G & L ASAT Deluxe

[scoobie]

Hi to all on my first post.

I've had the above guitar for some years which I bought new and stored under the bed and was going to sell it, but someone has informed it that it is a rare model - one of 100 made in 1997 with a 3 bolt neck.

Are they right, is it a rare model?

I did have it listed on ebay and cancelled the listing, but the pictures can be found under item 320807568166.

Apologies if I've posted in the wrong part of the forum, and thanks in advance.

[yowhatsshakin]

Hi to all on my first post.

I've had the above guitar for some years which I bought new and stored under the bed and was going to sell it, but someone has informed it that it is a rare model - one of 100 made in 1997 with a 3 bolt neck.

Are they right, is it a rare model?

I did have it listed on ebay and cancelled the listing, but the pictures can be found under item 320807568166.

Apologies if I've posted in the wrong part of the forum, and thanks in advance.

Howdy scoobie,

Is your model rare? Yes, but only by virtue of G&L transitioning from a 3-bolt neck to a 4-bolt neck in '97. Indeed less than 100 hundred ASAT Deluxe were produced with a 3-bolt neck. Does that make your Deluxe more valuable? Strangely enough, and a bit to my surprise, opinions differ. When I check the Vintage Guitar 2012 Price Guide, it lists the 3-bolt Deluxe as being worth $150 more than the 4-bolt. Checking the Blue Book value currently available, it lists it as being worth $175-$100 less. It do not know whether that is a printing error on either end but I have contacted both Zach Fjestad, author of the Blue Book, as well as Alan Greenwood, coauthor of the VG Price Guide whether either has their entries interchanged and will update you when I get answers.

Hope this helps,

- Jos

[SouthpawGuy]

Howdy scoobie,

Is your model rare? Yes, but only by virtue of G&L transitioning from a 3-bolt neck to a 4-bolt neck in '97.

Indeed less than 100 hundred ASAT Deluxe were produced with a 3-bolt neck. Does that make your Deluxe more valuable? Strangely enough, and a bit to my surprise, opinions differ. When I check the Vintage Guitar 2012 Price Guide, it lists the 3-bolt Deluxe as being worth $150 more than the 4-bolt. Checking the Blue Book value currently available, it lists it as being worth $175-$100 less. It do not know whether that is a printing error on either end but I have contacted both Zach Fjestad, author of the Blue Book, as well as Alan Greenwood, coauthor of the VG Price Guide whether either has their entries interchanged and will update you when I get answers.

Hope this helps,

- Jos

A very interesting piece of info, thank you !

[Craig]

Yes, but only by virtue of G&L transitioning from a 3-bolt neck to a 4-bolt neck in '97. Indeed less than 100 hundred ASAT Deluxe were produced with a 3-bolt neck.

However, the transition to 4-bolt was gradual and I suspect the ASAT Deluxe
did not get converted until 1998, at the earliest. So, there would have been
atleast two years of 3-bolt neck production.

Where did you get your info on the "less than 100 ... were produced with
a 3-bolt neck" which you quote?

[Miles Smiles]

When I search the registry for ASAT Deluxe up to 1998 or 1999, only 14 Instruments are listed. Probably tells nothing, but may be a hint.

Never thought about that and I never would pay more money, just for the fact a guitar is relatively rare. I got mine (3-bolt) about 3 years ago and payed € 700 on Ebay, which would be £ 590, but maybe that was a steal.

But I guess £ 800 ($ 1240) is pretty close to the maximum you may get, although that guitar should be worth more, regarding quality.

My Deluxe is the best guitar I own. I'll never sell it and that are not just famous last words.

http://i.wuell.net/gallery/view_album.p ... SAT_DeLuxe

[yowhatsshakin]

Where did you get your info on the "less than 100 ... were produced with
a 3-bolt neck" which you quote?

Hi Craig,

The 2012 Vintage Guitar Price Guide, written/compiled by Alan Greenwood and Gil Hembree (ISBN 978-1-884883-23-1, Vintage Guitar press, Hal Leonard Corporation, 2011) on page 92 for the '97 ASAT Deluxe includes this entry in the table: "1997 3-bolt neck, less than 100 made". I assume whoever told scoobie this used the same source. The Blue Book does not make a specific remark about this model. Both sources also differ in the years in which this model was available '97-present for VGPG and '96-present in Blue Book, with an entry for the 3-bolt neck in production years '96-'97. But I guess it would be possible there are still some later Deluxes with 3-bolt neck although that enirely depends on the production schedule at the day for different modls as well as material available.

