“At this level and price it’s a serious starter, spare or – as it ever was – a wicked slide guitar”: Guild Polara Deluxe review

While technically different as far as actual body outline and headstock goes, this guitar makes us all think ‘Gibson SG’, doesn’t it? Back in the day, it was the shape of the second wave of solidbodies that Guild unveiled in 1970 after entering that market quite late, in 1963.

Later in the ’70s came a much more original and adventurous design, but it’s this SG-style version that’s been a part of the Newark St Collection as the S-100 Polara since Fender introduced them in 2013; Guild was purchased by Córdoba Music Group in 2014 and, as of 2023, it’s now owned by Yamaha.

Back in 2023, legendary grunge guitarist Kim Thayil shone some welcome light on the S-100 with a very limited USA-made model and a still-current Newark St version.

The low-end is taken by the standard twin-pickup Polara, which is available in three solid colours, and there’s a single-pickup Night Edition in Tungsten with an ebony fingerboard, which entered the fray earlier this year alongside our Polara Deluxe.

If that standard Polara with its snazzy colour options, black hardware and through-body stringing looks a little ’80s, the Deluxe opts to recreate the original ’70s style with a choice of three colours, that distinctive angled ‘compensated’ stopbar tailpiece and new covered HB-2+ humbuckers.

As with the original ’70s design, compared with the SG, the Polara’s bass-side horn is pulled up a little in terms of outline, the waist very slightly offset, but otherwise it’s a close cousin, not least with those distinctive edge chamfers.

And while the quoted price doesn’t include a gigbag, the general build quality from the manufacturing facility in Indonesia is pretty sharp, including the all-important neck angle and bridge height that’s just about right.

You can see a four-piece body spread, with a pretty standard SG-like thickness of 36mm through the translucent cherry finish, and although the different pieces might not be particularly well matched, overall weight at 2.98kg (6.56lb) is certainly light and it hangs well on a strap – with the strap button on the back of the heel.

Along with a fairly standard headstock slice, Guild calls its neck profile a “vintage soft U” and in size and feel it’s pretty close to Gibson’s SlimTaper. An oddity here, though, is the over-thick fingerboard edge binding, but the ‘narrow jumbo’ fretwire sits over the binding and is rather well fitted and finished.

In fact, right out of the box the setup was pretty spot on, and while the open-backed tuners did initially feel a little loose and needed tightening up, they feel okay under tension. The D and G string nut slots needed a little love, too.

Also new for 2024 are these HB-2+ humbuckers. Like the standard HB-2s, they are standard humbucking size (unlike the larger-footprint HB-1s), but these swap the Alnico II magnets of those HB-2s for Alnico V and are, by design, a bit more of a hotter, contemporary voicing, at least at the bridge. You can coil-split both pickups individually via pull-switches on the volume controls (not tone).

Feel & Sounds

Along with quite a midrange-pushed voicing, the bridge HB-2+ provides a modern kick and compression with just enough clarity; for higher-gain duties you could live here. At the neck, though, we drop back to a more classic voicing, a little more open and again with just enough clarity to remain articulate.

The splits open out the voicing considerably. At the bridge especially there’s almost Tele-like spank and stridency, really quite a ’60s-sounding jangle. At the neck, we’re a little thin and bright, but that certainly helps the very bouncy, jangly pickup mix where both splits and the full-coil voicing can be combined.

There’s thickness and power here, but use those coil-splits – not to mention the volume and tone controls – and there’s surprising scope available, sound-wise.

Verdict

This 2024 version of the Polara Deluxe remains an alternative to Gibson’s fabled SG, although at this price we’re talking Epiphone, of course, not to mention the many low-end SG-alikes out there.

This iteration adds some more contemporary kick but doesn’t forget its more classic roots, plus as these are standard-sized humbuckers you have huge choice to revoice it to your specific taste.

There are couple of minor quibbles, but overall the Polara is in good shape. At this level and price it’s a serious starter, spare or – as it ever was – a wicked slide guitar.

Specs

• PRICE: $699/£649
• ORIGIN: Indonesia
• TYPE: Double-cutaway solidbody electric
• BODY: Mahogany
• NECK: Mahogany, ‘vintage soft U’ profile, glued-in
• SCALE LENGTH: 629mm (24.75”)
• NUT/WIDTH: Synthetic/43.3mm
• FINGERBOARD: Rosewood, pearloid block inlays, 320mm (12.5”) radius
• FRETS: 22, narrow jumbo
• HARDWARE: Tune-o-matic-style bridge, Guild Compensated stopbar tailpiece, Guild ‘Vintage 18’ open-backed tuners – nickel-plated
• STRING SPACING, BRIDGE: 51.5mm
• ELECTRICS: 2x Guild HB-2+ uncovered humbuckers, 3-way toggle pickup selector, individual volumes (w/ pull-switch coil-splits) and tone controls
• WEIGHT (kg/lb): 2.98/6.56
• RANGE OPTIONS: The 2-pickup Polara comes in 3 solid colours ($549/£519) and the single-pickup Night Edition is $549/£489 – all use uncovered HB-2+ humbuckers and through-body stringing. The Kim Thayil signature ($/£899) is modelled after his ’78 original and includes the larger HB-1 humbuckers, phase switch, gold hardware and Vintage White or Black finishes
• LEFT-HANDERS: No
• FINISH: Cherry Red (as reviewed), Vintage Sunburst, Canyon Dusk Metallic – gloss polyurethane
• CONTACT: Guild Guitars