G&L ASAT Classic Tribute Series

The ASAT Classic is basically a Tele, so you can't rave about the features. It is a basic guitar, but what it has is very nice indeed! There is not a feature of this guitar that is not excellent!

Mine is a natural finish ash body with a maple neck and tortise shell pickguard.

I play mostly rockabilly and early rock and roll, and this guitar covers all the ground a Tele would - and the Tele was a mainstay of this kind of music. I have a Fender Classic 50's Tele with original vintage pickups, and I have to admit, the pickups on my ASAT are hotter. The Tele pickups are "smoother", while these are "hotter". It took a little bit to get used to the difference, but now, all is well.

I think the ASAT is really a country guitar - it loves to twang.

The guitar was very nice out of the box - the only thing I had to change was the string height. Easy enough to do.

It has taken a little while to get used to the satin finsh neck (my other guitars are all gloss finish), but that would be my only issue - not a very big one at that.

Overall, the fit and finish are superior to my 50's Tele (sorry, Fender).

I don't see any issues with this guitar - every thing seems well made and rock solid.

I have not had any issues, so I really can't comment on way or the other.

I bought this by throwing out a rediculously low bid on an ebay action where a music store was getting rid of some old stock. Picked it up new and shipped for $400.00. I feel like I stole it!

The only thing I don't love about this guitar is the tortise shell pickguard - never have liked 'em. A replacement is not as easily available as a Tele pickguard would be, so that is a minor issue.

All and all, I am very happy. The best part - when my wife heard I bought a new guitar, well... You can imagine the reaction. When I pulled my ASAT out of the box, she gasped, "It's beautiful!"

Sadly, it has not made me play like Brian Setzer or James Burton, but I am keeping my fingers crossed!

I would have to recommend the ASAT over a comparable Tele - the build quality is just superior.

For any reader who's so inclined, I apologize up front because i'm not going to provide alot of technical "detail" about my ASAT Tribute Classic....mainly because i DON'T KNOW. I've wanted to add a Tele-style guitar to my lineup, and when i happened across a good deal on eBay recently, i got into a last-minute "1-click" bidding war for a nice model, and won.

You can read about features, tech details, etc., in other places. I just wanted to share my personal experience briefly.

Overall, the materials & build quality are pretty darn good for a guitar that only sells for $600-$700 or so when new. This guitar is DEFINITELY a better deal than the US-made (non-Tribute) "Classic" ... i'm sorry, but i just feel this way. Paying 3-times MORE for a guitar that has the same materials and electronics as the Asian-made Tributes is just not cost-effective. It's obvious to me that they purposely hold off on some of the "refinements" to the guitar - such as smoothing-out the fret edges - on the Tributes, so that they can justify the higher-cost of the US-made Classic. Call me a cynic, but it's true .... the Asian-made Tributes are fine instruments, and are totally playable and sound great, and a much-lower price point. Having said this, i did have to perform some filing maintenance on the frets to smooth out the neck .... but at the price, a 10/15-minute task is a good compromise.

The main thing about this ASAT (my first G&L guitar) is that the single coils in this baby are HOT. Actually, took me a while to get into the groove with this guitar. The middle-pup toggle position is my favorite here .... really beautiful harmonics; gets that nice "chime" sound that works well for rhythm and lead lines. The Neck position is actually pretty nice as well....bluesy, jazzy; roll off the tone knob a bit and you get a nice, rounded jazz tone, something i didn't expect on a style-style guitar. I don't take to straight bridge pup playing on ANY guitar, so i have no useful comment about that. Otherwise, i'd say this ASAT Tribute is an excellent choice for a Tele lover.

Action is good and easily set, with no hint of fret buzz. Finish is excellent. Intonation is perfect. I mentioned the rough fret edges above, which was easily solved in 10 minutes with a small file. Neck is a bit 'fatter' than a true thinline, but feels good.