Gil Hembree gave me this response to my question:

Hello Jos,

The Price Guide has the good fortune of working with some of the most knowledgeable vintage-guitar dealers in the world, and we have several who know G &L, but in particular we have an outstanding world-class G & L vintage-dealer who lives near the original (and current) factory. He arranged a factory tour for James Jiskra and I and we were able to see Leo Fender’s original lab / office. For many of the last few years the Price Guide has shown the 3-bolt as being the more expensive model. Because of the early ‘70s Fender Stratocasters, that switched from 4-bolt to 3-bolt, it is probably thought by some people that any 3-bolt of any brand is worth less. That is not the case with G & L. Other factors are also part of the G & L equation, and the 4-bolt vs 3-bolt is a model by model consideration; on some models the price is the same.

Thanks for the question.

Gil Hembree
Co-author

Still awaiting Zach's reponse. Hope this helps,

- Jos

[Craig]

Where did you get your info on the "less than 100 ... were produced with
a 3-bolt neck" which you quote?

Hi Craig,

The 2012 Vintage Guitar Price Guide, written/compiled by Alan Greenwood and Gil Hembree (ISBN 978-1-884883-23-1, Vintage Guitar press, Hal Leonard Corporation, 2011) on page 92 for the '97 ASAT Deluxe includes this entry in the table: "1997 3-bolt neck, less than 100 made". I assume whoever told scoobie this used the same source. The Blue Book does not make a specific remark about this model. Both sources also differ in the years in which this model was available '97-present for VGPG and '96-present in Blue Book, with an entry for the 3-bolt neck in production years '96-'97. But I guess it would be possible there are still some later Deluxes with 3-bolt neck although that enirely depends on the production schedule at the day for different modls as well as material available.

Gil Hembree gave me this response to my question:

Hello Jos,

The Price Guide has the good fortune of working with some of the most knowledgeable vintage-guitar dealers in the world, and we have several who know G &L, but in particular we have an outstanding world-class G & L vintage-dealer who lives near the original (and current) factory. He arranged a factory tour for James Jiskra and I and we were able to see Leo Fender’s original lab / office. For many of the last few years the Price Guide has shown the 3-bolt as being the more expensive model. Because of the early ‘70s Fender Stratocasters, that switched from 4-bolt to 3-bolt, it is probably thought by some people that any 3-bolt of any brand is worth less. That is not the case with G & L. Other factors are also part of the G & L equation, and the 4-bolt vs 3-bolt is a model by model consideration; on some models the price is the same.

Thanks for the question.

Gil Hembree
Co-author

Still awaiting Zach's reponse. Hope this helps,

- Jos

Interesting. I do know that the ASAT Deluxe was available in 1996 and it is listed in the 1996 G&L Catalog.

With the G&L section updated in the Blue Book, I would lean toward it as a more accurate reference for G&L instruments.

Thanks for posting these details. If you get a response from Zach, please add it here.

[scoobie]

That's great guys - many thanks for the info.

[yowhatsshakin]

I got Zach's response on my question this morning:

Hi Jos,

If you've seen earlier editions of our books, you'd notice that the G&L section was completely overhauled. I had a G&L enthusiast who contacted me earlier this year and offered to go over the entire G&L section, so I forwarded it on to him. His response:

Thank You for the inquiry of the G&L Asat Deluxe. The numbers listed have not been interchanged. The numbers were derived from observed sales from multiple sources. Deviations from one guide to another may be due to the different sources used by each guide. In the case of the instruments in question, pricing must include the latest model with an average number of options in near new condition which indeed raises the pricing slightly higher than the earlier model. Although more rare, the earlier model has not shown to be higher in value than the pricing given at this time.
Best Regards

I questioned the different values for this model as well, but I know my contributing editor knows his stuff, so I'm going with it!

Let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks!

Zachary R. Fjestad
Author/Editor
Blue Book Publications
8009 34th Ave. S. Ste #250
Minneapolis, MN 55425
952-854-5229
Fax: 952-853-1486
http://guitars.bluebookinc.com
zachf@bluebookinc.com

You'll notice that nothing gets really resolved. So again, for selling/buying a guitar the main question is what is it worth to you!

Hope this helps (or not)

- Jos