When did the beautiful sparkle finishes originate?

[LeoFThe Champion]

G'day all, You have a great informative site here. I hang out at basses by Leo , great bunch of blokes too. Can you please tell me when the sparkle finish was 1st applied to a G&L guitar?
cheers
Anthony

[yowhatsshakin]

Hi Anthony,

First, welcome! Second, what I think is the answer to your question. To the best of my knowledge, the first G&L (Silver Flake) sparkle finished guitars were built in late '94/early '95 at the request of John Jorgenson. In describing one of his '95 John Jorgenson Signatures, Greg Gaglianio states that the first application of a large flake finish might have been for Jorgenson's Z-3. But web master Craig Dewey described that guitar just a couple of days ago and the dates don't match.

Hope this helps,

- Jos

[Craig]

G'day all, You have a great informative site here. I hang out at basses by Leo , great bunch of blokes too. Can you please tell me when the sparkle finish was 1st applied to a G&L guitar?
cheers
Anthony

That's going to be difficult to answer because G&L did a lot of experimenting with finishes,
but I can provide this:

The first Sparkle finish G&L offered was Sparkle Silver on the ASAT model and it was listed in the
Suggested Retail Price List - July 1, 1990, page 2. We do have a 1989 ASAT with Sparkle Silver finish
listed in the G&L Registry which indicates that it was a NAMM guitar 1989. However, if it was a NAMM guitar,
it would have been built in Nov or Dec of 1989 for the 1990 NAMM show. This may well be the first one put on display.

In the 1992-93 G&L Catalog, Sparkle Red and Sparkle Purple were listed. Sparkle Silver was not listed,
but Silver Metallic and Gold Metallic were added, too.

In the 1993-94 G&L Catalog, Sparkle Black and Gold Metallicburst were added.

Hope this helps.

[Craig]

Hi Anthony,

First, welcome! Second, what I think is the answer to your question. To the best of my knowledge, the first G&L (Silver Flake) sparkle finished guitars were built in late '94/early '95 at the request of John Jorgenson. In describing one of his '95 John Jorgenson Signatures, Greg Gaglianio states that the first application of a large flake finish might have been for Jorgenson's Z-3. But web master Craig Dewey described that guitar just a couple of days ago and the dates don't match.

Hope this helps,

- Jos

The Sparkle finishes had smaller specks than the Flake finishes. The Flake finishes showed up
after the Sparkle finishes were introduced. Silver Flake was listed in the 1997 Retail Price List
and was available for all instruments. The rest of the Flake finishes showed up in the 2001 G&L Catalog.

The JJ Z-3 prototype (aka ASAT Comanche) Silver Flake finish was first, I believe.

Hope this helps.

[LeoFThe Champion]

G'day and thank you , Thanks for the welcome fellas. I have been reading this site for the informative posts for a while now.The sparkle is a truly amazing finish , I hope to own one sometime
Cheers
Anthony

[Elwood]

You don't see much metallic purple on the old ones,
Nice detail work on the headstock:




http://www.ebay.com/itm/1991-G-L-USA-S- ... 463wt_1119