New to G&L's. Some questions

[rauchman]

Greetings,

I picked up a used G&L Legacy (USA) with Seymour Duncan rails pickups through Guitar Center and I've caught the bug. I'll be replacing what I picked up since it has some "funkiness" that the previous owner did to the guitar, but I LOVE the neck and the playability.

Some questions...

Can someone direct me to a tonal comparison of the Special, Legacy, S500 and Comanche pickups? They all sound interesting, but I have no idea how they differ in sound. I'd love to find a place that locally stocks these guitars, but sadly 'tis not the case. The guitar I picked up has Seymour Duncan rails (Hot B, Cool M and Vintage N). After using them a bit, not a fan of these. They sound like slightly hotter single coils without buzz. They seem to be missing something in their sound. I'm normally a Les Paul guy and like big fat chunk, but also have a MIM Strat and installed a set of Lace Sensor pickups from a mid 90's Strat Special (or whatever it was called then) that I like. Looking for something with a little zing and personality.

Are the Tribute guitars good? I know this is kind of subjective and I would guess the fit and finish level on the USA models is higher, but are the Tributes decent?

How well does the tremolo unit do at keeping the guitar in tune? I've used a Floyd and a couple of different Fender bridges. The Floyd works well at keeping the guitar in tune, but the Fenders do not. The Fenders are a lot easier to change strings with and get the initial tuning, while the Floyds are finicky to set up. Once setup thought, they work.

How does one order a custom guitar? On the G&L website, they only reference dealers.

Appreciate the info.

Ken

[neutralomen]

Welcome to the world of G&L.

1. this video is exactly what you're looking for.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSE0dgHRWPc

2. The Tribute guitars, *for the money* are wonderful. I've bought and played a couple. They vary in quality as any mass produced budget guitar line will, but they have USA tuners, USA bridges, and USA PICKUPS. That's insane for the $500 range. Some advice on buying a Tribute(or any guitar really)
-play the model you buy
-check the serial number and make sure it was made recently, inside of the last few months. Guitar stores are notorious for letting their electrics' necks dry out and get fret sprout and lose their setup etc.

3. Dual Fulcrum Vibrato is simply world class. It's rugged, and you can set the two point bolts to either have more of a sutble wiggle or a full on floating dive bombing beast. It isn't a miracle worker, but it stays in tune as good as or better than any tremolo system I've ever used. It may not be quite as stable as a Floyd, but then again you aren't bolting it down.

4. Find a G&L authorized dealer, fill out a spec sheet from the options on glguitars.com, and place your order!

[guitar_ed]

Regarding the Tribute guitars, you can find MANY comments on them on this site. But most of us have Tributes, and a lot have both USA and Tribute models. Bang for the buck, they are very good guitars.

edg

[rauchman]

Welcome to the world of G&L.

1. this video is exactly what you're looking for.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSE0dgHRWPc

2. The Tribute guitars, *for the money* are wonderful. I've bought and played a couple. They vary in quality as any mass produced budget guitar line will, but they have USA tuners, USA bridges, and USA PICKUPS. That's insane for the $500 range. Some advice on buying a Tribute(or any guitar really)
-play the model you buy
-check the serial number and make sure it was made recently, inside of the last few months. Guitar stores are notorious for letting their electrics' necks dry out and get fret sprout and lose their setup etc.

3. Dual Fulcrum Vibrato is simply world class. It's rugged, and you can set the two point bolts to either have more of a sutble wiggle or a full on floating dive bombing beast. It isn't a miracle worker, but it stays in tune as good as or better than any tremolo system I've ever used. It may not be quite as stable as a Floyd, but then again you aren't bolting it down.

4. Find a G&L authorized dealer, fill out a spec sheet from the options on glguitars.com, and place your order!

Excellent. Thanks for the link. Was playing the used guitar that's going back this weekend, last night. I LOVE playing this thing.

[blargfromouterspace]

If you like the one you have why not replace the pickups with something more suitable? The single coil sized humbuckers from Seymour Duncan are terrible, IMO.

[art]

Can someone direct me to a tonal comparison of the Special, Legacy, S500 and Comanche pickups? They all sound interesting, but I have no idea how they differ in sound. I'd love to find a place that locally stocks these guitars, but sadly 'tis not the case. The guitar I picked up has Seymour Duncan rails (Hot B, Cool M and Vintage N). After using them a bit, not a fan of these. They sound like slightly hotter single coils without buzz. They seem to be missing something in their sound. I'm normally a Les Paul guy and like big fat chunk, but also have a MIM Strat and installed a set of Lace Sensor pickups from a mid 90's Strat Special (or whatever it was called then) that I like. Looking for something with a little zing and personality.

Sounds to me like you should try an MFD equipped G&L. They're not big and chunky, but to my ears they don't sound as thin as your typical alnico single coil.

Welcome to the club!

[rauchman]

Okay, so my knowledge base and confusion is growing. I "think" I'm somewhere between wanting a Legacy Special and a Comanche. Any thoughts between the 2? Tonally, what are the differences? Are there differences other than tonally? Anyone know of a shop in northeast NJ that stocks these guitars?

