G&L ASAT Classic Rustic - time for new pickups?

[jammers5]

Hi all:

I have a G&L ASAT Classic Rustic which I love. When I bought it I was playing mostly classic rock, but now I am playing mostly country - the kind of stuff that needs TWANG. You can say a lot about G&L MFD pickups but on thing they are not is TWANG monsters. The guitar is so nice I want to use it more with my country band, it's super light, and the neck is to die for. Hands down best built guitar I own, just need make it sound different than it does now!

I am toying with the ideal of dropping some Alnico pickups in there - has anyone else done this on their G&L ASAT? Any pickup recommendations for the sound I am after? Can anyone tell me how the G&L Alnico5's fare?

TIA

J5

[helle-man]

I guess I'm weird, but to me the word "twang" conjures up an ASAT Classic more than any other model.

Personally, I would leave the Rustic intact and either sell it or keep it for a later time when you might appreciate it more. That happens a lot with players here, myself included.

If you swap out pickups, make sure you keep the original ones in the case, otherwise you'll never get the best price reselling it down the road.

Maybe an ASAT Special would suit you better?

My 2¢

Will

[jammers5]

I guess I'm weird, but to me the word "twang" conjures up an ASAT Classic more than any other model.

Personally, I would leave the Rustic intact and either sell it or keep it for a later time when you might appreciate it more. That happens a lot with players here, myself included.

If you swap out pickups, make sure you keep the original ones in the case, otherwise you'll never get the best price reselling it down the road.

Maybe an ASAT Special would suit you better?

My 2¢

Will

Hi will thanks for the advice. i would most definitely keep the original pups in the case. Not concerned about resale as I will never sell this guitar!

Unfortunately there are no G&L dealers on the island I live on to check out a different G&L model, plus it would be far cheaper to buy a set of pickups for this guitar which I love dearly.

Cheers,

J5

[fianoman]

Wow. I guess twang is in the ear of the beholder...

I recently got my first ASAT, a trib special with mahogany body, and to my ears it is super twang. Maybe try it with a different amp or tube type? Seems to me you should be getting plenty. Maybe a little compression on the front end? Play with the EQ a bit and see if that helps. Certainly easier than swapping pups.

My guess is the alnicos would be a tad warmer, right?

Another 2 cents for you. Almost up to a nickel!

[suave eddie]

I frequently go to a local jam. One of the hosts has a Fender American Standard Tele.
He remarked recently to me that he thought my ASAT Classic sounded more like a Telecaster than his.

How much have you experimented with your volume and tone controls?

[SamIV]

Have you ever considered it might be you. I play mainly classic rock and for the life of me can't get much twang out just my style of playing. I played country for a while, and coaxed a little country out of myself playing old standards, but was much better at the rock thing. No matter what guitar I play, I sound like myself and I ain't twangin'.

[jammers5]

Wow. I guess twang is in the ear of the beholder...

I recently got my first ASAT, a trib special with mahogany body, and to my ears it is super twang. Maybe try it with a different amp or tube type? Seems to me you should be getting plenty. Maybe a little compression on the front end? Play with the EQ a bit and see if that helps. Certainly easier than swapping pups.

My guess is the alnicos would be a tad warmer, right?

Another 2 cents for you. Almost up to a nickel!

Wait - are you guys saying MFD's are supposed to have a twang tone to them??? If so there is something wrong with my pickups. I have a MIJ Paisley that does the country thing with ease. It's not me, although my "sound" does require some effort for twang. I have many Tele guitars and the G&L is the least twangy of them all.

I use a Deluxe Reverb mostly for country, sometimes a Dr. Z Z Wreck. My compressor is a Fargen Tumbleweed - same one Pete Anderson uses. I also have a Keeley 2 knob. For mild overdrive I have a Wampler Paisley.

Dunno guys, I gotta research this some more, but the variable is always the guitar. And the G&L MFD's don't seem to cut it for me.

J5

[jammers5]

I frequently go to a local jam. One of the hosts has a Fender American Standard Tele.
He remarked recently to me that he thought my ASAT Classic sounded more like a Telecaster than his.

How much have you experimented with your volume and tone controls?

Am wondering if it may be the height of my pickups? I have done lots of experimenting with volume - tone controls?

