G&L ASAT SPECIAL

[Craig]

Hi all, this is my introductory post & unfortunately it is not a happy one. I am a luthier of some 45 years experience based in Northern Ireland. One of my long standing customers brought his new purchase ASAT SPECIAL to me for a setup. I am bound to say that I am not impressed at all. One of the neck screws is shorter than the others & just spins, not gripping at all. The other 3 screws have been "plugged" with wood to make them grip. Not glued in but just poked in thru' the body. The 4 neck screw holes in the body are irregular in shape and appear to have been "hand filed" after drilling. The neck rout is very rough & altho' there is an inspection tag, it is not possible to read the signature. There are black marks under the neck lacquer & in my opinion, the nut slot is not deep enough. I will accept that this "made in Indonesia" instrument may not be the same quality as U.S. ones but not worth the [amount] paid. I advised the owner to return it but he declined & asked me to sort it.
I will re-fit the neck properly with stainless steel neck screws from Allparts & make the guitar servicable as instructed by my customer. I can only hope that this is a "one off" and not an indication of general shoddy workmanship.
Guitar ser. No. 090823397 .

Last edited by Craig on Wed Oct 20, 2010 8:53 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: edited out the actual price posted as this violates our policy

Your impression is certainly understandable given the condition you describe.
However, this does not sound like a brand new Tribute but rather an abused
used instrument or poorly assembled parts guitar. The fact that your customer
declines to return it to the dealer under the two year manufacturer warranty,
is telling to me. There are a number of individuals on eBay who part out G&L
Tribute instruments and therefore, buyers of these parts, can assemble parts
instruments. Of course, this is just speculation on my part, and without seeing
the instrument in question.

I have brought your post to the attention of Steve Grom, Director of Manufacturing.

The G&L Tribute series models have always been known for their high quality and
G&L stands behind all their products.

I would again recommend that your customer return this instrument back to the
dealer where he purchased it from and have them handle it under the warranty policy.

Thank you for posting this. I do hope you have an opportunity to check out other
G&L Tributes and you will find that they are high quality instruments. This particular
instrument's condition certainly does not reflect the quality of the Tribute models.

Hope this helps.

Here is Steve's reply:

I am somewhat surprised to hear about this issue, since the overall track record of the Tribute Series instruments coming from the factory in Indonesia has been very good.

I have forwarded the information to the factory for their review and comment. As much as I don't like hearing about quality issues, having the information come back to us (and then to the factory) is the best way to generate corrective action and long-term improvements. If we don't know there's a problem, we can't fix it.

I am also going to forward this information along to our distributor in the UK to make sure their technical staff is aware of these issues and includes checking neck mounting screws for tightness as part of their inspection procedure.

My thanks to the luthier for getting the customer "up and running" with his ASAT SPECIAL. G&L greatly appreciates the efforts of all the service technicians around the world who make playing the guitar (any guitar) a more enjoyable experience.

Steve Grom

Thanks for the replies guys. Update... I have refitted the neck and set the guitar up with 9s as per customer instructions. I must say it plays very well and sounds great. Those pickups are world class.
However, this does not address the black marks on the neck, under the lacquer or the "shallow" nut rout. Furthermore I am bound to say that in my opinion, all the faults are "factory". The customer may have blown his warranty by asking me to sort it but he is now happy with the guitar and that is what it's all about really. This is the first G&L I've worked on, I will keep y'all up to date on any more I see.