Hey ya'll, new GBL owner

[eminence_front]

Hey everyone ..

First, thanks for all the past contributions which allowed me to do some lurking and research before pulling the trigger.

I just became the owner of a well loved 1988 ASAT. I have owned 6 different guitars in the 4 years since I began playing, and this is by far, the most energetic and soulful instrument I have played.

It's a 1988.

Black body, Maple neck, rosewood fretboard
Black crinkle finish
All black hardware

Neck pocket date -march ? 1988
Neck date stamp - April 26 1988
Marked #14, with a conspicuous "F" in felt tip marker, I presume means "Friday" ? (I totally made that up).

Anyway, the peculiar thing is that it closely resembles the Broadcaster, with the exception being the headstock is Vintage tint, instead of
Body color like on the broadcaster.


In any case. I traded a N.O.S Les Paul for it, so I couldn't b happier. I feel like I came out pretty good, the person who traded was happy..


Looking forward to tuning her up and letting it rip for a while !

Cheers !

-ef-

[darwinohm]

Welcome EF and we would love to see a picture of this one!-- Darwin

[eminence_front]

Hey Darwin ! Thanks


Here she goes

[darwinohm]

Thanks EF, nice special. Is that a Maple Body?-- Darwin

[eminence_front]

I really cannot tell. So it's an ASAT Special ? I presume ?



here is a shot of the inside of the neck pocket.



It's pretty light feeling. My strat is Ash, and aside from it being physically larger, it's a lot heavier. I really know next to nothing about these. I traded for it purely on how it plays and sounds unplugged. When you play open chords on it the neck feels like it's motorized ! LOL

I thought during this time period most of these bodies were Alder or Ash ?

[darwinohm]

EF, I didn't realize it but I was looking at the bottom of the neck. Yes is it is an Asat Special, a very fine guitar in my opinion. Not sure on the neck pocket but it could be alder.-- Darwin

[eminence_front]

Thanks and I agree whole heartedly. It sets up nice. And even though it's got some typical "players" road-wear on it. I put about a half turn into the truss rod, slapped on a new set of strings and it plays nice and smooth.

Couldn't be happier.

[Katefan]

Congrats on your new guitar! '80's G&L's are Magical...

Body is either ash or maple... looks like ash to me. Most ash bodied ASATs are on the heavy side but I owned an '89 that was light as.
As far as I know alder didn't become into the picture til the mid 90's when BBE started doing away with the Leo-era appointments...

Yeah, your has the vintage tint happening on the headstock... technically yours is an ASAT... the named changed to ASAT Special once BBE took over to differentiate it from the ASAT Classic which has the classic Telecaster features (hence the name).

The metal p/g's are great for noise reduction and the 80's MFD's pickups as you are probably already aware are sonically rich and really versatile... If I had to choose only 1 guitar it would be a Leo-era ASAT.
Cheers,
KF

[KenC]

I can't say for sure from the distant photo, but that neck pocket looks like maple to me. Nine of my ten maple-bodied G&Ls have opaque finishes, and all of those have very plain grain with a whitish shade in the neck pockets.

I moved my '88 ASAT out the door a couple of months ago to make room for an El Toro. It was also maple with the black hardware an string tree at the D tuner. They definintely weren't all ash by that point.

If I had to choose only 1 guitar it would be a Leo-era ASAT.

+1. My all-time favorite guitar is one of my maple '86s.

Ken