NGD: ASAT Special

I picked up my ASAT Special last week. I ordered it in January, so the whole process took 26 weeks -- half a year! I ticked a few options, but held off on some things like stainless steel frets, which I'm still wondering about.

What motivated me to buy this guitar?
I'm a rec-room player, mainly jazz, and I've been wanting to buy a T-style guitar for years but I've never found one that pressed all the right buttons for me. I was thinking of ordering the parts from USACG or Warmoth, but when I realized that G&L made their USA guitars to order, I found what I was looking for. Here is the main things that I wanted in a T-style guitar, in order from most important to me, and that I found in my ASAT Special.

1. A wide neck -- namely, a 1 3/4" nut. I play fingerstyle, and a bit of classical guitar, so I like wide fingerboards. It was this G&L option that first caught my eye. Previously I had dismissed G&Ls because of their standard necks with 1 5/8" nuts. (It would be cool if G&L had more that one contour with a 1 3/4" nut width.) It's also funny that when my guitar was being made I got a call from G&L, via my music store, double-checking that I really wanted a neck this wide! On some other guitars this is the standard width...
2. Ebony fingerboard. I'm not a maple fingerboard guy. Rosewood is nice, but I love the ebony fingerboard I have on my Gibson L5, so I wanted that on this guitar, too. Again, G&Ls options came through for me. They also let me have the fingerboard with no inlay.
3. A clear "hifi" sounding SC neck pup. That's what I thought of the jumbo MFD pup what I tried it out in the music store. I prefer SC to HB pups.
4. The Saddlelock bridge. I'm not a fan of the traditional T-style boxed bridge and I prefer the way the Saddlelock looks, works (and feels on my picking hand).

ASAT Special
Neck:
Profile:#4 ("super-wide" 1.75" nut, 12" radius)
Locking tuners
Bone nut
Maple neck
Ebony Fingerboard
Side dots, no fingerboard inlay
Jumbo frets

Body: fairly standard, but with a...
tortoiseshell pickguard
clear orange finish on swamp ash

I tried putting TI Jazz Swing 13s on them, but the silk got in the way. D'Addario flat wound 12s are on it now, instead. When it's time to change strings, I'm going to strip the silk from the TI's and try again.

I've named my ASAT Ed, after Canadian jazz guitarist Ed Bickert, who is known for playing on a Tele, and who first motivated me to check out T-style guitars for jazz.







ps. I'm loving this guitar, thanks G&L!

LS, the guitar sounds like a beauty. The links to photos aren't working, though. The site you have them on requires registration. Could you put them up on Photobucket or something similar?

Ken

Great score LS, I see the window with the pictures and if I click on the picture it says I have to be registered. I am looking forward to the photos. Transparent Orange rocks!-- Darwin

Durn, I'll try to sort out the pictures tonight. They are on the jazz guitar forum and I thought they would be generally \visible.

the "have it your way" is pretty cool with G & L , sounds like a beauty , you have to be a member of that web site to the veiw picts

Durn, I'll try to sort out the pictures tonight. They are on the jazz guitar forum and I thought they would be generally \visible.

Congrats on the ASAT, sounds real nice.

Jazz is not always known for it's accessibility...no surprise

Extra fine ! Congrats.

Can you see there images? I've uploaded them onto TDPRI.

a shame to ruin such a nice piece of wood with a pickguard. you know, no pickgard is an available option on these.

This swamp ash finish is great, congrats!

a shame to ruin such a nice piece of wood with a pickguard. you know, no pickgard is an available option on these.

Grrr... I did not know that. Any pics?

Jeff has told me there are clear pick guards available too , so you have another option .... the PG looks fine to me , but it could be a good reason to get a ASAT Deluxe to park next to it

I wonder about how a clear pickguard will look after it picks up scratches.

