My experience with a G&L S-500 Tribute

[Demo West]

Hello All,

A couple of months ago I bought a 2003 S-500 Tribute very cheaply not expecting much of it. The intended purpose of the instrument was to serve as a practicing guitar to protect my other guitars from too much wear. When I got the guitar I was somewhat disappointed. Its pick guard had holes drilled in and the screw for the whammy bar was missing.

Anyway, while tuning the guitar I felt some goose bumps creeping up my spine. This guitar just sounded out of this world. In this context I should explain that I own half a dozen of very good and expensive instruments well exceeding the 5,000 dollar mark. But this little cheap thing called S-500 Tribute which I had bought for less than $ 400 beat them all hands down. I'm talking here not so much of craftsmanship, but particularly of sound. It has all the characteristics admired in outstanding quality instruments for which one normally pays in excess of ten times as much.

What I'm interested in to know is whether my guitar is the exception of the rule or if the instruments from this series are all of the same high quality. In other words, does anyone on this forum have had some similar experiences with an instrument from this series?

Greetings from Germany,

Joachim

[louis cyfer]

it's like any guitar. there are great ones and not so great ones. the overall quality of the tributes is rather good though.
btw, if some of the expensive guitars that it beats are prs, don't be surprised. i have not seen a tribute that wasn't better than any prs i have ever played.

[Elwood]

does anyone on this forum have had some similar experiences with an instrument from this series?
Joachim

Hello Joachim,
I had the opposite experience with a 2003 S-500 tribute. The wood choice wasn't good (must have been 12 lbs
overall) there was epoxy filler in the neck pocket, and other noticeable negatives.
I understand that quality control issues that let lemons like mine out the door were addressed and fixed
fairly quickly.
I am happy to hear your S-500 is a great sounding instrument.
I have been thinking about buying one ( or two ) new tributes, the present line of Tributes
look great, I need to try a few.

Elwood

[Demo West]

Hi Louis,

No, the expensive guitars I was talking about are not by PRS but by the Fender Custom Shop.


Hello Elwood,

I've never tried a new S-500 Tribute but did try a new S-500 USA which didn't really suit me. Also, I played an S-500 Leo Fender Signature from 1991. Again, it's an exceptional good sounding instrument.

Regards,

Joachim

[louis cyfer]

g&l usa is basically like the fender custom shop, but a little better. recently i went to a store nearby, where they had a few dozen fender custom shop guitars, and some others, and interestingly the best guitar there was a warmoth partscaster and the second best a don grosh strat. not a single custom shop strat i was impressed with.

[Philby]

Hi Joachim,

Glad to hear you're enjoying your Tribby S-500. I have a couple of 2003 Tribby ASAT's (a Special and a Classic semi-hollow) and, from a sound point of view, they're in no way inferior to my more expensive US made instruments. Yes, some of the hardware is a little cheaper, but it still works. And the fit and finish is faultless on both my ASAT's.

As Louis and Elwood have said, there will be lemons in any range of instruments. But in my experience there are also a lot of good ones in the Tribute range. And the new Tribute range looks even better than ever. I'd love to get my hands on the new Ascari GT-90.

[Demo West]

Hello Phil,

Thanks for your reply. In terms of looks my S-500 doesn't really excite me (I don't like the head stock with the huge word "Tribute", and I don't like that the head stock is in a matt finish). It's the sound that amazes me.

Regards,

Joachim