G&L Comanche vs Legacy

[keiferedits]

i'm leaning towards a comanche, only upgrade would be with gun oil neck. thoughts?

[ieso]

I have a Comanche with a gun tint gloss finish on neck and a Legacy with clear satin finish. My only comment would be that, if you live in a location with wide swings in humidity, the satin neck is more effected by this. In winter, especially, it loses a lot of moisture content -- requiring a lot of humidity control on my part. Not so much on the gun tint gloss.

[Boogie Bill]

Both the Comanche and the Legacy are great guitars. If you lean more towards vintage alnico tonese, then go with the Legacy. I think it's a better guitar than 99.9% of the Fender Strats out there, with the right combination of upgrades for modern playing techniques.

In my mind, the Comanche is more of a blank slate, in that you can use it to create a signature tone. The pickups are humbucking, so it's quiet. You can set it for bright spanky tones; or set it darker as I do, for punchy, fat, 500lb. gorilla tone. The PTB controls are even more effective on the Comanche with the higher output pickup. I'll get a note to feedback and then I can actually change the harmonic with the PTB--neat effect. I normal my controls at T=8 and B=5. From here I can roll back the Treble for warm "woman" tone, or roll it up and the Bass down for more bite. With the Bass on 5 for my normal tone, I can roll up the volume for solos and add a bass to make it punchier.

Some folks find the Z-Coils and the other MFD pickups to be edgy sounding. You may want to experiment with changing pickup heights. You'll need to use high quality tubes in your amp, especially the V1 preamp, as the wrong tubes can sound harsh. MFD's have really wide frequency response, and demand the very best tubes. I like the Z-coils set dark for a full tone, and even though they are humbucking, they never lose that single coil clarity.

BTW, if you want a really aggressive tone in your single coils, try the S-500. True single coil MFDs, with a little more edge and bite than the Z-coils. I think they work well for most music where you'd use a Strat, but totally great for Tejas Blooze.

If you like more of a PAF type tone with a darker tone, try a Legacy Special. I like to gig with a Legacy and a Legacy Special, as the Special can back up both my Legacy and get close to my LP tones. If Santana ever played a Legacy Special, he'd dump his PRS in less than 10 seconds.

There's also the Legacy HB, 2HB and Invader models to consider, too.

I have all of these guitars, and they all have a role. While I do probably 60% of my songs with a standard Legacy--I'm perfectly at home using an S-500 or Legacy Special.

But if I'm sitting in with a band, one guitar and one guitar only--I'm probably going to take a Comanche. Wear my war bonnet, paint my face and walk in with a "take no prisoners" attitude--I'm ready to go on the warpath. The Comanche is a powerful guitar, no doubt about it.

Bill

[Muleya]

Great timing...I was just wondering the same thing.

I've got a USA Legacy and a LP Studio as my main guitars. I just love the feel of my Legacy, just top notch fit and finish and it just plays so nicely. I pretty much wanna leave this one set up fairly traditionally, but I'd also love to have a hotrodded G&L, kind of "super-strat-ish".

So, if I understand Boogie Bill correctly, the Commanche probably isn't the best fit for that. Either a Legacy Special or an Invader is probably what I'm looking at...right? Or just picking up any Legacy I like and putting my own pickups in it.

For that last option, where can you get pickguards cut for HSS or HH...do you have to order those directly grom G&L? I don't see them in the store.

[Boogie Bill]

Muleya

First of all a G&L IS a hot-rodded Fender!!! With the Legacy bodies, you can just choose how "hot-rodded' you want to be. Single coil power and sting? Try the S-500. PAF thickness, but still capable of vintage strat tones? Legacy Special. Want strat ergonomics, yet looking for a signature tone; or need dead quiiet notes with single coil clarity and a lot more "oomph"? You're in Comanche Territory. Like strat ergonomics but crave real PAF tones? Then the Legacy HB or 2HB could be your salvation.

The three Invader models are great too; and just to clarify my original post, I DO NOT own an Invader--I'm more of a vintage strat guy, and the Legacy bodies fit my needs. But if I was doing Fusion, Metal or Hard Rock and needed an 80's style guitar that meets the traditional definition of a Super Strat, I'd be looking for an Invader.

I think you can get pickguards for G&L through Chandler; I think they are still the OEM supplier.

And a second Legacy isn't a bad idea. I believe in having a backup for your Number ONE guitar. I'm basically a Legacy guy, but I play a Les Paul, too. Still, if something happened to my Legacy on the gig, I wouldn't want to play a Les Paul for the whole four hour gig. One of the reasons that I like the Legacy Special model is that it can back up both my Legacy and my Les Paul. I get Legacy tones and Legacy ergonomics and the lighter weight PLUS, I can get the thicker tones of the Les Paul. It's a win-win. But a Number ONE-A guitar that is identical in feel and tone to your Number ONE guitar is a very good thing to have. You might need a second LP Studio. But what whatever the guitar is that you CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT--you'd better have a spare tucked under your bed.

