Is Legacy better than S500 and why?

[Andy]

Hi, just bought my s500, I kinda like it. But it sounds like alot of people have the Legacy and like that. Which is better and why do you prefer each? I may make the jump if convinced. Hmmm, S500 Legacy
Thanks, Andy

[suave eddie]

The Legacy with the Alnico pickups will give you much more of the traditional Strat tones. The MFDs on your S500 are much different sounding.
I don't particularly like playing Strats, but the other day I was in a store trying ASATs when I pulled a Legacy off the wall just to compare necks to the ASAT (#1 vs #2) and it was one of the best sounding Strats I ever heard. If I were in the market for a Strat I sould definitely go Legacy.

[Philby]

Why not just buy some Legacy pickups from the G&L shop and install them on your S-500 for a change of tone? It's cheaper than buying a new Legacy.

I've swapped the pickups in my S-500 and I'm loving the Legacy p'ups so far. The MFD's are great for heavier/bluesy tones but I don't do much of that lately. So the MFD's will sit on the shelf until I need a change of tone (again).

[darwinohm]

Excellent idea Philby, a simple change, as a matter of fact he could probably get a Legacy pickguard assy and put a quick disconnect on the jack and change them in no time flat.-- Darwin

[Craig]

Hi, just bought my s500, I kinda like it. But it sounds like alot of people have the Legacy and like that. Which is better and why do you prefer each? I may make the jump if convinced. Hmmm, S500 Legacy
Thanks, Andy

Check this post in our G&L Knowledgebase: S-500 or Legacy?

Hope this helps.

[Boogie Bill]

I have nine Legacys, and two each of the Legacy Special, S-500 and Comanche models.

Which model is the best?

Depends.

As stated above, if you want vintage Strat tones, the Legacy is the way to go. The pickups are typical, anemic vintage coils--and they sound so perfect for so many types of music.

If you want Strat ergonomics, and the tone of a Les Paul, the Legacy Special will get you closer than any guitar I know of. The humbucking Gotoh Blades give a thick, PAF-ish tone, with higher output than the alnicos. I love the thick "Woman Tone" from the neck pickup, and the bridge is hot to rock. But you can still get close to vintage alnico tones by rolling down the PTB Bass to 0-2 and the Treble up all the way, and then turning the Volume down to about 5-6. These pickups are HOT, and THICK, and that helps the PTB controls to be even more effective. These guitars serve as my backup guitar to BOTH my Legacy and my 2HB guitar--not many can do that job well--plus, it is a great in it's own right for many kinds of music.

The S-500 is a powerful guitar, too. Very powerful pickups, but definitely a single-coil tone. A wide-range, somewhat high-fidelity type of tone. If you want a beefier, more aggressive tone than the Legacy for hard rock or Tejas Blooze--S-500 is great way to go. Again, the PTB is very effective with the hotter pickups. Does not sound like a vintage Strat.

And then there is the Comanche...with the funny little Z-Coil pickups. They are humbucking, so if you want to be free of noise, but you still want single-coil clarity, here you are. The Z-coils are still an MFD design and sound similar to the MFDs of the S-500, with a slightly less-aggressive character. Will Ray uses the Z-coils in his Signature ASAT model to twang with the best of them--while I set my Comanches to sound very dark and powerful without the muddiness of a PAF. You want to create a signature tone of your own--I think of the Comanche as a blank canvas upon which to paint my own masterpiece. I normally will use 5-6 differerent instruments with my current band. Last time I subbed for the guitarist in a friend's classic rock cover, it was all Comanche, all night--I got lots of compliments on my tone, and I never felt the need for a different guitar. But again, it is not a vintage Strat.

So it really depends on what you want to do as to which one is "best". The same ergonomics, yet four distinct flavors. And I LOVE that about these guitars. Oh WAIT!!! Did I say FOUR? Silly me, I forgot to tell you about the Legacy HB, with the PAF-style bridge pickup (and coil split), and the Legacy 2HB--the G&L version of the Big Apple Strat of famed studio sessionman Hiram Bullock. Count 'em--that's six version!!! So the best one? It's the one you like the best.

But the reality is,...you need one of each!!!

