G&L one off asat

[frederiklj]

Hi;
Happy New Year
I am trying to identify an asat, the body looks alder ( natural) and the pu config is single coil humbucker single coil and a black pick guard.
The neck has no "name" so I assume it was replaced at one time.
I think it is from around late 1986

Any one have seen such a pick up configuration
Cheers
Fred

[Craig]

Hi;
Happy New Year
I am trying to identify an asat, the body looks alder ( natural) and the pu config is single coil humbucker single coil and a black pick guard.
The neck has no "name" so I assume it was replaced at one time.
I think it is from around late 1986

Any one have seen such a pick up configuration
Cheers
Fred

Happy New Year, Fred

If you could post some photos of this ASAT we might have a better chance of identifying it. It definitely does not sound like any production model.
What is the serial number? If it has one, it will likely be stamped on the bridge or on the neckplate. One other possible place for the serial number
is the current location on the back of the headstock.

Check out theguitarsbyleo.com History and G&LDP Guidelines as there is a section on posting photos on the Forum.

Looking forward to see this guitar.

[frederiklj]

Thanks for your reply I have uploaded to http://www.guitarsbyleo.com/GALLERY2/ma ... temId=8220
Which is the body of the guitar also the sr is G019xxx
Frederik

[yowhatsshakin]

Hi Frederik,

I would not be able to unambiguously identify the wood given the quality of the picture. But it is likely that the humbucker has been added by one of the previous owners. I am not aware of G&L using chrome covered humbuckers before the introduction of the Bluesboy in 1999. You can also do a search on the S/N in the Registry to see if the instrument is registered and if so, learn some more about this instrument.

Hope this helps,

- Jos

[frederiklj]

Hi Jos and Craig;
Thanks for the info I added 2 more pics.
It seems an interesting concept SHS. But you are right it looks that this was a previous owner upgrade.
Thanks again for the info
Cheers
Fred

[yowhatsshakin]

Hi Fred,
Looking at one of your new photos, the body looks like maple, which was used for early ASAT's. The neck is also from an early ASAT: it has the G&L hook and the kind of truss rod that came on the early ASAT's. The (partial) S/N provided is indeed typical for early (i.e. around '86) ASAT's. To me it looked like somebody stripped the original finish, on body as well as headstock. BTW, are those chrome tuning machines on the headstock? If not, that would be a clue too.

Hope this helps,

- Jos

[frederiklj]

Hi Jos;
By the way are you dutch? The tuners are black(ish) on the pictures I have.
I was first contemplating to purchase this but for 400 and maybe more I do not think it is worth it.
To many "mods"
Thanks again for the insight
Cheers
Fred

[yowhatsshakin]

By the way are you dutch?

Well, yes I am.

"If it ain't Dutch, it ain't much!"

[brianr0131]

Sorry to threadjack but I am actually considering buying this guitar as well. I have a few questions.

1. Is there any doubt that this is a real USA ASAT?

2. Are these early ASATS well made? My assumption is yes.

Looks to me like it has mfd SC neck HB middle and large mfd bridge pickups. Is it safe to assume that this was modded significantly by a previous owner?

Someone mentioned a possible finish removal. What leads you to think this?

[suave eddie]

The neck and bridge pickups appear to be the same type-large MFD-standard ASAT pickups.
It does look like the finish was stripped--G&L would have used a nicer grained piece of wood for a natural finish.

[brianr0131]

Thanks.

How about the made in USA part etc?

[yowhatsshakin]

To my knowledge, that kind of truss rod was used on ASAT's produced in the mid-eighties to early-early nineties. This would make the guitar a 3-bolt model and hence a USA made guitar.

But caveat emptor.

- Jos

[brianr0131]

Well. I bought it. I really like it a lot. Humbucker sounds great to me believe it or not. Thanks for all of the help guys.

[yowhatsshakin]

Hey Brian,

First congrats with your guitar. In this case it might be interesting to peek into the neck pocket. Would give you a clearer indication whether neck and body always went together and/or what the original color of the guitar was. Or there might be an even bigger surprise

Just in case your thinking about taking the neck off, this is how I do it:

1. Put a capo on the first fret.
2. Slack all the strings by a couple of rotations for each tuner.
3. Remove the 3 bolts and the neck plate.
4. Carefully remove neck from pocket and turn around neck.
5. Look for neck date stamp and date stamp in pocket.
6. Make pictures of the stamps and check the quality of these pictures!! Are they clear enough? If not, repeat this step.
7. Carefully push neck back into pocket.
8. Put neck plate back and hand tighten bolts finding the proper holes before using the Philips screw driver to tighten the bolts all the way. Remember: tight is tight!
9. Tune strings to pitch.
10. Loosen bolts quarter turn or so; enough for the neck the slide back due to the string tension and sit as as tight as possible in the pocket before retightening bolts again.
11. Presto!

- Jos

Edit: some typos.

[brianr0131]

I had the neck off already and I am a bit upset to see that there are no stamps on either the neck heel or the pocket. There are some remnants of greenish ink in th pocket but it's completely gone for the most part. I believe the entire neck was refinished as I can see some very slight run marks on the bottom of the neck (the part that joins face down in the pocket). I doubt G&L would have had those runs on there.

The microtilt works and there is also the "dime sized" (by my estimation) metal disk on the corresponding part of the neck. I know the string tree type is 1986 because I have seen a few 1987 models where they went to the thinner one. The Serial # G019xxx corresponds to 1986. So this should have had the G&L logo with the Leo Signature originally.

I can see some black (primer I think) in the control cavity that no one bothered to fully remove. But, there seems to be a clue on the bottom butt of the guitar. If I look closely I can see a reddish tint in the grain that appears to be under the clear coat. So, I am blindly (almost) guessing it was Red.

I pulled out the Humbucker and it's a patent number stamped Gibson pickup. Weird huh? If I had unscrewed one of the MFDs I could probably have seen the old color but I didn't. Maybe one day I will.


PS thanks for the neck removal instructions. I always just did it at string changing time. This is good for future reference.