[neutralomen]

Okay, so my knowledge base and confusion is growing. I "think" I'm somewhere between wanting a Legacy Special and a Comanche. Any thoughts between the 2? Tonally, what are the differences? Are there differences other than tonally? Anyone know of a shop in northeast NJ that stocks these guitars?

Rockland Music center is my dealer and they're not too far from North Jersey. They have tribute commanches and a tribute legacy(same pickups, so you'll be able to get a good approximation of tone)

I mean, Legacy Special is gonna sound like a fat strat. It's mini humbuckers all the way down. You definitely can't go wrong with that.

I will say this. Commanches do NOT sound like super fat high output rock machines. They're spanky and bright and chimey. They have almost a funky sound in many settings. They sound awesome but are a sound unto themselves.

So, if you want a super beefy workhorse that's mostly used for modern sounds and rock, go Legacy Special. if you're looking for something with a somewhat unorthodox, purely "G&L sound," go commanche.

[dhgleaves]

Welcome to the world of G&L.

1. this video is exactly what you're looking for.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSE0dgHRWPc

2. The Tribute guitars, *for the money* are wonderful. I've bought and played a couple. They vary in quality as any mass produced budget guitar line will, but they have USA tuners, USA bridges, and USA PICKUPS. That's insane for the $500 range. Some advice on buying a Tribute(or any guitar really)
-play the model you buy
-check the serial number and make sure it was made recently, inside of the last few months. Guitar stores are notorious for letting their electrics' necks dry out and get fret sprout and lose their setup etc.

3. Dual Fulcrum Vibrato is simply world class. It's rugged, and you can set the two point bolts to either have more of a sutble wiggle or a full on floating dive bombing beast. It isn't a miracle worker, but it stays in tune as good as or better than any tremolo system I've ever used. It may not be quite as stable as a Floyd, but then again you aren't bolting it down.

4. Find a G&L authorized dealer, fill out a spec sheet from the options on glguitars.com, and place your order!

I just watched that video for the first time. Half-way through I was annoyed that he was playing different material on each guitar, which made it harder to compare, so I was happy to hear him play the same thing on all three at the end. Its a great comparison, although it would have been nice to hear all three with higher gain and some distortion. Of course, now I want an S-500. Over time, I've had two Legacies, two Comanches, two ASATs, and an F-100, but have never even had the chance to play an S-500.

[neutralomen]

I just watched that video for the first time. Half-way through I was annoyed that he was playing different material on each guitar, which made it harder to compare, so I was happy to hear him play the same thing on all three at the end. Its a great comparison, although it would have been nice to hear all three with higher gain and some distortion. Of course, now I want an S-500. Over time, I've had two Legacies, two Comanches, two ASATs, and an F-100, but have never even had the chance to play an S-500.

If you want high gain, in any situation, get a humbucker in the bridge. Trust me. MFDs are nice pups, but a single coil is a single coil, and it will hum like crazy with heavy distortion.

Get a Legacy special, a Legacy HH, whatever you do, don't get a Commanche or S-500 if you want to do heavy distortion, unless you plan on swapping the bridge pup.

S-500s sound FANTASTIC if you put some dirt on them. But they're optimal for heavy blues or dad rock.

[Craig]

Greetings,

I picked up a used G&L Legacy (USA) with Seymour Duncan rails pickups through Guitar Center and I've caught the bug. I'll be replacing what I picked up since it has some "funkiness" that the previous owner did to the guitar, but I LOVE the neck and the playability.

Some questions...

Are the Tribute guitars good? I know this is kind of subjective and I would guess the fit and finish level on the USA models is higher, but are the Tributes decent?

How well does the tremolo unit do at keeping the guitar in tune? I've used a Floyd and a couple of different Fender bridges. The Floyd works well at keeping the guitar in tune, but the Fenders do not. The Fenders are a lot easier to change strings with and get the initial tuning, while the Floyds are finicky to set up. Once setup thought, they work.

How does one order a custom guitar? On the G&L website, they only reference dealers.

Appreciate the info.

Ken

For info on the G&L Tribute Series, see: What is the new Tribute series which G&L announced in 2003?.

On the Dual Fulcrum Vibrato, see: G&L's DF Vibrato System.

On ordering a G&L guitar, see: G&L buyer's resources ....

Hope this helps.

[rauchman]

Thank you all. I think the Special is my speed. Have a used one, actually 2 coming in from Reverb. Will post picks and review.

[cbm]

I have an older 3-bolt Legacy Special w/ the then standard Gotoh dual blade pickups which was my #1 for a while. It was great but, way more humbuckery than stratty, no matter how the PTD control were set. This is not too surprising, as hey… it has humbuckers, although perhaps brighter than some.

My current #1 is a relatively recent Comanche. I've come to really love the Z-Coils. I think that they are a nice mid-way point between the classic humbucker sound and a single coil sound. They have more bite and snarl than a humbucker, for sure. Technically they are humbuckers, I guess, but they sound more like the love child between a strat pickup and a something like a Jazzmaster pickup or a P-90.

[rauchman]

Yeah, it's juvenile.....but I feel like a kid at Christmas waiting for my new to me guitars to come in. One is schedule for tomorrow and the other on Thurs.