Man, snazzy digs here now!
Some of you with really long memories may remember me as the other half of the team that put the original "guitarsbyleo.com" site together way back in the day. Brad Traweek had an early G&L tribute page and I suggested we partner on building a discussion page, and the idea behind the first version of the site was born. Brad built the larger site, I did the discussion page, and I still remember the thrill of registering the URL "guitarsbyleo.com" late one night -- it felt like we were getting away with something.
I left the site in Brad's capable hands after a year or so, but if anyone is curious I have the very first page of posts ever made on the original G&LDP, preserved for posterity, just ask and I'll share it here for the archive. I had a bunch of G&L's at one time, most of which I bought from Dale Hyatt through the factory back when he had a "showroom" behind his office that was full of early production instruments, NAMM show instruments and beat up salesman's samples. It was a sweet time to know the guys behind G&L, and while my musical interests and brand loyalties continued to evolve I've always remembered the visits I made to the factory back then with real fondness.
My first G&L was an '86 Skyhawk that I bought from a dealer down the street from the factory after visiting Dale's showroom once or twice; first time out he made me go through a dealer just because he didn't want to undercut a guy who was trying to build the brand. The guy did a lot of special order instruments, and I ended up with a maple bodied sunburst Skyhawk that sported a #3 neck with a matching sunburst headstock. I don't know what G&L calls a #3 neck now, or if they even still offer it, but it's a maple b-cut neck with a 1 3/4" ebony board with a typically shallow profile. It was -- and still is -- a really cool guitar, but my wandering ways have taken their toll and I'm trying to figure out if it's worth enough now to want to sell it.
It's a bit of a science experiment; I didn't know anything about how to keep a trem guitar in tune when I bought it, and when I brought it back to Dale for consultation he brought me to George Fullerton. George set the guitar up and showed me a new run of SC-3's they were working on that featured Sperzel locking tuners and Wilkinson roller nuts, and they did seem to work great. George turned me on to a set of Sperzels, and he called Trev Wilkinson and made an appointment for him to install a roller nut on my guitar. I got there after lunch, which was a mistake seeing Trev had his at a local pub, but the deal was done and my guitar has had the same setup as one of those SC-3's ever since. George also called David Borisoff and made an appointment for him to install an early Tremsetter, which was another idea they were playing with at the time . . .
I was also pretty paranoid about it getting stolen back then, and i was pretty liberal in terms of marking up the undersides of the trem cover and pickguard and such with my name and CA drivers license number -- I was new to guitars then, and didn't realize that "lifetime" instruments rarely are.
The guitar has always sounded like a strat, but like a strat with a whole lot "more", if you know what I mean. The guitar chassis is a wonderful platform for Leo's electronics, and it's a heavy, powerful instrument that gets that pure, high and lonesome tone common to all of Leo's best guitars with more of that intense steel guitar like sound that Leo's other pre-G&L guitars. Roll back the volume, treble and bass controls to 80% and it starts to sound a whole lot like a vintage strat, but like a great road car there is always a little more power in reserve for when you need it. This guitar is a wonderful example of his best work - I remember David Borisoff plugged it in after doing the tremsetter installation, and after a few minutes he looked up at me and said "this is a really good sounding guitar". True, that . . .
So I've got this guitar, tastefully hacked up under the watchful eyes of George Fullerton and Dale Hyatt, but I don't have any real provenance on the mods other than there are likely a few guys here who remember back when this board probably remember the guitar -- I haven't talked to Greg Gagliano about it, but we've been friends since the inception of the Lunch Reporter concept when first testing the prototype of the page. FWIW, I think Brad posted something about a particularly delicious cheese sandwich he enjoyed when we were beta testing and Greg responded with something about a meatball sandwich, and the tradition was born . . .
I'm pretty sure that I still have the factory manual, the original sales receipt and the original tuners, and I'd be willing to guess that I have a receipt from Hipshot for the tremsetter installation. I'd have to dig 'em out of a box that is in storage right now, though. The original trem arm is in the case, though -- Dale turned me on to a prototype brass tip and the krinkle finish is partially worn off but the heavier weight feels nice in the hand. And the guitar is well played; the frets are in great shape and it's been well cared for, but the guitar has a lot of play time on it and it's anything but a closet classic.
So anyway, I'm curious as to what the old girl might be worth today -- I'm not in any hurry to sell it or even sure if I want to do so, especially after setting her up with a fresh set of strings this weekend. Leo really had it going on back then, and this thing is a true Fender guitar, invested with all of Leo's DNA, albeit one that shows his later preference for heavier, refined and more polished instruments.
Thanks in advance for your thoughts.
~j
