NGD - 1994 G&L Legacy (3-bolt) [photos inside!]

[krugerj]

It's here!! It's a happy NGD to me, right in the middle of final exam season. Let me present, my 1994 USA G&L Legacy in 3-tone sunburst! 7.7 pounds, very skinny maple neck (not sure how I feel about that, but I knew what I was getting... un-rolled edges oddly), and Seymour Duncan SSL-2 pickups! It definitely needs a good cleaning and a set up, and I've ordered myself a trem arm from the G&L shopify website, as that was missing from the case. So far, pretty good for a sight-unseen eBay purchase! What do you guys think?

I paid $815 USD for it.

Also, you can see in the last photo, the 12th fret marker on the side of the neck looks skewed, is this normal for Legacys? My ASAT does not look like that.

Thanks!

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EDIT 04/26/2017 - opinions after a week:

Alright! Strap yourselves in for a long one.

So nearly a week later I can come back and actually talk about how the guitar is! I have played it over the past week, although with strings which have been on there since the 90s (the unwound strings were rusted through and even the wound strings had rust on them... the low E made barely any audible noise). Exams finished a couple days ago though, so yesterday morning I went through all the paces and did a full setup and gave the body and neck a thorough cleaning, strung with brand new EXL 110s. After I was done, I played it all day yesterday into the night and most of the day today, and WOW if the guitar surprised me before, it blew me away now that it was "healthy"!

This guitar continues to exceed all my expectations... I can honestly say that I have never played a guitar that feels like this one does. The neck feels like it was carved for my hands (although I will probably roll the edges a little bit one day), the thickness is perfect that I can fly around the fretboard without cramping my hand up, the weight is just perfect for a strap at 7.7 lbs, and the pickups sounds amazing. I will most likely replace the bridge pickup with something more beefy and with a more 60s-vibe as the SSL2 in the bridge position sounds rather thin, but it is by no means unpleasant sounding in the bridge. The neck pickup is to die for, though, it is so rich sounding!

There is a bit of a problem though... this guitar feels so good that I am starting to prefer it to my Bluesboy, which has been my favourite guitar since I've had it!!

This guitar feels how I always imagined a real pre-CBS Strat would feel and sound, I honestly feel like I have reached the epitome of S-style guitars!! There is so much personality to this guitar. Everything feels so well put together, and the neck seems even more secure with the 3 bolt design than any 4 bolt guitar I have ever played, and that is a lot of guitars!

I will play my first gig with this guitar next week, it's taking the place of my Bluesboy which, at 8.5 lbs starts to hurt the back after a while (but the weight is much worth the tone and feel!).

I am also struggling immensely to find a left handed wiring diagram for the PTB system, as is the issue with all left-handed guitars, the pots are right handed and function as on-off switches unfortunately. I have narrowed down which pots I need for the Volume and Treble tone (linear 250k and reverse audio taper 500k respectively), however I am still stumped on what to use for the Bass knob; the right handed models use standard 1meg reverse audio taper, and I am still unclear if I can just use a regular 1meg audio taper wired backwards... does anybody know if this is accurate?

Thanks for reading and have a great day!
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Pics:

[yowhatsshakin]

Gorgeous! Do you happen to know whether yours (still) the Seymour Duncan pups? Or does it have G&L's own CLF-100 pups?

- Jos

[krugerj]

Hi Jos, mine has got the Seymour Duncan pickups in it. At least according to the G&L support team, unless the previous owner changed the pickups (which I doubt, it doesn't look like it was played very much)!

[yowhatsshakin]

Hi Jos, mine has got the Seymour Duncan pickups in it. At least according to the G&L support team, unless the previous owner changed the pickups (which I doubt, it doesn't look like it was played very much)!

Cool! That nails it absolutely down as an early production model.

- Jos

[SouthPaw]

Lovely... Congrats... For me it is the imperfections that make something perfect, mine has a slightly mishapen bridge pickguard slot, i could get worked up about it or i can choose to love this unique feature. Enjoy it.

[SouthPaw]

So how is it going with the new guitar? Settlng in nicely i hope!

[y2kc]

I looked at a right hand version of that guitar this weekend up in Kenosha Wis. Sorry no pictures and I won't say where it was due to website rules.
There are some really nice Legacy's from the early days of production that I find very enjoyable. Your guitar is a beauty! A classic.

enjoy,

y2kc

[mutts]

Wow, it looks brand new. Beautiful. Congratulations, hopefully you're liking how it plays.

[krugerj]

Alright! Strap yourselves in for a long one.

So nearly a week later I can come back and actually talk about how the guitar is! I have played it over the past week, although with strings which have been on there since the 90s (the unwound strings were rusted through and even the wound strings had rust on them... the low E made barely any audible noise). Exams finished a couple days ago though, so yesterday morning I went through all the paces and did a full setup and gave the body and neck a thorough cleaning, strung with brand new EXL 110s. After I was done, I played it all day yesterday into the night and most of the day today, and WOW if the guitar surprised me before, it blew me away now that it was "healthy"!

