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 recently received a custom order ASAT Special and I was baffled and disappointed by both the difference in the color of the actual guitar from the sample instrument on the G&L site and the lack of flash to the flake finish. I had always seen really really flashy flake finishes from G&L but what showed up for me was rather muted and even in bright sunlight doesn't really reflect much back at you. So its a two-fold surprise that I definitely wasn't expecting.
Colorwise I was expecting this as seen on the G&L site:
But what showed up is this:
Is this common or just a random fluke? Some color variation is to be expected but I definitely wasn't expecting a green guitar when the photo on the web site is definitely blue. And it seems like the flake photos G&L has been posting on facebook have been much clearer and more sparkly compared to this kind of muted level of sparkle. But that could also be fluorescent lighting in the shop. Either way, the other metalflake guitars I have had in the past have been much more flashy and I was kind of bummed to see this one didn't have much life to it. Has anyone else noticed anything similar?
Aside from the finish the guitar is great. Pickups sound fantastic and the neck/fretwork are excellent. Just bummed that the finish wasn't what I expected.
As Darwin and Eric said, you were shipped an ASAT Special which has Green Metal Flake finish, not Turquoise Metal Flake which you ordered.
What does the Custom Build Specification Sheet say the body finish is? Look in the packet in the case for the CBSS along with the Certificate of Authenticity.
Does the serial number on the sheets match the guitar's SN?
Do all the features of this guitar match what you ordered (excepting the body finish, of course)?
Contact the selling G&L dealer and let them know what you received vs. what you ordered. They should take care of it,
to make it correct for you.
The guitar is definitely the one I ordered. Everything else is absolutely correct down to the face dot and model logo deletes.
Maybe the paint got mixed darker and greener than it would otherwise be or something? I was just expecting a bright sky blue like the sample pic. Or actually I was first enticed by this pic of a turquoise flake Will Ray sig which is way way brighter and lighter than the guitar I received. Either way I never imagined the "photos cannot do this finish justice" angle would go the direction it did with my guitar.
If the build sheet states that it's turquoise, that means that someone took the decision to ship out your green guitar regardless, and needs a knuckle-rap that hurts enough to ensure they won't do it twice. NOT O.K!
Otherwise, as others have said, it's lovely....
Or actually I was first enticed by this pic of a turquoise flake Will Ray sig which is way way brighter and lighter than the guitar I received.
Just for the record, I had a tough time getting G&L to do a true turquoise color. The closest they had was Belaire Green which had too much green for me. In fact, I had to track down G&L's paint supplier and send them actual turquoise color samples. They matched them, gave me a paint number to use and I had G&L order that exact color.
Then when I wanted a turquoise sparkle finish, G&L balked at that at first so I sent some bodies to Mac Whiteside in Austin to do. The one pictured above is done by Mac I believe, because you can see where Mac always painted the inside of the F holes black (which I really like), which G&L does not do.
Eventually G&L was able to do a true turquoise sparkle. Hope that clarifies things.
WR
Eventually G&L was able to make me a few turquoise WR models.
Or actually I was first enticed by this pic of a turquoise flake Will Ray sig which is way way brighter and lighter than the guitar I received.
Just for the record, I had a tough time getting G&L to do a true turquoise color. The closest they had was Belaire Green which had too much green for me. In fact, I had to track down G&L's paint supplier and send them actual turquoise color samples. They matched them, gave me a paint number to use and I had G&L order that exact color.
Then when I wanted a turquoise sparkle finish, G&L balked at that at first so I sent some bodies to Mac Whiteside in Austin to do. The one pictured above is done by Mac I believe, because you can see where Mac always painted the inside of the F holes black (which I really like), which G&L does not do.
Eventually G&L was able to do a true turquoise sparkle. Hope that clarifies things.
WR
Eventually G&L was able to make me a few turquoise WR models.
OK that clears up part of the misunderstanding. The finish I was looking at and hoping for was never a G&L finish in the first place.
I emailed the dealer so I'll see what they say. The color I got is still way different than what they show on the web site even when you allow for some different lighting.
