My new G&L sc-2 - initial thoughts

[goldspanner]

Just received it from parcel force (after a very long wait, and having to pay some pretty ridiculous customs fees etc.)

Specs:

2-tone sunburst finish (flawless)
DFS trem
sperzel tuners
rock maple neck, with a satin finish
everything else is stock

For a guitar that has (supposedly) been through a PLEK machine, the action was pretty bad when I got it.
It was uneven at the nut, although nothing a little filing didn't fix, and the action at the bridge was also a little out.
I'm still fiddling with the action, hoping i'll get it to where I'm happy with it soon enough.
Saying that, the fretwork is perfect, so I guess those machines are good for something.
The finish is amazing, and totally flawless! Everything on the guitar feels very solid.
The guitar itself sounds very nice, and the pickups too are very good. I read somewhere that It was a mix between tele and les paul jr.
that seems pretty accurate to me.

The trem feels nice and solid, and I'm sure once the guitar and the strings have been broken in a bit, the tuning stability will be fine,
although I plan to install a Goldo BackBox, and a tremol-no, and some stiffer springs, so I can do drop tunings, and also bend properly when the trem is unlocked

As far as I can tell, the sperzel tuners that came on it are a staggered set, although whoever installed them doesn't seem to have got them in order, or tightened them enough to get the stud on the back to go into the wood properly.
Again nothing I can't sort out myself in ten minutes, but I expected more.

Overall the guitar is fantastic, and I'm sure with some tinkering here and there it will become my next go to guitar.
I'm still trying to decide whether to spray the headstock with some amber nitro, to get that vintage look I love, as it's perhaps looking a bit lack-lustre at the moment.

I'll report back once the tinkering is finished!

[asphalt-abate]

Sorry to hear that you have to do so much to get your guitar ready. Let us know what you think about it after you've had a chance to set it up and play it.

By the way, where do you live? Import duties are a bummer.

[goldspanner]

they most certainly are! I'm in the UK, so I got hit pretty hard! over 20% of what I payed for it!

[NickHorne]

Who did you buy it from then? The usual UK retailer reference seems to be to turn the $ figure into £ and then add some more...

[goldspanner]

I got it from Upfront Guitars (an eBay store) and got it shipped to the UK from the US

with regards to the price seems like what they did.

I paid around £621 for it + £70 shipping. Then on top of that got hit with Import VAT of over 20% (which is wrong) + customs duty and some bullsh*t parcel force 'handling fee' (which as far as I'm aware is illegal for them to charge, but as the depo is no where near me, I couldn't go pick it up myself and dispute it face to face)

[darwinohm]

Goldspanner, Mine is an August 2011 build and mine was also perfect from a finish and fit standpoint. Mine also had Sperzels on it and when I replaced them with Sperzel Locking tuners, I noticed that the pin holes were very tight. I also shimmed the neck on mine for low action and it is an awesome guitar. I do not like the saddles laying on the DF bridge plate. I have the action very low and there is no buzzing and I find that the Pleked necks are very good. I believe they have tightened up on tolerances like the tuner pin fit. The older ones had much more room around the bridge pins and I like them tight. You just need to be careful while tightening the tuner mounting screw or put a bit of soap on the pin. Mine was clearly within spec when I purchased it but I like the action lower than most people. The SC-2s are really coll. Mine is Fullerton Red.-- Darwin

[goldspanner]

I'm used to the baseball bat neck on my 73 tele, so I think some of this could probably be from not being used to the neck yet, especially as the tele neck's tend be quite different from most other 'C' styles.

I know what you mean about the pins, as maple is generally a very hard wood, so perhaps the tech that worked on my guitar was just being a bit lazy?

Once the trem is stabilised, i'll be playing it alot, and I'm sure over time the neck will feel good

[louis cyfer]

some pics of the problem areas would help. i would suggest the tremol-no, it works great, stiffer springs won't quite get the job done. the setup issues could easily be because of the shipping, different climate etc.