ASAT Deluxe Carved Top - Tribute

[SamIV]

Hello all. New here and fairly new G&L owner. Recently picked up a ASAT Deluxe Carved Top - Tribute and this one came with a 9 inch radius neck. Everything I have read says it is supposed to be a 12" radius. It does play quite well after a fret level, polish and setup. The pickups are very nice as well. Is mine correct or is all the information I read on it incorrect?

Thanks
Sam

[Craig]

Hello all. New here and fairly new G&L owner. Recently picked up a ASAT Deluxe Carved Top - Tribute and this one came with a 9 inch radius neck. Everything I have read says it is supposed to be a 12" radius. It does play quite well after a fret level, polish and setup. The pickups are very nice as well. Is mine correct or is all the information I read on it incorrect?

Thanks
Sam

Perhaps you really have the Tribute ASAT Special Deluxe Carved Top which had the 9" radius fretboard.
Does yours look like this one? :



Or this Tribute ASAT Deluxe Carved Top which comes with the 12" radius fretboard? :

[SamIV]

Just like the the bottom one. Same color body and same color head stock.

[SamIV]

My brother has the top one and we both like it.

[Craig]

Just like the the bottom one. Same color body and same color head stock.

My brother has the top one and we both like it.

Okay, what type of radius gauge are you using to measure the fretboard?
AFAIK, this model has alway come with the 12" radius.

Perhaps you could check your brother's Tribute ASAT Special CT fretboard radius side by side with yours and see if
you can see any slight difference.

[SamIV]

Bought a set from StewMac. Under String radius gauge. Will try and post a pic below.

[darwinohm]

I would check with the 12" radius gauge. This one looks high in the center and doesn't look like it fits. -- Darwin

[Craig]

Bought a set from StewMac. Under String radius gauge. Will try and post a pic below.

Yes, that does look to be a 9" radius. Did you purchase this new from a G&L dealer? If so, it does have a
two year warranty and you might want to ask your dealer to see what they can do about getting a replacement
neck (or complete guitar with the 12" radius neck). What is the serial number? I will check with Dave McLaren at G&L and see if the
neck radius was changed during some of the production runs.

[SamIV]

Bought it off ebay. There are no dealers close to me. Guess he was a dealer, can't say for sure, but it was less expensive than most out there. He listed it as new but as a 2011 model. I will email you the serial number if that's ok. I am happy with the way the guitar plays and did not notice this until after the fret level. Have not played the 12 inch radius neck model though. Maybe this is why he was less expensive. Did not have tags or plastic on it, but it did look new. This started as more of a curious question.

[Craig]

Bought it off ebay. There are no dealers close to me. Guess he was a dealer, can't say for sure, but it was less expensive than most out there. He listed it as new but as a 2011 model. I will email you the serial number if that's ok. I am happy with the way the guitar plays and did not notice this until after the fret level. Have not played the 12 inch radius neck model though. Maybe this is why he was less expensive. Did not have tags or plastic on it, but it did look new. This started as more of a curious question.

I got your email with the serial number and forwarded it to Dave with the link to this thread. I will post his reply once I get it.

Stay tuned.

[louis cyfer]

Bought a set from StewMac. Under String radius gauge. Will try and post a pic below.

Yes, that does look to be a 9" radius. Did you purchase this new from a G&L dealer? If so, it does have a
two year warranty and you might want to ask your dealer to see what they can do about getting a replacement
neck (or complete guitar with the 12" radius neck). What is the serial number? I will check with Dave McLaren at G&L and see if the
neck radius was changed during some of the production runs.

craig, that looks like a 12. the 9.5" gauge has space in the middle, which means the profile is flatter than 9.5"

[Craig]

Bought a set from StewMac. Under String radius gauge. Will try and post a pic below.

Yes, that does look to be a 9" radius. Did you purchase this new from a G&L dealer? If so, it does have a
two year warranty and you might want to ask your dealer to see what they can do about getting a replacement
neck (or complete guitar with the 12" radius neck). What is the serial number? I will check with Dave McLaren at G&L and see if the
neck radius was changed during some of the production runs.

craig, that looks like a 12. the 9.5" gauge has space in the middle, which means the profile is flatter than 9.5"

I saw that but attributed that space for the .5" since the radius would be either 9" or 12".
Would have liked to have seen it with both a 9" gauge and 12" gauge, to be sure which it really is.

[louis cyfer]

Bought a set from StewMac. Under String radius gauge. Will try and post a pic below.

