NGD - 1986 ASAT

New Guitar Day! Or maybe New Guitar Weekend!!!







I bought this one on line without seeing a photo, and had her shipped to the local Guitar Center for Tuesday delivery. On Monday I had to take an unexpected trip for work, and was finally able to pick her up when I returned yesterday.

I have to say that I was seriously underwhelmed when I opened the case, as the instrument was very dirty, the strings were about rusted off, and some of the hardware did not appear to match the vintage of the decal. After disassembly and a thorough cleaning, though, I very quickly fell in love. The neck is dated May 13 1986, and the body is dated May 19. The year on the body stamp was drilled through, but I'm guessing it was also 1986 given the close dates and the maple construction.





The fingerboard appears to have a 12" radius, but I'm not 100% sure of this. It's definitely a lot flatter than the 7.5s I usually favor. It seems flatter than the board on my John Jorgenson Signature, but that could just be my imagination. Anyhow, here are a couple of shots of the grain in the fingerboard and the radius:







My first suspicion when the guitar was described over the phone was that the neck had hung around the factory long enough for the silver chrome parts to enter production (they were on some ASAT III prototypes in '87 and on production ASATs in '88). After a closer look, though, I have to wonder if a previous owner didn't have the black crinkle stripped and a chrome finish applied. It's a very professional job, but the edges of the G&L stamp in the bridge are not very crisp - possibly a result of incomplete removal of the old finish?

By show of hands, who thinks a return to typical 1986 Broadcaster leftover features (plastic pick guard, black crinkle parts, black tuners) is in order?

Ken

while i'm typically a purist and like things as they came stock, i have to say that the chrome bridge and control plate look really good on this ASAT. personally, i think it sets off the black really well and would keep it. you can always look around for a black crinkle saddle lock and control plate if you ever want to put it back to stock. in any event great looking ASAT and gotta love those fingerboards. btw, are the tuners "new" or did they just shine up really well?

The tuners are exactly as they came to me. Everything was in pretty good shape on this guitar (after a polishing) other than some buckle rash, so I'm guessing the tuners were the same age as the rest of the trim. I really like the look of the early ASATs with all black hardware, but the mix of silver and black is growing on me. There's always the chance that these were original parts, since the silver chrome bridge was used on F-100s and the silver tuners were used on most of the other guitars in the mid-80s.

In any case, I guess the black crinkle doesn't add anything extra to the tone...

Ken C

I apologize for hijacking this post, but feel its a good entry to all things '86 ASAT. If this has been discussed I'll appreciate a link. Okay! Did the '86 models ever come with a maple neck or were they all ebony? Were the pickups always MFD's like the Broadcaster and the pick guard always metal? Were all '86s have maple bodies? Were the fret sizes this big as on these pictures? I want to keep an eye out for one and at least know an authentic one if I see one.

This is a nice one... even with the chrome. Thank you in advance!!

I apologize for hijacking this post, but feel its a good entry to all things '86 ASAT. If this has been discussed I'll appreciate a link. Okay! Did the '86 models ever come with a maple neck or were they all ebony? Were the pickups always MFD's like the Broadcaster and the pick guard always metal? Were all '86s have maple bodies? Were the fret sizes this big as on these pictures? I want to keep an eye out for one and at least know an authentic one if I see one.

This is a nice one... even with the chrome. Thank you in advance!!

See these posts in the G&L Knowledgebase:
List of Regular Production ASAT-style guitars (USA)
pre-BBE ASAT vs. '07 ASAT Special: Differences?

Hope this helps.

Here's some shots of my '86 ,
all original , maple fretboard ,ash body large MFD's.

Thanks for the info!! Great stuff!! Man go figure.. maple neck with ash 86 Asat!! Just when I thought all were maple bodies with ebony fretboards!! Do you think the finish tends to flake off the ash bodies more then the maples or were all woods affected?

I apologize for hijacking this post, but feel its a good entry to all things '86 ASAT.

There's never a need to apologize for starting (or re-starting) an '86 ASAT discussion!!!

Were the pickups always MFD's like the Broadcaster and the pick guard always metal? Were all '86s have maple bodies? Were the fret sizes this big as on these pictures? I want to keep an eye out for one and at least know an authentic one if I see one.

