ASAT Tribute Bluesboy project

[AnthroTony]

Hello all,

I am the very proud owner of a G&L Legacy from 2000 I think. Prior to that my favourite guitar was a 2000 Fender American Standard, Now I feel the urge to have another T-style guitar but don't want to overlap too much, and due to investing heavily in two custom-built amps -- a 5e7 Bandmaster and a 65 Vibrolux Reverb with the norma channel voiced for Brownface, I need to keep the Tele project well constrained. At least until I can sell every other guitar and amp I own!

So I've chosen the Bluesboy hollowobdy for a number of reasons. Swamp ash body, simplicity, maple neck, G&L quality. I'm going on faith that the woods and finishing will be extremely good if not quite as good as USA models, and certainly as good as the best MiM Fender series guitars. If I'm wrong, please let me know! Now, I've grown out of buckers and will be selling off my dream /es-335 and vintage SG for those reasons among others. I understand there's a lot of dislike between the major characteristics of the two pickups on this model, and I feel like something totally different. What I'm thinking is that I'd take out the Seth Lover PAF and drop in a TVJones Filtertron. I think they make a drop in model right now. I've never experienced the MFD so I have no idea if I want to do anything with that at all. Oh I should add that my original project had to been to build a Warmoth custom guitars really well specced out, but I very quickly got up to $2000 and I figured that starting with the G&L would be me pretty darned close without the cost!

My goal is to have a guitar that gives me plenty of twang when required, but with the warmth and nuance that Leo imagined in his redesigned guitars. I know I could opt for a P90 in the neck position (and even in the bridge position), but so far my only experience with P09s is with a Peerless JH Tonemaster guitar I have with three of them installed -- this is a very subtly modified version of the ancient Gibson ES-5 except it has all hand-made and hand-carved Maple woods with a 16" bout for easier playability -- I don't bond with it. That said, I have listened to some videos of Yamaha Revstars with P90s and I am suitably impressed by those players who demo the guitar without going into the deepest, darkest metal tones. I'm primarily a blues and blues-rock based guitarist who also loves country music,

First, then, I'd really appreciate if anyone has any thoughts on adding in the Filtertron at the neck. Perhaps there are some wiring issues I might need to be aware of.

Second, i'm open to suggestions for the bridge pickup, whether to leave well alone, or to consider an alternative whether it be a classic or even a P90.

Third, I'm sure some might say the hell with the Filtertron and just go the P90 route for the neck as well. I'm really flexible and look forward to all suggestions,

Thanks in advance!
Tony

[guitar_ed]

Hi Tony,

I don't know/remember the details, but there were grounding issues involving the HB when they first developed the BluesBoy. If you search the site, you might be able to find them. They had to do something funky to get it to work.

Otherwise, let 'er rip

edg

[suave eddie]

Have you thought about an ASAT Special Tribute?
If you want a break from Humbuckers, you might want to try the large MFD single coils for something completely different.
Comes in Basswood or Mahogany. No modding necessary.

http://glguitars.com/product/asat-special/

[suave eddie]

Have you thought about an ASAT Special Tribute?
If you want a break from Humbuckers, you might want to try the large MFD single coils for something completely different.
Comes in Basswood or Mahogany. No modding necessary.

http://glguitars.com/product/asat-special/

[JagInTheBag]

Have you thought about an ASAT Special Tribute?
If you want a break from Humbuckers, you might want to try the large MFD single coils for something completely different.
Comes in Basswood or Mahogany. No modding necessary.

http://glguitars.com/product/asat-special/

This is what I thought of immediately when I was reading through his post. Good Call, Eddie.

[AnthroTony]

Thanks guys, I've been wondering the same myself, I think I need to find a dealer where I can properly try one out, and perhaps also accept that the G&L that bowled me over with it's superb-ity (probably not a word) was a USA G&L and I should seriously consider staying with that range,

I really need to understand the differences better, and so far, I've not found the best YT videos so if anyone has any suggestions or even for soundcoud or something else, please don't hesitate to chip in!

[WitSok]

Check out the videos in these threads:

http://www.guitarsbyleo.com/FORUM/viewt ... al+vs+ASAT

http://www.guitarsbyleo.com/FORUM/viewt ... AT+Special

Cheers, Dan

[suave eddie]

Some more examples of what an ASAT with jumbo MFDs can sound like.

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgAjKT8lcY0[/video]

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNyAZqHEs-4[/video]

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qXfjWxxRzI[/video]

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LcekC8Vgko[/video]

[AnthroTony]

Hi Suave Eddim

Ah yes, Greg. I don't even bother listening to his videos any more -- if he put strings on his teddy bear mic stand the tones would make me want to cry! I don't know how he does it, but every guitar he plays falls into the category of magnificent. Meaning that I'd certainly be very disappointed if I then played the same guitar through the same setup! On the other hand though, even though his use of effects is discreet, I'd much prefer that he played the guitars straight into the amp using only the guitar controls to demonstrate the tonal palette of the instrument. Thanks a lot, mate, for showing me these ones though. Now I can feel good again about ignoring Greg's demos in the future

Now to listen to those links provided just above!

[AnthroTony]

Hi Witsok

Thanks for those links, which in turn led me to others. Like this one featuring the underrated Andy - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyN614y5ar0 he shows the Special clean but with fuzz -- quite an amazing achievement.

And here Andy shows the crystalline clear chime and twang - which really surprised me! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0JvsoaWmdU

I was hoping to find a good sample of slow blues with the ASAT special but I lucked out. I'm my opinion slow blues is THE way to show the soul of a guitar (and the player of course).

Well guys, I've been down a long and winding road and ended up right back where I started - any new guitar will be an ASAT! So now the snob purist in me says take the time and find the perfect used USA model. The practical side says what the hell, find a shop locally that might carry more than one model and be willing to "settle for" a Tribute model. In the southwest of France where I live we need to drive considerable distances to find larger shops with decent selections.

II'll do a search of the forum of course, but what do you guys think? USA or Tribute? Oh,I didn't really answer the direct challenges from you all -- Yes, fr me I'll go with the Special's jumbo MFD pickups. Not only do I think they look different and cool on a Tele body, but I love that sound. So thanks again guys!

[AnthroTony]

So I just found by accident this slow blues with a totally inappropriate title -- I cannot figure out why people have such a polarised view on the aesthetics of the G&L headstock. I love it. My son won't buy a G&L because of it! Go figure...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3O9GQSaAlE

[Elwood]

So I just found by accident this slow blues with a totally inappropriate title -- I cannot figure out why people have such a polarised view on the aesthetics of the G&L headstock. I love it. My son won't buy a G&L because of it! Go figure...

Those are some tasty tones.

I'm ok with the headstock design. It's the clip-on tuners that spoil the cool factor IMO (and they can bite into the finish )

[AnthroTony]

Never like clip=on tuners. Besides, with my eyesight, I'd be lucky to see much anyway. And I have to think they'd bother my hand position. Nah, I rely on the old fashioned way. Sounds out of tune? Then it probably is, so play a few harmonics and try to improve it. It f that doesn't work, tune it with a plug in tuner!

[Danley]

I'm not a clip-on fan either; they're usually not too accurate, usually not easy to read, and usually have limited functionality. Also nervous about keeping clip-on tuners all the time like some people apparently do, I can def. see it messing with a nitro or acrylic finish at least.

I do admit - I like the 'no-hook' G&L headstock better

[AnthroTony]

This discussion has fine-tuned my thoughts and os I'm going to start a new thread to explore different options. I hope to entice some you lovely people to participate there too