G&L Climax XL Approximate Value

[KevvyLava]

Hi all!

When I was about 14 (circa 1997), my dad bought me a used G&L Climax XL. He didn't know a ton about the thing, but it turns out it is a versatile guitar and I love the thing.

I was wondering what y'all figure it might be worth. It has some minor cosmetic scuffs and (as far as I can tell) all of the original hardware, including what I am pretty sure are two Japanese-made Gotoh humbuckers. I can look up the serial number if you think that would help. It has a 3-bolt neck and a blue swirl finish with no pickguard. Rosewood fretboard, black head, black hardware, and a new input jack since the original was always loose. The Floyd Rose is also a Gotoh, I believe. Not sure on the neck, but it feels like a typical fat strat neck.

Anything else you might need to know about, besides the serial?

[californiakev]

Climaxes are one of G&L's best kept secrets IMO. They are the precursor to the current Invader model. It went from the Invader, to the Climax for a couple years and back to the Invader which is the current model. Invaders are not cheap, but those in the know can still pick up a Climax for $4-700 (as of the last time I checked) and pretty much have an Invader. I've never played an invader myself, but I own a climax and it's hard to beat the Gotoh Floyd on it and ultra wide flat neck. Gotoh is the same company that makes the famous ibanez "edge" tremelo found on high end ibanezes. Best guitar for tapping I've ever used. It could be the price has gone up on them, but it's hard when barely anybody really knows about them. It's worth holding onto because the neck is very unique and a great buy if you can score one, and they are somewhat rare. Just look in the registry.. harly any there. I did see a nice example go for over $700 not too long ago, so maybe people are catching on.

[Boogie Bill]

I would buy one of these for the name alone!! LOL!

Seriously though, another great Leo-era G&L.

Bill

[KevvyLava]

Someone on ebay has been listing this Climax for about 4 months or so...I have checked regularly and saw no bids...literally 0. His original starting bid price was $650, which I am deducing to be too high considering that. He has his phone number on the listing and I bet you could get him to price it lower than the current minimum bid of $595. Says he needs to pay medical bills or whatever. I'd buy it but I don't have that much money to spend on buying a guitar that I already basically have. Here's the link, or just search "g&l climax" without the quotes:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1992-G-L-Climax ... 2c6077f499

[jimbob]

If it's the same one, I bought it last October.
This had been listed a number of times by a sort of distant or casual friend of mine.
The people that I ended up buying it from were listing it for him at his request.
I didn't know it was his until I messaged the lister and asked if it was from his collection.
He was dying of cancer. Something that he never mentioned. He was a really good guy and really took care of his guitars. Mostly G&L.
This os one of 2 or 3 guitars that I will never let go. All G&L.

[westsideduck]

Here's a little info from an old post that may interest you climax lovers

: Pickup type/characteristics
Either private label (No markings) Seymour Duncan’s wound to Duncan Distortion spec’s or Gotoh Japan made humbuckers. If you like the Duncan distortion…then you’ll like them. The pole spacing isn’t correct so the strings will never line up with the poles…no big deal…but thought I’d point that out.

The single coil is a piece of crap. It is a plastic bobbin, alnico slug-pole machine wound jobbie most probably produced by Gotoh as injection molded bobbins are identical to what I’ve found on other Gotoh single coils of that vintage.

The real problem with the Climax is the control circuit. The volume and tone pots are 1 mega ohm audio taper making humbuckers overly bright and the single coil unlistenable. Swap in a pair of 500K audio taper pots and you’ll hear a dramatic improvement overall. Also, the combined humbucker/single coil sounds are exactly that…the entire humbucker combined in parallel with the single coil…not very useful. You wire it so that the positions #2 & #4 use only one coil of each humbucker so you get a decent faux Strat “tweener” tone.

: Floyd Rose make/quality (Schaller?)

It is made by Gotoh, Japan. It is actually higher quality than the Schaller built Floyd’s. it sports a very nice billet brass sustain block. This is one of the nicest Floyd Rose type bridges ever produced. One problem with all Climax guitars is that the nut is an R-2 which is too narrow for the #3 & #4 they are typically bolted to. You’ll notice a very obvious gap up where the nut attaches to the neck. Kind of strange but easily fixed by swapping in a 1.75” wide Floyd Rose nut (R-6).

: Neck characteristics (fret size, finish type, shape/thickness)
The Climax series was inspired by the Jackson/Charvel instruments built years earlier in So-Cal by Grover Jackson. The nut width is generally 1.75” though I’ve seen a few with factory 1.625” nut widths and the radius is 12”. Basically, either a #1 or #3 G&L neck though the back profile is unique. The profile is almost a cross between a “D” and a “U” though certainly slim and fast. I guess this was G&L’s shot at the wide skinny neck. Personally, I love the profile…very comfortable to my hand. I’ve seen them finished in either Satin or Gloss poly…no rhyme or reason as to which got what.

The coolest feature of the Climax is the sculpted heel region…it really makes for a skinny neck joint region making playing up high much more comfortable. One problem with this is the reality that less wood here translates into less strength in the neck pocket region so you will often find small cracks in the joint. Not a huge deal but don’t be alarmed if you see cracks in the finish (which mean there are cracks beneath the finish in the wood). The neck joint is plenty strong…just prone to cracks.

