I dont travel with my guitar anymore.
I bought a Martin DX1KAE in Bangkok a few years ago. Tropicalized (HPL back and sides), PLEKed, the sound was great and it played in tune all over the fretboard out of the box, and stay in tune for days.
This year I felt the need for a cheap "strat clone" for here. Japanese or indonesian seemed to be the way to go. That's how I did hear about G&L Tribute series (no offense... never heard about Martin before buying one neither...)
After trying a few G&L, I knew I wanted the Tribute S-500.
Having read the specifications for the US model on the vendor's website (and knowing there was some PLEK machines down there in Indonesia) I was believing it had been PLEK'ed .
I read on this forum that's it's not the case.
Very disappointed.
Of course the nut could not have been PLEK'ed.
It does need a good setup.
I'm used to guitars close to perfection.
I went in many shops (at least 6) and the guitar tuner showed different shifts at the bottom of the neck depending on the string and the Tribute S-500 I tried. Open chords were often not listenable for me but for solos it sounded ok.
Other than those inconsistencies at the bottom of the neck, all the G&L Tribute S-500 I tried were playing quite in tune over all the fretboard and they were almost not going out of tune.
I've changed the strings on mine for Elixir 10-46
Unplugged the G&L Tribute S-500 sound is very pleasant, resonant and the sustain is good (the mahogany I assume).
With only the preamp of my travel M-Audio Jamlab the sound palette is already great.
I recommend the S-500 to my friends. G&L rocks ! Who wants to buy Fenders nowadays ?
I can't wait to plug it in something like my Carvin XV212 I've bought around 1990 (but it's too heavy to bring overseas...)
I am not a big fan of amp simulators, even bx_rockrack is very frustrating compared to the response of a bad4ss "all lamps" like the X100B or the XV212.
So there it is...
Today (say yesterday) I need (at least) a good nut setup for my G&L Tribute S-500.
Thomann does it with PLEK for 60 euros in Europe but hey i'ts not the next door.
I may opt for a PLEK run in Singapore, where the service is also available.
In any case I will not attempt to reach the 1/50mm accuracy needed for the nut myself (and maybe a complete setup is needed)
Here I am.