The pickguards were plastic until sometime in '87. Mine was probably "updated" from plastic to metal and black to chrome by a previous owner, although black crinkle pickguards and chrome tuners had been used on other models prior to '86. They all would have had large MFDs. Every one of my Leo-era G&Ls has similarly large frets.

This is a nice one... even with the chrome.

Thanks! Seven months later, this ASAT is still one of my top go-to guitars.

Ken

Thanks Ken!! Looked around and took a while... it was nice outside! Anyway ran into two.. one was in NY craigslist and looks to be just like Elwood, but with less paint chipped off and the another one same color, looks like ash as well non maple neck with while plastic pick guard and with PAF type covered humbuckers. So did the 86's come with swimming pool route? How difficult would it be to find 86 era MFD pickups... assuming the MFD's were switched out? Wiring issues? Thanks!!

So did the 86's come with swimming pool route? How difficult would it be to find 86 era MFD pickups... assuming the MFD's were switched out? Wiring issues? Thanks!!

I'm not sure whether they had swimming pool routes. I'm also not sure about finding original pups. The current ones available from G&L's website should be an exact match size-wise, but the resistance may be different.

These guitars do turn up fairly regularly, and the prices tend to be reasonable.

Ken

So did the 86's come with swimming pool route? How difficult would it be to find 86 era MFD pickups... assuming the MFD's were switched out? Wiring issues? Thanks!!

The '86 model most certainly did not have a bath-tub rout. To my knowledge, none of the models with large bobbin MFD's have ever had a bath-tub rout; not even the S-3. The pickups in those days were more scatter-wound so finding time period correct pups is tough. A guitar that is parted out would be your savior. But then again, who in his sane mind would part out a Leo-era ATAT? (Search for Broadcaster #BC00001 and you wil find a most egregious example of complete and utter stupidity).

Hope this helps,

- Jos

So did the 86's come with swimming pool route? How difficult would it be to find 86 era MFD pickups... assuming the MFD's were switched out? Wiring issues? Thanks!!

The '86 model most certainly did not have a bath-tub rout. To my knowledge, none of the models with large bobbin MFD's have ever had a bath-tub rout; not even the S-3. The pickups in those days were more scatter-wound so finding time period correct pups is tough. A guitar that is parted out would be your savior. But then again, who in his sane mind would part out a Leo-era ATAT? (Search for Broadcaster #BC00001 and you wil find a most egregious example of complete and utter stupidity).

Hope this helps,

- Jos

you can buy a current production big mfd, and have someone like chris klein hand scatter wound it. of course providing a period example so he can see the pattern and check the magnet strength would be really helpful, but you could get a very accurate reproduction.

Another item. I had read the link about the differences with the early ASATs and the modern ASATs and Gabe's preference to modern frets and not the flatter jumbo frets. For the lucky ones that have both types of frets on their ASAT's... what is your opinion or preferences. All of my G&L's seem to have the taller frets, including the '83 S-500 I recently got. Maybe its does have it, but maybe the pictures make them look bigger than they actually are. THank you!

Hey Elwood,your 86 is unbelievable. It just looks really special. Reminds mo of a 1950's Telecaster.
Cheers,
Anthony

Thanks Anthony,

This just showed up on ebay ...BIN 789.00 , not quite as naked as mine ,
love those streaks in the fretboard, check out this '86:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/G-L-ASAT-1986-Y ... 300wt_1196

I see this one sold for 900,
dings , peeling paint, extra holes,etc.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 500wt_1308

I might have to sell my '85 Blackie with barts ( I wish it had the original MFD's like yours Ken).
It probably won't bring 900 ,but who knows...I might not lose money.

Elwood

I see this one sold for 900,
dings , peeling paint, extra holes,etc.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 500wt_1308

I might have to sell my '85 Blackie with barts ( I wish it had the original MFD's like yours Ken).
It probably won't bring 900 ,but who knows...I might not lose money.

Elwood

the peeling paint and dings wouldn't bother me, but what is the hole for?

the peeling paint and dings wouldn't bother me, but what is the hole for?

not sure, that's about where a roland GK-3 module would sit, maybe they didn't want the bulky clamp
set up that Roland provides and just screwed it in ?

...Chrissie Hines seems to know something about what holes are for ( 1:21 ) .

[youtube]EdCzch75iaY[/youtube]

the peeling paint and dings wouldn't bother me, but what is the hole for?

For the beer can cup holder. Rubber tubing sold separate,y.

- Jos