This guitar continues to exceed all my expectations... I can honestly say that I have never played a guitar that feels like this one does. The neck feels like it was carved for my hands (although I will probably roll the edges a little bit one day), the thickness is perfect that I can fly around the fretboard without cramping my hand up, the weight is just perfect for a strap at 7.7 lbs, and the pickups sounds amazing. I will most likely replace the bridge pickup with something more beefy and with a more 60s-vibe as the SSL2 in the bridge position sounds rather thin, but it is by no means unpleasant sounding in the bridge. The neck pickup is to die for, though, it is so rich sounding!

There is a bit of a problem though... this guitar feels so good that I am starting to prefer it to my Bluesboy, which has been my favourite guitar since I've had it!!

This guitar feels how I always imagined a real pre-CBS Strat would feel and sound, I honestly feel like I have reached the epitome of S-style guitars!! There is so much personality to this guitar. Everything feels so well put together, and the neck seems even more secure with the 3 bolt design than any 4 bolt guitar I have ever played, and that is a lot of guitars!

I will play my first gig with this guitar next week, it's taking the place of my Bluesboy which, at 8.5 lbs starts to hurt the back after a while (but the weight is much worth the tone and feel!).

I am also struggling immensely to find a left handed wiring diagram for the PTB system, as is the issue with all left-handed guitars, the pots are right handed and function as on-off switches unfortunately. I have narrowed down which pots I need for the Volume and Treble tone (linear 250k and reverse audio taper 500k respectively), however I am still stumped on what to use for the Bass knob; the right handed models use standard 1meg reverse audio taper, and I am still unclear if I can just use a regular 1meg audio taper wired backwards... does anybody know if this is accurate?

Thanks for reading and have a great day!

[SouthPaw]

Very pleased for you indeed. I really like the mid 90s stuff (have both a Legacy and an ASAT special from mid 90s and they just keep getting better)
As a fellow lefty i hear your pain with the on/off volume and tone pots. I swapped my strat, legacy and an epi les paul out for cts reverse taper 250k pots a few years back (and plan on doing similar with my ASAT special and classic at some point when i find the time) it makes all the difference. But i opted for a standard strat wiring setup though with the 2nd tone control wired for the bridge pickup rather than the middle, being able to tame the highs just a little there does help.
I also swapped my pickups for a set of lindy fralin vintage hots with the baseplate on the bridge pickup which i think beefs it up a little as well
Im pretty sure there is a wiring diagram for the ptb on this site somewhere in the technical section (Craig or someone will be able to point you to it) think that should give you the pot values etc you need if you stay with the ptb setup.

Cheers
SouthPaw

Edit. Try this one.
http://www.glguitars.com/schematics/Leg ... iagram.pdf

[Craig]

For Legacy wiring diagrams and schematics, see our Galllery: Album: Legacy Diagrams.

Hope this helps.

[krugerj]

Thanks guys, I'll check it out. Although I'm still unsure as to whether a regular 1meg audio taper pot would work for the bass... the right handed wiring uses a REVERSE audio taper, so should I not just use the reverse (therefore a NON-reverse audio taper)??

[neutralomen]

That is one SHARP-ass tummy contour! Is it still that harsh or deep in modern legacies(ASAT special player here).

[krugerj]

It is sharp but extremely comfortable! When the factory moved to CNC, they changed the body contours to have a more Strat-like semblance (both the tummy-cut and the arm contour). So modern Legacy's are much more similar to F* spec contours! I honestly much prefer the older contours on the Legacy over my '62 reissue body shape!

[krugerj]

So... here we are over 4 years later. In the last 4 years, I've earned several more degrees, been through a couple careers, and have gone through almost a dozen other S-style guitars (including several F* Custom Shops, Suhrs, Andersons, etc.). And every single time I seem to come back to this 1994 Legacy. There is just something about it that I have not found in any other guitar. I also have a late 70s Greco SE, which has its own thing going for it, but this G&L just ticks all the boxes and has a "soul" to it. I had convinced myself that I wanted something "higher quality" (mostly from psyching myself by reading other comparison posts on the internet), or something with a nitro finish like the old ones were, and while I love that look and feel, nothing has felt as sturdy or has sounded as good as this Legacy, with the original Seymour Duncan pickups. I replaced the bridge pickup with an SSL6 for more output, but I never find myself wanting to change the neck or middle pickup, regardless of the other boutique expensive pickups I've played in other guitars. Just the perfect position 4 and 5 tone. Just thought I'd give a little long term update on this guitar, it's not going anywhere!!!

Cheers from Canada!

[Rule556]

Awesome. The one guitar that I really regret needing to sell was my '94 ASAT Special. Those early 90's guitars were special.

[umma_gumma]

Congratulations!

Beautiful. Almost a dead ringer for my '94 except mine has a rosewood fretboard. And it's a righty

I like the duncan pickups