. A murdered-out all-black, single-pickup design, that appears like an overall monster and is absolutely dedicated to its dark style.
It’s so dark that we presume it may be a black hole– and even on the press images, we had a hard time to make out the reality it was a single-humbucker specification.
Guild’s website states it has master volume and tone controls, however that appears to be a mistake, as it appears to have just a single volume knob.
That stated, there is constantly the possibility that the tone knob was put there initially, however has actually considering that been lost to its tempting gravitational pull.
The Night Edition will likewise retail for $549.
The top of the brand-new lines is the Polara Deluxe, which comes in at $699 street cost, and ups the decoration with a bound rosewood fretboard and block inlays, together with inlay information on the headstock.
There are practical upgrades, too– the Deluxe includes independent tone and volume knobs, plus coil-splitting abilities to the control set and there’s a Tune-O-Matic bridge, plus Guild Vintage 18 open equipment tuners.
The surfaces look outstanding, to boot, with the choice of the Metallic Canyon Dusk, traditional Cherry Red, or our preferred, Vintage Sunburst.
It appears that after a long period of time out there on the periphery of Guild’s output, Thayil’s precious S-100/ Polara is now in great business.
For more details on all of the brand-new Polaras, head to Guild
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