Build quality is excellent; electronics are fine, toggle and pots smooth & firm. The strap hooks are on the small side, so you may have a problem here, without strap locks.

No opinion.

Said it all in the other sections. I finally have a G&L, and i'm glad i picked a Tribute, 'coz i've got better things to do with the extra $'s than pump them into G&L's profit margin on the US version.

2008 Indonesia model, 22 frets, single coil pickups, ash body ,glossy finish, maple neck, tele style, string through body, C shaped neck, jumbo frets, thick gig bag included.

Sounds like a tele should. Strong pickups. Very bright and full. Not noisy as far as electronics. Goes from rock a billy to rock easily. Can cover all styles. A versatile guitar. Sounds better than any tele I've heard.

Here's the interesting part. Action was WAY TOO HIGH. Lowered it quite a bit to get it playable. Although neck was set properly. It came with 10 gauge strings but I put 9's on it due to my preference(small hands). After that, all is well. Pick ups adjusted properly from the factory and glossy finish is beautiful.

Seems very rugged. A solid built guitar. Better to have a backup for gigging but I don't think you'll need it.

This is where G&L shines. The dealer I bought it from was an e-bay guitar store in MA. Once I handed over the money, they didn't want to respond as far as warranty issues or problems(typical). Luckily, I contacted the repairman by e-mail at g&l named Chris who stepped up and told me they would take care of any problems. He gave me the proper set up measurements which took care of that problem and still offered to go over the guitar if I still wanted to send it in. They stand behind their product.

I've been playing for over 25 years and this is the most enjoyable tele I've had. It's like a highway one with the jumbo frets but has a unique sound. This is a keeper and for the money, you can't go wrong. Even if you have to have a set up done on it, once it's done you will be very pleased.

sunburst, rosewood 22frets fingerboard
body and bridge tele-style
made in korea
volume and tone knob, 3 way switch
S/S

It's a tone machine. Changing de switch and rolling the tone knob makes all the difference. Lots of sustain. The pickups are _powerful_! Can get clean and bright sound and very good distortions as well (not Sepultura-like distortions, but that is a good thing).

The fingerboard and frets are smoooooth! The action is low as I like it, but I don't know if it was G&L or the guy from the store to set it up. Pickups sound very well adjusted too. The knobs and switch are noiseless, the tunners are solid... avereything seems made with perfection in mind. The woods are awsome, all the details.. nothing to point out really.

I think it would survive being hit by a truck. This thing is solid. However, strings can break so I'd use a backup on stage (if I had one)!

2 years.. but never had to deal with them.

I've been playing eletric guitar for 7 years. I always played with cheap junk guitars.. I regreat I didn't buy a better guitar before. I bought this one without testing it (hey, i toke the chance!) because i wasn't satisfied with the sound and finnish of other low price Teles (like mexicans, highways ones, etc). I am very satisfied with it and recommend it to anyone wanting a pro guitar without the money to spend on an American made one.

Tele style. I'll have to say the pickups sounded pretty good only thing about this guitar that was made in the US. I think this one was made in China or Korea. Some of these foreign guitars aren't that bad but you have to be careful. The good Japanese guitars are the best.

The guitar was bought from Bobby at Oklahoma Vintage Guitars. This is one of the worst guitars I have ever played. Not just a few but every fret on the guitar would cause your fingers to bleed if you played it long enough. The action was set so high it felt like you were playing a guitar from Wal-Mart. I tried lowering the action just a little bit which caused the strings to buzz immediately and the truss rod was adjusted correctly. Before this guitar I ordered another guitar from this company and the wrong neck was put on it. Most hateful people I have ever dealt with. Charged me with restocking fees and any charge they could come up with.

Like I said you would have had to file the ends on every fret to get them smoothed out and I've never seen a guitar with the strings set so high that you couldn't lower the action just a little bit without causing the strings to buzz. No kidding I turned the allen screws out about a half of turn to lower them which isn't very much and the damn strings started buzzing. This is a guitar your paying $428 bucks for.

