Hello from Hungary

[HunGLish]

Hello,

I'm a hobby guitar player from Hungary (EU) living nearby Budapest.

In the '90s as a teenager I played a lot with my friends. I had a Squier then, which my grandma bought for me second-hand. What a grandma she was About 10 years ago I started to play again as recreation. I'm self-taught, play mainly blues/rock, and some easy jazz and classical too.

My first contact with G&L was when I saw the G&L saddle lock bridge accidentally somewhere on the Internet. I said that's what I would call a bridge. I always hated all the bridges I came by. So I searched the Internet for it, and watched videos about the ASAT Special. It became my dream guitar immediately.

And a week ago I got one. A beautiful USA ASAT Special in excellent near mint condition. It's a beauty, and those pickups are incredible, born for jazz. Or blues? Rock? I love them. Based on the serial number the guitar was made around 2006-2007. I will add it to the registry as soon as I could get info on it from Memo at G&L. Today finally I was able to send my email to the bbesound address mentioned by Craig.

Regards
HunGLish

[Craig]

Welcome to our site!

We would love to see photos of your ASAT Special.
To post photos, see: Tutorial: Posting photos.

[sam]

Hi HunGLish and welcome to the site

What a grandma indeed, truly setting a great example for her grandson. Congratulations on your ASAT, I’m a proud promoter of ASAT’s and look forward to seeing yours!

The BIG MFD’s can be true chameleon pickups IMHO. Rolling off or up tone and volume knobs will give a variety of tones, and amp selection can mix well with the MFD’s.

Jump in often, some very knowledgeable people hanging around here, and we love to see G&L guitars in the wild!

Remember, you can never have too many ASAT’s!

[HunGLish]

It's hard to photograph this finish. It looks completely black in low light and harsh blue in direct sunlight. Beautiful. I did my best, but it's much nicer than on this photo taken minutes ago:

[Craig]

It's hard to photograph this finish. It looks completely black in low light and harsh blue in direct sunlight. Beautiful. I did my best, but it's much nicer than on this photo taken minutes ago:

G&L's Blueburst finish is really great (because the outer burst has some purple in it).

[HunGLish]

I got an interesting answer from Memo about the serial number:

This is cobalt blue made in Fullerton California ASAT Special. Completion date is November 1, 2006, body wood is alder, rosewood fretboard, maple neck 1 5/8 nut width and the radius was not specified so its either a 7.5 or 12, medium jumbo frets, bone nut.

The neck (which has the serial on it as a decal) corresponds to the record: 1 5/8 nut, looks like rosewood and bone nut, 12 inch radius, has abalone dots, the birthmark, Sperzel tuners from this age, decals as it should be, black rectangular Graphtech plastic string tree.

But the body looks like a 2 piece wonderfully matched swamp ash in blue burst color. It's beautiful. And everything else matches a USA model: the neck plate has the logo, one of the bridge saddles has a green spot, so it may be made from brass, the switch tip is the rectangular-barrel type what I've seen on the USA models but not on the Tributes, the pot knobs also USA like (not dome but flat top), the output jack is also okay (no plate with two woodscrews just the round metal with black felt under it).

I tried to look for the neck and body date stamps when I got the guitar, but the neck joint is very tight and I didn't wanted to crack the finish. I just lifted the neck up and did not separate them. I could not see any date stamps, just pencil markings: a big "OK" on the body and "Asat SP" on the neck with an initials which looks like "PW" or "PU".

Someone put the USA neck onto an another USA body? Or the color and body wood isn't correct in the database?

What are your opinions?

[Craig]

I got an interesting answer from Memo about the serial number:

This is cobalt blue made in Fullerton California ASAT Special. Completion date is November 1, 2006, body wood is alder, rosewood fretboard, maple neck 1 5/8 nut width and the radius was not specified so its either a 7.5 or 12, medium jumbo frets, bone nut.

The neck (which has the serial on it as a decal) corresponds to the record: 1 5/8 nut, looks like rosewood and bone nut, 12 inch radius, has abalone dots, the birthmark, Sperzel tuners from this age, decals as it should be, black rectangular Graphtech plastic string tree.

But the body looks like a 2 piece wonderfully matched swamp ash in blue burst color. It's beautiful. And everything else matches a USA model: the neck plate has the logo, one of the bridge saddles has a green spot, so it may be made from brass, the switch tip is the rectangular-barrel type what I've seen on the USA models but not on the Tributes, the pot knobs also USA like (not dome but flat top), the output jack is also okay (no plate with two woodscrews just the round metal with black felt under it).

I tried to look for the neck and body date stamps when I got the guitar, but the neck joint is very tight and I didn't wanted to crack the finish. I just lifted the neck up and did not separate them. I could not see any date stamps, just pencil markings: a big "OK" on the body and "Asat SP" on the neck with an initials which looks like "PW" or "PU".

Someone put the USA neck onto an another USA body? Or the color and body wood isn't correct in the database?

What are your opinions?

I contacted Memo to see if there were any notes regarding a body replacement in the log entry. Here is his reply:

Hi Craig,
That is correct, I replied to the customer yesterday about this instrument. Our data base describes this is a cobalt blue color ASAT Special, completion date is November 1, 2006. Our data is clearly wrong or the body was replaced aftermarket, this is definitely a clear blue or blue burst. There are no notes about the body being replaced, everything else matches; rosewood fretboard, white pickguard and pickup covers. If you have any questions email me back, have a great day.
Memo

Go ahead and add your ASAT Special to our G&L Registry and list it with the Swamp Ash body with Blueburst finish.

[HunGLish]

Thank you very much Craig! I added it to the registry.

I'm very happy with this guitar. Especially since I know the completion date. There is a (for me) very important guitar player, who also plays this instrument. She and the guitar was born nearly at the same time, just some days apart. She, my daughter, will definitely inherit it one day.

[bigjim711]

Very nice. Welcome to the site!

[ITB]

It's hard to photograph this finish. It looks completely black in low light and harsh blue in direct sunlight. Beautiful. I did my best, but it's much nicer than on this photo taken minutes ago:

Sweeeet!