Treasure!

Tom Gorr · Post by **Tom Gorr** » 24 Dec 2004 12:31 pm

Went to one of the local music stores to help my sister buy a guitar for her boyfriend for Christmas. At the risk of divorce, I walked away with a new Christmas gift for myself, too.

The one I got was an Tribute ASAT Special, Tele-style, with G&L's patented "Super Magnetic Field" (or whatever they call them) pickups.

The dealer was having a blow-out/clearance on their Korean G&L line (Tribute series) due to continuous problems with the tone and volume pots and the legions of unsatisfied customers that result from having to return a "defective" guitar. In a word - whatever pots are in the Tribute series are complete junk.

Why did I buy? The sound !!! Pro-level++++ sound...and the fact that I can replace the pots with pro-quality pots in about 20 min, and upgrade this $350 bargain basement deal into a pro instrument.

Whatever Leo Fender is doing (oops..has done - may he RIP) over at G&L is something fantastic. Imagine the spark of the classic tele sound, with more sweetness built into the tone than even 15 tube stages can add. I was blown away.

Close second for me was the G&L Strat-copy S-500. Same SMF pickups as the ASAT. The difficulty was a "dead-spot" on the big E on the first 2 frets. Maybe could have been cured, but I didn't want to risk it.

Which comes to another point - quality control. The pots suck. There are dramatic inconsistencies betweeen the guitars I tried, and between guitars of the same series and model.

However-amongst all that statistical variation - I found a gem. It'll never command high resale, but how do you trade a guitar that you can't set down ?

[This message was edited by Tom Gorr on 24 December 2004 at 12:36 PM.][This message was edited by Tom Gorr on 27 December 2004 at 06:23 PM.]

Andy Greatrix · Post by **Andy Greatrix** » 24 Dec 2004 1:30 pm

You can always throw away the pots and wire it directly to the female, then run a photocell volume footpeddle. Problem solved!

ajm · Post by **ajm** » 24 Dec 2004 3:16 pm

"Whatever Leo Fender is doing over at G&L is something fantastic."

If Leo Fender has been seen recently hanging around G&L, or anywhere else, please let me know.

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Artie McEwan

Tom Gorr · Post by **Tom Gorr** » 24 Dec 2004 8:23 pm

OK AJM...If you look carefully, and listen closely, you just may...

[This message was edited by Tom Gorr on 24 December 2004 at 08:24 PM.]