(Go ahead, you have my permission. And no, you may not sleep on my sofa when your wife has a meltdown!!!)

Good luck!

Bill

[Andy]

Thanks for everyones input. I think I need to treat myself to a day in the fishbowl at my local guitar shop trying various guitar/amp combos also. I am drawn to the sound of HB bridges and the S500 doesn't do it, yet it has something special sounding for bluesy in 2 and 4 so don't really want to mess with that either. Maybe a second guitar is the route. There is a tribute Legacy (opinions on these?) on the local want ads but its all SC (right?). Was thinking of modding that but he wants $500 so I thought that a bit high (opinions?).

Andy

[Muleya]

That's kind of where I was. I have a Legacy SSS, but generally prefer HB tones in the bridge. But, putting an HB in the bridge messes up position 2 tones, even if you split the HB. So I decided I needed a Legacy HB in addition to my SSS Legacy...ordered it around Thanksgiving and got it in mid-February and am really enjoying it!

Don't know a whole lot about the Tributes...have played a couple in stores and they seem really nice. I'd easily take one over an MIM Fender. But I've not done a serious comparison to the USA G&Ls. However, $500 seems very high for a Tribute, unless it's one of the newer HB models (which it could be)...then it might make more sense.

[davis52]

I don't know about the rest of you but Boogie Bill has me wanting a Special next! I have been thinking about getting an ASAT Deluxe for the hums but now that sounds amazing because I like the strat shape best... dang...
Anyway, I don't have much to add but I love my Legacy. It's one of three guitars I have not sold at the 6 month marker. It's made it into my stable forever. The bridge and middle combo to me is just magic for just about anything and it is so dynamic. Love them Alnico 5 pickups!

[Jim P]

Why not just buy some Legacy pickups from the G&L shop and install them on your S-500 for a change of tone? It's cheaper than buying a new Legacy.

I've swapped the pickups in my S-500 and I'm loving the Legacy p'ups so far. The MFD's are great for heavier/bluesy tones but I don't do much of that lately. So the MFD's will sit on the shelf until I need a change of tone (again).

^^^This.......and if you want to go one step further, buy a Legacy pickguard and load it up with Legacy components. This way you can simply switch the two guards. In addition, you can wire them up with internal insulated pin connectors on the two input lead wires so that you only need to replace the pickguard with absolutely no soldering involved.

[Andy]

I have never had my pickguard off my S500. Would I need to rout the body to get a HB to sit OK with a Legacy Deluxe pickguard?

Thanks

[Philby]

AFAIK all S-500's have a nice, deep swimming pool rout to accommodate single coils and humbuckers. You can drop in whatever pickup you like (within reason).

I've fitted some Seymour Duncan stack pickups in mine, which are deeper than usual, without any trouble at all.

HTH.

[Jim P]

Here's my Legacy with three different pickguard options, and they all fit flawlessly within the bathtub routing:

Legacy before mods:


With S-500 pickguard:


With 2HB pickguard:


If you're going to install full-sized humbuckers, the only thing you'll need to be careful about is that the mounting legs on the pickups themselves aren't too deep. All in all, though, swapping stuff out with the bathtub routing is a breeze.

The guitar is now back to being a Legacy, but it's currently loaded with the Legacy pickguard and Lollar Blackface pickups.

[Andy]

Thanks All, you guys are very helpful and its appreciated by a newbie like myself.

Andy

[13bustg]

Jim, dumb question: how do you change tone and volume knobs on that Legacy? It is just brute force, right?
And did you use standard knobs or did you buy them at the G&L online store?

[Jim P]

Jim, dumb question: how do you change tone and volume knobs on that Legacy? It is just brute force, right?
And did you use standard knobs or did you buy them at the G&L online store?

The knobs on the Legacy and S-500 pickguards were supplied as G&L OEM parts on both. The knobs on the black 2HB pickguard are just standard Fender Strat knobs, but with the exception of the S-500 guard, all of them are interchangeable. To pull them off, I'll start by slowly wiggling them off by hand. If they're on overly tight, I'll just take a small screwdriver over a piece of cloth (to avoid scratching the guard) while slowly prying off the knobs at various points of the pot's rotation. Hopefully I answered your question.

