Hey G&L fans

[nemp]

Are all G&Ls (ASATs, Legacy's) 2 piece bodies or just the trans finish ones?

[hunter]

Had a three piece body ASAT with the transparent honey finish so I'd say they sometimes have three piece bodies. FWIW I have had several of these and only one was three piece but they do exist. The three piece sounded fine too (better to my ear than two other "identical" two piece body ASATs I compared it to when buying). Don't know about Legacies.

hunter

[GeraldCleveland]

I used to have an ASAT. Was a nice guitar, but I could never figure out what ASAT stands for?

[GeraldCleveland]

Thanks for the trivia. I would have never guessed that in a million years. I never once made the connection to defense systems.

[rbisherw]

Raoul gets it right.

I have two G&L ASATs and they are fantastic guitars.
both are two piece ash.
One is a butterscotch Classic the 2nd a Tobacco burst Bluesboy.

[bluesman69]

Originally posted by rbisherw
I have two G&L ASATs and they are fantastic guitars.
both are two piece ash.
One is a butterscotch Classic the 2nd a Tobacco burst Bluesboy. I agree!!
G&L Asat Classic
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v283/bluesman69/Guitars/AsatCL2a.jpg

[HHB]

love my asat classic!http://www.bigblockdodge.com/asat2001.jpg

[Grap]

Got a few myself (no suprises there then...)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v82/omikl/GbL_LE.jpg

www.guitarsbyleo.com Limited Edition. Mahogany semi-hollow ASAT with S-500 pickups. Birdseye maple neck and ebony board.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v82/omikl/ASATJr.jpg

ASAT Jr. Mahogany semi-hollow with no f-hole. Mahogany neck and ebony board.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v82/omikl/ASATFly.jpg

ASAT Special. Ash body and MOTS guard.

Cheers - Steve

[HHB]

wow, really like the triple MFD's on semi hollow mahogany, way cool and I'm sure it sounds amazing

[Grap]

Yeah, the Gbl_LE sounds pretty special. Unfortunately they only made 25 of 'em, and they mostly have different neck shapes becasue the original purchasers were allowed to specify what they wanted (mine has a honkin' big V neck). They crop up for sale occasionally and typically go for US$900-1000.

- Steve

[Dotneck]

I've been looking at G&L's lately and have a question. What is the defining difference between a Legacy and an S-100. I know some S-100's have fancy maple tops but some that I've seen look very much like Legacies. There must be something I'm missing. :confused:

[Grap]

The differences between a Legacy and a modern production S-500[1] are as follows:

Machine heads: Legacy has non-locking. The S-500's are locking.

Pickups: The Legacy has G&L's CLF AlNiCo single coils. The S-500 has G&L's single-coil sized MFD's. The MFD's give a higher output, more "Hi-Fi" tone than the vintage Strat voiced CLF's.

Circuitry: The S-500 and the Legacy both have a five-way selecter switch with passive treble-cut and bass-cut (PTB) tone controls. The S-500 has an additional switch that, when engaged, changes the pickup selections to be:

1 = Neck & Bridge
2 = Neck, Middle & Bridge
3 = Middle only.
4 = See 2
5 = See 1

The fancy tops that you see occasionally are available on all G&L models as their "Deluxe" option. There has recently been a limited run of mahogany-bodied S-500's.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v82/omikl/S500_after_clean-up_2.jpg

My S-500

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v82/omikl/Legacy.jpg

My Legacy

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v82/omikl/LegSpec.jpg

My Legacy Special.

I sort of like G&L's :dude

Cheers - Steve

1) The original 80's S-500 was a different beast altogether. Different body shape, diferent headstock, different pickups (although still MFD's).

[jordanL]

I own several G&L's and AFAIK most are made using 2 piece bodies, you would probably be better off asking this over on the

G&L discussion Page (http://www.guitarsbyleo.com/gldp/index.php3)


Heres My G&Ls (L to R) '80 F-100 I, 96 Asact Classic,'94 S-500, '98 Asat Jr(#126), '84 SC-2

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v322/Jordanml/GLs.jpg

[Grap]

I'd love to pick up an F-100. They're a bit rare in my neck of the woods though!

However I did find my '88 Interceptor here back in '98, so who knows, maybe one of these days...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v82/omikl/Interceptor.jpg

Oh yeah, to answer the original question. All of my solid-bodied G&L's have two piece bodies. You have to look very hard to see the join from the front or the back though.

