1999 Comanche questions

[Marmeduke]

I just bought a 1999 Comanche and would like to know the specs/woods. It has a blue flake finish and a Birdseye maple neck. Inside the pickups cavity is written the following:
COMM
BL FLK
*EB*BE
*hard to read but possibly RW or RGJ
*R or BWB
201359

Obviously this means Comanche, Blue Flake, the probably Ebony and Birdseye. But what is the rest? Especially looking for the body wood.

[WitSok]

What type of pickguard? is 3-ply black (ie black-white-black)? I believe that is BWB is the code for 3-ply black guard.

Nothing in those letters gives me a tip to the body wood. You may try customer service and give then the SN and see if they can look it up.

Can you post pictures?

Cheers,
Dan

[Fumble fingers]

Alder is standard wood on a solid color guitar so that would be my guess

[Craig]

I just bought a 1999 Comanche and would like to know the specs/woods. It has a blue flake finish and a Birdseye maple neck. Inside the pickups cavity is written the following:
COMM
BL FLK
*EB*BE
*hard to read but possibly RW or RGJ
*R or BWB
201359

Obviously this means Comanche, Blue Flake, the probably Ebony and Birdseye. But what is the rest? Especially looking for the body wood.

Alder is standard wood on a solid color guitar so that would be my guess

As Fumble fingers said the body wood would be Alder, see the 1998 G&L Catalog in our Gallery: Album: 1998 G&L Catalog.

The "201359" is the dealer order number of this guitar.

Please do post photos of your guitar, see: the link to the Tutorial: posting photos in this post: Welcome! Read This First.

Looking forward to seeing your Comanche.

Hope this helps.

[Marmeduke]

I’m trying. I’ve got the photos saved on the GBL Registered site but I can’t seem to get them here using any of the options. I’m on an iPad/iPhone and the photos are large. I have tried both the thumb and timage options. The url I get looks nothing like the examples.

[Craig]

I’m trying. I’ve got the photos saved on the GBL Registered site but I can’t seem to get them here using any of the options. I’m on an iPad/iPhone and the photos are large. I have tried both the thumb and timage options. The url I get looks nothing like the examples.

Your photos are way too big. I was able to resize them and added the resized versions to your album. I removed the original oversized photos.

Here are your photos:






Ebony fretboard (unstained Ebony) on Birdseye maple neck, BWB pickguard (black, white, black aka 3-ply black pickguard). It looks like an Alder wood body which is standard with this Blue Flake finish.
If it were an optional Swamp Ash body, there would have been a notation included in the third photo.

Hope this helps.

[Fumble fingers]

Beautiful !!

[Marmeduke]

I’ve both emailed and called g & l looking for further details with no response! This is very disheartening considering the terrific service from other Guitar companies in the past. (Ie, Fender, Gibson, Yairi, etc)

[Craig]

I’ve both emailed and called g & l looking for further details with no response! This is very disheartening considering the terrific service from other Guitar companies in the past. (Ie, Fender, Gibson, Yairi, etc)

Note that this time of year is a busy time for G&L, with year end builds, winter holidays and getting ready for upcoming Winter NAMM show. G&L is a small company
compared to the other companys you mentioned.

What other information were you seeking? Check out the Gallery as we have the 1998 G&L Catalog and the February 1, 1998 Dealer Price List, which have the standard specifications and options. See: 1998 - 1999 Memorabilia.

Hope this helps.

[Aetrox]

Very nice. I really like the rosewood over the bird's eye maple. The beauty of bird's eye and the extra stability rosewood provides. Just as a follow up, it make take a while to hear back from the guys with specific data. As was pointed out, this is a busy time of year for them. Now this may seem like a silly thing to point out, but G&L is not a part of some larger octopus like conglomerate like Gibson Fender etc. ( Yeah I know Gibson proper own other companies and Fender proper is the 'Public Image' of who ever currently own them, but that is splitting hairs ) Yes G&L is a part of BBE, but A) BBE pales in comparison to USA Music and B) G&L is effectively autonomous. Yeah I understand that we are accustomed to instant responses and all the other 'features' the bigger companies can provide. But this is not Fender. Last time I checked, they had 29 employees, for a company with a world wide presence, that is not bad. Besides Gibson employees more accountants than the entire G&L staff. So what does this mean to you, the consumer?

Well Obviously, Email response time is gonna be longer. But this also means that the final price tag is going to be about half of what it is for other companies. Also they really are, in a weird way "the worlds largest custom shop". At the risk of putting too fine a point on it, one can either order a baseline G&L or a Custom Shop fender and at the end of the day have comparable guitars. Plus there is the history, blah blah blah. Just take it easy, be patient, or spend twice as much to get a faster Email response time. It depends on what is important.

Another option is to go to the G&L online store and order a replacement of your spec sheet. This will get you all the specs on your guitar.

BTW, If I can make a suggestion or two. If you have not read the "Comanche for Dummies" it is worth a read, helped me. http://guitarsbyleo.com/FORUM/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=1329

Also While it is nice to know what wood is used and construction method is employed, for me, I just close my eyes, listen to the sounds and then decide if I like the instrument. I understand that a lot of folks obsess over this kind of wood or some other but really the only things that matter are, does it fit you and how does it sound. If you like it, keep it. If you don't sell it. Good luck with the project.

[Craig]

Another option is to go to the G&L online store and order a replacement of your spec sheet. This will get you all the specs on your guitar.

Replacement Specification Sheets are only available for instruments built in February 4, 2011 and later, so he will not be able to get one for
his 1999 Comanche. From the G&L On-Line Store page for REPLACEMENT SPECIFICATIONS SHEET (BUILD SHEET):

This is the build sheet which came with new made-in-Fullerton G&Ls made since February 4, 2011. All made-in-Fullerton G&L instruments starting with serial number CLF061400 (must have a zero between CLF and the rest of the serial number) were shipped with this sheet. We are unable to provide sheets for instruments built before this date and serial number.

[Daniel S]

Wow! That's a beautiful guitar. That birds-eye maple is stunning.

[Aetrox]

Dang it! I forgot that part, sorry dude.

[Marmeduke]

It’s very heavy for an alder guitar. Weighs 8 lbs 13 oz on my postal scale. I owned a Gibson Historic ‘58RI that weighed 8 lbs 15 oz so this is very close.