Neck #1
In 2006, I had a baby clue ASAT special deluxe custom made. It was my first "real" guitar.
8 months later, and it arrived. On the outset, I was very excited. So excited, I tried to let slide the fact that the neck profile was all wrong. Granted, I didn't know much about neck profiles at the time, and I told them I wanted a "thin neck," like a modern strat. I don't think they even offered a neck like that in 2006. They advised me to go for one of the options on their table, so I did.
The neck I received was a humungous baseball bat with a massive taper. I know some of you guys love a neck like that, but I felt like I needed to be a gorilla to play it.
That setback aside, I was still reasonably happy with it.
Shortly after my purchase, however, I started to realize fundamental problems with the neck. I took it in for a setup because there was also really bad action, despite having good measurements on the saddle and bridge. The luthier told me that he tried to tighten the truss rod, but it was cranked to hell, and there was still too much relief.
Apparently, I was one of very few customers to receive a bum neck. Needless to say, it was a major let down.
This is where things took a turn for the better. I would have accepted a replacement neck, but G&L was nice enough to just make me a new guitar from scratch. I didn't ask for anything of the kind, so it was very gracious of them to offer. I took this as an opportunity to correct the neck profile while I was at it. This was around 2007 or 2008. I got on the phone with them at my dealer, and specified "your neck profile chart is a bit confusing. I want the thinnest neck you have. Like a 'modern c' you'd see on a strat."
The guy responded as though he understood, and a few months later, the new instrument arrived.
(side note: apparently, my original was repaired and resold by G&L, because someone else completely unrelated to the situation released a post about it. It was such a trip to see my original baby in someone else's hands. I'm happy it found a good home, and apparently it was salvageable for G&L, so that's awesome! You can see the original here. http://www.guitarsbyleo.com/FORUM/viewt ... =36&t=5192 )
Neck #2
The new ASAT Special Deluxe arrived, this time with G&L's "thinnest" neck. Unfortunately, the guy thought that by "thin" I meant width at nut. I'm not sure the neck profile, but what I got was a really, really narrow nut, that...again...tapered into an enormous baseball bat at the 12th fret. I was still ready to just accept my fate and learn to love this neck profile...but this time, the strings were catching under the frets of the high e! It was a bad fre job, presumably because of the binding.
This time, instead of sending it back again, my dealer was nice enough to pay for a re-fret. The second neck was hand-refretted from scratch. Finally, I had a playable, albeit beefy neck.
The quest for high gain
After that, the guitar served me well for a good number of years. However, the MFD ASAT special pups lacked the high gain versatility I needed in an all-around workhorse guitar. They aren't the loudest single coils, but they're still single coils.
I discovered the "angled offset MFD humbuckers" from the old Cavaliers. I found one in 2010 or so, right off of the marketplace on this site. I got the pickup installed by my luthier, and I was ready to rock and roll.
My ASAT special Deluxe circa 2012
Unfortunately, the pickup was very old, and had a resistance of about 4.3. It was kind of saggy, too bright, and just...flat sounding. Eventually, I discovered RIO GRANDE pickups. It's the only company in the world who makes a modern humbucker especially designed to fit the angled offset ASAT special slot. I ordered one in white and crossed my fingers for the sound I'd been hunting for.
Not only does it sound INCREDIBLE, but has a coil tap to boot. The single coil setting is also an unbelievable tone. It isn't anything like an MFD, but it truly gives this ASAT a character of its own.
Neck #3
The final phase in this G&L odyssey was, I discovered that G&L revised their neck profiles, and began offering a "modern classic C." FINALLY! I strat-esque, modern neck profile! My dealer told me that replacement necks were doable, so I placed an order for the new neck. I'm a sucker for binding, so I kept that option. I went for rosewood instead of ebony(ebony was too bright for me), and a 9 1/2' radius.
After more than ten years of hot-rodding, here she is. I also added dome knobs and a tele style thumb lever for good measure. My dealer screwed up the order a bit, and ordered the "black on silver" logo against a natural neck. Originally I was a bit peeved, but hey. Considering the...unorthodox track record of this instrument, I've come to think it suits the guitar.
A main reason I didn't just get a new guitar was because I'm in love with the Baby Blue finish, and they no longer offer it(PLEASE BRING IT BACK).
Anyway, thank you for following me on this journey. This thing is a major tone machine and a major ass kicker nowadays. I'm glad I stuck with the old girl. This is the guitar I wanted all along. These aesthetics with a high quality tremolo, an offset humbucker and a comfy neck. So happy to be able to crank the distortion in style
