My guitar collection - G&L

 
 

The ASAT ‘Super’ falls in the Special Build category of instruments produced by G&L’s Custom Creations Department. About 104 have been built and most of these guitars are registered on the Guitars by Leo (GbL) website, which provides you with a wealth of information for any and all G&L enthusiast. As far as visuals go, this guitar is the “love child” of the Limited Edition ASAT ‘Junior’ and the “mass-produced” ASAT Special. It has the Tobacco Sunburst finished, chambered mahogany body and neck of the ‘Junior’ but comes equipped with the G&L Saddle-Lock bridge of the Special. Its lineage from the ‘Junior’ is emphasized by the “Jr II” marking found on the neck heel of this exemplar. The Jumbo Magnetic Field Design (MFD) pickups usually found on an ASAT Special were specially overwound for this edition to get a little more girth: the neck pickup with 42 AWG wire, 43 AWG wire for the bridge pickup. The body also sports a Les Paul style pickguard and rear-loaded customized wiring harness consisting of a 3-position pickup selector, volume control, and tone control. And since this guitar is part of the first 10 built (it is #10 to be precise, completed on 5/28/2004), these controls are LP style instead of the chrome knurled knobs found on (most) later Supers. The mahogany neck has an 12” ebony fingerboard, with Dunlop (Medium) Jumbo 6100 frets and 1⅝” nut. For more information on this custom model, see this archived snapshot from 2017.

 

ASAT ‘super

The story behind this guitar

Year:

Serial number:

Neck date:

Body date:

Strings:


When this model came to market, the original webpage included a list of the first 57 guitars built, extended to 58 by end of 2005. The table specifies when they were completed and to which dealer they had been shipped, if available. The only one ending up in Seattle could be found at Emerald City Guitars which had taken over as G&L dealer after the demise of The Zobrist. The guitar was available for $2300.- (if memory serves me) and sounded wonderful. I should have bought it there and then. Instead I waited; a little too long as it turned out, because the guitar was gone at my next visit. Or maybe it was destiny. While browsing eBay late-2008, I just typed in “Junior” first (no hits) and then “Super”. There it showed up: the 10th made, for a fraction of the price quoted above, with “Buy It Now” available! I pulled the trigger almost right away, after a day of due diligence since you will never know. The guitar was registered at GbL, serial number was correct, Harmony Central had a couple of helpful reviews, so it was purchased. The case contained an additional ‘Junior’ style pickguard and print-outs of the webpages I had been staring at many times in 2004. As far as sound is concerned, this one has worked itself right to the top 5 of my favorite axes. The capacitor in the tone control circuitry is bypassed when turned to 10, meaning no highs are drained off and there is lots of sparkle to the sound. But you can get some delicious “mother” tones when you turn it down. Both pickups are great but especially the neck pickup is in and by itself one of the best pickups I have ever heard. Kudos to the Custom Creations Department!

The story behind this guitar

2004

CLF11070 (#10 of first 57)

none, marked “JR II”

MAY 20 2004

D’Addario EXL110 Nickel Wound Regular Light (10-46)