1987 G&L ASAT Electric Guitar
The American-made, Leo Fender-curated, G&L instruments are quality products. While many suffer a small bit from '80s fashion sense, the ASAT models are retro enough to remain classics. This one, while sporting black hardware, remains tres cool. Perhaps it's because that hardware has a textured coating or perhaps because the sunburst finish has weather-checked just-so -- there's a certain something about this guitar that makes it a little more approachable, I think, to a vintage snob like myself.
It may also just be that it sounds good, too. The proprietary G&L pickups have an excellent voice to them. The neck pickup sounds a lot like an early, mids-centric Jaguar pickup while the bridge pickup is a slightly mellowed take on a Telecaster bridge sound. It has plenty of "country twang" for my ears. The neck pickup's extra girth and clarity-of-voice also makes it immediately more usable than a stock Tele-style neck pickup.
Mr. Fender thought of many improvements to his basic designs for the G&L range, and the "locking saddle" bridge design, two-piece maple neck (to avoid twist), and pickups are the most obvious ones. They all help to contribute to a stable, reliable, professional build.
Work included: a fret level/dress, cleaning, replacement a faulty panel jack with a football-style plate and standard Switchcraft jack, and full setup. It play spot-on with hair-over 1/16" EA and 1/16" DGBE action at the 12th fret, strung with 46w-10 gauges.
Scale length: 25 1/2"
Nut width: 1 5/8"
String spacing at nut: 1 7/16"
String spacing at saddle: 2 1/8"
Body length: 16 1/8"
Lower bout width: 12 5/8"
Upper bout width: 10 7/8"
Side depth at endblock: 1 3/4"
Neck profile: ~12" board, slim-C rear
Weight: 9 lb, 0 oz
Body wood: maple
Neck wood: maple
Fretboard: ebony
Condition notes: the pickguard is cracked in two places -- one near the neck joint and one at the "horn" -- the horn crack has a missing piece of pickguard, unfortunately. I also replaced the terrible (they always fail) panel jack with a football-style jack plate and normal Switchcraft jack. The owner also dressed-up the finish on the back of the neck where its center-seam had a raised portion of finish previously. The guitar is otherwise entirely original and has a great, aged-in look to its body finish. Lastly, I added a leather pad to the reverse of the string tree at the headstock to give better back-angle on the strings at the nut.
It comes with: its original hard shell case with original sales material.
It comes with: its original hard shell case with original sales material.
The three-bolt neck features micro-tilt for more major action adjustments.
Comments
I have a 3 bolt ASAT almost exactly like the one in the pix, same color I bought new in 95.
I especially wanted the black bridge, control plate and the black tuners but the factory gooched me and it came to the store with the standard silver tuners.
The store called G&L while I was standing there and asked them why.
G&L said they were out of stock and didn't offer them any more.
Oh wait!!
We forgot to update the catalogue....right.
The store offered to refund the money but I knew that I could get black tuners elsewhere.
Some years later I got a set of Sperzel black lockers and now it looks exactly like the ASAT in the pix.
Nine years later the neck developed a hump at about the 15th fret so I drove over to BBE and they said...'yep, we will replace it under the 10 year warrantee'.
I picked it up at the famed G&L factory a couple weeks later, saw Leo's workbench and I've been playing it ever since.
I hope OSHA never sees the inside of that place!!