Body wood varies…with a transparent finish they are generally ash though I’ve seen a few with maple bodies. With a solid finish they are almost always made from alder. The body shape is very obviously influenced by the 1984 neck-through Jackson Soloist or the later “Dinky” bolt-on version.

The neck is affixed with the same excellent 3-bolt, precision-tilt dealie George Fullerton was awarded a patent for back in 1970 when he worked for Ernie-Ball/Earthwood. It is the same attachment method used from 1980 to around 1997 by Music Man and G&L. Tuners are Schaller M-6 in black with a G&L logo on the housing cover. The 5-way switch is a top-quality, 2-pole CRL piece. Knobs are knurled dome jobbies in black.

Case is your basic early BBE era injection molded plastic SKB style. These aren’t the most durable cases in the world but that’s what they originally came with. If the latches have failed…no big deal, these guitars fit into just about every Strat/Superstrat case ever produced

[Craig]

I would buy one of these for the name alone!! LOL!

Seriously though, another great Leo-era G&L.

Bill

Actually, it's not a Leo-era G&L, as it came out in 1992. IIRC, Paul Gagon had a hand in it's design.

[Craig]

Here's a little info from an old post that may interest you climax lovers

: Pickup type/characteristics
Either private label (No markings) Seymour Duncan’s wound to Duncan Distortion spec’s or Gotoh Japan made humbuckers. If you like the Duncan distortion…then you’ll like them. The pole spacing isn’t correct so the strings will never line up with the poles…no big deal…but thought I’d point that out.

The single coil is a piece of crap. It is a plastic bobbin, alnico slug-pole machine wound jobbie most probably produced by Gotoh as injection molded bobbins are identical to what I’ve found on other Gotoh single coils of that vintage.

The real problem with the Climax is the control circuit. The volume and tone pots are 1 mega ohm audio taper making humbuckers overly bright and the single coil unlistenable. Swap in a pair of 500K audio taper pots and you’ll hear a dramatic improvement overall. Also, the combined humbucker/single coil sounds are exactly that…the entire humbucker combined in parallel with the single coil…not very useful. You wire it so that the positions #2 & #4 use only one coil of each humbucker so you get a decent faux Strat “tweener” tone.

: Floyd Rose make/quality (Schaller?)

It is made by Gotoh, Japan. It is actually higher quality than the Schaller built Floyd’s. it sports a very nice billet brass sustain block. This is one of the nicest Floyd Rose type bridges ever produced. One problem with all Climax guitars is that the nut is an R-2 which is too narrow for the #3 & #4 they are typically bolted to. You’ll notice a very obvious gap up where the nut attaches to the neck. Kind of strange but easily fixed by swapping in a 1.75” wide Floyd Rose nut (R-6).

: Neck characteristics (fret size, finish type, shape/thickness)
The Climax series was inspired by the Jackson/Charvel instruments built years earlier in So-Cal by Grover Jackson. The nut width is generally 1.75” though I’ve seen a few with factory 1.625” nut widths and the radius is 12”. Basically, either a #1 or #3 G&L neck though the back profile is unique. The profile is almost a cross between a “D” and a “U” though certainly slim and fast. I guess this was G&L’s shot at the wide skinny neck. Personally, I love the profile…very comfortable to my hand. I’ve seen them finished in either Satin or Gloss poly…no rhyme or reason as to which got what.

The coolest feature of the Climax is the sculpted heel region…it really makes for a skinny neck joint region making playing up high much more comfortable. One problem with this is the reality that less wood here translates into less strength in the neck pocket region so you will often find small cracks in the joint. Not a huge deal but don’t be alarmed if you see cracks in the finish (which mean there are cracks beneath the finish in the wood). The neck joint is plenty strong…just prone to cracks.

Body wood varies…with a transparent finish they are generally ash though I’ve seen a few with maple bodies. With a solid finish they are almost always made from alder. The body shape is very obviously influenced by the 1984 neck-through Jackson Soloist or the later “Dinky” bolt-on version.

The neck is affixed with the same excellent 3-bolt, precision-tilt dealie George Fullerton was awarded a patent for back in 1970 when he worked for Ernie-Ball/Earthwood. It is the same attachment method used from 1980 to around 1997 by Music Man and G&L. Tuners are Schaller M-6 in black with a G&L logo on the housing cover. The 5-way switch is a top-quality, 2-pole CRL piece. Knobs are knurled dome jobbies in black.

Case is your basic early BBE era injection molded plastic SKB style. These aren’t the most durable cases in the world but that’s what they originally came with. If the latches have failed…no big deal, these guitars fit into just about every Strat/Superstrat case ever produced

I see you found another of Gabe's posts. BTW, I posted the full version of his post (minus the photo he had included because it is no longer available) in the G&L Knowledgebase back in November of 2010 in response to a question about Climax pickups and body wood.

[Craig]

Here is a good source for determining the value:

Zachary Fjestads' Blue Book of Electric Guitars 13th edition

Hope this helps.