Thursday - New Year's Eve eve

No lunch again and no idea what my late, late lunch will be beyond a few sugar snacks and a Mountain Dew to keep me awake. But I'm very, very happy to have a 3-day weekend. I need the rest.

Once I got home I changed into a T-shirt from the Roger Waters' The Wall tour and was wondering if Pink Floyd was anybody else's cup o' tea. Moreover, if you have seen this phenomenal (better than any rock concert I have ever seen - hands down - setting a whole new bar for others to try to reach, as doubtful as that may be IMHO), how many of the guitars could you pick out (ID) and could you tell what they were set up with? The sound from Dave Kilminster's guitar was mind-blowing (and no intoxicants were involved in my experience - though that doesn't mean the air wasn't ripe ) This experience is also going to lead me into very different questions for tomorrow's LR.

I finally registered on one of those free photo dump sites so I can post links to the (bad ) photos of my S-500. As I've mentioned, it's a tough call to pin down when it was made since I'm not going to be the one to pull that neck off since I'm not a guitar tech (if it's too much more complicated than changing the strings, I give it to a professional). I say "bad" photos because they were taking in not-so-good lighting and I haven't had the best weather to take better ones recently, and the flash make it look way more "orange" than it really is. The beautiful wood grain is very visible and I promise I will get better shots posted this weekend. For now, at least you guys will have something to know I'm not just making it up.

So, I'll get those few shots out of the way:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/devalcourt/5308221996/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/devalcourt/5308221904/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/devalcourt/5308221936/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/devalcourt/5308221976/

This isn't my G&L question, but does anybody know if the only source of 8-hole pick-guards? I want to put in a pearloid replacement for that plain white one.

The last picture in the list above is of the back of the headstock and the Sperzel locking tuners. My G&L question(s) is/are based on the fact that I've noticed that these Sperzels are available just like Seymour Duncan as the pickups of choice in say the Legacys or other guitars set up with humbuckers and I've even seen photos of single coil SD rails in some.

G&L question: Aside from some folks just wanting locking tuners, anybody have thoughts about whether the designers at G&L actually had a real motive for using them? I am given to understand that because there is no wrap of the string it gives them more resonance and/or reduce the likelihood of going out of tune. I also have heard that when using the tremolo system, locking tuners help to maintain tuning when the strings snap back into full stretch. Any validity, or just another myth?

Now that I have them (for the first time) I love locking tuners simply because changing strings is so much faster - and replacing a broken one while at a gig will be much easier as well, I would think.

I understand that some people prefer the purist approach to Leo Fender designed, inspired (or at least "blessed") guitars that look and sound like the classic Telecaster and Stratocaster, but I'm asking about your personal preferences and why?

In essence, all the previous questions this week lead up to this: Assuming you had no guitars at all at the moment and you could have your "perfect" or "dream" G&L guitar, without expense being a factor, what would you ask to be built for you, and why? What kind of neck, body, frets and fretboard (including size), pickups, tuners - even switches/toggles, knobs and strings (size). This dream instrument needs your list of wood preferences (even if G&L doesn't have the at the moment) and colors with or without pick-guards: in short - every detail. And most importantly, why?

This shouldn't take anyone very long to answer...

Phillip

I'm a devotee of locking tuners. I have them on my ASATs because I suck at changing strings on those vintage type tuners. I'm unsure of any tonal improvements, but because of the lack of winding around the post the strings settle in much more quickly. Tuning stability is possibly increased, but I can't say for certain. I use a fair amount of behind-the-nut bends when I play and the strings still go out of tune when I do that.

Dream guitar specs: At the moment my dream G&L is a maple bodied ASAT Special, in Fullerton red with a creme pick guard and pickups, maple fingerboard on a #1d neck, and locking tuners. Everything else I'll take as standard. Pretty simple really. I'm not fussy about body weight. If they offered a fingerboard with a 10" radius I'd go for that.

I'm just about ready to put my dream spec parts-a-caster together - I'm just waiting for the parts to arrive. I'll post pics and specs when it's finished.

This isn't my G&L question, but does anybody know if the only source of 8-hole pick-guards? I want to put in a pearloid replacement for that plain white one

Hi Phillip. I believe Chandler guitars are the manufacturer of G&L pick guards. You can Google them. I made an enquiry to them a while back and they responded almost instantly. Pity the shipping to Australia was about 200% of the pickguard price or I might have bought one!

I'm a locking tuner guy like Jamie. I have Schaller locking tuners on my S-500 and wouldn't be without them. Quite apart from the tuning stability, the ease of changing strings makes them indispensable.

My dream G&L would be an alder ASAT Bluesboy, semi-hollow but with no f-hole, birdseye maple neck with gun oil tint. Graph tech nut and locking tuners of course. I'd have a 7.5" radius neck with vintage frets and the standard G&L width. The colour would be Himilayan Blue (the lighter the better) with white binding to top it off. The pickguard would be creme or mint green. Wouldn't matter. I can almost hear how sweet it would sound through my new Vox AC15.

Last edited by Philby on Fri Dec 31, 2010 1:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Nice choice of colour on the S-500. Definitely how I would run things.

As far as locking tuners I love them. Have had them on my Carvins all around for years (except the bass). I orderred my G&L with them and got schaller (not sperzel ones) and that is great. They are excellent tuners and have a not matte Chrome that can hold up. Locking tuners definitely improve stability, especially with a trem as 'wind slip' is out of the game. I too like how they accelerate string changes.

I like locking tuners for reasons already stated by the earlier posters. But now I have my bag of tricks to deal with the slotted posts, the vintage tuners aren't that bad either. So I'm not one of these guys changing out non-locking fro locking tuners.

As far as dream guitar goes, the specs would be damn near similar to a Broadcaster/early ASAT: soft-maple body, hard-rock maple neck with 7.5" radius maple board, Dunlop Medium Jumbo 6100 frets (or maybe this would be the time to test stainless steel frets), wide-bobbin MFD's wound as the 20th Anniversary, Saddle-Lock bridge, Sperzel locking tuners, CTS pots, 4-way switch with the series/parallel mod. Finish would similar to the Centennial: cherry-burst with triple binding, white pick-up covers, white guard, gold hardware. But here's the kicker. All of this in a baritone scale!

- Jos

Yes, Chandler is the supplier of pickguards for G&L Directly. here is the link http://pickguards.us/index.html Slightly pricey, but the only other option I have found is to make your own or start drilling new holes and modifying a fender pickguard. I would stick with the current pickgaurd and worry about tone more than cosmetics, but thats just me. Oh and one more thing locking tuners rock.

The images that I'm getting in my head of all these "perfect" guitars is wonderful - and surprising. I guess that there is a good reason so many different types of guitars are out there.

On a different note: I'm supposed to tap the next person for this LR gig next week. I'd prefer it if someone who would like to give it a shot would drop me a PM or email me at devalcourt@gmail.com. It's more fun - and certainly more educational - than you might think.

Phillip