NGD 92 purple sparkle Climax

[jeffmarshall67]

Found an awesome '92 Climax XL today, after begging for a month to get it. It's a fantastic guitar, with not a ding on it and just a time capsule. Even the black hardware is unchipped and shiny. I've been on a Climax roll lately and don't intend to stop! This is the second G&L I have with this sparkle purple and I think it's my favorite G&L color. I will put up a picture of the neck markings, anyone know what "George Music" is? Or "1105"? I have a blue Climax that has a marking that says "Bill Richards" that I'm told was a rep, and it's not far off serial # wise.

[HowlinWolf]

That Climax guitar certainly looks the part, hopefully it plays and sounds just as good as it looks. Could you please write a bit about its specifications? Especially the nut width, fretboard radius, and the pickups. Thanks!

[Fumble fingers]

what a beauty !! ..... I like purple too , almost ordered purple on my SC2 and Legacy ..... great guitar ... how different is the Invader from the Climax ?? ..... you don't see many Climax's for sale , great score !!

[Craig]

what a beauty !! ..... I like purple too , almost ordered purple on my SC2 and Legacy ..... great guitar ... how different is the Invader from the Climax ?? ..... you don't see many Climax's for sale , great score !!

Use keyword "Climax" in Search and you will find the info we have here.

Hope this helps.

[jeffmarshall67]

This is Gabe's old write up on the climax series, I'll just cut and paste it here. He pretty much nails it:

Here's a little info from an old post that may interest you climax lovers

: Pickup type/characteristics
Either private label (No markings) Seymour Duncan’s wound to Duncan Distortion spec’s or Gotoh Japan made humbuckers. If you like the Duncan distortion…then you’ll like them. The pole spacing isn’t correct so the strings will never line up with the poles…no big deal…but thought I’d point that out.

The single coil is a piece of crap. It is a plastic bobbin, alnico slug-pole machine wound jobbie most probably produced by Gotoh as injection molded bobbins are identical to what I’ve found on other Gotoh single coils of that vintage.

The real problem with the Climax is the control circuit. The volume and tone pots are 1 mega ohm audio taper making humbuckers overly bright and the single coil unlistenable. Swap in a pair of 500K audio taper pots and you’ll hear a dramatic improvement overall. Also, the combined humbucker/single coil sounds are exactly that…the entire humbucker combined in parallel with the single coil…not very useful. You wire it so that the positions #2 & #4 use only one coil of each humbucker so you get a decent faux Strat “tweener” tone.

: Floyd Rose make/quality (Schaller?)

It is made by Gotoh, Japan. It is actually higher quality than the Schaller built Floyd’s. it sports a very nice billet brass sustain block. This is one of the nicest Floyd Rose type bridges ever produced. One problem with all Climax guitars is that the nut is an R-2 which is too narrow for the #3 & #4 they are typically bolted to. You’ll notice a very obvious gap up where the nut attaches to the neck. Kind of strange but easily fixed by swapping in a 1.75” wide Floyd Rose nut (R-6).

: Neck characteristics (fret size, finish type, shape/thickness)
The Climax series was inspired by the Jackson/Charvel instruments built years earlier in So-Cal by Grover Jackson. The nut width is generally 1.75” though I’ve seen a few with factory 1.625” nut widths and the radius is 12”. Basically, either a #1 or #3 G&L neck though the back profile is unique. The profile is almost a cross between a “D” and a “U” though certainly slim and fast. I guess this was G&L’s shot at the wide skinny neck. Personally, I love the profile…very comfortable to my hand. I’ve seen them finished in either Satin or Gloss poly…no rhyme or reason as to which got what.

The coolest feature of the Climax is the sculpted heel region…it really makes for a skinny neck joint region making playing up high much more comfortable. One problem with this is the reality that less wood here translates into less strength in the neck pocket region so you will often find small cracks in the joint. Not a huge deal but don’t be alarmed if you see cracks in the finish (which mean there are cracks beneath the finish in the wood). The neck joint is plenty strong…just prone to cracks.

Body wood varies…with a transparent finish they are generally ash though I’ve seen a few with maple bodies. With a solid finish they are almost always made from alder. The body shape is very obviously influenced by the 1984 neck-through Jackson Soloist or the later “Dinky” bolt-on version.

The neck is affixed with the same excellent 3-bolt, precision-tilt dealie George Fullerton was awarded a patent for back in 1970 when he worked for Ernie-Ball/Earthwood. It is the same attachment method used from 1980 to around 1997 by Music Man and G&L. Tuners are Schaller M-6 in black with a G&L logo on the housing cover. The 5-way switch is a top-quality, 2-pole CRL piece. Knobs are knurled dome jobbies in black.

Case is your basic early BBE era injection molded plastic SKB style. These aren’t the most durable cases in the world but that’s what they originally came with. If the latches have failed…no big deal, these guitars fit into just about every Strat/Superstrat case ever produced

[Salmon]

This is a beautiful guitar. The purple suits a Climax. I'd probably have something representing the full spectrum of a color wheel if I could have all of the guitars I wanted.

[jeffmarshall67]

maybe they'll bring this color back someday, I had a green metallic ASAT that was just as cool (with the very fine sparkle).

[Craig]

maybe they'll bring this color back someday, I had a green metallic ASAT that was just as cool (with the very fine sparkle).

They do have Royal Purple Metallic.
This came out in 2010.

[jeffmarshall67]

the royal is much more in your face, and is a great color. Not as subtle but a great choice nowadays

[HowlinWolf]

So a modern day Invader XL in royal purple metallic would be quite similar to this Climax I reckon...

[HowlinWolf]

In terms of appearance that is... specs might have small differences.

[jeffmarshall67]

And price!

[Craig]

So a modern day Invader XL in royal purple metallic would be quite similar to this Climax I reckon...

Here's a couple of big differences on the Climax:

[jeffmarshall67]

Funny Craig! That's one of my other Climaxes!

[Craig]

Funny Craig! That's one of my other Climaxes!

Yes, I know. Just wanted to show HowlinWolf the body and neck difference between the Climax and the current Invader.

[jeffmarshall67]

I love the scalloped area around the neck pocket on these, and the necks are all real comfortable to my hands at least

[HowlinWolf]

Thanks Craig for the lesson, I shouldn't have said small differences I should have just said that there probably were differences in specs between the two models. But you get my point, a modern day Invader XL is the offspring of the Climax XL - and from the front, an Invader XL in royal purple metallic might look pretty similar to this absolutely beautiful Climax XL.