Craig wrote:What color finish does the Custom Build Specification sheet say it is?
And does the serial number on the sheet match the serial number on the guitar?
The build sheet says turquoise metalflake and the serial number matches.
Craig wrote:What color finish does the Custom Build Specification sheet say it is?
And does the serial number on the sheet match the serial number on the guitar?
The build sheet says turquoise metalflake and the serial number matches.
Okay, thanks. Seems that this should have been noticed at the factory AND at the dealer before it was shipped to you.
Hopefully, the dealer and factory will resolve this to your complete satisfaction, quickly.
Do keep us informed.
Craig wrote:What color finish does the Custom Build Specification sheet say it is?
And does the serial number on the sheet match the serial number on the guitar?
The build sheet says turquoise metalflake and the serial number matches.
Okay, thanks. Seems that this should have been noticed at the factory AND at the dealer before it was shipped to you.
Hopefully, the dealer and factory will resolve this to your complete satisfaction, quickly.
Do keep us informed.
I'm crossing my fingers but Ill be a little surprised if anything actually happens.
Craig wrote:What color finish does the Custom Build Specification sheet say it is?
And does the serial number on the sheet match the serial number on the guitar?
The build sheet says turquoise metalflake and the serial number matches.
Okay, thanks. Seems that this should have been noticed at the factory AND at the dealer before it was shipped to you.
Hopefully, the dealer and factory will resolve this to your complete satisfaction, quickly.
Do keep us informed.
I'm crossing my fingers but Ill be a little surprised if anything actually happens.
Please send me a photo of the Custom Build Specification sheet and a photo of the guitar in natural light (outside on a sunny day). I will forward your photos to one
of my contacts at G&L to see what he thinks and what they can do about it.
Craig wrote:What color finish does the Custom Build Specification sheet say it is?
And does the serial number on the sheet match the serial number on the guitar?
The build sheet says turquoise metalflake and the serial number matches.
Okay, thanks. Seems that this should have been noticed at the factory AND at the dealer before it was shipped to you.
Hopefully, the dealer and factory will resolve this to your complete satisfaction, quickly.
Do keep us informed.
I'm crossing my fingers but Ill be a little surprised if anything actually happens.
Please send me a photo of the Custom Build Specification sheet and a photo of the guitar in natural light (outside on a sunny day). I will forward your photos to one
of my contacts at G&L to see what he thinks and what they can do about it.
The more I look around at current/recent examples of this finish from dealers the more it looks like this is the current hue for turquoise flake. They probably didn't paint my guitar the wrong color, the color has just drifted a bit from the example on the web site or there was lighting/editing on that image that made it look more blue than it really is.
Craig wrote:What color finish does the Custom Build Specification sheet say it is?
And does the serial number on the sheet match the serial number on the guitar?
The build sheet says turquoise metalflake and the serial number matches.
Okay, thanks. Seems that this should have been noticed at the factory AND at the dealer before it was shipped to you.
Hopefully, the dealer and factory will resolve this to your complete satisfaction, quickly.
Do keep us informed.
I'm crossing my fingers but Ill be a little surprised if anything actually happens.
Please send me a photo of the Custom Build Specification sheet and a photo of the guitar in natural light (outside on a sunny day). I will forward your photos to one
of my contacts at G&L to see what he thinks and what they can do about it.
Photo in sunlight
Build sheet
I sent the link to this post to Dave McLaren (President of G&L) and asked him what color he thought the guitar was. Here's his reply:
That certainly looks like green metal flake. I'd say wires got crossed somehow and the dealer can get it sorted for the customer. Thanks, Craig.
Looks like this is just what Turquoise Flake is at this point. Maybe it was more blue before. Maybe it has always looked like this and the photos on the web site were never really accurate. Either way the dealer didn't seem interested in going out of their way to address the issue. Annoying.
MaryKelly wrote:Looks like this is just what Turquoise Flake is at this point. Maybe it was more blue before. Maybe it has always looked like this and the photos on the web site were never really accurate. Either way the dealer didn't seem interested in going out of their way to address the issue. Annoying.
