G&L ASAT Classic Bluesboy Semi Hollow

[wingsdad]

In the mid-70's I had a '72 Tele Custom that was my go-to ax. I sold her to survive when the thing I was doing in New England folded up in 1981, and I'd regretted it since.

Itching for the penultimate 'Telecaster', 5 weeks ago I decided to take the plunge: I ordered a new customized G&L ASAT Classic Bluesboy Semi-Hollow, with my favorite local GAS Station Owner's help. He was quoted a minimum 6 weeks, as much as 14 weeks til delivery.

This is now my 3rd G&L, my other 2, previously owned.

She came in surprisingly ahead of time, landing Friday morning at the dealer. I got the call, and took my lunch hour to meet & greet her.

When we opened the box, I was worried they'd messed up. I'd upgraded from the standard SKB Molded case (like for my other, much different, ASAT Semi-Hollow) to a black Tolex G&G case. Instead, I saw the even more upgraded Vintage Tweed Cloth G&G case, like the one for my Comanche.

To my relief, here's what I saw when I first opened the case:



That's Cherryburst on a Swamp Ash body with Natural wood top binding, 3-ply Creme Pickguard, Rock Maple neck and fingerboard with a Polished Gloss over Gun-Oil Tint finish.

Semi Hollow? Yep. I took the option to go with no f-hole, getting the acoustic resonance of twin Voice Chambers under the hood.

A few pics in the morning sun yesterday show her natural beauty:




The bridge pickup is Leo Fender's Magnetic Field Design Single Coil, improving on his original Fender creation using 6 ceramic magnets with adjustable polepieces, wax potted. The 6 barrel bridge saddles are solid brass:



At the store, I test drove her with a Peavey ValveKing Royal 8, then with a Peavey Classic 30. While the Classic 30 sounded great with her controlling it, I've been having a blast putting my Tech21 Trademark 60 thru all kinds of things since Friday night. Sounds pretty cool with the Boss MicroCube, too, especially on the Black Face setting. Since all my guitars have thier own personality and thus, names, between her looks and her sounds, I first dubbed her "Cherry Bomb".

EDIT 7-11-08: When I ordered it, the G&L Website AND my dealer's pricelist showed the stock neck pickup as G&L's new Alnico V Nickel-covered Humbucker, with a Duncan Seth Lover SH55N, an Alnico II mag pup, and thus a bit 'softer' or 'silkier' than an Alnico V, previously the stock neck pup, optional at an upgrade charge. I figured I'd just go with the G&L, since I love thier pups. But...now, 3 months later, I learned from the G&L Discussion Group site that it seems G&L erred back in March...they're keeping the Lover stock on Bluesboys, and they updated their website accordingly. Curious on the exact build date anyway - like Leo used to do when Fender was his company, it's 'secretly' hidden in the neck pocket - I took the neck off (build dates neck Apr 2- body/completed Apr 10 08), then the pickguard, and found the Duncan under the hood!



That remorse over letting go of my '72 Tele Custom has been washed away.