NGD: ASAT Heaven!

I feel very lucky/fortunate to have stumbled across this beauty. Hope you all enjoy the pictures.

It is a 1987 ASAT. The 2-piece body is all maple, with a natural finish. (There are not too many of these around. Most 80s maple bodies had a solid finish). The serial number suggests it is an '86, but I learned from a little bird that it is listed as from April '87 in the G&L logs. It is also listed as "special", which was entered in the logs when the wood had a particularly nice grain pattern (as this one does). The guitar was accompanied with a letter from Fred Newell, who owned the guitar previously. He said that he had used it occasionally on the Nashville Now show. So, this guitar is also a piece of history.

As far as playing, it feels perfect in my hands, with a slender, but solid, (typical) 80s ASAT neck. It sounds amazing: full range, with balanced highs and lows, very punchy, articulate, clear and snappy. It is quite heavy though (about 8.5 lbs.), as you would expect from a solid maple body. After playing it for a month, I love it! I think the search for my "holy grail" G&L may be over....

https://imgur.com/a/azyioQp

Last edited by cho on Sun Jul 08, 2018 7:21 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Wow that is a beauty! Enjoy.
Cheers, Dan

Nice score!! Congrats!

- Jos

Wow - Nice Score and no doubt some of us have heard how it sounds already.... Choice.

Re the weight factor, you may want to get yourself a Neotech guitar strap... not the body harness just the neoprene guitar strap. They're FAB IMB. They magically ease/reduce the weight factor of heavier guitars.

Cheers,
KF

love your asat, cho.
looks special, bet it sounds and plays as well!

Cho

Exactly what others have said, great score

And the award for "Best In Show" goes to Mr. Cho. Fred had some nice guitars and that is possibly the coolest.

y2kc

I can only repeat what others have said - amazing find. I am jealous.

BTW The sister of your ASAT says Hi:


- Jos

Wow! That one is a beauty too, Jos! I bet that thing sustains for days with the Kahler. What is the date on yours? Do you have any other maple bodies with natural finish? (I saw your HG-2 prototype is one example).

Thanks all for the good words! This guitar has inspired me to play more, and I have restarted taking some jazz guitar lessons, in hopes of breaking out of my continual "blues scale" jamming.

Beautiful

What is the date on yours?

Neck date: May 16,1986
Body date: May 13 1986

Do you have any other maple bodies with natural finish? (I saw your HG-2 prototype is one example).

Beyond the HG-2 prototype, I have a 'Z-5000' bass prototype which is not very flame-y:

But this 1989 Cherryburst ASAT is more related to the ones shown already:


Have fun playing!

- Jos

Whaouu very nice maple body !!!

Those are some nice ones, Jos!