- Steve

[Scott Cioe]

Originally posted by bluesman69
I agree!! I have three!
G&L - Will Ray Model
http://img78.photobucket.com/albums/v283/bluesman69/Guitars/GLWR.jpg

G&L Classic S
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v283/bluesman69/Guitars/GL_Classic_S.jpg

G&L - Asat Special Hollow w/Bigsby
http://img78.photobucket.com/albums/v283/bluesman69/Guitars/GLSpcl.jpg

Nice pieces Bluesman: Can you (and anyone else as well) please advise what the differences are between the different pickups available. That is, I have heard/played the ASAT classic pickups and have been extremely impressed. However, I was thinking that I kind of prefer the newer "saddle lock" bridge that comes with the bigger soapbar style p/ups. Can anyone compare?

[Grap]

I've only ever played an ASAT Classic in a store, so I can't offer a side-by-side comparison between the MFD's on that model and the larger MFD's fitted to the ASAT Special.

Don't be confused by the "Soapbar" moniker people sometimes give to these pickups. They may look a little bit like P90's (In a very bad light, if you're squinting). They are a totally different design and have none of the P90's characteristic mid-range honk[1]. In fact the best adjective I can think of to describe the large MFD's when compared to standard single coils it "more" :) They seem to have a flatter frequency response with more high & low end, which is perhaps why some people describe them as "Hi Fi" or "cold".

They seem to reproduce the sonic characteristics of the guitar very accurately. What you hear when you play the guitar accoustcally is pretty much indicative of what you'll get through an amp with flat EQ. For example, my ASAT Special is the brightest sounding guitar that I own, the MFD's reproduce the bright ash body/maple neck/maple board character to a T. My ASAT Jr is quite mellow as it's mahoghany body/mahogany neck/ebony board characteristics come right to the fore.

Cheers - Steve

1) When I first got my ASAT Special I enthused about how I could get a Leslie West tone out of it. You can as well, with the neck pickup with the tone rolled half-off, but only if you're working from your memory of how Big Les sounded on the Mountain Live album that you haven't heard in eight years :)

[beNsteR]

Hi Grap, greetings from Singapore! i just saw your G&L collection, lovely guitars you have there! I came across this ad on www.luthermusic.com, which is the most popular guitar classifieds in Singapore. Thought you might be interested, as you collect G&L's:


Date posted : 09 October 2004
G & L SKYHAWK 1988 model ash body maple neck "BY LEO FENDER" with hard case, aniversary strap, stainless parts etc. Call or SMS me with best offer minimum price SGD$1300 mobile phone: (65)94766445
Email:farid_long@yahoo.com.sg


PS: i love my '00 ASAT Classic MIJ (Yes, made in Japan) Tribute series in butterscotch blonde!

[MichaelK]

Originally posted by Dotneck
What is the defining difference between a Legacy and an S-100. The main difference between a S-500 and a Legacy is that the Legacy sounds like a vintage Strat but you have the option to dial in more bass tone, while the S-500 sounds (IMHO) like shit.

[Grap]

People do tend to either love or hate MFD pickups don't they? :D

The G&L tone control fitted to the Legacy, Legacy Special & S-500 is a passive treble & bass cut circuit. It is possible to dial out the trable & bass frequencies, but it cannot boost either of them.

The Fullerton has the "standard" Strat circuit: Seperate treble cuts for the neck & middle pickups, nothing for the bridge.

- Steve

[MichaelK]

Originally posted by Grap
People do tend to either love or hate MFD pickups don't they?
Depends on which ones.

[Grap]

Originally posted by MichaelK
Depends on which ones.

I'll take a guess: You like the big rectangular ones in ASAT Specials, but dislike the ones that come in the S-500 and ASAT Classic?

Cheers - Steve

[HHB]

different strokes, but I love the small MFD's in my asat classic, the pups are one of my big attractions to this guitar

[MichaelK]

Originally posted by Grap
I'll take a guess: You like the big rectangular ones in ASAT Specials, but dislike the ones that come in the S-500 and ASAT Classic?
Correct! That was almost too easy. :)

But I also like the MFD in the Blues Boy and their bass pickups. The Z-coils don't sound "bad" per se, but they're not to my taste.

[Grap]

I've only ever tried one z-coil equipped guitar, an ASAT Z3 semi hollow that was loaded iwth all the options[1] and was eye-wateringly expensive. I couldn't play it without continually hitting one or other of the pickups.

My favourite G&L for versatility is the Legacy Special. Those bladed single coil sized humbuckers and the PTB tone circuit allow you to cover a lot of ground

- Steve

1) Maple top. Dual fulcrum vibrato system. Ebony board. A store in Hong Kong had got a few G&L's in to test the waters and had gone for teh Zen approach: "Make me one with everything" :D

[esmiralha]

I can say I´m pretty happy with my S-500! Lots of bottom end, very good sustain and if you flush the pups against the pickguard you get some crazy bluesy tones. :)