Any pickup height suggestions?

J5

[blargfromouterspace]

I agree with you J5, there are better pickups for twang than the MFDs. My favourite pickups are a keystone or Seymour Duncan JD bridge and a fender American vintage neck, but there are hundreds of others to choose front

[jammers5]

I agree with you J5, there are better pickups for twang than the MFDs. My favourite pickups are a keystone or Seymour Duncan JD bridge and a fender American vintage neck, but there are hundreds of others to choose front

thank god I thought i was losing my mind. I spent an hour or so trying to coax the sound I wanted out of the guitar by twisting knobs, to no avail. The MDF's are too smooth and hot for twang to my ear. I think I need a lower powered pickup for what I want. Gonna check out the Seymour Duncan JD bridge you mentioned. thanks blarg!

J5

[KenC]

I'm on my second ASAT Classic now (both mid-to-late '90s production), and my impression of both was that they were very non-twangy. Last Friday night I was jamming with a friend, who asked to try my ASAT Classic. I was thumping away on bass on a lot of early country, rock-n-roll and rockabilly. I could not believe how bright the ASAT Classic sounded in his hands through my Blues Junior. It completely changed my opinion of how that guitar can sound. It had every bit of twang that the music called for. Which reminds me that I still need to check the settings he dialed in on the guitar and amp...

Ken

[suave eddie]

The MFDs are never going to sound exactly like traditional Tele style Alnicos. I'm not going to try to change your mind if you want to swap them out.

But....check out the sound clips from the G&L site
http://www.glguitars.com/audioclips/index2.asp

They can twang with the best of them.

There are so many Tele style pickups to choose from the mind boggles.
I don't think you can go wrong with the Fender Nocaster set.
You might even think about the G&L Paul Gagon designed Alnicos.

[jeffmarshall67]

play with the polepieces. No one ever seems to but for me a G&L needs polepiece adjustment more than any other brand. You'd be surprised how much twang you can get after adjusting the pickups then playing with the individual polepieces.

[fianoman]

This is a post in which Nick Horne describes his method for adjusting pole pieces. Maybe it will help a bit.

http://guitarsbyleo.com/FORUM/viewtopic ... ilit=poles

So much nuance comes from how you pick and where you pick too. Some of us (I am certainly in there) need to work much harder at getting that snap and twang than other pickers do.

Let us know what ends up being the fix for you!

[jammers5]

play with the polepieces. No one ever seems to but for me a G&L needs polepiece adjustment more than any other brand. You'd be surprised how much twang you can get after adjusting the pickups then playing with the individual polepieces.

Yes I would like to play with pickup height - I am assuming I will want the pickups LOWERED to compensate for the "Hotter" pickups that they are, and then adjust each individual pole piece for balance across the strings?

J5

[Craig]

play with the polepieces. No one ever seems to but for me a G&L needs polepiece adjustment more than any other brand. You'd be surprised how much twang you can get after adjusting the pickups then playing with the individual polepieces.

Yes I would like to play with pickup height - I am assuming I will want the pickups LOWERED to compensate for the "Hotter" pickups that they are, and then adjust each individual pole piece for balance across the strings?

J5

We have several posts in the G&L Knowledgebase, G&L Tech Tips sub-forum, which discuss pickup height adjustments.
Check them out along with other applicable posts there, too.

Hope this helps.

[jammers5]

Thanks everyone. I am going to work on adjusting the pole pieces. In the meantime I have the guitar with me for a gig tonight just to hear how it does .

Cheers

J5

[jammers5]

Just wanted to pipe in with an update....I gigged with the Classic Rustic, and was very happy with the sound. I was using a Paisley Drive with just a little gain, a Fargen Tumbleweed compressor, a carbon copy delay.and a Holy Grail Nano Reverb, all into a Dr Z Z Wreck. At the higher volume I could get some twang, albeit a fuller sound. It seems the MFD's have an enhanced midrange and a warmer bottom end which explains why it is harder to coax out the sound at lower volumes, where the high end is muted a little..

So louder is the answer so I will continue to gig the guitar and continue to experiment. I am pretty confident I can get the sound a little closer with a little tinkering. The guitar felt so good in my hands that the Strat I brought never saw action all night! Oh well.

J5