NGD 1986 ASAT

Well, I am a happy camper. I bought a 1986 asat earlier today. I had been been keeping tabs on it since it popped up on CL a little while ago. It checks off a lot of boxes for me. Leo era , saddle lock bridge and it is in great shape as well. Only a few nicks here and there with a slight discoloration around the strap buttons ( the previous owner suspects it is dye from a guitar strap, which I concur with ). The pick guard is black plastic and I think the fingerboard is rosewood, although I have heard about unstained ebony used in this era. Regardless , the neck feels great. Not sure about the body wood, probably swamp ash? Maybe someone could chime in about that. I suspect it has seen sparse playing time over the years judging by its condition. The previous owner said he only had for a year and didn't play it much. The case is an older G&L plastic case with metal latches that you twist to close, which I have never encountered before. Its a 7.5 radius which is new for me ( just means I have to clean up my technique a bit, which can't hurt ). The tone pot has been replaced with a push pull pot, lucky for me the previous owner still had the original which I will probably put back in at some point. This is my first Leo G&L so I figured I had to jump on this very well cared for 1986 Asat .

Looks like Santa came early!

Congrats on a beautiful ASAT. Those 7.5 necks feel superb IMHO, and I own a few 12" as well but there is a certain Leo mystique with those necks. Play her often and let us know what us think.

Nice! Love the black hardware on these early guitars

Beautiful !! .... I don't mind the 7.5 , it's the low wide frets that get me in trouble .... medium jumbo's fixed it up

Nice ASAT , looks like it's going to finally get some playtime after all these years.
I have one with the grain showing, I'd bet yours is Ash also.


congrats!
elwood

I just noticed that the set screw for the saddle lock bridge is missing. I'll have to hunt one down. This guitar is great fun, going to be hard to put down.

Congratulations, and welcome to the '86 Club! It's hard to tell from the pics, but the fretboard looks a bit reddish for ebony. The light streak under the A & D strings (visible in the second picture) reminds me of Leo-era ebony boards, though. Any chance of a couple of closer pics?

The only way to determine the body wood is going to be pulling the neck. Do you have any pics of the neck pocket?

Ken

I do not have any pics of the neck pocket. I have never pulled the neck of any of my guitars before, any tips for doing it properly? Upon close inspection there would appear to be a shim under the neck. I will take some close ups of the finger board and post them tomorrow. Thanks everybody for the kind words , I really am quite smitten with this guitar. My wife wonders why I bought an " old " guitar. Me " Its vintage " then I see her eyes glaze over. " Play me Ed Sheeran ", she says.I reply "How about My Sharona ? ". She just walked out of the room.....

You can use the micro-tilt to give the neck a little push at the heel (after removing the neck screws),that should free it so you can carefully lift it up
and out from there. If you pull the neck straight out from the pocket you can damage the body, so be sure to get it lifting straight up as much as possible.A slow gentle rocking motion steeped in patience usually works.

If it hasn't been removed before, you might want to verrrry carefully run a razor around the neck pocket to keep the body finish from chipping when lifting out the neck. They made those pockets tight.

You might be able to see the grain under the pickups or control plate. But if there is a shim , and you want to use the micro tilt adjustment, you'll want to remove the shim since the whole point of having a micro-tilt adjustment was to eliminate the hassle and drawbacks of shims.
There is some set-up instructions in the gallery ( I think) that steps you through the process if you want for reference.

I pulled the neck to check dates and remove the shim, and also took some close ups of the fingerboard. Thanks for the tips Elwood !















Glad I played it for 5 hours yesterday, it will be out of commission till I can get it set up the way I want it. The action is a lot too high for me right now.

Ash it is , with a body date that looks like May,11 1986?

use the micro tilt to adjust action , you'll be playing in no time