Bought my first G&L at Buffalo Brothers.

[Nnanji]

Hi, I go by Nnanji and live in Southern Cal north of San Diego. I'm a drummer but as one I've been playing around with guitars all my life and started to collect them recently. Nothing too fancy, just ones I liked that hang on the wall so I can pull them down and play. I thought a Les Paul was the holy grail and I never really cared about Fender, when I had the money to buy a real Guitar I bought an LP...but I found a used Strat a while back and then started to play that...

Years later I have 8 Fenders and one Les Paul. It wasn't until recently that I really looked into G&L (Sad, since I live 1.5 hours south of them.) My brother brought them up to me so I went into BB in Carlsbad to check them out and they had a sweet little Tribute Bluesboy in Tobacco Sunburst. It fell into my hands and felt just right in my fingers, I didn't spend 5 minutes playing before buying it. What an awesome little guitar. I can barely put it down. All my other guitar's are jealous.

Now I've learned all about G&L and want some more! I have a new 2012 American Standard in Sienna Sunburst that I bought on a whim and never really pick up. I am going to trade it in on a custom S-500.

I think. I was moving towards an S-500 Deluxe in Greenburst with Rosewood and matching headstock. I'm just blown away that I can custom order what I want.

One thing I noticed in the store a lot of the G&L necks were almost unfinished. Basically raw maple. I was surprised. Is that really so popular?

Anyway happy to be here. I expect to be adding to my G&L collection as I can afford to!

[Elwood]

One thing I noticed in the store a lot of the G&L necks were almost unfinished. Basically raw maple. I was surprised. Is that really so popular?

Anyway happy to be here. I expect to be adding to my G&L collection as I can afford to!

Welcome Nnanji,
I suspect the necks you saw were mostly tribute necks , maybe with a thin satin finish?
The gloss finishes I've seen on the USA models are nice and not 'raw' at all , as you go through some recent porn threads I bet you'll see what I mean.

good to have you aboard, we need more drummers here

elwood

[meowmix]

I am going to trade it in on a custom S-500.

One thing I noticed in the store a lot of the G&L necks were almost unfinished. Basically raw maple. I was surprised. Is that really so popular?

Hi Nnanji,

Welcome to the G&L club.

I don't know much about the finishes on the neck. All of mine G&Ls have Satin, and it never has been an issue.

Just a heads up.
If you are going for the custom, you might want to figure out what hand size you are. The default nut with on G&L are 1 5/8". imo, the larger 1 3/4" fits my hand better. G&L does offer in 1 11/16", the same size as Fender.
Find what is most comfortable and do the job right. See if BB have different nut widths for you to try out.

[Nnanji]

Good advice. I was going to go over things with the guys at Buffalo Brothers who I am sure know more than I do. It's easy...that neck on the tribute bluesboy is PERFECT!

Actually they were not all Tributes. Several $1200-1400 guitars with necks as unfinished (at least it appeared to me) as my Squier Affinity Telecaster. It was pretty much no finish.

[darwinohm]

Welcome Nnanji. I had a similar situation in that I had about 17 or 18 American Fenders. I bought my first G&L about 5 years ago. I have since sold some of the Fenders and now have more G&Ls than Fenders. It doesn't take long to fall in love with them. As for the necks, the finish will vary a bit depending on when they were built. The satin seems to be stock on most and I prefer the gloss. In 2007 to 2010 range the satin was very thin. -- Darwin

[Salmon]

Hey Nnanji,

The satin untinted necks look like bare wood but there is a finish. Personally, I think it feels and looks superior. You can also get two variations of tinted neck in satin or gloss. The satin finish does not have to be the raw untinted coloring.

It depends on your temperament but I have found that I need to try something over a period of time. Although consistently the satin is my preference, if I have had the opportunity to go back days or weeks later I have sometimes changed my opinion of a neck from what I had assessed the first time out. Once I had tried satin I only considered the satin until I discovered I could equally enjoy a gloss. IOW I liked satin so much more that I did not believe I would find a neck I enjoyed equally or more than satin. However, for a custom order that I will not be able to try in advance I am going for the sure thing in satin. Whether it will be tinted or not will depend on my final choice in body finish and models.

I am also planning a custom order of an S500. I was focused on a Deluxe but have been considering a regular style with the pickguard recently.