Yes, that does look to be a 9" radius. Did you purchase this new from a G&L dealer? If so, it does have a
two year warranty and you might want to ask your dealer to see what they can do about getting a replacement
neck (or complete guitar with the 12" radius neck). What is the serial number? I will check with Dave McLaren at G&L and see if the
neck radius was changed during some of the production runs.

craig, that looks like a 12. the 9.5" gauge has space in the middle, which means the profile is flatter than 9.5"

I saw that but attributed that space for the .5" since the radius would be either 9" or 12".
Would have liked to have seen it with both a 9" gauge and 12" gauge, to be sure which it really is.

the .5" is the other way. this is flatter than 9.5", so it can not possibly be 9". also, that difference is consistent with a 2.5" difference.

[Craig]

Bought a set from StewMac. Under String radius gauge. Will try and post a pic below.

Yes, that does look to be a 9" radius. Did you purchase this new from a G&L dealer? If so, it does have a
two year warranty and you might want to ask your dealer to see what they can do about getting a replacement
neck (or complete guitar with the 12" radius neck). What is the serial number? I will check with Dave McLaren at G&L and see if the
neck radius was changed during some of the production runs.

craig, that looks like a 12. the 9.5" gauge has space in the middle, which means the profile is flatter than 9.5"

I saw that but attributed that space for the .5" since the radius would be either 9" or 12".
Would have liked to have seen it with both a 9" gauge and 12" gauge, to be sure which it really is.

the .5" is the other way. this is flatter than 9.5", so it can not possibly be 9". also, that difference is consistent with a 2.5" difference.

Yep, you are correct. I do agree that he does have a 12" radius gauge. I have emailed the Sam and Dave about this and asked Sam if
he has a 12" radius gauge to check it.

Thanks for spotting this.

[SamIV]

I will post a pic of the 12" when I get home this evening, but the gaps are on each end with the 12". If you think about it, if the one the picture had a bit more round to it, there would be no gap. As I mentioned, before, this is more information for me, I like the way the guitar plays. I might have a one of a kind. But I doubt it.

[SamIV]

The more I thought about it, my post above is wrong, I think it is closer to 10 and I believe I have a 10 inch as well. Will post this evening after work.

[Craig]

The more I thought about it, my post above is wrong, I think it is closer to 10 and I believe I have a 10 inch as well. Will post this evening after work.

I will post a pic of the 12" when I get home this evening, but the gaps are on each end with the 12". If you think about it, if the one the picture had a bit more round to it, there would be no gap. As I mentioned, before, this is more information for me, I like the way the guitar plays. I might have a one of a kind. But I doubt it.

I got this reply from Dave:

Hi Craig,

Thanks for the emails. I looked at the pic and it appears that the radius is larger than that of the gauge. If the gauge is 9.5" then that gap appears reasonable for a 12" radius.

Even on a radius gauge that matches that of the fingerboard, it's easy to find bits that don't perfectly match up. The neck is wood which shrinks or expands with temp and humidity plus it was sanded to start with. The reason techs may have a set of these gauges is to help identify a fingerboard's radius, but not to verify it matches exactly everywhere on the fingerboard.

Thanks a lot, Craig.

Dave

Hope this helps.

[SamIV]

I know the pics above are not the best, but the first one shows the 12" on the G&L. The second pic is on another guitar I own sold as a 12" radius neck as well. On the G&L, it does not sit flush on either side. On the other guitar it sits flush from side to side. I also tried the 10" radius guide and it sits flush from side to side. A bit tighter on the sides than the middle.

Me posting this is not to mean anything detrimental about the G&L, I prefer it over the other guitar in the pic.

[darwinohm]

SamIV, I would say it is a 12" radius and I would check it at the end of the fretboard after the last fret. If it plays good, it is good! -- Darwin

[SamIV]

I have tried the radius gauge up and down the fret board with the same results. It is a fairly round fret board that falls off on each side. Guess it is a G&L 12" radius and I am ok with that. Just not like the Godin 12" radius guitar that I own and quit playing now that I have the G&L's.

One issue I just noticed is that I can't lower the low E string (largest E string) to follow the radius.I also have ASAT Classic with 7 1/2" radius, but it is not quite a rounded as that. I wanted lower action than the original set up, and all other strings adjusted fine using the saddles. It is higher than the A string next to it. I have the saddle as low as it can go, but it is still higher than the string next to it. Has anyone here ever filed or ground the saddles to compensate for this or would this be a bad idea?

[SamIV]

An update on this guitar. I noticed that after I did a fret level that there were several frets that were not seated, so after I seated the one in the worst shape it was way below the frets on either side, so it had to be replaced. I brought it to to someone reputable in Houston where I am working at the moment, he did another fret level after replacing the low fret, seated the remaining frets and I still have buzz in areas that I should not. His answer to me was he set the action a little higher to alleviate as much fret buzz as possible. He could set it lower, but there will be more buzz. Explained that some necks are straighter than others. Maybe a good reason to buy American. I like the feel of the neck and the sound of the guitar, but this might be a killer and I will have to sell at a big loss. Oh, and he pointed out a finish crack near the neck pocket. Live and learn.