Initial review of 2012 Tribute S-500

I've had a new 2012 Mahogany body Tribute S-500 for almost a week now. Here are my initial impressions.

PROS:

Body and hardware are all good quality and put together very well. Fret job is very nice, no buzzing unless playing aggressively.

Sound is amazing. The Mahogany body really seems to work with the MFD pickups. If you ever wanted a guitar that can thread the line between Strat and Les Paul, this seems to be it. It's cleans are great and it can handle mild to high gain dirt with flair. The switch to allow the neck and bridge pickup options is fantastic and produces a convincing Tele style clean or Jimmy Page "out of phase" sound when running with dirt.

Sustain is very good, the notes really ring.

EDIT: Forgot to mention the tone controls. I was worried I wouldn't like the separate bass and treble controls but that isn't the case. They are great and definitely my preferred configuration now. If you set them in the middle you have so much control for rolling off or on highs or lows depending on the pedal, pickup, amp, channel etc. Very nice.

CONS:

The neck! This is one funky neck. It may just take some getting used to but it's definitely out of the ordinary and not what I was expecting after playing an earlier model S-500. I knew it was going to be gloss finished, which I don't prefer, but I figured I could deal with it. What I didn't know was that the profile was completely changed so it goes from very small neck dimensions (1 5/8 nut) from frets 1-5 to a fretboard width and neck depth above the 5th fret that seems to be bigger (or as big) than my American Strat which has a 1 11/16 nut. I understand it theoretically - give more room for the fingers in the upper registers I would imagine, but it feels weird and I'm not sure I will get used to it. I have a couple weeks to determine whether it's a deal breaker so we'll see. I would have preferred last years model neck on this years Mahogany body. Even though it was also 1 5/8, the neck dimensions seemed more symmetrical in regards to fretboard width and neck depth from the high to low frets (and no gloss finish).

Tuning is off. Currently it doesn't want to tune properly but I suspect it's a combination of the nut needing to be opened up and the intonation needs to be tweaked. The intonation seems to be spot on if you judge it by the 12th fret harmonic however if you check by fretting at the 12th fret, most of the strings go flat. I'm not that worried about this because I have done nothing to the guitar but tune it and play it. No adjustments at all yet. If I decide I can deal with the neck, then I'll set the string height, redo the intonation and open up the nut slots and/or lube them so the strings don't stick.


SUMMARY:

I LOVE the sound of this guitar. If it had last years neck on it, I think it would be THE guitar for me. I've gone through a lot of different guitars to arrive at what I feel are my preferences. In neck dimensions I prefer 42mm nuts over 1 5/8 (41.3mm I think) and 1 11/16 (43mm). I prefer a medium to slim C shape neck with a satin finish. So far the nicest feeling neck I have is on a Deluxe Players Strat which seems to be the competition feature-wise for the S-500. If I could have the Players Strat neck on the S-500 body with a BladeRunner bridge, that would be it for me. Last years S-500 neck would work fine too though.

In fit and finish and especially sound, this is easily on par with an American Standard Strat and head and shoulders above the Mexican Strats. If you can deal with the neck it is a no-brainer.

I'll decide in the next week or so whether I'm going to keep it. If I return it, I may get a last years model S-500 however I don't think it sounds a rich as the Mahogany body 2012 model although I haven't tested them side by side. I may do that in a day or so just to see how they stack up.

My recommendation to G & L is release another model S-500 with the Mahogany body and last years style neck so you have an option (and mention in your specs the fretboard and neck depth dimensions at the 1st and 12th frets).

Does G&L do neck swaps?

My recommendation to G & L is release another model S-500 with the Mahogany body and last years style neck so you have an option (and mention in your specs the fretboard and neck depth dimensions at the 1st and 12th frets).

Does G&L do neck swaps?

Doesn't hurt to ask, have you spoken to the factory about the neck dimensions? Perhaps getting you a different neck?

No, I haven't, and you're right, it doesn't hurt to ask. Any idea of the best way to contact them and get a response? I've had sketchy experiences trying to communicate previously.

you can't check intonation with the 12th fret harmonic, that will always be right, you go by the fretted note compared to the 12th fret harmonic.

Thank you Louis. I've always done it by the fretted note although I thought I recalled reading about doing it via the harmonic. The intonation is fairly far off with the fretted note which led me to think that it looked like it was set to the harmonic. I also was a little confused by the setup guide here: viewtopic.php?f=13&t=1596

In the intonation section it says:

Most people check this at the 12th fret, I use the 19th fret as it’s a bit more picky and accurate. First, back those single coil pickups way off! The tight magnetic field can really pull on the string, and it will greatly affect your results on setting intonation. Use a good electronic tuner that can show resolution of at least a cent. Tune the guitar using the harmonic at the 12th fret of each string. Then, check the fretted note at the 19th fret

Then it says:

Keep adjusting and checking until that 19th fret harmonic and the fretted note are the same.

So on an E string, you would check that the fretted 12th note is E, then verify that the 19th fretted note is B and the harmonic played at the 19th fret is also B. Is that correct?

tune so the 12th fret harmonic is an e, and check that the 12th fret fretted note is e and the 19th fret is b.

Thanks for the clarification.