Replacements on ASAT Semi-Hollow

Hi.
I'm a proud owner of a G&L ASAT Classic Bluesboy Semi-Hollow (probably the guitar with the longest name ever .
It sounds great and I like the neck very much. But I've got two problems.

The first problem is that it isn't well balanced. The headstock (and the neck) is too heavy, so that it tends to pull down. I use a broader guitar strap to compenstae it a little bit, but it still feels uncomfortable and I have to "rearrange the guitar position" after every song. A friend of mine told me to change the "all-metal" locking tuners to non locking ones with perloid(?) heads to save some weight. Has anybody tried this? Or do you have other tips for me?

The second problem is the bridge pickup. It squeals like hell if I use just a little bit to much overdrive/distortion or a little too much volume on low-to-medium-overdrive. So it is quite unusable in rock-context. The same friend as above told me to change the bridge to a Callaham-Vintage-Bridge to reduce the feedback. Does anybody know if this bridge fits on a G&L and if it really helps? Or do you have other tips?

This is my first post on a forum and I'm no englishmen. So please excuse any language-problems.

Thanks for your help!

One thing I have head of people doing on neck heavy hollow guitars, is adding some weight to the body. Often btw inserting a weight or 2 (piece of steel, you name it) into the control cavity and securing it. Don't know how one would do that with a G&L though as they are not rear routed.

Careful replacing the bridge pickup, I don't know the whole deal but it is both wired interestingly, and match to compete with a humbucker in terms of output. Never heard complaints of a squealing one though. Have you given your wiring the once over?

Welcome Clint,

Here's a link addressing the pickup squeal :
http://www.guitarsbyleo.com/FORUM/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=1650&start=0

That pickup squeal is on every ASAT I have, they should do something about it at the factory because, quite honestly, I'm sick of it.

The Callaham vintage bridge will fit on your ASAT but will not do ANYTHING about the feedback. They're also waaaaayyyy too expensive and won't improve your tone over the stock bridge.

I don't have a problem with my BB S-H. It balances well. It has quite a heavy body - about as heavy as a light solid body guitar. Perhaps you could work it into your show, try moving around a bit, dancing the guitar neck up and down in tempo as you play. That could be another reason I don't have a 'diving' problem - I don't stay still on stage for very long at all!

I agree with your friend regarding the notion of swapping out the tuners and using pearloid tuner buttons. You can also get ebony buttons that work equally as well. I think I'd try replacing the buttons first to see how much that helps. If the guitar is still too neck-heavy, then change the tuners, too. It's really surprising how much difference that swapping only the buttons will make. You didn't say what brand of tuners they are, but if you swap them, you'll also want to swap for the same brand and style due to the different drilling diameters (i.e. Sperzel vs Schaller). If your tuners don't say Sperzel, they're likely to be Schallers. I honestly don't think I'd try adding weight to the body without trying the tuner swap first, though.

Here's a link for StewMac and what they offer for tuner buttons:
http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Tuners/Tune ... ttons.html

EDIT:
Yeap....check out the link that Elwood posted. Gabe has some great information tehre.

BTW, your English is quite good for a non-Englisman. Good luck!

On the neck dive issue, I would try the pearl buttons. Its a cheap fix; but it might not be enough enough lighter to keep the head from diving. I hate to see you give up the locking tuners, but that might be enough to do the trick. Weighing down the body can be helpful; I used a couple of ounces of lead fishing weights in a Gibson hollowbody I used to have and it worked well.

You might want to go with the Schaller (my favorite) or the Dunlop Straplocks to better secure your guitar. These can also help balance the guitar, because the extra length changes the angles. You may find that it works using only one of the Straplocks, say on the upper horn, rather than using both of them.

Sometimes, a neck heavy guitar is easier to handle if you put the smooth leather side against your body. It doesn't change the weight balance, but it does make it easier to slide it back into place.

I had an ASAT Classic SH that had a squealing, microphonic pickup. I took it to a local tech, and he removed the pickup and soaked it in a a warm paraffin wax bath--a process called "potting". The warm liquid seeps into all the tiny crevices in the windings. When the wax cools, it's a solid mass and effectively lowers the resonant frequency of the pickup, hopefully making any microphonics sub-audible. It worked like a charm on my guitar. I think the cost was $40.00 USD. You really need to have a professional do this, someone who's done it many times before. You can easily ruin the pickup if the wax bath is too hot. If you don't have anyone in your area that does this, I know you can make arrangements with the Seymore Duncan pickup company, and have them do it.

The GPD link has some good advice. You may find that a little hot wax dripped on the underside of the box bridge plate can help, or use double-sided sticky tape. Using surgical tubing in place of the pickup mounting springs can help, too.

Don't get frustrated. These are fixable problems...though they might take a little time, effort, money and ingenuity to solve. It will be worth it in the end, I promise.

Good luck!

Bill

Careful replacing the bridge pickup, I don't know the whole deal but it is both wired interestingly, and match to compete with a humbucker in terms of output. Never heard complaints of a squealing one though. Have you given your wiring the once over?

Sorry, I don't understand your question??

Thanks for all your answers!

I don't know what brand the tuners are. There is no name on them. I bought the guitar used on eBay and the pre-owner didn't say anything about changes he made. So I think these are the stock tuners that G&L uses?

So I think these are the stock tuners that G&L uses?

Yeah, it sounds as though you have the Schaller-style locking tuners. If you decide to replace them, just be sure to buy either a G&L set (if available) or a Schaller set with the single mounting pin. Fenders often times uses the two-pin version, so they can be easily confused if you're not careful as to what you're buying. You might want to take one off just to be certain.

Yesterday I've tried some things:
I had taken off all the tuner-buttons. The buttons alone weigh 40g. The guitar was still neck heavy, so just replacing them wouldn't help.
Then i took off one complete machine-head. The complete one also weighs 40g. And now the guitar wasn't any longer neck-heavy.
To summarize: I need to save around 75g on the headstock. So I think just replacing all machine heads would help.

But because I don't want some new holes in my headstock, there are troubles on the way.

You seemed to be right, that the tuners on my guitar are from Schaller. The one-pin-version.
I looked around at the schaller page. The sad thing I found out is that just the locking tuners (that are already on the guitar) have the one-pin-adjustment.

Does anybody of you have a new idea for me???

Check out the Heads Up strap: http://www.headsupstrap.com/index.html

I have an ASAT Deluxe semi hollow with locking tuners that has the same problem, and also a Heritage 170 ( double cut LP type) that exhibits the same neck down tendencies. The strap works very well indeed, it comes with three weights but one is all I needed to cure the problem with both guitars.

Check out the Heads Up strap: http://www.headsupstrap.com/index.html

I have an ASAT Deluxe semi hollow with locking tuners that has the same problem, and also a Heritage 170 ( double cut LP type) that exhibits the same neck down tendencies. The strap works very well indeed, it comes with three weights but one is all I needed to cure the problem with both guitars.

That's pretty cool, my left shoulder gets sore during long gigs from trying to counter neck dive...even a little adds up after hours of playing.

thanks SouthpawGuy

Well, I just happen to have a set of G&L (Schaller-style) tuners that I'm sure would work. I just need to check to be certain that I won't need to hang on to them, but let me know if you're interested.

@ Jim P

Sorry for my late answer, but I was very busy last week. I thank you for your offer, but I live in germany and with all the shipping and the other stuff, I think I won't take it.