My guitar collection - G&L
Another ASAT with the rare pre-BBE #5 (guitar) neck. The history of this #5 oddity is given in the context of this ASAT w/Kahler and ebony fingerboard. Even though it has a swamp ash body instead of maple, it is still an ASAT from the first year of production under that name exhibiting all the other traits of that era: black powder-coated Locktight (Saddle-Lock) bridge, single-ply black plastic guard with 8 mounting screws, 2 Jumbo Magnetic Field Design (MFD) single-coil pickups, Broadcaster wiring harness under the blackpowder-coated control panel, and black anodized G&L branded closed tuning machines. As an engineer, I cannot but admire the ingenuity of the 2²¹⁄₆₄” flare on the neck, starting at the 15th fret, to create space for the flatter (25”) and wider ebony fingerboard. At the time of writing, the Guitars by Leo Registry returned 39 entries when searching for “#5 neck” but most entries are for the #5 bass neck. Funny there a 2 on the ASAT in this collection now and none on any of my Superstrats where it would be more natural.
ASAT w/#5 neck
The story behind this guitar
Year:
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This guitar was once owned by noted G&L expert Greg Gagliano and is featured here on his wonderful ggjaguar.com website. Many of his guitars have shown up at Atomic Music in Beltsville, MD, as did this one in June 2021 at a more than reasonable price. As any other contemporaneous ASAT, this is one sweet sounding guitar. However, to my surprise the DC-R values for both pickups turned out to be more in line with the modern day Jumbo MFD. But how about its looks? What is now called Butterscotch Blonde is a very popular finish, especially for Tele-models. However, it is easily forgotten no such thing as a Butterscotch finish existed back in the day. Rather, these instruments were finished in a Blonde finish with a nitrocellulose lacquer. Nitrocellulose tends to yellow with age and exposure to UV light, like any sunlight. This has no major effect on most finishes but some others are notorious for changing quite a bit. Take for instance Viking Blue, here seen in ads on a SC-3 and SB-2. One will be hard-pressed to find a vintage instrument still showing that color nowadays; typically they look to be finished in a particular Green now. Or Red turning into an Orange hue. But the most famous is how Blonde turns into a glorious Butterscotch Blonde over time, as has happened to this guitar. The picture below of the body without the guard demonstrates how much the original Blonde finish has changed.
The story behind this guitar
1986
G019218
SEP 16 1986, second stamp AUG 29 1986
MAY 27 1986
