1989 Comanche VI... post yours!

[verybestal]

About a month ago, my favorite G&L yet arrived. My lady thought so, too (she's a G&L nut). So I proposed to her with this 1989 Comanche VI.

We took some pics that finally captured the soul of this elusive blonde. There is a shortage of good Comanche pics out there, so let's see YOURS, TOO!

P.S. The Comanche VI with maple body has to be the best sounding, best playing G&L I've ever owned, finally giving my '87 Skyhawk a run for her money. She sounds best with 1 pup on at a time, but the crazy multi-pup sounds she gets are very inspiring, too, even if not that toneful.

[electrodyne]

That's a beautiful Comanche VI.

There's something to be said about those maple bodies & Leo's pickups. Great stuff.

Other Comanche VI owners, please post your photos and insights.

[tomanche]

Beautiful! Congrats!! Is that the one that was for sale at an Ohio music store? Great score!

[verybestal]

Tomanche, that's the one. She turned out to be in a lot better shape than the pawn store guy described. By your screen name, I gather your a pretty big fan of these guitars, too? Any pics you could post?

[Elwood]

Here's a couple shots of my '89-'90 Vl :

[tomanche]

Congrats on that!
I don't use a photo server, but I have some shots of my Studio VI on an old website:
http://uponamouse.com/instruments.html
Mine might be getting a new bridge pickup soon... I like combining the in-between sounds of the neck + middle (bass side) with middle + neck (treble side). Also, it's fun sometimes to make a faux single-coil with hum by combining the bridge bass with middle treble, or the neck treble + middle bass...
Elwood, your VI looks awesome!

[Craig]

Congrats on that!
I don't use a photo server, but I have some shots of my Studio VI on an old website:
http://uponamouse.com/instruments.html
Elwood, your's looks awesome!

It's easy enough to post it inline here:





Nice!

[tomanche]

Thanks, Craig!!

[JagInTheBag]

Here's a couple shots of my '89-'90 Vl :

frack me running! That is gorgeous.

[Maplesoup]

This is mine, might be looking for a new home soon

[Rodney Hamblen]

This is my 2007 Tribute S-500 conversion to a Commanche VI+.

Electronics
1) All 1/2 coils wired out and separately switchable Off/In Phase on/Out of Phase on.
2) Stereo/Mono pull switch
3) In Stereo the bass 1/2 coils function like a Comanche VI and make up one stereo channel. The treble half coils function like a Comanche VI and make up the other stereo channel. To get full Comanche VI operation merge the 2 stereo channels together with a DOC cable (Hosa DOC-106) or 1/4" TRS male to 1/4" TS female (Hosa GPP-419). I've not run the guitar in stereo yet. Note that the coils are all selectable In/Out of phase with the other coils in use which is an enhancement to the Comanche VI.
4) In Mono the guitar functions like a current Comanche with the enhancement of the coils being selectable In/Out of phase with the other coils.
5) The other pull switch brings a 1.5 H inductor in series with the Bass or Treble coils. I don't think this is the final word for capacitors/inductors for this guitar. The inductors address the loss of inductance with the 1/2 coils but do not address the loss of parasitic capacitance (since we've only 1/2 the length of wire in each 1/2 coil) in the windings all of which contribute to those quack tones your Strat makes in positions 2 and 4 (in conjunction with the spatial separation of those Strat pickups as well). More work to do on this. For another approach making a full coil into a half coil take a look at my stereo Telecaster in my Gallery noting the missing magnets in the neck and bridge pickups on that guitar.
6) While it's entirely possible to make an exact electronic replica to the Commanche VI I saw the opportunity to enhance that design.
7) Depending on your personality you may find this guitar electrically overwhelming. The guitar can be operated as an exact current Comanche emulation or an exact Comanche VI emulation. For those of you who want all the options here it is, I fall into this camp.

And that's my Comanche VI+.

[Rodney Hamblen]

And here's a full top view of my Comanche VI+.

