Interceptor Prototype on Reverb

[tomanche]

According to the listing, 1987 Prototype Interceptor. Three parts longhorn body and one part X-body. Read the listing for details. Holy cow!
https://reverb.com/item/53919179-g-l-pr ... -red-black

[sam]

Well those don’t come along everyday!

[JimiRayKing]

Wow, just when you think you've see it all fugly but very cool at the same time !

[sam]

Give a guy a band saw and sander and ya never know will turn up!

[Craig]

I contacted Dave McLaren asking if he knew anything about this guitar and if he could send me a copy of the factory logbook page.

Looks like 20406. The entry doesn’t look interesting but it’s there.
Roy & Candy’s was a good G&L dealer with friend-of-Leo vibes. Feels like I’m getting prices out of the vintage market

Here is a photo (middle guitar) and the descriptive text from the Ad:

From Reverb.com Ad posted by and SHIPPED FROM
Ventura Guitars
Moorpark, CA, United States. [ Ad seen April 22, 2022]

G&L Prototype Interceptor, G020406

What I am offering up for sale is an incredibly rare, one-of-a-kind, G&L Prototype Interceptor guitar.

The G&L Interceptor was originally developed in late 1983 with a body shape that resembled an “X” with a stylized sickle shaped headstock that incorporated the G&L “hook” or “tit”. It was initially offered with a 2-piece soft flame maple body, often with attractive flame content. It could be had with either 3 x MFD single coils (The same pickups used in the Nighthawk/Skyhawk models) or the HG-2R pickups which were offset-angled mini MFD humbuckers (The same pickups used in the Cavalier model). You could order it with either a maple or ebony fingerboard in either the G&L #1 or #2 neck options (#1 = 1.625” nut width with 7.5” radius, #2 = 1.625” nut width with 12” radius). The only bridge offered was the Dual Fulcrum vibrato and the controls were top loaded on a black wrinkle painted control plate. It was an expensive instrument and while it looked like many other wildly shaped early 1980’s competing instruments it didn’t quite hit the mark with the intended audience in terms of the sounds it produced. Dale Hyatt, head of G&L’s Sales & Marketing received quite a bit of negative feedback on the guitar because of its pickups and hardware not matching the appearance of the instrument.

By 1986, G&L offered a revised version of the Interceptor. This version had a more rounded “X” shape to the body and offered a mixture of pickup options including: 3 x G&L MFD Single Coils, 2 Schaller PAF type humbuckers, or 2 G&L MFD Single Coils w/a bridge Schaller PAF humbucker. Neck options expanded to offer either the #1, #2 or the #3, #4 and #5 necks. Basically, these 3 new neck options were aimed at those wanting a wide-flat neck. Additionally, the Kahler 2300 became the primary bridge installed on this 2nd generation Interceptor model, most of the time with a Leo Fender behind the nut locking contraption. Controls were now rear-loaded and activated using high quality Alco Japan mini toggle switches. Black hardware became the norm…though chrome or gold were options. This instrument was better received by the few that purchased them, but dealers had a tough time selling them as there was stiff competition between Kramer, Ibanez, Jackson and Charvel in the super-strat, radically shaped body marketplace.

Frustrated by the lack of interest in the Interceptor, Dale Hyatt pulled in some of the hourly staff, many of whom were young musicians to give some feedback on what unique body shape they might find attractive. Additionally, a few G&L distributors had sent Dale sketches of some different concepts for a unique but attractive new shape for the Interceptor. Essentially, several different shapes were fabricated with a few of them based on a Strat-ish body with a pinched waist and extended horns. One such example ended up as this prototype. This example had the forearm region extensively chopped and sculpted intended to provide maximum comfort to the playing hand while sitting or standing. While it felt fantastic…the dealers thought it was a bit too radical and preferred a simple chamfer around the perimeter of a symmetrical body which is what the 3rd generation of the Interceptor became.

Most G&L prototypes never got beyond a sanding sealer finish on the body but since this design was a finalist, Dale had it finished like a production guitar so he could bring it to trade shows and show it to the distributors for comparison’s sake. One of the distributors, Roy Ferguson, of a shop called “Roy and Candy’s Music” in Tulsa, Oklahoma was particularly interested in buying it for his store. Dale and Roy were close friends dating back to the 1960’s when Dale lived in Tulsa and ran Fender’s national distribution center in Tulsa. Dale was going to keep the guitar on his famous carpeted wall of guitars in his office, but Roy persuaded him to sell it to him…so he did.

This is that guitar and there are no others like it in existence…it is the only one. It has several special features beyond the unique body shape. The body is 2-piece soft maple with some flame content that is difficult to make out without holding it in bright light at certain angles as the dark translucent red obscures much of it. It originally had a factory installed Wilkinson roller nut that was the source of many buzzing problems, so I replaced it with an expertly cut bone nut. The original nut comes with the guitar. The guitar plays effortlessly with that very bright and cutting MFD single coil tone the pre-BBE G&L faithful know all too well. Everything works as it should and the guitar is in excellent condition with no fret wear. There is a minor discoloration on the back of the neck (behind the 9th fret). You can see this discoloration in the pictures and can slightly feel it on the neck; however, it does not impact playability. This was most likely caused by the neck leaning on a guitar stand for a lengthy period. There is a small paint chip in the black finish on the underside of the lower bout. It can be seen in picture #14. There are also two minor indentations to the black finish on the underside of the guitar between the 1/4" input jack and the bottom strap button. All minor blemishes.

The tuning machines are scarce 1980’s vintage locking tuners made by Bowen Machine. At this time, G&L had been experimenting with both Sperzel and Bowen tuners on their prototypical instruments but settled on Sperzel. This is one of very few G&L’s ever to have these rare bird tuners installed. The guitar comes with the original “Roy & Candy” hang tag showing its expensive for the time $971 list price. The neck is the same used in the 1983-1985 1st generation Interceptors and is the #1 variant, 1.625” nut width with a Gibson-Like 12” radius and dark black ebony fingerboard. I also have its original custom built, due to its unique body shape, G&G OHSC along with a copy of the original log book sheet showing the instrument and its completion date that was sent to me by Dale Hyatt himself.

With all the unique features described above, it makes this a one-of-a-kind build. Then you add to it incredible condition, OHSC and production logbook documentation, you are looking at a highly prized and sought-after instrument for those indoctrinated into what Leo Fender was doing after Fender. For the pre-BBE collector interested in the uber rare Interceptor line…this is a must have as it connects the dots between the X-Body to the long-horn bodied Interceptors of the 1980’s.

The guitar ships from Ventura, California or we can potentially arrange for a local pickup/drop-off should you reside in Southern California.

One thing I noticed is that the log entry indicates the neck is a #3 neck which would be 1 3/4" nut width with a 12" radius, but the text says it is a #1 variant.
Also, an interesting tidbit about the tuners: "vintage locking tuners made by Bowen Machine".

If any member here acquires this G&L historical piece, please do post about it on the G&L Discussion Page.

Thanks to tomanche for posting this Thread.

BTW, I found that this guitar was registered in the G&L Registry many years ago and is still listed as being owned by a GbL member.
I have emailed the registered owner but have not heard back.