ASAT III Sig at Carter Vintage

[tomanche]

Stumbled upon a listing for an ASAT III Signature at Carter Vintage. Swamp ash, natural finish, maple fretboard. The pickup measurements of 4.0 k suggest Skyhawk pickups, rather than S-500 pickups. In my book this is a good thing. I noticed that the string tree is high (by the fourth/D string) rather than lower (by the 6th/E string). The higher placement suggests that the neck was made after BBE bought G&L. The Leo-era necks had the string tree in the lower position.
The current reduced price is still slightly higher than the 1500 that I've seen for excellent condition Leo-era ASAT IIIs, If the neck is a later BBE neck, perhaps one could leverage that in negotiation? Link: link