Bill

[Muleya]

My bad! You are right about G&Ls being hot-rodded Fenders! I guess what I meant was that something in an HSS or HH configuration that I could get PAF-type tones out of it. I was a teen in the 80s and the hard rock from that era is what I still love to play, though I also love great vintage style single-coil strat tones, so I want to keep my current Legacy as is.

My biggest concern with the Invader would be I'm not sure I'd want a locking tremolo...but on the other hand, I don't currently have one, so it might be fun! Though I find the standard G&L tremolo and a set of locking tuners does pretty well for my needs.

Anyway, I thank you for your input...and the info on Chandler for pickguards. I will make note of that.

[SouthpawGuy]

My bad! You are right about G&Ls being hot-rodded Fenders! I guess what I meant was that something in an HSS or HH configuration that I could get PAF-type tones out of it. I was a teen in the 80s and the hard rock from that era is what I still love to play, though I also love great vintage style single-coil strat tones, so I want to keep my current Legacy as is.

My biggest concern with the Invader would be I'm not sure I'd want a locking tremolo...but on the other hand, I don't currently have one, so it might be fun! Though I find the standard G&L tremolo and a set of locking tuners does pretty well for my needs.

Anyway, I thank you for your input...and the info on Chandler for pickguards. I will make note of that.

The Legacy 2HB nails that 80s metal tone, and has a Duncan JB in the bridge. The neck pickup is also surprisingly good for clean jazzy tones.





The Legacy HB keeps the neck and middle alnico single coils and with the bridge JB is no slouch for hard rock sounds

[Boogie Bill]

I'm pretty sure you could order an Invader with a DF Vibrato. I have seen them, as wwell as with Saddle Lock hardtails.

Bill

[Jim P]

I'm about to embark on an experiment of my own regarding the use of a Comanche pickguard on my Legacy guitar. The only thing is, the Comanche guard is going to be loaded with a set of z-coil pups with alnico magnets as opposed to the MFD ceramics. While I have yet to hear these pickups, I'm hoping that in theory they'll sound much like a single-coiled Strat but with virtually no noise. The only person I'm aware of who's tried such a configuration is Will Ray, but I've never heard how much he likes this setup. Will.....you there? If anyone else has tried this, I certainly wouldn't mind hearing your thoughts. Thanks!

[westsideduck]

I have a Comanche with a gun tint gloss finish on neck and a Legacy with clear satin finish. My only comment would be that, if you live in a location with wide swings in humidity, the satin neck is more effected by this. In winter, especially, it loses a lot of moisture content -- requiring a lot of humidity control on my part. Not so much on the gun tint gloss.

The difference in finishes on the back of your necks should'nt make any difference regarding moisture loss as both the satin and gloss finishes are a poly based product and both are non porous, I'm guessing that your comanche has a maple board, poly over it, and the legacy has a rosewood board with no finish ?????

[ieso]

I have a Comanche with a gun tint gloss finish on neck and a Legacy with clear satin finish. My only comment would be that, if you live in a location with wide swings in humidity, the satin neck is more effected by this. In winter, especially, it loses a lot of moisture content -- requiring a lot of humidity control on my part. Not so much on the gun tint gloss.

The difference in finishes on the back of your necks should'nt make any difference regarding moisture loss as both the satin and gloss finishes are a poly based product and both are non porous, I'm guessing that your comanche has a maple board, poly over it, and the legacy has a rosewood board with no finish ?????

Actually, vice-versa. The Legacy has a maple board and the Comanche has rosewood. But the thickness of the finishes is astounding. The satin finish on my Legacy is so thin it is virtually non-existent. There's no doubt about it, the Legacy loses moisture more than the Comanche.

[Miles Smiles]

Since I've got this little Box, I have quite constant humidity over the year:
http://www.amazon.com/Venta-Airwasher-L ... B000MING24

Of course it's needed just for winter time. The humidity now isn't less than 40% and mostly around 50%. 2 days ago I picked an Ibanez with Floyd Rose type Trem out of the case, where it had been for at least one year untouched and it was almost perfectly in tune!

Im using the Venta for 2 winters now, before I've tried by putting a wet towel on the radiotor every day or even twice a day, but that didn't help a lot. That Venta, I have to refill every 2-3 days (4 l, 1.2 gal), depending on the weather. Which means almost a half gallon is needed per day for the small room (~6 m² or ~7 yd²) my guitars dwell, which is hardly to manage even with a big towel.

I'm happy with that solution, so I don't have to readjust necks twice a year and my acoustics are playable in winter too.