New guitars - G&L Legacy + Legacy Special + S-500 Deluxe + ASAT Classic Bluesboy Semi-hollow + ASAT Deluxe + ASAT Z-3 Semi-hollow

Over the past few months I've been on a bit of a G&L buying spree (or should I say, "rampage" ?). What's not to like about G&L's... they've got unique tones, great construction, and "modernized vintage" designs (as in, they bear a lot of resemblance to old Fender designs but address some of the Fender design "quirks" that have been around since the 50's). The upside (if you're buying)/downside (if you're selling) of G&L's is that they fly a little below the radar and don't seem to command the same premiums as genuine Fenders. For my recent purposes, though, that's good news. :)

While I've had a handful of G&L's over the years (both ASAT's and Legacy's), it's taken me a while to figure out "what works for me" from a G&L standpoint... I've owned a few that I haven't been able to bond with. This collection, though, represents a great variety of guitars that I have in fact bonded with.


G&L Legacy

This Legacy is probably the most traditional of the bunch... it's got an ash body, bolt-on maple neck with rosewood fretboard, dual-fulcrum vibrato, and three vintage single coil pickups with 5-way switch and G&L's PTB (passive treble/bass) tone circuit. It's finished in a subtle yellow-tint, even though it looks more "natural" in the pictures below.






G&L Legacy Special

The main difference between the Legacy Special and base Legacy is in the pickups... the Legacy Special has three Gotoh dual-blade (noiseless) pickups in it. Otherwise it's similar from a construction standpoint... this particular Legacy Special has an alder body with maple neck/fretboard and is finished in just-plain-black (er, none-more-black?).






G&L S-500 Deluxe

The S-500 Deluxe is probably the "high-end Strat clone" in the G&L lineup... it's got a basswood body with a flamed maple top, maple neck/fretboard, three single coil MFD pickups (which are hotter yet quieter than the vintage single coils in the Legacy), and a push-pull switch for additional pickup combinations. This one is finished in blueburst (yes, it's actually blue!).






G&L ASAT Classic Bluesboy Semi-hollow

Turning to the tele-like designs, the ASAT Bluesboy is similar in construction to the ASAT Classic with a Seymour Duncan Seth Lover humbucker in the neck position. This particular Bluesboy has a semi-hollow ash body finished in tobacco sunburst and baseball bat-ish maple neck/fretboard.






G&L ASAT Deluxe

This is the hot-rodded ASAT... the Deluxe features a mahogany body with flamed maple top, two G&L Alnico humbuckers with 3-way switch + coil-tap switch, and the G&L saddle-lock bridge. This particular Deluxe is finished in cherry sunburst with a maple neck + rosewood fretboard.






G&L ASAT Z-3 Semi-hollow

Finally, the ASAT Z-3 sits squarely in the "can't decide if it's more strat or tele" category... it's got the standard ASAT body shape with saddle-lock bridge, but has three Z-coil noiseless pickups (similar to the Comanche) with a 5-way switch and a push-pull pot for additional pickup combinations. This one is finished in honeyburst with a maple neck/fretboard (check out the figuring on the neck!). Also worthy of note is that it has a semi-hollow body without any F-holes on the top.






Here's a pic of (most of) the new G&L's lined up with my good ol' ASAT Classic & ASAT Special Deluxe:



More to come on the G&L front... in the coming weeks I plan on recording some comparison videos to demonstrate the differences in tones between these models.

--B