Which G&L sounds the "Strattiest?

[Zippy]

Is Strattiest even a word?

Guys, I think I'm gonna buy another G&L to fill more true Strat sound need between my old Tele and my G&L Legacy Special. I'm thinking just a standard Legacy with the Alnico V's in her. I can always add a push pull pot if I wish as I do that every day. I don't mind an older one, in fact I would prefer it. I actually like the 3 bolt necks and have never had issues with them. I work on what seems like mostly Strats for a living and do not want one unless I fell into a vintage good deal.

How Stratty does the S-500 sound? I've heard clips but never in real life, even at the old G&L jams.(Man, those were fun).

Hey, what happened to the Fullerton? Did it go bye bye?

Finally, guys/girls in the custom shop. I gotta tell ya, that Phyllis guitar is the bomb!! Oh my, that pickguard with the matching tuning pegs just kills. Holy moly, you folks rock! I bet she was stoked when she saw that girl. I love it when you're not afraid of the color, but understand when you are due to the masses.

Have some fun today. I'm off to intonate this 70's Strat.....like that's possible.

[Fumble fingers]

to me , my 1996 S500 with brand new G & L S 500 pick up's in it , compared to my 2013 legacy alnico , the S 500 is darker and a tad more powerful than the Legacy but still similar like in the video clip of S 500 vs Legacy , but here lately I been really digging my Comanche with the new WR over wound bridge pup installed in the bridge ..... get one of each ..... I would still say the Legacy is more stratty

[Salmon]

People say that rolling off the bass on a Legacy gets it closer to a Strat but to my ears it sounds unmistakably Stratty in every setting. It can be subjective as you see people with actual Strats trying every pickup out there looking for something that has probably been in their hands most of the time if not the whole time. But my new S500 is Strat-like and more. It gets every bit of Strat tone plus it has the ability to be more powerful and prettier sounding IMO, and the MFDs are less noisy than regular single coils.

[Zippy]

Salmon, Fumble,

What Fumble said about rolling back the tone on the Legacy. I set up my guitar so that most all tone comes from the control knobs, attack, and amp settings. Owning an old Tele, habitually I reach for the back knob the moment that switch gets smacked back, so bridge roll off is no problem for me if that is the pup to which you are referring.

What Salmon mentions about the S-500 is the main quandary with the MFD's. I'm just so old school that leaving the Alnico single coils is difficult for some reason. Ceramic magnets seem foreign to me, even though I understand them in theory. Are the S-500's crazy bright?

Thanks kids and have some fun today

[Salmon]

My S500 is not bright. I have read of others being bright to their owners. Yet this is what I find in my ASAT Special. Mine is bright where other people say theirs is the ideal showcase for the G&L MFD tone. I don't believe this is simply personal preference. My Special is bright to ice pick. My S500 is useable with most settings but my Special is only useable in less than maybe 15%. You would need to try the specific guitar that catches your attention before buying it. I have no idea why some are so different but this is definitely not attributable to subjectivity. All are not equal.

[Fumble fingers]

my S500 isn't bright either , or not as bright as my Legacy anyway ...... Salmon ,I wonder if your ASAT special has bad pu ??... my SC2 is not bright like my Legacy and I think the SC2 are the same pu as your Special

[Zippy]

Salmon,

I've played lot's of ASAT's including my ASAT Super. Also, I know ice pick from my old Tele. I get a tickle at/with the local music kids who come here with questions of tone and "getting lost in the mix". I hand them my old Tele and let them play that Now let's see if who's lost in the mix.

Think I'm just gonna bide my time and find an older standard Legacy. I don't care about the paint job, rosewood or maple neck, or if it has the proper papers. I just want it in a case with the whammy bar and no mods. I want a comfortable everyday player. I think that will work.

Thanks for the input fellows.

Zippy

[Salmon]

Fumble Fingers,

Both pickups are similarly bright in their respective positions. The amount that I have to restrain them does seem odd. I only played one other Special before I acquired this, which I did without playing it first, so I was not looking carefully to compare. That one did not jump out at me as bright. I was noticing more about how it compared to Z-coils on another guitar at the time. So, maybe it is just my ignorance/inexperience with large MFDs. They just seem to be too far from the ASAT Classics I have played and my S500 MFDs to be typical of large MFDs, IMO.

[Elwood]

For me , it's definitely the late 80's SC-3's.

[suave eddie]

Fumble Fingers,

Both pickups are similarly bright in their respective positions. The amount that I have to restrain them does seem odd. I only played one other Special before I acquired this, which I did without playing it first, so I was not looking carefully to compare. That one did not jump out at me as bright. I was noticing more about how it compared to Z-coils on another guitar at the time. So, maybe it is just my ignorance/inexperience with large MFDs. They just seem to be too far from the ASAT Classics I have played and my S500 MFDs to be typical of large MFDs, IMO.

