The place to discuss, post photos, video, and audio of the G&L products (US instruments, stomp boxes, etc.) produced after 1991, including the amps & gear we use with them.
I'm currently debating what body wood I should use on the ASAT Special that I plan on ordering soon. I'm very interested in an ASAT Special Deluxe "no top" (like PGS ordered a few years ago), but I'm afraid that mahogany will strip the guitar of some of its signature sound. Does anyone have any experience with these guitars?
My other guitar is a 335, so I'm looking for a 2nd guitar to contrast with it: something with a crisper/faster attack, chime-y/sparkly single coil tones, and some punch. I'm going to be playing this guitar clean with some delay and dirty through a whole lot of fuzz.
Can't speak to the mahogany guitars, or even ASATs for that matter, but I do hear some differences in my Legacy bodies between alder and ash. I have both alder and ash guitars, and for me they are interchangeable. There's only one song I play where I can honestly say that I prefer the alder over ash, and other than that one song it is a wash.
To me, alder is slower, softer, looser, airier, more open and more acoustic-like.
Ash is faster, harder, tighter, rounder, more compressed, and more focused.
I would think that between these two, an ash body would give you the greatest contrast with your 335.
Boogie Bill wrote:To me, alder is slower, softer, looser, airier, more open and more acoustic-like.
Ash is faster, harder, tighter, rounder, more compressed, and more focused.
I've noticed the same with my ASATs. Those descriptions are spot on. I used to have an ES335, but once I got my ash-bodied Bluesboy it became redundant. The BB just did everything the 335 did only better and it stays in tune!
Thanks for the feedback. My rationale for wanting a mahogany guitar was to avoid creating an overly bright guitar. I was hoping the mahogany would round off some of the brightness and give it some low mid punch. My only fear with this plan was that the asat special would lose some of its spank and chime and end up sounding more like a gibson sg with p90s.
hollowhero wrote:Thanks for the feedback. My rationale for wanting a mahogany guitar was to avoid creating an overly bright guitar. I was hoping the mahogany would round off some of the brightness and give it some low mid punch. My only fear with this plan was that the asat special would lose some of its spank and chime and end up sounding more like a gibson sg with p90s.
Can't fault that logic.
A big part of the Gibson sound comes from the combination of tune-o-matic bridge, mahogany body, traditional pickups and set neck. Having one without the other makes a big difference. My Korina Jr, with its P90s, korina (mahogany-sound-alike) body and TOM bridge sounds and feels very Gibson-y (notable differences being that it stays in tune and strings don't break on it!!!) .The MFDs in the Special don't sound like P90s, and the saddle lock bridge lends its own sound too. I don't think (disclaimer: I'm not always right ) that the combo of mahogany body with MFDs, a saddle lock bridge and a bolt on maple neck with a longer scale length would be very similar to a Gibson at all. I'd imagine it would have its own distinct vibe - when it comes down to it the only similarity between the Special Deluxe and an SG w/P90s is the mahogany body.
Hopefully some other owners of Special Deluxes will chime in with their experience.
I am curious to know how you would describe Korina...
I don't have much experience with korina...other than kicking myself for not buying a korina Gibson reissue Explorer several years ago. Still have dreams about that guitar. I would say it's similar to the mahogany LP Special I had, taking into consideration the P90 vs the HBs on the Explorer. But that guitar was particularly lightweight for an Explorer, and tremendously resonant. Unplugged, you could feel the entire guitar vibrate from endpin to headstock.
I have a Special deluxe no top and let me tell you I don't think it sounds any darker than any other specials I have messed around with. it can be bright if you want that but for the most part it sounds really smooth. I guess the best way I could express it is it sounds just a little more "compressed" which i like.
Ahryn wrote:I have a Special deluxe no top and let me tell you I don't think it sounds any darker than any other specials I have messed around with. it can be bright if you want that but for the most part it sounds really smooth. I guess the best way I could express it is it sounds just a little more "compressed" which i like.
And oh yes, it sounds nice with fuzz.
very nice to my ears
That's great to hear. Thanks for the response.
Although I've been changing my mind back and forth between mahogany+rosewood and alder+rosewood, I think I've finally settled on mahogany--which really just means that I'm going to be buying a 2nd g&l sometime in the future
Random question: is the body of the special deluxe no top thinner than a "regular" asat special?
I don't believe so, or if it is it isn't immediately noticeable and without any ample supplies of G&Ls in the area I am in there is no way for my to measure to be sure.
to my knowledge it probably is the same CNC process as the other bodies so it should be the same.
Maybe you could contact the dealer you were thinking of purchasing from?
If they carry both then they could probably take a ruler to it and you can have a definitive answer.
My ASATs are both maple, but my experience with F-100s is a lot like Blarg and Ahryn described for their ASATs. My 'hog/hardtail F-100 is a completely different animal than my ash/DFV, even though they are both dead stock and were built within a couple of months of each other. Those MFD humbuckers are very bright in the ash body, but in the 'hog they can go from a nice crunch to very smooth, clean low-mids depending on the switch positions. None of those tones are close to any Gibson I've played. I'd expect pretty much the same thing from the large MFD single coils.
KenC wrote:My ASATs are both maple, but my experience with F-100s is a lot like Blarg and Ahryn described for their ASATs. My 'hog/hardtail F-100 is a completely different animal than my ash/DFV, even though they are both dead stock and were built within a couple of months of each other. Those MFD humbuckers are very bright in the ash body, but in the 'hog they can go from a nice crunch to very smooth, clean low-mids depending on the switch positions. None of those tones are close to any Gibson I've played. I'd expect pretty much the same thing from the large MFD single coils.
Ken
You and Boogie bring up some very valid insights. I've started a body wood thread on the LE-2 discussion thread.
) that the combo of mahogany body with MFDs, a saddle lock bridge and a bolt on maple neck with a longer scale length would be very similar to a Gibson at all. I'd imagine it would have its own distinct vibe - when it comes down to it the only similarity between the Special Deluxe and an SG w/P90s is the mahogany body.