There's details of what modifications I did in my Introductory post. There are many more switching options available than a standard Comanche VI, as well as switchable Stereo/Mono operation.

Insights - My amplifier settings have changed drastically relative to Fender/Robin Ranger settings with more treble and less bass on my amplifier(s) settings. I've only a short amount of time playing this but I was able to get crackling bridge bass string sounds with the creamy high end of the treble neck pickup. My guitar also allows switching the phase of any 1/2 coil and that gives some very interesting sounds. This guitar has a Will Ray in the bridge position which is a very good match with the standard Zcoils in the neck and middle position. I haven't yet tried the guitar in stereo and look forward to that - in stereo the bass strings go to one chain of effects and amplification and the treble goes through a different set of effects and a different amplifier. There is quack but I'm working on amp settings or tone modifying inductors/capacitors to enhance that. I've also got to spend some time on pickup height. There's much to learn.

Overall a very good modification with a greatly expanded palette of sounds (even relative to a standard Comanche VI). For me the bathtub route Legacy/S-500/Comanche bodies coupled with Chandlers excellent pickguards make such modifications reasonably doable with an excellent appearance. I'm spinning up on another project involving modifying pole piece G&L pickups (see my Project Page Post).

Thanks to the host(s) of this website to allow collecting and disseminating this info. And thanks to G&L for making such fine guitars (both USA and Tribute models) that offer exceptional modification possibilities.


Cheers!

[john o]

fascinating story and cool tonal options on your guitar.
thanks for sharing! that's a nice looking comanche VI+ as well

[Challenger]

I’ve had this Comanche VI for about two years now. It still looks like new.

[tomanche]

A beautiful blonde!

[tomanche]

And, I realized I hadn't taken photos of this:

[y2kc]

Very cool guitars indeed. We have a couple interesting examples here. One lefty and one righty with a #3 neck. Both unplayed for the most part.
I have been told that without pictures, these guitars do not exist.

Leo produced some cool guitars with G&L and the Comanche VI is a beauty.

[sam]

+1 on the Comanche VI !

Will get around to posting mine soon.

[FZTNT]

Still wish I had one...

[tomanche]

They show up… There’s one on Reverb now. Price a bit high, IMHO. https://reverb.com/item/56295653-pre-ow ... -with-ohsc

[FZTNT]

They show up… There’s one on Reverb now. Price a bit high, IMHO. https://reverb.com/item/56295653-pre-ow ... -with-ohsc

This guitar is an Interceptor body with a Comanche setup. Probably an employee built guitar. Never seen one like this before...Any one else?
Tom

[Challenger]

The Comanche Vi was built on both interceptor bodies and Skyhawk bodies. The first one in this post is an interceptor body.

[FZTNT]

Thanks, didn't catch that since I had seen this post before so scrolled right past it.
I wonder how many of these were made and if the one on Reverb is legit.
Also, I checked Jos's website and he really didn't have this information, at least that I could find. His site is too encyclopedic and info can be hard to find.
Cheers,
Tom

[y2kc]

Yes I have one. Cherryburst.

[tomanche]

If you scan the Registry, at least seven are listed with Interceptor bodies. Other listings that say "1st body style" might also mean that. https://www.guitarsbyleo.com/AUTOREG/Ra ... MNCHVI.php
The one for sale on Reverb certainly looks legit. One might ask Jos to compare the serial number against the factory production logs?
Happy Independence Day!

[Craig]

One might ask Jos to compare the serial number against the factory production logs?

Are you sure Jos has a copy of the Factory Production Logs?

[tomanche]

He was kind enough to help me verify a Broadcaster serial several years back, when I asked... At the very least, he must have known someone with access... Perhaps it was the sales log?
Is there another resource available for queries such as this?

[Craig]

He was kind enough to help me verify a Broadcaster serial several years back, when I asked... At the very least, he must have known someone with access...
Is there another resource available for queries such as this?

Yes, Memo Romero [G&L Service Manager]. His email address is repairs@bbesound.com.

Hope this helps.