Lunch Report - Friday, March 18

[KennyE]

Well, this has been fun! I want to thank all of you that replied and posted, etc. I must say, never once did I feel like I was the "new" guy here. Felt welcomed from day 1. Think I'll stick around. So, here goes, my final Lunch Report .... for now.

Lunch:
I rarely do lunch on Fridays. The wife likes to go out for dinner shortly after we get home. And I would still be full from lunch. But, for dinner we’ll probably do either Long Horn or the local Mexican.

G&L Topic: Leo “Signature” ASAT Special
I had a ’91 ASAT Special with Leo’s siggy. You know, the decal on the upper bout under the finish. 3 bolt neck, micro-tilt, maple neck, rosewood board. …………… Hang on, I’m getting misty just thinking about that guitar …………….

Okay, better now. When you talk about guitars that you wish you hadn’t sold, this is mine! Don’t think there was much this guitar couldn’t do. It was warm when needed, spanky when called upon. And unlike other guitars of this ilk, you didn’t have to fight it to get what you needed from it. Needed some quick cash and I knew it’d sell. And it did. And now, yeah, wish it hadn’t. One of the best guitars I’ve ever had. (sniff). Just sharing.

Non-G&L Topic: Angled Bridge Pickup
Okay, this is one that has bugged me for years. We’re at the bridge pickup, which by nature is going to be a “thinner” sound. And we’re using a single coil pickup that is going to be brighter, in some instances “thinner”. And then we angle it so the treble side is closer to the bridge, creating an even brighter and possibly “thinner” tone. Uh … why? Except in rare instances we don’t see Humbuckers angled like that. Yet in nearly every incarnation of a single coil equipped guitar, the treble side of the bridge pickup is angled towards the bridge. I don’t get it. Can’t be tonal nodes, otherwise the HB’s would have to be angled, as well. Is it aesthetics? The “norm” since they’ve always been that way? Beats me, but it’s something I’ve always wanted to ask somebody.

[yowhatsshakin]

Kenny, thanks for a fine week of LR's You can stay

G&L Topic: Leo “Signature” ASAT Special

I feel your pain Kenny. These guitars are quite something but the signature does not necessarily have anything to do with that. Even without they are great. My first Signature model was a ASAT Classic Commemorative Edition. Recently I acquired a ASAT III Signature SSH. Now come to think of it, both turn out to have gold hardware. Hadn't realized that yet. And fortunately there has been no need yet to sell it of. But that time will come; just hope it will take another 3 decades or so ...

Non-G&L Topic: Angled Bridge Pickup

Leo is known to have been the ultimate pickup tinkerer. For those who have never seen the Factory Tour DVD, in one particular segment Leo's breadboard is shown which he used for testing newly designed pickups. The pup under test would be on a separate piece of wood such that he could shift and angle the pup until it sounded optimally in his judgement. I do not know whether that is something he already did in his early days, but I imagine that is how the Strat bridge pickup got angled. By the treble side being closer to the bridge, as you state, the trebles are thinner but it also accentuates the bass side since it picks up slightly larger vibration amplitudes being further away from the node that is the saddle. I think that's how Leo got the pickup to sound not overly shrill which it would be if it was parallel. Remember that the bridge pickup did not have a tone control on these early Strats! Just my guess ...

- Jos

Edit: Fix image link after album was lost.

[blargfromouterspace]

Non-G&L Topic: Angled Bridge Pickup
Okay, this is one that has bugged me for years. We’re at the bridge pickup, which by nature is going to be a “thinner” sound. And we’re using a single coil pickup that is going to be brighter, in some instances “thinner”. And then we angle it so the treble side is closer to the bridge, creating an even brighter and possibly “thinner” tone. Uh … why?

That's a great question. Like Jos has said, it's probably how it sounded best to Leo. On a t-type guitar you get the best 'twang' by picking the strings between the pickup and the saddles. If it were straight and further towards the saddles then that ubiquitous (is that the right word?) country sound would be something very different!


Selling regrets - I can honestly say that I don't regret selling any of my guitars. Mainly because I replaced them with G&Ls.
Amps, however, are different. I wish I'd held on to my Boogie F30 and the Marshall Vintage Modern. They got replaced with my low powered tube amps, which are great but I do miss those two!