I don't know when I called to get an RA# to send it back the salesman said in a hateful voice just send it back and then slammed the phone down. Here I am I have done business with about every music company that you can name and have never been treated in a manner like this. In his e-mail he had the nerve to say his company would not do business with me again. After paying this company $55.00 dollars for a piece of shit guitar that I played for about 30 minutes.

Do not ever deal with this company. I was charged $13 dollars for an order I cancelled before the guitar was ever shipped. I was also charged another $13.00 dollars for something I don't even know about and charged for their $29.00 shipping fee and then my expense from UPS to send the guitar back. And then he said he could have charged me a 25% restocking fee which is not stated anywhere in the discription about the guitar.

I have been playing guitar for about forty years. I have a couple of Epi Elitists a SG and a Les Paul these MIJ Elitists are better than Gibson in my opinion an 80's MIJ Strat with Rio Grande P/U's a 15 year old Squire Telecaster nice guitar and a 35 year old Dual Showman Reverb. So I've been around the music scene for a while I'm 53. And to repeat one more time out of all the music gear I have bought I have never been treated like I was at this Billy Bob's Oklahoma guitar. If you buy a guitar from that place and end up not liking it you can kiss a hundred bucks down the drain.

most of it has been covered. mine is a solid body, cherry sun burst. pickup config is Single Single. Made in Korea, not sure when probably 04. Its a bear bones guitar, volume, and tone knob, 3 way pickup selecter and a tel style through body bridge.

It suits all the styles I play which is country, blues, rock, hard rock, classic rock, progressive, punk, alternative, metal and grunge...throw in what ever else you want to in there and i play it. This guitar can easily do them all...although, its more focused towards nashville country style, blues/jazz and some classic rock. I am using a peavey bandit 1 12, and a fender hotrod deville 2 12. Stomp boxes include boss DD3, boss DS1, boss HM3, danelectro corus, some kind of wah and zoom 505...as well as the peavey's wide range of destortions and the fenders drive channel. Its noisy because its a single coil. I am going to do a complete copper shielding job on it eventually and probably a complete re-wire job with shielded cabling inside the body. Very rich full sound with the american made Pups...has a very nice twangy and somewhat bright telly sound on the bridge pickup and an unbelievably creamy and fat blues tone on the neck pickup...use of the tone knob will make it very jazzy and beautiful. Only dislikes are that the stock electronics IE volume knob and tone knob and pickup selecter are garbage...the volume knob was a dud from the factory and it has to be replaced....as i said, a complete rewire job is on the near horizon.

Other then tweaking the action a tiny bit to reduce fret buz, and setting up intonation there was basically nothing that had to be done. Its a given fact that almost any guitar has to be intonated and setup for each individual player. I did replace the 9's that it came with with 10's which probably accounting for the action and intonation setup after.

very dependable. The electronics are just enough to do the job, but i wouldn't want to depend on them for very long. Always bring a backup regardless of the price and quality of the guitar...if not because it will break, but simply for string breakage and time factors and so on. Finish is really great, looks like it will last a long time. Everything else is great.

never dealt with G and L. It has a one year parts and labour worantee.

I bought this telly because i am interested in learning nashville style country including finger picking and i needed that nice bright telly twang and snap to learn that style. The price was good for an upper end guitar and the pickups had me sold the minute i began to play. The Pups are the strongest quality of this axe. American made and very versitile. I would get another if it was stolen.

Made in Korea
22 Frets
Thinline, Semi-Hollow
Volume and Tone Knobs
2 Single coil pickups standard tele style
Maple neck, Ash body
It came with a gig bag, but I got a hard case for safety.

This thing is so versatile, you can go from country to pop to metal with this thing. I find the bridge pickup a little week but with the toggle switch in the middle or neck position it has fat tone. I played a lot of American Tele's and nothing compares to this G&L. Like I said this is a thinline and it blows away the 69 & 72 reissues that fender has. I like playing straight forward rock with a little gingle and jangle and this is my favorite guitar that I own. I play through a fender hot rod deluxe and it sounds exceptional.

