G&L Legacy Blueburst Teles?

Eric West · From: Portland, Oregon, USA, R.I.P.

Wow! I BARELY made it through the week without buying another Tele.

A local store has one for 4 rocks.

It felt and looked really good, though I didn't plug it in for fear of buying it.

Are those adjustable pole pickups really as good as they tout them to be? ALso the 6 brass saddles looked a step up from the standards and the chromed 6ers.

Anybody got one?

I still like my CIC BSB Aff. over anything I've played so far. I've got the thin finish worn through between half the frets, and some grooves in the frets after 8 or 9 months of 3 hours a day.

I certainly hope I can stop anytime I want..

EJL

You know, what got me out was looking for a JD "Omniac", as they look real nice and Peavey has always been one of the finest. I found a place that "ordered one last summer"..After reading J Donahue's blurb however, it says that indeed he did suggest the design etc, and he said he "respects" Peavey guitars. It didn't however say that he plays one......

[This message was edited by Eric West on 02 April 2006 at 09:32 PM.]

Henry Nagle · From: Santa Rosa, California

What kind of sandpaper are you using, Eric?

Eric West · From: Portland, Oregon, USA, R.I.P.

It's Fender Custom Shop Nostalgia Relic™ 50 grit..

The CIC Squiers don't have much finish on the necks at all. I was surprised, and I suppose my fingers are dirtier than most..

EJL

David Mason · From: Cambridge, MD, USA

I humbly predict that at some point you're going to get tired of the Squiers and start to chase after some higher grade, resonant and denser wood. The Fender "model" is modular in the sense that you can always change out pickups, bridges, tuners, even frets, but the unfixable problem I notice with many of the guitars made in China, Indonesia and the cheaper Korean ones is that they often use odd, porous woods. A lightweight body can actually be an asset if that's the tone you're going for, but some of those fingerboards are one notch up from balsa wood, and that's an incurable tonekiller. The definitions of "rosewood" and "mahogany" have become very, very liberal these days - whatever's out in the yard, more or less. It's not like the good ol' days when the reddish/brown fingerboard dye actually came off on your fingers as soon as you sweated on it, but I fear that that's because the dyes have gotten better - not the wood.

Keith Cordell · From: San Diego

I'd have to disagree with you on that, David. Yeah, you have to look to find a good one, but many of the imported guitars are extremely good values, especially with some minor equipment upgrades. These days you have to dig through $3000 Gibsons to find one with any real tone; tonewoods are in short supply everywhere and the cost of domestic guitars is prohibitive.

Jack Francis · From: Queen Creek, Arizona, USA

I too have to disagree with David, I have an ash Squire Pro-Tone that easily compares
with American Fenders..The only change I made was to install an American made whammy bar.

For more info on these guitars...

http://www.squierjv.info/theprotonepage.htm

Ben Slaughter · From: Madera, California

Wait Eric, is it a Legacy (G&L's "strat" model) or an ASAT (the tele model)??

Do you mean Tribute? The Korean G&Ls

Actually, no matter, I have one of each (ASAT and Legacy), the american models, that is. I would not buy a Fender if I could put my hands on a G&L. They are a grade or 50 better than almost any Fender, save MAYBE a custom shop Fender. I still haven't played the Tribute yet, but I've heard good things.

If that shop has a blue burst american ASAT Classic, in good shape, for 4 bills, I'd grab it. If it's got a maple board, you'd better hurry, 'cause I may have my father-in-law run over there and snag for me. Which shop did you say it was at.

Jim Phelps · From: Mexico City, Mexico

Eric, if you can afford it, buy it!

Eric West · From: Portland, Oregon, USA, R.I.P.

Well it is a Korean Tribute Tele type, and I too am hep to the "wood thing". Denser is hardly ever better. I've come around on the "agathis", "swamp ash" and the other pisswoods, and mostly because of my memories of cypress flamenco guitars that were made out of it because it was cheap, and they were the snappiest sounding of all. I think it was DLD that reminded me of that. I've got a pretty good eye for maple, and the fretboard and neck are good quartersawn moderately figured maple.

I'm gonna see how the next week goes and probably go down to the un-named music store and grab it.

I still haven't found a better feeling tele than my CIC BSB. I dunno how or why but to me and a few others that have played it, it matched right up or they liked it better than their own. (One USA, and two MIMs).

On my CIC BSB I have been pretty hard on the fretboard, and actually I'm wondering if the frets aren't a tad soft. Also the brittle finish chips pretty easily, but then I stuff it alongside my couch upstairs. Oh well.

I replaced the pickguard with a 4 ply pearlite, epoxied a cup in the input, put a set of schallers and a Hipshot Drop D on it ( I really like it, and don't find it hard to tune in the least.), I paid as much for the upgrades as I did the whole guitar. As far as a neck or refret, I have two more lesser favorite squiers with the 42mm necks that I'll swap with providing they fit when I need to in a year or so. Who knows?

A lot of times I notice that if the store bothers to set them up right before they hang them on the wall as far as intonation, string height, etc people will get a better impression of them. A lot of them don't seem to figure this out.

I'll see how this next couple gigs go and whether or not I feel I really deserve one.

The neck wood and fretboard and frets seemed a little more precision than the norm, and I sure like that blue color. Also, besides the 6 barrels I liked the flush input.

I think I'll bring my CIC BSB down and compare pickups with it Saturday. I like the adjustable poles in the GL.

Incidentally, I got a Sq Tele Custom II and didn't like the P90 on the bridge so I went down and bought a used "Duncan Designed" (Sq) HB Pu with less impedance, and put it in. It was much brighter, and I like it. (16$).

