Odd SC-1?

[soursaul]

Hello everyone. I have an SC-1 that I believe is a bit of an odd ball. I have not seen another one in the same body shape. Has anyone ever encountered one or heard of one like this?

I can post the serial number and any other information that may help later today when I get home. Thank you all!

[Danley]

You may have already found forum member Jos' page (below,) which lists the SC-1 discontinued in 1984 (off price lists by at least Jan. 18.) Per the same source, the 'Strat' bodies started at around the same time. I'm sure Craig or others might be able to diagnose further with the serial; if you've opened it up you might find some dates in the neck pocket etc. Might have been a factory frankenstein or employee build; or just a late order for an SC-1.

http://www.yowhatsshakin.com/yowhatssha ... ls.html#32

[yowhatsshakin]

What Danley sez. Beyond that, I would say you have a unique SC-1 with 2nd style body. Remember that Dale Hyatt would accept orders even for "discontinued" models right up to his retirement. Indeed, it may well be that when this guitar was built, no Mustang bodies were available. Or maybe the customer has specified it as such. Any date stamps in the neck pocket and/or on the neck heel will tell you a lot. The S/N would just place it within a rather wide time interval but it is definitely a datum which gives you some idea of when it was built. Can you confirm that is an SC-1 model decal on the paddle headstock? These headstock were used for the student model series, in particular to the SC-3, right to the moment BBESound, Inc. bought G&L.

The funny part is that I have now seen more 2nd style SC-1s (1) than HG-1s in either style (0) or 1st style HG-2s (0). Go figure ...

- Jos

[soursaul]

Hi all thank you for the information. I was able to remove the neck and there is a date stamp it says January 31 1984 and #3. I have posted pictures below.

[yowhatsshakin]

soursoul,

A January 1984 date stamp for the neck makes sense. That happens to be around the transition date from the Mustang body to the Strat body. My oldest instruments with such a Strat body has a body date stamp of January 11, 1984 (I exclude the HG-2 prototype, which also has a Strat body dating back to June 1983!). My 'youngest' Mustang body is lacking a body date stamp, like the body of your guitar, comes with a neck dated February 2, 1984. Hence, Mustang bodies seem to be from 1983 or before. So your guitar looks entirely original and matches the configuration of a student model from early 1984.

Nice!

- Jos

[Its_Him_Again]

That is a refinish of a guitar that was originally some form of dark blue.

First clue that something was non-original: It immediately stuck out like a sore thumb that the white is neutral. Not possible on 35+ year old nitrocellulose lacquer clear coat over white color coat. Even if it was locked in a closet on day one and not taken out till now, the lacquer would be more creamy than that. The only way it could be that neutral at this point, while also being original, is if the body was never clear coated. The white color coats used by G&L at that time stay white, so they were likely acrylic lacquer, not nitrocellulose (though clear coats would have been nitro). Fender did the same thing with Olympic White in its early days, and when they applied it using lacquer in the '70s (which they DID do). Acrylic color coats, nitro clear coats. Over time, the nitro clear coats go yellow, while the acrylic color coats stay neutral.

Second clue: The original color often stains the neck, and it has in this case.

Third clue: You can see blue under the white in the neck pocket.

Fourth clue: When the white was applied, the G&L paint stick was not used. in other words, this was almost certainly not a factory refinish.

No less rare, but certainly less original.

If it was mine, I would be carefully doing work to determine the possibilities for a full restoration to oringal specs. My first step would be carefully scraping the neck pocket – not sanding or stripping, but scraping. I would first want to determine what, if any, of the original neck pocket contents could be uncovered.

[soursaul]

Hello,

thank you for that information. The guitar does show some "yellowing" in areas. It is hard to see on camera. As for originality, I agree that there is some other color lurking underneath. I believe if it was refinished it was a very long time ago. The guitar does not have a shiny finish coat. Its very satin like in appearance. It has been re-fretted and plek'd (after I purchased it) and plays like a dream. When it was in the shop the tech told me that the original frets were very low from the factory so I asked him to replace them with as close to original as possible. I have read this to be the case in other G&L guitars though I am not an expert. It has been my main live guitar along with the SC-2 pictured above (that guitar has been refinished by a previous and it has jumbo frets). This is exciting!! It is fun to nerd out on all of this stuff together. I will try to take some photos of the wear when I get home. It may lend some more clues to this instruments history. As for the scraping, I wish I was comfortable enough to pull that off as for now I will leave that as is.

[Its_Him_Again]

Hello,

thank you for that information. The guitar does show some "yellowing" in areas. It is hard to see on camera. As for originality, I agree that there is some other color lurking underneath. I believe if it was refinished it was a very long time ago. The guitar does not have a shiny finish coat. Its very satin like in appearance. It has been re-fretted and plek'd (after I purchased it) and plays like a dream. When it was in the shop the tech told me that the original frets were very low from the factory so I asked him to replace them with as close to original as possible. I have read this to be the case in other G&L guitars though I am not an expert. It has been my main live guitar along with the SC-2 pictured above (that guitar has been refinished by a previous and it has jumbo frets). This is exciting!! It is fun to nerd out on all of this stuff together. I will try to take some photos of the wear when I get home. It may lend some more clues to this instruments history. As for the scraping, I wish I was comfortable enough to pull that off as for now I will leave that as is.

The original fret wire is medium height, wide width, with a steady, gradual crown across the top. Dunlop 6130, with a smooth, wide crown re-applied after initial leveling, is pretty close to the right stuff for as-stock re-frets, IME/IMO. They don't play like "proper" pre-BBE G&Ls when they have modern medium jumbo wire on the neck (about 50 percent taller and without as gradual of a crown). That low, wide, crowned fret feel on the old-style Fender fretboard radius is "the whole thing" about early G&Ls, to my taste. That's the main reason why I love 'em so. And early Music Mans too, for that matter (though they use narrow, low frets, not wide and low ones). I like a lot of curve on the board, and plenty of finger contact with the board.

At any rate, glad your tech knew something about old G&Ls. That isn't common knowledge. Would have been a shame if the fret size had been increased.

If and when you are ready to restore, you know where to inquire!