Nice job on LR this week Kenny. Hope to see you around here!

[KenC]

I agree with Jos about the angled pickup being for balance. It may be a matter of the bass side being moved away from the bridge, rather than the treble side being angled toward it.

I have no major selling regrets, but then again the only guitars I've sold since 1982 have been trade-ups to G&Ls. The 1982 sale was a mid-70s Strat, which just didn't resonate enough for me. I had purchased the Strat a couple of months before for $400, and traded it for a new $400 Fender Bassman Ten amp. That Strat would now be worth a couple of thousand dollars, and the amp has appreciated to about $401. I have been completely happy with that amp for almost thirty years now, so I can't complain about the deal I got. Back then I didn't expect any Fender built after 1964 to ever have collector value.

I do wish I still had my first electric guitar, a Univox Mosrite copy I bought new for $75 in 1981. I traded it a few months later for the remains of a mid-70s Fender Jazz, which I put back together with old Fender parts and love to this day. The Univox was so thin and lightweight that I could flex the whole guitar back and forth to get a vibrato effect. I saw one displayed (not for sale) in a guitar shop recently, and thought for a moment about making them an offer. If it had been for sale, I definitely would have paid a reasonable price just for the sentimental value.

The main regret I have now about guitars past is that I didn't trade any of them for an SC-1...

Ken

[darwinohm]

Kenny, thanks for doing LRs this week and I have really enjoyed them.

Leo was an engineer and he knew what he was doing. As I said in another post about recording, and the same applies to pickups. If it sounds good, it probably is.

I miss the 52 Tele with the Bigsby that I sold. I went to buy it back about 6 weeks ago and it had been sold to someone else. Such is life, But I can always make another.

Kenny, I am going to leave with a before and after.

Before


After


Darwin

[SouthpawGuy]

Hi Kenny, great lunch reports this week !

G&L Topic: Leo “Signature” ASAT Special

I haven't played a signature ASAT, being left handed and in Ireland doesn't really help when it comes to playing older or rare G&L models. I do have a few ASAT Specials though and don't plan on selling them any time soon. They have a very distinctive vibe about them, the pickups are most excellent indeed. The one guitar I regret selling was a '70s Tele that I sold in 1984. I had bought it new in 1980, it had hung in the shop for a few years as it was a lefty and a bit of a plain jane, it was that particular off white yellowish cream colour and had a rosewood fingerboard and a white pickguard. Actually my introduction to G&L came as a result of trying to find a lefty tele with a rosewood board to replace that guitar. A simple task you may think but Fender don't actually make a non custom shop US tele with a rosewood board in lefty.

Non-G&L Topic: Angled Bridge Pickup

Leo got it right with the angled bridge pickup, strat style guitars with a humbucker in the bridge don't really get "that" tone, even if they do split really well, they're still missing the twang. I like strat types with a bridge humbucker, they sound really good for rock, metal or blues but at the same time I miss the sound of the bridge single coil when playing clean. A good excuse for having multiple sss, ssh,hsh and hh guitars !

My first ASAT Special

[mikenov]

Hey Kenny,
love taco bell my self.
Just the straight up taco for me with the hot sauce. Funny useless fact, At a reseraunt I used to work at the manager would have us use use TB hot sauce to polish brass. Worked like a charm. What does that say about it's impact on the human stomach?

[KennyE]

Hey Kenny,
love taco bell my self.
Just the straight up taco for me with the hot sauce. Funny useless fact, At a reseraunt I used to work at the manager would have us use use TB hot sauce to polish brass. Worked like a charm. What does that say about it's impact on the human stomach?

Hey Mike!! Welcome over to the "other" side.

One of the many uses for Coca Cola is to clean battery terminals. Whats that say?

[SouthpawGuy]

Hey Kenny,
love taco bell my self.
Just the straight up taco for me with the hot sauce. Funny useless fact, At a reseraunt I used to work at the manager would have us use use TB hot sauce to polish brass. Worked like a charm. What does that say about it's impact on the human stomach?

Hi Mike, nice to see you here.

[mikenov]

Thanks Fellas!
Not sure what took me so long!