Introduction

[mattus]

Hello,

My name is Matt and I've been playing mostly for hobby for about 25 years. I'm primarily an acoustic player, as I like the funkiness and character I can add to my music with the acoustic. I have a few electrics as well, including an ASAT Z3.

I joined in hope of getting some advice on my Z3. I custom-ordered an ASAT Z3 in spring of '05. At the time, I was in a SRV phase and I ordered the guitar with jumbo frets. I also ordered it with a basswood body, bird's-eye maple neck, locking tuners, and a color-matched headstock. It's an absolutely beautiful instrument in terms of tone and quality; however, I find that I after 8 years I've probably only played it a few times. I don't like the jumbo frets and the body--which is supposed to be light--is extremely heavy...probably heavier than a Les Paul.

I've finally decided to sell it and order a different one, or get a lighter body and have it re-fretted. A little background - I tore a disc in my low back and cannot shoulder much weight for much time. That's a big reason why I'm after a lighter body. Anyhow, I'm dead-set on playing my next G&L guitar before ordering it, as I learned my lesson with the Z3. The biggest problem I'm having is that I live in a remote area and the handful of G&L dealers within a day drive of me don't have a USA-made ASAT for me to play. I'm interested in getting a Classic or another Z3, but I cannot seem to locate one and I'm worried about being able to get a decent price for mine. Any thoughts or suggestions are appreciated.

Regards,

Matt

[KenC]

Welcome to the G&LDP. Your Z-3 sounds really nice. That heavy basswood body seems strange, though. Basswood is one of the least dense woods avaible. Could the dealer have made a mistake on the order? If the guitar has a clear finish, I would suggest posting a couple of close-ups of the body showing the grain. If the finish is a solid color, a shot of the neck pocket would work. Wood identification questions come up pretty frequently on this forum, and generally get good answers.

Ken

[Craig]

Hello,

My name is Matt and I've been playing mostly for hobby for about 25 years. I'm primarily an acoustic player, as I like the funkiness and character I can add to my music with the acoustic. I have a few electrics as well, including an ASAT Z3.

I joined in hope of getting some advice on my Z3. I custom-ordered an ASAT Z3 in spring of '05. At the time, I was in a SRV phase and I ordered the guitar with jumbo frets. I also ordered it with a basswood body, bird's-eye maple neck, locking tuners, and a color-matched headstock. It's an absolutely beautiful instrument in terms of tone and quality; however, I find that I after 8 years I've probably only played it a few times. I don't like the jumbo frets and the body--which is supposed to be light--is extremely heavy...probably heavier than a Les Paul.

I've finally decided to sell it and order a different one, or get a lighter body and have it re-fretted. A little background - I tore a disc in my low back and cannot shoulder much weight for much time. That's a big reason why I'm after a lighter body. Anyhow, I'm dead-set on playing my next G&L guitar before ordering it, as I learned my lesson with the Z3. The biggest problem I'm having is that I live in a remote area and the handful of G&L dealers within a day drive of me don't have a USA-made ASAT for me to play. I'm interested in getting a Classic or another Z3, but I cannot seem to locate one and I'm worried about being able to get a decent price for mine. Any thoughts or suggestions are appreciated.

Regards,

Matt

Basswood (aka American Tilia) was only used on the ASAT Special Deluxe, Legacy Deluxe and S-500 Deluxe models in 2005 and they all had a Maple cap on the body.
For the Z-3 Model, Swamp Ash and Alder were the body woods used. Swamp Ash on all transparent finishes, Alder on all solid finishes. Please do post some photos of
your Z-3 (front and back views) and we should be able to identify the body wood type.

The frets G&L uses are Dunlop 6100 fretwire which is known as Medium Jumbo. As an option they offer Dunlop 6230 fretwire which is known Vintage.

If you can find a G&L dealer, perhaps while on a road trip or vacation, check out the Semi-hollow versions of the ASAT Classic and Z-3, which have Swamp Ash
chambered (2) bodies.

Welcome!

[mattus]

Hello Ken and Craig,

Thank you for the insight. I've posted photos in the Gallery under my name, Matt Reed (#101 I think). I'm not a real savvy computer guy so I'm not quite sure about posting the photos in here, but please do have a look and let me know your thoughts. Many thanks!

Matt

[Craig]

Hello Ken and Craig,

Thank you for the insight. I've posted photos in the Gallery under my name, Matt Reed (#101 I think). I'm not a real savvy computer guy so I'm not quite sure about posting the photos in here, but please do have a look and let me know your thoughts. Many thanks!

Matt

I fixed your images in the Gallery because they were way too big. We ask that the images should be no bigger than 800x600 or 600x800.
If you have more images to post in the Gallery, please email them to me with the Gallery Album name and will be happy to add them for you.

Now that you have your images in the Gallery, take a look at this tutorial post: Tutorial: Posting photos.

I'll post one of your photos here for you, so you can see how it's done (the code first, then the inline image):

Code: Select all

[img]http://www.guitarsbyleo.com/GALLERY2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=11515&g2_serialNumber=5[/img]

Sweet looking Z-3 (and I think the pickguard looks great with that finish)!

[KenC]

Matt,

That's a beautiful guitar you have. The only way to take a stab at the type of wood under that solid finish would be by taking the neck off and checking the grain or hardness in the pocket (basswood should be light enough to make an indentation with a fingernail).

The other possibility would be if Craig could check the production log for the serial number and see if the build ended up not matching the order.

Ken

[Craig]

Matt,

That's a beautiful guitar you have. The only way to take a stab at the type of wood under that solid finish would be by taking the neck off and checking the grain or hardness in the pocket (basswood should be light enough to make an indentation with a fingernail).

The other possibility would be if Craig could check the production log for the serial number and see if the build ended up not matching the order.

Ken

You don't need to remove the neck, you can remove the pickguard assembly and should be able to see the wood type in the bathtub route. There may also be
a tracking tag with some details of the body inside the route.

I am not an employee of G&L/BBE and I don't have access to the production logs. I can check with Dave McLaren and see if he will look it up next week.

[mattus]

Again, thank you both for the help (and Craig, thanks for the help with the photos). I guess at this point I'm not so much concerned about what wood I've got, because no matter what I still want to replace it with something lighter. I'm torn, because it's a beautiful instrument, but the fact is that I don't play it. So, I think I need to find a shop with a Classic and a Z3 that I can play a bit to determine which I want to order. Hopefully I can get a reasonable price for mine. I saw somewhere on the forum that there is a marketplace so I may check that out next.

Thanks!