Part of it depends on certain options and whether they are going to be available.

Speaking of Les Pauls, I was in a store and found one of the best playing necks of my life. It happened to be a Les Paul guitar. I tried several other guitars and found a G&L ASAT Z3 that was similar in feel. The Les Paul was too beat up for me. I did not want to spend $2000 on it even if it was the greatest deal of all time, (it wasn't). Anyway this was after discovering how much I loved a satin neck and both the Les Paul and the Z3 neck had gloss finishes so this was just another example of how I realized a neck could feel so good to play regardless of the finish.

[meowmix]

In 2007 to 2010 range the satin was very thin. -- Darwin

I verified this. The 90's has a nice thicker shine than the later model.

[Salmon]

In 2007 to 2010 range the satin was very thin. -- Darwin

Darwin,

Do you mean as of January 2010 it changed or that 2010 is included with the range from 2007? I am wondering because I have a 2010, 2011 and 2013 in the natural satin and all of them are identical.

[darwinohm]

I could even be off on the years. Maybe Craig can check in in this. -- Darwin

[Craig]

Hi, I go by Nnanji and live in Southern Cal north of San Diego. I'm a drummer but as one I've been playing around with guitars all my life and started to collect them recently. Nothing too fancy, just ones I liked that hang on the wall so I can pull them down and play. I thought a Les Paul was the holy grail and I never really cared about Fender, when I had the money to buy a real Guitar I bought an LP...but I found a used Strat a while back and then started to play that...

Years later I have 8 Fenders and one Les Paul. It wasn't until recently that I really looked into G&L (Sad, since I live 1.5 hours south of them.) My brother brought them up to me so I went into BB in Carlsbad to check them out and they had a sweet little Tribute Bluesboy in Tobacco Sunburst. It fell into my hands and felt just right in my fingers, I didn't spend 5 minutes playing before buying it. What an awesome little guitar. I can barely put it down. All my other guitar's are jealous.

Now I've learned all about G&L and want some more! I have a new 2012 American Standard in Sienna Sunburst that I bought on a whim and never really pick up. I am going to trade it in on a custom S-500.

I think. I was moving towards an S-500 Deluxe in Greenburst with Rosewood and matching headstock. I'm just blown away that I can custom order what I want.

One thing I noticed in the store a lot of the G&L necks were almost unfinished. Basically raw maple. I was surprised. Is that really so popular?

Anyway happy to be here. I expect to be adding to my G&L collection as I can afford to!

Welcome!

If you have not yet read this post, please do as it will help you get familar with our GbL website: Welcome! Read This First.

Regarding G&L neck finishes, all necks have a finish. The Satin finished necks do have the appearance of no finish but there is a Satin polyurethane finish on them.
See this post: Comparison of Neck Finishes.
In my experience, over time and with use, the Satin finished neck will gloss up some and feel smoother.

Please do post a photo of your Tribute Bluesboy and don't forget to add it to our G&L Registry.

Hope this helps.

[jdavies]

Hi Nnanji
As one of the characters of my favourite series of books "the reluctant swordsman" by dave duncan I greet you as a fellow G&L owner.
I started out with various other brands(Ibanez, fender(x3), yamaha etc) but became a serial G&L purchaser - as well as infecting some of my students with the bug. The last 5 guitars I bought weere G&L s and I am unlikely to change that run any time soon.

cheers
Jeremy

[Nnanji]

I can't say I like that finish. It just seems too much like raw wood.

And yes, those are some of my favorite books too. Hence the name.

Saw a used ASAT in my local Guitar Center but by the time I got there one of you had already bought it! It's kind of like a new kind of car. You don't notice them until you notice them but when you do you see them all around.

I get excited when I see that distinctive G&L headstock in videos or photos. And all the photos of the guitars they are making down in Fullerton that show up on facebook... /drool

[Nnanji]

Well since making my original post I've bought two more G&L guitars. A Tribute ASAT Special and an S-500 Deluxe. The tribute has a maple neck with that Satin finish and I have totally changed my mind about those....smooth like butter! It's got great feel and great playability.

Seriously G&L has improved my playing. Partly just from the sheer joy of how they feel and sound. Each of the three I have is simply a wonderful instrument.