Thanks for this and any more info.

EJL

[This message was edited by Eric West on 03 April 2006 at 07:29 PM.]

David Mason · From: Cambridge, MD, USA

I know there are some really good values out there in imported guitars, but there ARE some differences too. I have an Indonesian Ibanez and an Indonesian Squier mini-Strat that I believe were made in the same factory because of some finishing clues, but the Ibanez is way ahead of the Squier as far as the quality of the wood, components and overall quality control - I had to reset and crown some frets on the Squier right off the bat, and the original tuners were a joke. Because of the sponge-y fingerboard, it's not worth putting any more money into it after that - I got it for $70 new, after all. However, the zoominess of the size was enough to convince me to spend $400 on wood from Warmoth to build up a high-end "little" Mustang variant.

The best of the Korean imports are very good indeed, the DeArmonds and Schecters (and Ravens?

) and such. Sooner or later, somebody will start tracking which guitars are made at which Korean factories, like they are with the Matsumoku guitars from Japan.

Brad Sarno · From: St. Louis, MO USA

I recently found a used G&L Tribute Classic ASAT. I think that's the name. It's the Korean imported ASAT, sunburst, maple neck. The setup was crap. I had to bring the nut slots down to playing levels. But most cheap guitars are set up poorly. That's where the time and money is saved on the manufacturing end of things.

But, I'll tell ya, after dialing in the nut, getting the truss rod right, setting those nice brass saddles for height and intonation, setting the pickup height, upgrading the pickup switch and the pots, etc., this guitar is wonderful. It's the best $300 I think I've ever spent on a guitar. It's just a great telecaster. Real nice gig bag too. I generally hate contributing to the cheap import market, but this was hard to pass up at $300 used. Lately it's become my #1 guitar. Good weight, great tone, great feel, real responsive and expressive, does that Tele thing. I'm lovin it. Those G&L pickups sound pretty good too, and they're very hot, surprisingly hot.

Does anyone know what the body wood is on this one? Poplar, basswood, alder? Doesn't look like ash. It's a couple of years old, sunburst, maple fretboard.

Brad

Ben Slaughter · From: Madera, California

Brad, think they used basswood on the standard Tributes.

$400 might be a little steep for a Tribute, if it's used. But I guess you didn't say if it were new or used. Lots of them on ebay.

The blue is pretty sweet. I have an ASAT Classic, a Legacy, and an L2500 5-string bass all in blue burst.

My ASAT was my #1 for a solid 5 years when I was on guitar full time. I ate through 3 sets of saddles, just the acid from my hand. I now have compensated stainless steel 3-saddle on there.

There has been some very good quality guitars come out of Korea. I've got a Cort, that is a great guitar.

Eric West · From: Portland, Oregon, USA, R.I.P.

Well I got it.

It was mislabeled as to the price and it was instead the "Premium" with a much higher "discount" price. However the owner of Apple Music stood by the original mismarking and I got it for 420. About 70$ less than it should have been for the Premium Blueburst. He said his "teles" have been selling lately and he's been running out of them.

I couldn't be happier with it.

I put my Drop D on it, polished the semigloss fretbard so as not to pick up dirt like they do, threw on a set of 11 Elixirs, and DANG! What a nice feeling, playing and sounding rig. Those GL/USA pickups STING!

Now I'm REALLY going to stop buying telecasters...

Really.

EJL

Jim Phelps · From: Mexico City, Mexico

Good for you, Eric! Sounds to me like a worthwhile addition to your teles, they each have just a little something unique.

I've been reading these remarks about "spongy" fretboards on some Korean guitars... I've only had a few Korean gits but there sure was no sponginess about the fingerboards or anywhere else that I noticed.... I had a DeArmond M75T for a couple years and it was excellent, the craftsmanship was equal with anyone's. I've had a couple Washburn hollowbodies, a J-6 and a J-9, had the J-6 for about 9 years, played it as my main axe and there wasn't a sign of wear anywhere on it. Only reason I don't still have the DeArmond and the J-6 were because of a financial bind some years back. I still have the J-9 and all 7 other guys in the band plus the soundman, tech and roadies prefer its sound to all my other guitars, unamimously, that's never happened before. No wear on the neck, frets or anywhere else on it either, and had it about 6 years.

As for setup, I'm sure on the cheaper gits the setup is worse, but I haven't seen a guitar new in the store with a decent setup except for the highend jazzboxes.

By the way, if you've got a digital camera, some pics of these axes would be cool.

[This message was edited by Jim Phelps on 06 April 2006 at 10:38 PM.]

Webb Kline · From: Orangeville, PA

Our lead player has a very well stocked guitar shop, owns just about every good guitar out there. But, he has that same G&L Tribute Tele and it is the only guitar in his collection that always makes it on stage with him. He loves it and to my ears, it is the best sounding guitar he has.

Eric West · From: Portland, Oregon, USA, R.I.P.

Well I played it tonite, and it really cut through. Our lead player LOVED it.

I think I'll toy with the pickup height and back it off the low end a bit. It might have been set up for lighter strings on the bottom.

I'll post some pix when I get ten minutes to "play with".

I'm slammed for time.

EJL

Jim Peters · From: St. Louis, Missouri, USA, R.I.P.

The 2 guitars I play out now were both inexpensive. I have a NV tele that I paid 350 for with HS case and a Godin Freeway classic that'll hang with any guitar I've ever owned, it cost $380 new with a great gig bag, and it is built in the US of A(pieces cut in Canada). A guitar doesn't know its name or where it was built. If you like it, go for it. JP

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