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 Legacy "Special"ness x2 
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Joined: Tue Feb 13, 2018 6:22 am
Posts: 24
Post Legacy "Special"ness x2
Greetings,

Acquired 2 G&L USA Legacy Specials in the past week.

I normally play a 1992 Gibson Les Paul Custom and a early 2000's Fender MIM Strat. I've been going through a phase of wanting a new guitar....just because. In the last month or so, I've been through an Ibanez S770PB (beautiful guitar, but not what I was looking for) and a G&L USA Legacy with Seymour Duncan Rails pickups (craftsmanship was really nice, but didn't dig the pickups and it had wood block screwed into the trem cavity to block the trem from moving....not digging that). After dinking around with that G&L I realized I liked the guitar, just not that particular guitar. Did some research on this site and decided to take a gamble on picking up a used Special. I can obsess about things so of course, why get 1 when I can get 2 of them.

Cherry Burst
ImageG&L Legacy Special - Cherry Burst by Ken Davis, on Flickr
I got this one first. 1st thing I noticed was the neck feels chunky. A little too chunky for my tastes. The guitar plays beautifull though. Really like the trem. Was very curious to plug it in and see what the pickups were like. They definitely have a humbuckerness to them. These definitely don't scream, but the note clarity is really nice. I changed the strings on it. T'was my first experience with tuning peg locks. Like these...a lot. Having said that, I'm not gelling with the neck and it's going up for sale.

Blue Burst (or as I named my motorcycle since it's close to the same color...Galactic Jam)
ImageG&L Legacy Special - Blue Burst by Ken Davis, on Flickr
Like the Cherry Burst one, it has a chunky neck, but it doesn't feel quite as chunky. Just got this one in the mail yesterday at work. My thoughts of guitar bliss were interrupted by breaking a tooth at lunch, running to the dentist to find out I have to have a root canal....ughhhh.
Anyway, finally got home and spent about an hour + playing on this baby. For whatever reason, this one feels different enough from the Cherry Burst one that this one may be a keeper. Again, really love the way it plays and am finding the pickups workable. This one has a unit that hinders the trem unit from being pulled by bending notes....
ImageG&L Legacy Special - Blue Burst Trem by Ken Davis, on Flickr
Never had this before in a guitar with a trem, but I'm a believer. When bending a note say from the 15th fret B string to match the 12 fret E of the E string, on any guitar I've had with a trem the E string note would be flat. With this setup, the note stays true, or at least much truer. All in all I like this one. I'd be very curious to try a G&L modern neck. I have size L hands, and I think this would be perfect for me. I think both of these Specials have the standard "C" neck. Something a little thinner would nail it. But on this guitar, the neck is just different enough to be doable for me.

As an aside, over the weekend, I pulled out my 1st ever electric guitar....a 1966 Les Paul Deluxe that was routed out for standard size pickups before I had it. Long story to how I wound up getting this guitar. I haven't play this guitar in 20 years or so, but it was the guitar I learned on. The guitar is beat to all kinds of hell, but when I cleaned the frets, fretboard and body, through new strings on and plugged it in....it was like coming home. While I'm digging the Special, I'm digging my reunited love fest with my Les Paul more. The sound on this thing is beautiful. The body is half mahogany and half maple....like the way they used to make them because this one is from then. When I was 15 or so, I sanded down the back of the neck (what did I know?!) and it's a very fast playing guitar. When I was 14, someone convinced me to put in a Dimarzio distortion pickup. Somewhere along the line, I removed the Dimarzio and installed the stock bridge humbucker that came with the Les Paul Custom that I usually play (which has a Seymour Duncan Custom bridge pickup in it). I feel like I found a long lost friend.


Tue Feb 27, 2018 7:13 am
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Joined: Sun Apr 20, 2014 3:52 am
Posts: 943
Location: Delaware
Post Re: Legacy "Special"ness x2
rauchman, nice legacy special!
you would like the "modern classic" neck. it is the cure for those who don't like the heft of the #1 classic C.
I think it's been available since mid-'15 or so. i have one on my bluesboy and it is close to perfect

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Tue Feb 27, 2018 8:15 am
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Joined: Tue Feb 13, 2018 6:22 am
Posts: 24
Post Re: Legacy "Special"ness x2
drjho7 wrote:
rauchman, nice legacy special!
you would like the "modern classic" neck. it is the cure for those who don't like the heft of the #1 classic C.
I think it's been available since mid-'15 or so. i have one on my bluesboy and it is close to perfect


Thanks for the info. Is the neck buyable from G&L?


Tue Feb 27, 2018 8:59 am
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