The action was pretty high when I got it, so I had it lowered and some fret work done. It plays great now. The fit of the neck is great and it has a satin finish. The fit and the feel of the body is just like a tele. It being a thinline throws off the balance a little bit when using it standing up with a strap. When you let it set with no hands the head starts to dive a little. It threw me off a little in the beginning, but I got used to it.

I've played this thing live many times (that's why I got the hard case) and have not been worried about durability. I plan on having this guitar until the day I die.

N/A

I've been playing for 16 years, this is the 6th guitar I've owned and the best purchase of them all. I'd buy it again if I needed to, but instead of buying new I would buy it off of ebay, they are going for much cheaper. I love the tone the look and the feel of the neck, I can't think of a guitar that I would rather have.

Ok, I guess it's an 8, but I think this is a rather silly category as Tele-style guitars aren't exactly meant to be as complicated as the Space Shuttle. I bought the Tribute ASAT Classic Semi-Hollow that comes automatically with the Premium, Swamp Ash body and premium finish, with a maple fret board. The finish is beautiful. Blows Am. Stand. Tele's away. Made in Korea, yeah, KOREA, and you know what? I played several Am. Teles, including the Highway One series and some vintage Teles and this one is A) prettier by far b) comfortable as all get out- more comfortable than any Fender I played c) plays beautifully with it's 9" radius and I have BIG hands, and d) SOUNDS UNBELIEVABLE! Ok, I'll be critical. It's kind of ugly in some respects as the maple fretboard, black single coils, and sunburst finish look a bit odd. But the finish on the body is SO nice that it makes it easy to overlook it's weirdness. I wish it came with a humbucker like they're bluesboy model but what're you going to do? The tuners are fastastic, better than the Grovers I put on my DeArmond. The frets are jumbo but the radius and width make it perfect for my hands. The Fender 51 reissue DOES NOT allow you to do serious bluesy bends, and the 12" scale of the necks make them bulky. This neck is very fast. The gig-bag is lame. But you can get a case on Ebay cheap.

10. Period. Forget Fender, ok? Oh, yeah, your gear-head friends will laugh at you for not buying American but when they hear your new KOREAN guitar, their draws will drop to the floor and then you can run over and beat them in the head with your axe for being such a#$holes. If you want to drop $1200 for a Fender vintage reissue, be my guest. I'd still tell you to go get an Am. G&L or better yet, TWO Tributes. Why? Sound, baby! The pickups are incredible. Full of nuances and they are loud. Plus, with very minor movements of the tone knobs you can get a variety of tones from rock to blues to jazz and of course country. The highs are all sparkly, with all sorts of under and over tones. You can even get serious strat tones (think strat second/fourth position). Imagine a note is like a big firework going off, you hear the boom but then there are all these crackles. Or better yet, visualize the sound as a big firework going off. All that color represents the tones you get from this guitar. I mean it, this thing is a TONE MACHINE. Again, I played several Am. Teles including vintage Teles and bought this. I play it through a Carvin vintage 50 Tube Amp with basically just a Tube screamer. I play dirty Chicago blues and acid and blues rock from the 60s and 70s and this thing is just amazing (Exile-era Stones, MC-5, Pigpen-era Dead). It provides the tone I've been searching for my entire life. This guitar replaces my Starfire III semi-hollow. Look, if you have a gear-fetish, go overpay for a guitar with a coporate logo on it that simply won't sound as good as this guitar. But if, like me, you're into music to make MUSIC and not because you're a competive bonehead who has $3000 worth of gear but can't play lead and wouldn't know the mixolydian scale if it smacked them upside the head, go play a Tele, and then go play the Tribute ASAT. I know which one you'll like best. Look, it won't sound like a Les Paul. But it will sound more like a Tele than any Fender production Tele out there.