Well, let the dealer know that Dave McLaren has seen your photos and agrees that it was painted Green Metal Flake, not Turquoise Metal Flake. The dealer should get it returned to the
factory and have another body painted the correct color you ordered. Like I said in my previous post, show them the post with Dave's comments. BTW, which G&L Dealer did you get it
from? Don't be annoyed, be persistent. Just trying to help you get what you ordered.
MaryKelly wrote:Looks like this is just what Turquoise Flake is at this point. Maybe it was more blue before. Maybe it has always looked like this and the photos on the web site were never really accurate. Either way the dealer didn't seem interested in going out of their way to address the issue. Annoying.
Well, let the dealer know that Dave McLaren has seen your photos and agrees that it was painted Green Metal Flake, not Turquoise Metal Flake. The dealer should get it returned to the
factory and have another body painted the correct color you ordered. Like I said in my previous post, show them the post with Dave's comments. BTW, which G&L Dealer did you get it
from? Don't be annoyed, be persistent. Just trying to help you get what you ordered.
I linked the dealer (Music Store Live) to this thread and mentioned that Dave McLaren thought it was the wrong color but that didn't seem to phase them. They asked what was on the build sheet and that seemed to be all that mattered to them before saying they couldn't take a return on a custom guitar (which I didn't ask for).
Sounds like MSL are just hoping to blank you into going away, i.e. trying to bully you into giving them an easy day.
As Craig wrote, stay calm and polite, but don't give up. Bullying, lying and general bad behaviour like this is getting more common. Don't just be mugged!
I think G&L should take this back and make good on creating the correct color. I have had G&L make me turquoise sparkle finish guitars that looked turquoise, so I know they're capable of making them.
Chatted with Rob at G&L a bit today. He had a look at an in-stock guitar in Turquoise Metalflake and it was also significantly more green than the photo on the web site. So FYI, this is what Turquoise Metalflake actually looks like currently. They didn't spray the wrong color. The color has just changed since the photo on the web site was taken.
All the photos I have been taken have been with an iPhone 6. However, everything I have posted has been in natural light and every reference photo was almost certainly taken under fluorescent light. And that's what makes the huge difference. Here is a photo I took of my guitar under fluorescent light in my rehearsal space last week:
Looks a lot more blue and much closer to the color on the web site. That bass in the photo from the factory looks like the website photo. But take that bass outside or pull it out of the case in your living room and it wont look anything like that.
Edit: Also, now that I look at those basses with the fake binding it kind of makes sense why this guitar isn't particularly flashy. Looks like G&L sprays all flake guitars with silver flake and then shoots tinted clear over the silver flake which filters light out and makes the finish less sparkly. Every other flake guitar I have ever had was colored flakes over black or matching color basecoat covered in layers of clear. So maybe just silver flake looks really crazy but the layers of green/blue tinted clear over this guitar flattened the effect.
And a second edit: That bass is going to be a much lighter blue color because they probably had to spray a lot of clear over the guitar to bury the flake for the binding areas and then probably sprayed fewer coats of the blue tint than my guitar has. In other words, given maybe 10 coats of clearcoat for any flake guitar, that one is probably 25% tinted clear and my guitar may be 100% tinted clear. But honestly I have no idea what G&Ls process is.
Here's another example of a turquoise flake from 2018. These will vary a lot in a different light conditions but it does look to me like yours is very green. I will say that all of the examples look greener than the websites example which looks pretty blue. I can speak from experience because I have had several issues with defective gnl products, and while it has been an enormous headache at some points, G&L has always made it right. I recently got it ASAP Bass that was very expensive. They dropped it off of a pallet and damaged it and then they had to make it again before even sending it to me, and then the second one they sent me had a defective neck and they had to remake the neck and they forgot to install the four conductor single coil option pickups. After about three months of waiting, they finally delivered and I finally got the base that I ordered. Besides the time cost, they were really great to work with and they really seem to care about their customers so if your dealer is being a jerk, try going to another Gmail dealer and just seeing if you can talk to somebody on the phone or even reach out to them on Facebook. They communicate very well
