Greetings from the hinterlands of New England

I'll be bad and repost my intro from the TDPRI forum, where many G&L folks also hang. We all share one thing in common though I suspect, love of the instruments that Leo had a hand in creating and their many and varied offshoots.

I'm new to the forum, but like the mix of vintage and modern G&L examples, advice, inspiration, myth & rumor, and just damn great looking instruments. I and my lovely spouse have around 16 various guitars and basses from our lengthy love affair with music. A number of Fender guitars and basses are represented, and a G&L ASAT has just joined the flock.

1) #2 of the 2023 new year builds, ASAT Classic "S" Alnico Semi-Hollow - Spanish Copper Metallic – F hole delete, Swamp Ash, 9.5” radius, 5 way switch and pot switch with Alnico 5 and Caribbean Rosewood ( likely chechen) board. B-Stock as tt had a little mineral stain on the back of the neck up by the joint and a wee bit of finish shrinkage (not picky about cosmetic ****). The guitar arrived in great shape thanks to great job by the G&L shipping meister Tim, however it had a wiring issue I will expand on later once I've had a chat with G&L support. A quick trip to the basement guit bench rectified the issue and we are now tracking with this unique and interesting instrument.

2) I also thought you all might enjoy at a look at the unit it's filling in for (due to the excellent G&L neck). "Made in France" Tele belonging at one time to the guitar player in Mike Watt's band, cast off in Denver when they played the Bluebird I think. Found it at Colfax Guitars and if my worthless memory serves me correctly it was killer luthier Scott Baxendale who installed a bone nut and a vintage Fender lace on the neck, and some type of alnico vintagey thing up on the bridge - never pulled it yet to see what it is. Originally he he had the pups wired out of phase, but I like the in-phase sound as well and had him flip it. Plays pretty decent for a what I suspect is a MIM guitar, but tonewise this thing kills me, sounds great on neck as well, roll back tone and it gets a good jazz vibe. Plays punk like a charm on the front though.

That Caribbean Rosewood neck looks perfect with the Spanish Copper Metallic finish! That's one amazing looking instrument; I'm sure it plays and sounds super too. Congrats!

Kit

Great post and welcome to the forum!

Not as much activity here as there used to be but we still keep the lights on. No better site on the 'net for G&L knowledge!

TJ

That Caribbean Rosewood neck looks perfect with the Spanish Copper Metallic finish! That's one amazing looking instrument; I'm sure it plays and sounds super too. Congrats!

Kit

Thanks, totally agree neck color and body color pair up super well! Has crazy sustain without being plugged in. Alnico choice means careful amp sections and good use of tone control. Really works well on rhythm tracks. When it showed up it had a missoldered tone control, but a trip to the bench with the weller solved that.

Great post and welcome to the forum!

Not as much activity here as there used to be but we still keep the lights on. No better site on the 'net for G&L knowledge!

TJ

Yes, I can see it is a bit mellower then say The Gear Page Forum, but so many cool guitars and good info here. I've got a new (new to me) one coming this week. ASAT Classic Custom Limited - Sweetwater version. One Piece Swamp Ash body in Natural, MFD classic bridge, MFD Jumbo on the neck. That should round out the tone options from the G&L axes, and provide some good choices for double with underwound LP hog unit.

Hey ITB!

Sweet guitars, thanks for sharing pics and joining the club!

Love the ASAT Classic S Alnico, that is one I’ve been hunting down. Every spec on that one grabs me, and Spanish copper metallic grows on me every time I see it. What’s yer take on the G&L Alnico pups?

Remember, you can never have too many ASAT’s!

@Sam Guitar with alnico is great on rhythm so far. Still figuring out my favorite amps for lead although Mesa Boogie 3 is pretty intense with the combo setting on the S unit I have. The color is great, way better than I expected.

Update... I have got the ASAT Classic Custom Limited in here finally and have done a bit of comparison playing on an ongoing mix with a Morgan PR12 amp. The custom has the small MFD bridge and the jumbo MFD on the neck with pole pieces adjusted flat to the plastic of the pickups (they won't stay that way likely). Getting some really good mellow tones out of the neck using the volume and tone controls. In contrast, the ASAT Classic S AlNico on the back pickup is just like dialing in Jim Messina's tone with a wee bit of channel compression. If your after that kind of thing it rules. Also still find it awesome for laying down the rhythm that cuts. I will be using that custom though once a damaged 3 way switch is installed and I do a setup to match the stellar factory S job (too bad the forgot to check the miswired tone control, but I think it was made first off the line after New Years in 23.

p.s both guitars can get super raunchy when needed with the right amps. Haven't reached for the big rectifiers yet, but sure I might once I get a song that needs em.