My guitar collection - G&L
With its more traditional S-500 headstock shape, the Skyhawk Signature, available between late-1988 and late-1991, is the most Stratocaster looking of all Nighthawk/Skyhawk guitars. This one has a swamp ash body, Dual-Fulcrum Vibrato (DFV), 3 narrow-bobbin Magnetic Field Design (MFD) pups controlled by a volume control, PTB circuit, and 5-position pickup selector. It is completed by a nice hard-rock maple #2 neck with 7½” radius maple fingerboard. G&L expert Greg Gagliano states Cherryburst was the most common finish used on any Signature, I guess because the white of the decal nicely contrasts. He also points out the idiosyncrasy where the non-Signature version of the same model has the sickle headstock instead (see also e.g. my Comanche V prototype compared to my Comanche VI Signature). Greg’s ggjaguar.com website also features a 1991 Skyhawk Signature worth checking out. Although the Signature series had ceased by 1992, information on the CLF Research Skyhawk, (re)introduced in mid-2018, is found here:
Skyhawk Signature
The story behind this guitar
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Before acquiring my Skyhawk w/Kahler, I had been searching far and wide for a good Skyhawk with a maple fingerboard. As stated above, Greg Gagliano shows a 1989 Skyhawk Signature on his website with rare maple body and matching headstock which is no longer his. That particular guitar has been on sale on the web but Greg has told me a sad story about it which has prevented me to go after it. Apparently he has another Skyhawk w/maple fingerboard which might have done the trick were it not that this beauty came along on Reverb offered by Brent’s Gear Emporium. This guitar with completion data of 9/13/1990 comes with the original sales receipt from Fountain Valley Music Centers in Huntington Beach, CA dated 10-11-90 when Brent (Mayne) bought it a mere month later. As far as the pups are concerned, this one does not have a lot of variance in the DC-R values (N:4.54kΩ, M:4.56kΩ, B:4.52kΩ) and a little more quack in the middle positions as the Kahler equipped one. Many people I know are very much in love with their late-80s SC-3. This late-period Skyhawk is basically the deluxe version with a more advanced tone stack. A fabulous sounding guitar. Big fans of the Fender Stratocaster should give this vintage model a try!
The story behind this guitar
1990
G027622
SEP 7 1990
JUL 3 1990
