Breakfast Report Monday, July 28, 2014: Solamente Part 1

[yowhatsshakin]

Hi gang,

While enjoying my coffee on this glorious Monday morning in the Pacific NW, I thought it time to do an old fashioned week of Lunch Reports or Breakfast Reports as the case may be. No questions, no participation required, just something nice to look at!

Breakfast
Nice cup 'o Joe, with some yoghurt and crunchy stuff.

G&L stuff
This will be Part 1 of 2 discussing variants of a particular model. Both these models were introduced more than a year ago now but strangely enough do NOT have an entry in the G&L model page! We are talking about the ASAT Classic Solamente and ASAT Classic Solamente Alnico of course, both based on the Fender Esquire esthetics.

Today, I show my ASAT Classic Soilamente which is the single bridge pickup version of an old stalwart, the ASAT Classic. It has the well-known, and loved, Tele-style MFD ASAT Classic bridge pickup:




The Alder body still has a rout for a neck pickup under the pickguard:


The electronics are such that in the bridge position one by-passes the tone control and hears the pup in its purest form. This bridge position makes this model unique and offers a setting not found on neither ASAT Classic nor ASAT Classic 'S'! In the neck position, the tone control is by-passed again but now with a fixed capacitor network bleeding some highs to ground. This sound is less dark than one finds in the ASAT ''50, one of Tim Page's creation released in 1999, allegedly with the original Esquire electronics under the hood. Finally, the middle position engages the tone control for your tweaking enjoyment. And to not make the tone control completely obsolete of course.

Here are the date stamps. Note the additional 'MFD' in the model designation at the top of the sticker on the neck heel:


S/N CLF068007, completed 7/18/2013, has an nice top-binding and wonderful rosewood fingerboard:


The neck is finished in a Satin Vintage Tint:


I like this version just a bit better than the very similar ASAT '50 (sorry Tim!) just because the bridge position is not as dark and reminds me of a slightly cocked way pedal. But the ASAT '50 allows you to sonically go from the neck position sound to the bridge position sound when you are in the middle position using the tone control. That does not seem to be the case on this model. Rather, the neck position is somewhere around 1/3 of the dial on the tone pot. So it is still nice to have both!

To be continued ...

- Jos

[willross]

Jos,

I dig it and feel solamente without one...


Cheers,

Will

[jeffmarshall67]

Nice Jos, I haven't seen much talk or much of anything on the Solamente. Yours sure looks nice

[NickHorne]

That looks really fine!
Theory and rumour say that a bridge-pup-only guitar should have less magnetic drag on the strings, which could liberate them so as to have more "life", sustain, or both, and perhaps a cleaner vibration too. And volume balance up and down the neck should be much better. The Classic MFD must be a great pup to do this type of guitar with. Great guitar!

[Monahan]

Sure is a sweet looking guitar-- especially that rosewood board Congrats!

My PNW breakfast was cereal & fruit (banana, raspberry, blackberry) covered in almond milk and accompanied by a cup of Moroccan Mint tea. Not real sure what lunch will hold...

Lookin' forward to part 2

[fianoman]

Interesting theory Nick. Perhaps you can share your thoughts Jos? Nice piece!

[Craig]

Here's the 2013 G&L ASAT Classic Solamento / Solamento Alnico Wiring Diagram courtesy of Paul Gagon, BBE Sound/G&L, we have in the Gallery:

[yowhatsshakin]

Here's the 2013 G&L ASAT Classic Solamento / Solamento Alnico Wiring Diagram courtesy of Paul Gagon, BBE Sound/G&L, we have in the Gallery:

You steal my thunder Craig! I already had a link to that schematic ready to go as part of my post for tomorrow

- Jos

[yowhatsshakin]

That looks really fine!
Theory and rumour say that a bridge-pup-only guitar should have less magnetic drag on the strings, which could liberate them so as to have more "life", sustain, or both, and perhaps a cleaner vibration too. And volume balance up and down the neck should be much better. The Classic MFD must be a great pup to do this type of guitar with. Great guitar!

Interesting theory Nick. Perhaps you can share your thoughts Jos? Nice piece!

Don't have to many thoughts on it fianoman. Sure, Nick is correct in his assertion that eddy currents at the surface layers of the strings will dissipate energy. But to test whether that dissipation is actually audible, I would have to equip my studio with some fancy detection equipment to strike the string with a well know reproducible force and then measure decay curves. And that is of course beyond making the guitars 'identical', i.e. make sure the neck pickups are exactly the same with the same strength magnets underneath place at the same height underneath the strings. Man, that is one tough experiment but I feel like an experimental physicist again

- Jos

[NickHorne]

"Striking the string with a (reliably) reproducible force..." - I wish!!
Every guitar that's new to me, I spend the first 6 months tweaking neck polepieces vs pup height vs action height vs string type, until I settle on something I can live in peace with.
I learned somewhere that human memory for sound is very short and approximate; it definitely feels like that at those times...

I believe the "livelier" single-pup response is well-enshrined in guitar myth, and I suspect it has truth in it.
End result is, I'm thinking that I could probably use a Solamente with a B-bender on, all night for everything, and be pretty damn happy about it.
A Deluxe Reverb with a 15" cab might be interesting, or the Fender combo that had a 15 in, I forget the model.

I bet you're going to love that guitar

[NickHorne]

Or just that budget Excelsior thing. Fun!

[darwinohm]

Jos, an interesting concept and others have mentioned the benefits of only one pickup. I do not own a one pickup guitar so I don't have a clue. That is a sweet looking rig. Another fine specimen for the Northwest Asat Museum. Early Tele's used this concept also. I wonder why it isn't more common. Looking forward to some LRs. -- Darwin

[LeoFThe Champion]

[Craig]

Here's the 2013 G&L ASAT Classic Solamento / Solamento Alnico Wiring Diagram courtesy of Paul Gagon, BBE Sound/G&L, we have in the Gallery:

You steal my thunder Craig! I already had a link to that schematic ready to go as part of my post for tomorrow

- Jos

Sorry Jos, didn't mean to steal your thunder.

[Craig]

Hi Jos!

Cool looking instrument and thanks for the feedback on it. I wondered how it would stack up against the ASAT '50. Hard to believe it's already been 15 years since the '50 came out. I agree with you that the Solamente should be an on going model. As for liking the sound better - that's never a problem! I've never understood when someone says this is the ONLY way ABC sounds good. Sound is up to the player. God forbid every guitar or guitarist have the same tone. It's chasing the tone you want as an individual that makes the difference. That's what I believe. Great report as always!

Regards,

Tim

Both the ASAT Classic Solamente and ASAT Classic Solamente Alnico are ongoing standard production models and are listed in the upcoming August 1, 2014 G&L USA Dealer Price List.

[yowhatsshakin]

Both the ASAT Classic Solamente and ASAT Classic Solamente Alnico are ongoing standard production models and are listed in the upcoming August 1, 2014 G&L USA Dealer Price List.

Craig,

Do you by any chance also happen to know whether they will be added to the G&L Guitars -> USA index by then?

- Jos

[Craig]

Both the ASAT Classic Solamente and ASAT Classic Solamente Alnico are ongoing standard production models and are listed in the upcoming August 1, 2014 G&L USA Dealer Price List.

Craig,

Do you by any chance also happen to know whether they will be added to the G&L Guitars -> USA index by then?

- Jos

Doubtful. I sent Dave a list of items missing from the main webpage several months ago (included on the list are the Solamente models) and
many of the items have yet to be done. The probable hold up is getting the missing models built and sent to the photographer to get shots of them.
And as usual, Dave's plate is very full.