Actually, I really like the tort pickguard on my Special. I was concerned it might be too red or too light, but it's a dark red that works great as a transition from the clear orange finish to the black of the pup covers and ebony fingerboard.

a T-like guitar with no PG looks naked, i don't like it... and a clear one looks awfully kitsch...

that special looks pretty cool !

a shame to ruin such a nice piece of wood with a pickguard. you know, no pickgard is an available option on these.

Grrr... I did not know that. Any pics?

i only have pics of my bluesboy without a pg. that is not an option that is available though. however dave confirmed that it is an available option for the asat special.

with

without

OP- Sweet looking guitar.

a shame to ruin such a nice piece of wood with a pickguard. you know, no pickgard is an available option on these.

Grrr... I did not know that. Any pics?

i only have pics of my bluesboy without a pg. that is not an option that is available though. however dave confirmed that it is an available option for the asat special.

I generally dislike S or T style guitars missing their PG, but your bluesboy is hot.

a shame to ruin such a nice piece of wood with a pickguard. you know, no pickgard is an available option on these.

Grrr... I did not know that. Any pics?

i only have pics of my bluesboy without a pg. that is not an option that is available though. however dave confirmed that it is an available option for the asat special.

The "no pickguard" options for both the ASAT Classic Series models and the ASAT Special models are "off-menu" options.
See Are there any "off menu" G&L options? in the G&L Knowledgebase, General G&L Questions sub-forum.

The "no pickguard" options for both the ASAT Classic Series models and the ASAT Special models are "off-menu" options.
See Are there any "off menu" G&L options? in the G&L Knowledgebase, General G&L Questions sub-forum.

I got the "no inlay, just side dots" off-menu option, but I don't see it on the list. Does that means it is now on the option list, or that is is off-off-menu?

I'm not usually a fan of semi hollow axe, but this one loks really great!

The "no pickguard" options for both the ASAT Classic Series models and the ASAT Special models are "off-menu" options.
See Are there any "off menu" G&L options? in the G&L Knowledgebase, General G&L Questions sub-forum.

I got the "no inlay, just side dots" off-menu option, but I don't see it on the list. Does that means it is now on the option list, or that is is off-off-menu?

Ah yes, this is one of the more frequent off-menu items. It's now added to the off-menu options, thanks to your post.

this is what a classic looks like with a clear pickguard, don't know in the back of my head what the routes are under the pickguard for large MFDs....and am too lazy to pop off a pickguard to look!

this is what a classic looks like with a clear pickguard, don't know in the back of my head what the routes are under the pickguard for large MFDs....and am too lazy to pop off a pickguard to look!

That clear pickguard works really well over that finish.

Not the best photo but you can see that a no pickguard or clear pickguard will work on an ASAT Special:

this is what a classic looks like with a clear pickguard, don't know in the back of my head what the routes are under the pickguard for large MFDs....and am too lazy to pop off a pickguard to look!

Unbelievable !! .... your killing me with that Buck owens ..lol.... It may be a good time to start a new porn thread Jeff , you have some killer guitars

If this was the japanese f#&$r page I could really make a post!

My true guitar love isn't even a solid body guitar Fumble....I wonder how many on here are strict g&l players and who just count them as part of their passion. If I was running out of the house and had to grab one, it wouldn't be a g&l

Jeff , I don't know about your other guitars , but your G & L's are killer .... that clear PG might look good on my blonde asat classic , that is a good idea

You know, I like the no-pickguard look especially for the semihollow. I think the ASAT's pcikguard comes too close to the f-hole, so I prefer the look of Fender Tele thinlines by comparison. But when you remove the pickguard, the ASAT wins!

your guitar has some nice grain , it would look good with the clear PG ....

sirmyghin's ASAT has one of the most tasteful solutions to seeing some grain while covering any wiring routes (if any)

Maybe he'll post some pics before I can find them . It's also a yummy deep orange .( That's probably not the correct name for that finish )

elwood

*edit
-found one ( we need more, new ,high-res porn sirmyghin )