Guild CA-100 Archtop Acoustic

The guitar dates to 1960s very few blonde CA-100s made. This one's blonde (back, top and sides, all blonde), solid carved top and looks
like a solid back ( the grain matches inside and out ). Amazing tone
and quality. Came with factory installed deArmond...

this is the loudest archtop... louder than any 17" I played...
tone tone tone... tons of it everyone who plays it is amazed.

Low action, loud, blonde... real eyeopener. Really fast neck!

I wouldn't take this to a gig...

guild... another great music company bites the dust.

this is my favorite guitar to play

The guitar dates to 1964, and according to Guild expert supreme Hans Moust, was part of a batch of only 11 CA-100s made that year--seven with the regular sunburst finish and four in blonde. This one's blonde (back, top and sides, all blonde), one of only 4 made that year. (I've never seen another one, curious where the other three are?)

Single neck pickup, as engraved on pickup face: Guild Award Model, by DeArmond.

Made in Hoboken, New Jersey.

The guitar has one vol control, mounted on the pickguard. Jutting out just below the vol is a male screw-on contact where you connect the cable. Mine came with the original cable, which has a female screw-on at one end, regular 1/4" phone jack at the other, so it can be used with any amp. All the electronics work perfectly, though my original cable sounds a little scratchy when you move it around.

The size of the box is perfect for someone who goes back and forth between solid bodies and semi-acoustics. The "stairstep" pickguard gives it a very Art Deco look.

I can't give it a 10 for 'tons of features' but will give it a 9 anyway for extreme easy of use - only one knob to tweak.

Full, rich 50s-style jazzbox tone. The DeArmond makes it stand out from the usual Gibson crowd, being sweeter in the upper mids (or is that mid uppers?). Responds really well to pick attack. No tone control on the guitar but it's amazing how changing the pick position offer tone variation -- the DeArmond seems very sensitive to that. Amazingly forthright tone unplugged.

Very quiet, except for the cable is scratchy if you move it around. I should have a new cable made for it - the screw-on connectors are widely available for around 80 cents. Someone tried to convince me to convert it to 1/4 jack on both ends but I don't want to mess with the original design, it's too cool.

Played through my blackface Vibrolux it can go from thick, clear jazz tones at low to medium volume to smokey T-Bone blues at higher volumes. Crank the amp further, a little Nuge is in there too, and the DeArmond never seems to squeal or get microphonic.

I bought the guitar in 1979 from Subway Guitars in Berkeley. I don't know where it came from or who owned it before then. Even after all these years, the guitar is in perfect playing condition. No flaws in the neck or fretwork as far as I can detect. Action and intonation are really, really fine - I don't have any other guitars that come close. There's a maple strip down the back of the mahogany neck. The fretboard's a very dark rosewood. The tuners work great. They're pretty fancy, fully sealed with scrollwork engraved on the outside and textured, pearloid grips.

It's withstood live playing since 1964 (I've had it since 1979), I guess it will hang in for another half century or so. The body's built to last, it's not one of these super-delicate archtops. The neck, though on the slim side (like all Guilds), is still super straight and doesn't seem prone to cracking at the headstock like many Gibsons.

I never play guitar without a backup, just because you never know when you're going to bust a string. Then again, this one almost never breaks strings, so I could probably gig without a backup.

Guild's Hoboken workshop closed down long ago, and Guild was bought by Fender. So the only customer support this is gonna get is from the customer, me.

I've been playing for 30 years, own several Fenders (strats, teles, telesonic, jazz-o-caster) and Gibson (Blueshawk, Johnny A), Hamer (Studio P90), and an assortment of Fender and Sound City amps.

The only other guitar I've kept as long as this one is my 57 Tele. I don't play it quite as much as I used to, but then none of my individual guitars get as much attention as they may have in the past as I simply have too many on hand nowadays.

If someone stole it, I'd be SOL and there are only four blonde 1964 CA-100s in existence. I suppose I'd take the insurance and try to find another one, though it's a very unique piece. These guitars are a great value considering they usually go for less than the more famous single-pickup jazz guitars.

1960 Guild archtop cutaway. Laminated mohagany body with solid arched spruce top. Two piece mohagany neck with maple(?) centerstripe. Waverly open tuners. Rosewood bridge. Bound rosewood fingerboard with block inlays. It has the old style Guild headstock.

This old Guild has a surprisingly loud voice, with a midrangy, woody thump when played with authority. What a great sounding instrument!

The 40+ year old Guild finish has lasted well. The bridge has enough room left on it for adjustment so that it probably won't need a neck reset for a long time.

Well, it's lasted 40 years, and is still kickn' Gibson butts!

This instrument was made at the Guild facility in Hoboken, NJ, which has long since gone away. The folks at Guild today, I have no idea.

This is an outstanding instrument, and I think that I was very lucky to get it. If something happens to it, where am I going to find another?