Like I said earlier, in my experience the ASAT Classic is brighter than the ASAT Special--I have a feeling something is off with your guitar.

[suave eddie]

Back to the original question -- Which is the "Strattiest"?-- For whatever it's worth, I'm not a Strat player--never been able to bond with them although I hear many people make them sound great. When I was shopping for my ASAT Classic, there was a Legacy in the shop with a different neck profile than the one on the ASAT Classic in stock, so I played it quite a bit just to compare necks. What I did find was that I thought that it really captured (to my ears) the classic Strat sound--if I had been in the market for a Strat type guitar I would have bought it.

[Craig]

Is Strattiest even a word?

Guys, I think I'm gonna buy another G&L to fill more true Strat sound need between my old Tele and my G&L Legacy Special. I'm thinking just a standard Legacy with the Alnico V's in her. I can always add a push pull pot if I wish as I do that every day. I don't mind an older one, in fact I would prefer it. I actually like the 3 bolt necks and have never had issues with them. I work on what seems like mostly Strats for a living and do not want one unless I fell into a vintage good deal.

How Stratty does the S-500 sound? I've heard clips but never in real life, even at the old G&L jams.(Man, those were fun).

Hey, what happened to the Fullerton? Did it go bye bye?

Finally, guys/girls in the custom shop. I gotta tell ya, that Phyllis guitar is the bomb!! Oh my, that pickguard with the matching tuning pegs just kills. Holy moly, you folks rock! I bet she was stoked when she saw that girl. I love it when you're not afraid of the color, but understand when you are due to the masses.

Have some fun today. I'm off to intonate this 70's Strat.....like that's possible.

I suggest finding a used George Fullerton Signature model. It was produced from 1995 - 2007.
See this link in the G&L Knowledgebase: GF models.

[Zippy]

Craig,

That's why I asked about the Fullerton in my post. It disappeared while I was out of guitar land. I liked that guitar.

My momma told me, you better shop around.

Zippy

[crfowler]

Yes - the Fullerton is a fantastic strat type. Absolutely love mine.

[Lazer]

What is really a "stratty" tone? I have a 2004 Mahogany S-500. It can not do "Gilmorish" or "Knopflerish" tones.
But it does decent "SRV" tones, and a whole lot of more stuff. It is definately "warmer, darker and fatter" than the average
strat, but it doesn't have a lot of "sparkle".

Cgeers
L-zr

[Zippy]

Lazer, I guess you're right as there are a lot of Strat tones. I would have never thought Eric Johnson's tone came from a vintage Strat in a million years.

I just talking the classic Strat tone. Buddy Holly right through SRV. You know, bright in the back, warm in the front, and quacky in the middle.

Zippy

[helle-man]

Funny, but to me everyone here has a different version of the classic "Strat" sound. Over the years Fender must have made literally hundreds of different strat-style models.

So even trying to define a typical Fender Strat sound is nearly impossible. Is it the Buddy Holly sound? Jeff Beck? Hendrix? SRV? Eric Clapton? Mark Knopfler?

They all used different strats from different years, sometimes with modified pickups. All had very different tones. But all are considered "strat players".

But for me, a nice S-500 would do the trick just fine.

My 2¢
Will

[Lacking Talent]

Have never yet tried a Legacy, but this S-500 that I used to own was as Stratty as any Strat I'd heard.

[Miles Smiles]

The Legacy IS the Strat!

[KenC]

Since we're heading back to the Leo era now, I'll chime in. The closest G&L to the SRV sound IME is an early S-500 with the square-end pickups. The G&Ls I've played with a Skyhawk pickup (the design that's used in modern S-500s) all have the shimmery Strat tone with very snarky in-between positions (those are the technical terms, IIRC . Those guitars were an '82 SC-3, '83 Nighthawk, and mid-'80s Skyhawk. I'm not sure how that pickup design evolved since 1985, or whether it bears any resemblance today to the originals.

I'm not sure whether body wood plays a big role, but my S-500 is mahogany and the others are all maple. The S-500 and Nighthawk are both black, so at least they can be compared directly.

Ken

[otis66]

G&L legacy is the Stratiest Strat you can get. A G&L Legacy is Strater than a Fender Stratocaster. For a noiseless Strat Comanche is the Stratiest of them all.

[jwebsmall]

Salmon,

I've played lot's of ASAT's including my ASAT Super. Also, I know ice pick from my old Tele. I get a tickle at/with the local music kids who come here with questions of tone and "getting lost in the mix". I hand them my old Tele and let them play that Now let's see if who's lost in the mix.

Think I'm just gonna bide my time and find an older standard Legacy. I don't care about the paint job, rosewood or maple neck, or if it has the proper papers. I just want it in a case with the whammy bar and no mods. I want a comfortable everyday player. I think that will work.

Thanks for the input fellows.

Zippy

I found a 1999 Legacy at GC a week ago and as soon as I plugged it in I was sold.