Skyhawk - need advice

Thu Mar 11, 2010 7:20 pm

Have an opportunity to buy a 1986 Skyhawk black with ebony fingerboard, and dual fulcrum trem, matching headstock, no signature on headstock, can't tell what kind of wood, I think Ash, relatively good shape.

Any thoughts as to why I should buy? Pros/Cons. How do pickups sound in comparison to Legacy and what price would be reasonable. I currently play and ASAT special deluxe and a George Fullerton model so any comparisons would be great.

Thanks.

Re: Skyhawk - need advice

Thu Mar 11, 2010 11:10 pm

Special Deluxe wrote:Have an opportunity to buy a 1986 Skyhawk black with ebony fingerboard, and dual fulcrum trem, matching headstock, no signature on headstock, can't tell what kind of wood, I think Ash, relatively good shape.

Any thoughts as to why I should buy? Pros/Cons. How do pickups sound in comparison to Legacy and what price would be reasonable. I currently play and ASAT special deluxe and a George Fullerton model so any comparisons would be great.

Thanks.


The Skyhawk has MFD single coil pickups while the Legacy has Alnico single coil pickups. Check out the G&L guitar pickups
chart we have. It is located here. You should also check out G&L historian Greg Gagliano's G&L website. It is located here.

Hope this helps.

Re: Skyhawk - need advice

Fri Mar 12, 2010 6:36 pm

You're looking at 650 to 900 depending on condition, a beat up Hawk sold recently on E-bay for $530. anything over 800 has got to be pretty minty. I think the Skyhawk would be a good fit considering you have the humbucker and single coil areas covered with your other two G&Ls I pretty much suck at explaining tone, If you can play it, try it out, even better if you can A-B it with your Fullerton, then you'll hear the difference yourself. They are great sounding and playing axes and they have the PTB control circut you don't have on your ASAT or Fullerton.

So the pros are you're getting a tonal range you don't have with the Delux or Fullerton and you will experience some Leo era MOJO
I can't think of any cons except for a couple of buddies of mine.

gary

Re: Skyhawk - need advice

Fri Mar 12, 2010 9:14 pm

I've eyed a few Skyhawks over the years but still don't own one. There was a very sweet mahogany bodied Skyhawk that sold a few months ago on Ebay for around $875. JefF-100 speaks quite highly of Skyhawks, and he's got a few other G&L's to compare it to, not to mention some great playing abilities. Now, if this guitar has a sickle headstock :thumbup: , you might want to give it some extra points, as those are extra-cool, IMHO. Good luck.

Re: Skyhawk - need advice

Sat Mar 13, 2010 7:58 pm

Thanks for the advice all, much appreciated. Will post pics if I buy.... forgot about the PTB, good point....