1982 S-500 Series 1 Neck

[ljrader]

Hello all! Long time owner of G&L’s, bought my first ASAT Classic back in the mid 90’s, owned many off and on since. I just recently acquired an ‘82 S-500 with a Series 1 neck. Were these special order only? Hard to find any info about them, and promo stuff from the era only mention the series ii specs. Probably not too many out there? I’m surprised there isn’t any buzz about them, it’s an amazing neck and is probably my favorite guitar. I was also wondering about the markings in the neck pocket. The neck is obvious with the date stamp, but not so clear with the body. It just has 7-26, or maybe 7..26. Excited to be here, thanks in advance.

[yowhatsshakin]

Hey there,

The only difference between the Series I and Series II necks for both basses and guitars from that era is the fretboard radius. Series I is 12", Series II is 7½".

- Jos

P.S. For more info on vintage G&L's like yours, you can check out Greg Gagliano's website or (shameless plug) my own at yowhatsshakin.com.

[Craig]

Also, see this post in our G&L Knowledgebase forum in the G&L Specifications and Options sub-forum:
What are the USA neck size options, past and present?

Hope this helps.

[ljrader]

Thanks for the response you guys. I do know about the radius, I have an ‘82 series ii. I was wondering how many of these may be floating around, for myself finding a mahogany S-500 with a Series i feels pretty lucky. Outside of the “Out Stratting theStrat” article I don’t see it even mentioned anywhere else.

[sam]

Here is a link to the Registry for S-500.

This will give an idea of those out there.

http://www.guitarsbyleo.com/AUTOREG/interact2.php

This is the page with estimated production

http://www.guitarsbyleo.com/FORUM/viewt ... le=desktop

Hope these give a little insight

[ljrader]

I only see one other Series i S-500 other than mine. I did a ton of digging on these and they are hard to find.

[ljrader]

I stand corrected. After a more extensive search I found one more.

[sam]

Added series 1 to registry search there are 5 registered

http://www.guitarsbyleo.com/AUTOREG/interact2.php

[ljrader]

Thanks! I’m new as a member, but I’ve been a visitor for years. The registry is amazing. Any info on the neck pocket markings?

[sam]

Post pics of neck pocket, we can better attempt decoding with pics

[ljrader]

https://photos.app.goo.gl/7fJuwk6yorp393nr7

[ljrader]

After spending a few hours on five or so photo hosting sites, memorizing the photo tutorial, I give up. Sorry

[Craig]

After spending a few hours on five or so photo hosting sites, memorizing the photo tutorial, I give up. Sorry

You almost got it in the test pic you did. You just had the img post with two sets of img BBcodes instead of 1 set.

Code: Select all

[img][img]https://i.ibb.co/S7bvjpL/82-S-500.jpg[/img][/img]

Here is what it should look like:

Code: Select all

[img]https://i.ibb.co/S7bvjpL/82-S-500.jpg[/img]

And here is your picture:


My guess on the "726" is that it is the builder's id number. They were paid by the number of necks/bodies they worked on.

[ljrader]

Thanks so much for all the info.
LJ

[PanicSlim]

I have a S500 I bought used in NYC in 1983. G0117xx. Black. Solid maple neck, rosewood fingerboard, labeled simply S500. I see the post on different radius or whatever of the Series 1 and 2, but what is this one?

The neck/fingerboard, now sadly with some warping. Guitar tech tells me can’t be corrected now, full adjustment on truss rod. I had left it in a gig back for occasional use, pit orchestras and they like, had never adjusted truss rod, probably quite baggy. G&L designated repair shop tells me they really can’t fix neck, send them guitar and they’ll fashion a neck for $500. Sure would like to get this one back to playable. It’s a very good guitar. I borrowed a later custom shop Strat to play (with a pops orchestra), not nearly the satisfying sound and versatility of the G&L. Any ideas on what to do about this fingerboard? And what is the overlap for this Series 1 and 2 business and the straight S500? Any ideas of what the wood in the body of my guitar would be? Two piece, black, doesn’t seem all that heavy, probably closer to 7 than 9+#.

[Craig]

I have a S500 I bought used in NYC in 1983. G0117xx. Black. Solid maple neck, rosewood fingerboard, labeled simply S500. I see the post on different radius or whatever of the Series 1 and 2, but what is this one?

The neck/fingerboard, now sadly with some warping. I had left it in a gig back for occasional use, pit orchestras and they like, had never adjusted truss rod. G&L designated repair shop tells me they really can’t fix neck, send them guitar and they’ll fashion a neck for $500. Sure would like to get this one back to playable. It’s a very good guitar. I borrowed a later custom shop Strat to play (with a pops orchestra), not nearly the satisfying sound and versatility of the G&L. Any ideas on what to do about this fingerboard? And what is the overlap for this Series 1 and 2 business and the straight S500? Any ideas of what the wood in the body of my guitar would be? Two piece, black, doesn’t seem all that heavy, probably closer to 7 than 9+#.

The standard neck (Series 2) had a 7.5" radius fretboad, but a no cost Series 1 neck (12" fretboard radius) was available then.
If you have radius gauges 12" and 7.5" you should be able to determine which one it has.
The body woods were either Mahogany or Ash, in 1993 they also offered Maple. Look under the control plate to see the unfinish body wood. Mahogany is a dark reddish color, whereas Ash is lighter and white-ish.

See these posts in our G&L Knowledgebase and GbL Gallery:
What are the USA neck size options, past and present?
Album: 1982 S-500 Ad Slicks
Album:1982-89 S-500 Specifications
Album: 1983 S-500 Ad Slick

Hope this helps.