Hello, meet my SC-3

The place to introduce yourself to the other members here.
jvstep
Posts: 4
Joined: Thu May 30, 2019 1:52 pm

Hello, meet my SC-3

Post by jvstep »

Greetings All,

I've owned my G&L SC-3 since 1989. My dad took me to the factory in Fullerton and I was able to try a few guitars - wound up with this one. The body has a date 112587 sticker in it, and I haven't ever taken the neck off to check what it says in there.
Image
Image
Image
Image
It has some buzz. I need to get the nut replaced. The original is pretty worn and, I don't know if is apparent in the pics, but the nut slots are not spaced very well. But for anything but open strings it plays and sounds great.
Best,
Jeff
User avatar
WitSok
Posts: 635
Joined: Sat Jun 01, 2013 4:49 pm

Re: Hello, meet my SC-3

Post by WitSok »

Welcome Jeff,

What can I say, Wow! Look like you have taken good care of the guitar over the years. Love the color. BTW, cool story of going to the factory and picking it out. SC-3 is fun guitar!

Jump in often.

Cheers,
Dan
User avatar
glvourot
Posts: 631
Joined: Thu Dec 09, 2010 11:15 am
Location: British Columbia

Re: Hello, meet my SC-3

Post by glvourot »

Welcome , and a grand entrance at that ! Every example of your SC-3 I have seen has faded to green, that is a great well taken care of guitar.
Paul
User avatar
Danley
Posts: 711
Joined: Wed Aug 12, 2015 9:23 pm
Location: Orange County, California Republic

Re: Hello, meet my SC-3

Post by Danley »

Nice - My black SC3 also has an '87 body stamp, but the string tree is Graphtec. I'd love if mine were blue :) I drive by the factory periodically just because it's close, but have never planned on anyone being amenable to a visit - great story.
jvstep
Posts: 4
Joined: Thu May 30, 2019 1:52 pm

Re: Hello, meet my SC-3

Post by jvstep »

glvourot wrote:Welcome , and a grand entrance at that ! Every example of your SC-3 I have seen has faded to green, that is a great well taken care of guitar.
The back of the neck has changed color to a more green hue. I wipe the rest of the guitar down with this
Image
but never liked the way it made the neck feel when I play. When I got the guitar they gave me the polish and some scratch remover. That is still the original bottle from ~30 years ago. They gave me a nice cotton cloth which I only use for wiping down after I play. The cloth is pretty saturated by now and I stopped using the polish a while ago. It just stays in the case and makes it smell like, well, guitar polish.

Remember, to keep your guitar at its best use only genuine G&L polish. I don't know if it has to be the same vintage, but why risk it.
jvstep
Posts: 4
Joined: Thu May 30, 2019 1:52 pm

Re: Hello, meet my SC-3

Post by jvstep »

Danley wrote:Nice - My black SC3 also has an '87 body stamp, but the string tree is Graphtec. I'd love if mine were blue :) I drive by the factory periodically just because it's close, but have never planned on anyone being amenable to a visit - great story.
It's funny, I tried a black one when I got this one, but like this one a bit more. I actually like that it has the black pick guard so that it is black and blue - my bruise guitar (you know for playing bruise music). Sorry, bad pun.

I haven't seen many of this style SC-3 with the bent metal string tree. They always seem to have the Graphtec. I've never taken the neck off to check, but I suspect that it is an older neck with the '87 body. The guy at the factory gave the impression that this guitar was kind of cobbled together from some parts they had around. It has an ebony fingerboard, too. And I think they were switching to rosewood around this time. But that's why I'm here - to find out more about G&L guitars.

Do you have pics of your black SC-3?
User avatar
john o
Posts: 981
Joined: Sun Apr 20, 2014 3:52 am
Location: Delaware

Re: Hello, meet my SC-3

Post by john o »

nice SC-3, unique color for sure, jvstep.
i was visiting a friend in newport beach back in spring 2017 and we went out to see the factory in Fullerton on a weekday.
we struck up a conversation with one of the workers outside, he introduced us to a manager, and they offered to take us inside for a tour of the place, everything but Leo's office which was locked up. quite memorable and educational. lots of mojo in that place, and it was really cool to witness their process of building amazing guitars from start to finish!
john o
User avatar
Danley
Posts: 711
Joined: Wed Aug 12, 2015 9:23 pm
Location: Orange County, California Republic

Re: Hello, meet my SC-3

Post by Danley »

jvstep wrote:
Danley wrote:Nice - My black SC3 also has an '87 body stamp, but the string tree is Graphtec. I'd love if mine were blue :) I drive by the factory periodically just because it's close, but have never planned on anyone being amenable to a visit - great story.
It's funny, I tried a black one when I got this one, but like this one a bit more. I actually like that it has the black pick guard so that it is black and blue - my bruise guitar (you know for playing bruise music). Sorry, bad pun.

I haven't seen many of this style SC-3 with the bent metal string tree. They always seem to have the Graphtec. I've never taken the neck off to check, but I suspect that it is an older neck with the '87 body. The guy at the factory gave the impression that this guitar was kind of cobbled together from some parts they had around. It has an ebony fingerboard, too. And I think they were switching to rosewood around this time. But that's why I'm here - to find out more about G&L guitars.

Do you have pics of your black SC-3?
Makes sense you were sold some sort of factory special at the factory :) Wow - I'd keep that bottle of polish secure, probably a very necessary thing in the day of nitro finishes.

I sure do have pics - not much of a story behind mine, couple years ago was looking for an old G&L (come to think of it this was my first) since my dad had his/now my F100 . This one nearly ended an eBay auction without any bids and a really generic description - the auction pics made the condition look horrible but I put in a super low-ball bid at the end that didn't get trumped; was able to skip shipping since it was only in Culver City, took the day off work and drove to grab it (the temp. was somewhere in the 80s in December so didn't need much encouragement.) Turned out it was in a lot better condition than the auction pics revealed:

Image
Image
Image
Image
jvstep
Posts: 4
Joined: Thu May 30, 2019 1:52 pm

Re: Hello, meet my SC-3

Post by jvstep »

Danley wrote:
Makes sense you were sold some sort of factory special at the factory :) Wow - I'd keep that bottle of polish secure, probably a very necessary thing in the day of nitro finishes.

I sure do have pics - not much of a story behind mine, couple years ago was looking for an old G&L (come to think of it this was my first) since my dad had his/now my F100 . This one nearly ended an eBay auction without any bids and a really generic description - the auction pics made the condition look horrible but I put in a super low-ball bid at the end that didn't get trumped; was able to skip shipping since it was only in Culver City, took the day off work and drove to grab it (the temp. was somewhere in the 80s in December so didn't need much encouragement.) Turned out it was in a lot better condition than the auction pics revealed
Wow, it looks really nice in black. And, yes, it does look in pretty good condition. It is really cool seeing other people that enjoy Th SC-3 as much as I do.