[Xochitl]

You may try sliding a flat shoelace under the knob and pull vertically. This way you should avoid scratching your pickguard.

[johnnyqb]

one more thing--the S-500 is normally a HEAVY guitar, definitely on average heavier than a Legacy. I don't know why this is, except G&L must have decided the S-500 pups work better on a heavier platform.

[Dr B]

The Tributes are great guitars. I've got an Indonesian Asat Classic. The whole finish is flawless, the tone is ace. Obviously its not a USA built model and so it will not be identical. The main difference is necks (in my opinion). USA necks 'feel' different, are better quality in fret finish, and I think Tribute Legacy's have a 9'' fretboard radius as well, rather than the 12'' of the USA models.

However, Tributes will be the best $500 you ever spend on a guitar. If you want to go USA, then fine but its around $1000 - $1500 before you can entertain that idea.

I have played tributes from Korea and Indonesia and in my opiion the Indonesian ones are superior. However, the Korean ones, because they are now much older - will also be cheaper. In my local guitar shop they had 2 Korean Tribute Legacy's for £200 each (in the UK). Thats about $350 (give or take). By far the best vaule guitars I've ever seen. Remember - this is still with USA built pickups.

[Craig]

one more thing--the S-500 is normally a HEAVY guitar, definitely on average heavier than a Legacy. I don't know why this is, except G&L must have decided the S-500 pups work better on a heavier platform.

While that may seem to be the case for your samplings of the S-500, it is just not the case.
AFAIK, the factory does not select body blanks (Alder or Swamp Ash) by weight for specific models.

Hope this helps.

[johnnyqb]

one more thing--the S-500 is normally a HEAVY guitar, definitely on average heavier than a Legacy. I don't know why this is, except G&L must have decided the S-500 pups work better on a heavier platform.

While that may seem to be the case for your samplings of the S-500, it is just not the case.
AFAIK, the factory does not select body blanks (Alder or Swamp Ash) by weight for specific models.

Well, it has been a very large sampling over many years that led me to my conclusion on the weight difference b/t S-500 and Legacy. I assume you would agree that tributes are normally heavier than the USA models?

[JonL]

Sample of one...
The S-500 I just sold was also a pretty heavy guitar.

In response to the OP, I bought the S-500 because I was curious about the small single coil MFD pickup sound. (I have an F-100 with the humbuckers, and really like it.) I wasn't able to get a tone I was happy with out of the guitar and I've since sold it. I really prefer the clean, sparkly tone of a Strat's bridge pickup, and I love the picking dynamics it can reproduce. I didn't get that with the S-500, and the F-100 stomped all over it for creamy tones when modestly overdriving the amp (with no effects pedals, I use none). By rolling up the treble a bit, the F-100 is also able to get the high end edge and bite of a hot strat, and I couldn't get that with the S-500. The S-500 is probably a great guitar for people who use effects to shape their tone, but by itself I found the tones of the S-500 to be sort of generic and uninteresting.

[Philby]

My alder S-500 is the weightiest guitar I own, and I have 7 solid body guitars. The second heaviest is also a G&L, an ash bodied ASAT Special.

I have yet to try a light G&L.

[Dr B]

The weight of my Tribute Asat is more than my USA Legacy - but teles do have bulkier bodies - so perhaps not the most useful comparison.

I dont really find weight an issue and I am sure it adds something to the tone and durability. Another of my hobbies is air rifle shooting and my guns all have walnut stocks on them as they are lighter, add balance to a gun and can be more aesthetically pleasing to look at. When i first picked up my spring-based air riflle - it was heavy - but its weight brought an advantage (less recoil - thus making you way more accurate). It was about 8lbs with a decent scope on it. I got familiar with it and now i do not notice it. My other guns are PCP based and way lighter with no recoil at all - but the only time i really notice the difference is if i swap from gun to gun in very close time proximity. I just accommodate to it - same with guitars really.

My asat is heavier than my legacy - but two mins after i start with it - i dont really notice it. However, I'm not in a band and do not stand on stage for 2hrs a night....so take what I say on this with a pinch of salt as they say....