New owner of a Tribute ASAT Special, had some questions

Hello all, a few weeks ago I picked up a Tribute ASAT Special in blue burst. I really dig nearly everything about it, the neck and fit and finish is top notch and I would think its worth twice as much if I didn't know any different. Love the neck and finger board feel and overall an outstanding guitar. I do have one issue with it and I was hoping that you guys may be able to help me with it.

I've had it for about 2 weeks now and when I first got it and tested it out I was really happy about the condition and feel of the guitar since I did buy it online. After the first day I had it and had played it for probably an hour or so to put it through its paces I noticed my ears hurt. I do live in a house that I can play at decent volumes but I had not been playing at any volumes louder than I ever play my MIM Strat at. I put it down for a few days to see if I was just having some sinus related ear pain due to the season change. I picked it up again the other day and played for 30 min or so and had the same ear pain. So at this point I'm convinced its something about the frequency of the jumbo MFD's that are the cause so I again didn't play for a day or 2 and then have only played my Strat since with zero pain or issues. Tonight I pick up the ASAT and play it for only 15 min and I already had the pain again. Now I am not seeking any medical advice here and I should probably follow up with my GP about this but I have played several guitars at much louder volumes through my same rig and have never had issues. I've been a musician in various ways for most of my 31 years and never had ear pain like this.

Has anyone else ever experienced this type of this from MFD's before? I would really hate part with this guitar so soon as I love everything else about it. I really dig the tone but I can't keep something that does not sonically agree with me and would probably have to try and resell it

Pic of the guitar

https://i.imgur.com/ggSzybC.jpg

hi ryker244.
that's a unique problem you describe.
your guitar produces frequencies and decibels.
i have 3 ASAT special guitars ('89, '07, '17) with similar pickups.
have not experienced the problem you've noticed.
What is your amp?
might be good to have your physician check that out. regards

Hi John, my main amp currently is a Fender Bassbreaker 15 combo + a Blackstar 112 extension speaker. I had this experience through that set up as well as through my other practice amp which is a Vox AD30VT

Hi ryker244,

As John said, this is a new comment to me as well. As a long time player of many ASAT’s with similar pickups I have never experienced any ear pain. Try borrowing another amp and playing in your home for a while to see if you have the same results. Also, take your ASAT to a local guitar store and “test some amps” to see if there is any pain. Do hope you discover the root cause so you can keep playing your ASAT!

That’s actually a great idea to try it on some different amps in different settings. I’m heading to visit a friend of mine next week and he plays a very different kind of amp in an Orange Rocker Terror so that would probably be a good test. There could be a perfect storm of the room I play in, my amp , the eq, and the pickups that are just heavy on a frequency that doesn’t agree with me. I’m going to do some EQ fiddling to see if I can find the culprit frequency range. Thanks for the reply’s.

I have already cut the tone knob on the guitar way down, very different from my Fender where I am on 10 most of the time

I have heard others describe an mfd pickup that goes “microphonic” or “screeching” which I imagine could be painful to the ear. The suggested remedy has been re-potting the pickup with wax. I haven’t heard this described with the large coil mfd pup, only the asat classic bridge pup or the small coil s-500 pup, but i guess anything is possible. It seems abnormal that you would have to roll the tone down to ‘2’

Just to give an update, I could not for the life of me figure out what was going on with the ASAT Special and my ears but I have since found someone locally who was interested in a trade and I now have a 2018 ASAT Deluxe in transparent red. It is a fantastic sounding thing and is probably what I should have gone with from the get go. It really is a great contrast to my MIM strat in terms of the sounds it can produce. I am very happy now with this guitar and I'm glad I was able to find another G&L.

glad to hear you found an ASAT that is what you're looking for. Very strange about the other one.

Rock on!