1964 Guild Capri CE-100D

As a company that never shied away from the cutting edge customer demand, Guild Guitars released many new models in the 1960s designed with the changing popular music scene in mind. The folk music craze in the early ’60s spurred Guild to create some very memorable flattop acoustic models, such as the D40 and F212. As folk gradually morphed into and shaped other forms of pop and rock in the mid to late ’60s, Guild met the demand for high-quality semi-hollow guitars with the Starfire line and created bold solid bodies like the Polara. But even in the wake of their success in the flattop and semihollow market, Guild continued to expand and refine the models that made them famous in the ’50s—archtop jazz guitars.

The 1964 Guild Capri CE-100D featured here is a great example of one of Guild’s earliest archtop incarnations, and the first to feature a Florentine-style cutaway. With a 16" wide, 2 7/8" deep arched maple body, the 24 3/4" scale length Capri was produced to directly compete with the Gibson ES-175. In 1964, Guild made numerous design changes. And while this Capri features the newly introduced humbuckers and the now instantly recognizable protruding dome-shaped headstock, it sports what is possibly one of the last round-shaped pickguards Guild used before the switch to the “stairstep” shape. This guitar has been well loved, and shows signs of moderate wear for its age, including a neck sanded down to ease playability.

Thanks to Rick Tedesco at Guitar Hangar for listing this guitar on Gear Search. Whether you’re looking for a vintage piece or the latest guitar on the market, there’s a great chance you’ll find it at Gear Search. More than 47,000 pieces of gear are listed, including some of the rarest gear in the world.