Ches wrote:I don't think they're comparable to a $1500-$2000 American Fender - not even close in my book. They're comparable to an imported Strat, or as ieso points out, a Cort. But that's ok - that's their target market.
The wood in the Tribute Comanche is top of the line.
The factory at least claims the pickups and wood quality are the same on American and Indonesian guitars, or so I read on their website when I was weighing my decision.
The American Comanche has a dip switch and the tribute a push/pull pot, so I assume the rest of the electronics is not the same, but, replacing pots, caps and cables is a $40 mod. Tuners are definitely higher quality in American guitars, but IMHO it doesn't justify the price difference.
Would you compare the quality of American G&L to American strats?
The friend that talked me into the Comanche has a Legacy Tribute and a Mexican Nashville Tele, which I have had laying in my studio for many weeks now, so I have had the chance to closely compare them.
In concert Spanish Classical Guitars I can understand a price difference between a 2000 USD and a 5000 USD guitar (Or even Greg Sallman's that range from 10000 to 40000 USD in the used market, due to their extremely intricate design that results in incomparable loudness and tone), since they are handmade by awarded luthiers that spend a considerable amount of time choosing the wood pieces they will use for each individual part of a guitar, and spend A LOT OF TIME working on details that will GREATLY affect the sound. These guys build only a handful of instruments per year, some of them just one or two.
All electric guitars are mass-produced either by hand or machinery, and a lot of attention is given to the looks of the instrument since it will be a huge selling point (I'm not saying it doesn't cost what they charge for it, but definitely has little to no effect in the instrument's sound). Of course, to justify the price difference between their models they stuff them with cheaper electronics and get to the point of even using wood that wouldn't even make its way into a cheap piece of furniture.
This is not the case at all with G&L. They might have cut costs in finish, tuners, pots, caps and cable, in the tribute series, but the pickups, whammy system and wood quality, which really affect the sound, are up to spec with the most expensive electric guitars.
The day I see an electric guitar manufacturer with 10 to 15 huge wood blocks hanging from the ceiling of his workshop's warehouse, knocking them from every possible angle for weeks to select the wood pieces that will be part of HIS NEXT GUITAR, and hear a huge difference between instruments with exactly the same electronics, I will also believe in electric guitar luthier science, but as far as I am concerned, the differences in electric guitars above $1500 are more about finish, looks and marketing than components' quality.
Now, the vintage market is another thing, since 30 to 50 year-old wood is in its prime for guitars (As opposed to arco instruments that sound better as they age), and some of the materials used for electronics are no longer available.
Of course design (Mass of metal, neck and body and its distribution; assembly design; electronic components) makes a huge difference in electric guitars, but here budget lines have the exact same design as the flagship products.
YMMV
DP