This guitar is assembled in Korea but set up at the G & L factory in CA and the set-up is so perfect I'm going to be able to use it at our next gig without having to get it set up by my local repair guy. It plays flawlessly and incredibly fluidly up and down the board. I play lead and the 9" neck is perfect. The intonation up and down the neck is perfect and the thing stays IN TUNE no matter how many full-step bends I rip on it. It's just incredibly comfortable and not heavy at all--of course, my last guitar was very heavy but still this guitar is solid without feeling bulky in the least. AND it feels rock-solid, like it was molded from a single piece of wood rather than screwed together. The frets on the top part of the neck seem to stick out JUST a tad, but it doesn't seem to bother me. The pickups are perfect and each string is as loud as the other with no variatons.

The finish is extremely high quality but I'll have to get back to you in a year or so on how well it stands up. I'd gig with it without a backup, yes. The finsih is thick and looks like it will take a beating plus it's beautiful. But I haven't beat the crap out of it yet so I'm not rating it.

No basis for opinion.

You cannot beat this guitar for value. But even better, you can't really beat this guitar for tone and playability unless you go well beyond the $1300 price point. I own a Taylor 410 acoustic and a DeArmond Guild Starfire III that I put DeMarzios in and I won't need to replace the G&L stock tuners--their tone is the reason I bought the G&L! Plug this baby direct into a tube amp and you simply won't believe how good it sounds. Tele blues, Tele funk, screamin' Tele rock (remember kids, Jimmy Page played a Tele on the solo in Hairway to Steven!) Don't take my word for it, GO TRY ONE OUT. And be sure they let you really give it a work out. There are extremely well-built guitars coming out of Korea. And G&L makes all the parts including the electronics so these are not really knock offs like say Epiphone or Squire. These are simply affordable guitars that are more Fender than Fender. Give up finding a used American Tele on Ebay and get a new or used Tribute. You'll pay less and get more guitar, more tone, than you will if you overpay for the little "Made in America" decal on the Fender. TONE TONE TONE, this guitar SCREAMS!

Korean
American electronics
semi-hollowbody in ash, three tone sunburst
hard rock maple neck with maple fingerboard, 22 frets
Typical Telecaster controls and layout (S/S)
came with very nice gig bag, bought a hardshell case anyway

The sound is simply incredible. I played hundreds of guitars and this one outshined them all. Fender cannot hold a torch to this guitar. The neck is rounder than the typical Telecaster and fits my hands much better. Cannot be beat for that S/S Tele sound. Sounds great through my Fender Blues Jr. and through my Korg Pandora PX-4 with headphones. The sound is what sold this guitar.

Set up was fine from the factory. Above average fretwork. I normally play with very heavy strings, but actually prefer the light strings on this particular guitar (my other guitars carry 12's and 13's instead of the 9's I ended up leaving on the Tribute). All of my complaints are cosmetic and almost expected in this price range. The body seam is visible between the pieces of wood from the front and from the back. The fret wires are exposed from the side, but are very smooth. The satin neck finish is perfect as is the gloss finish on the body. Flawless clearcoat and stain. Very pretty wood and pickguard. I played and considered the American G&L ASAT which I also liked but could not justify the additional $800 for the cosmetic differences. They sounded EXACTLY the same and felt very, very close.

Seems to be very well built. I don't gig so I think that this guitar will last a lifetime given the way I take care of my instruments.

This is where G&L shined. I played this guitar at a local store. When I went back to get it, it was sold (I found out later that it was put in layaway and then cancelled a couple weeks later so I was able to buy the one that blew my hair back originally) so I bought one on-line. I was sent the wrong guitar twice and then lied to that the semi-hollowbodies no longer had F-holes. While this would be reasonable (AM G&L and Fender use routed bodies with solid tops), I called G&L to verify this. I was immediately told that ALL Tribute semi-hollows had F-holes and they straightened out the online store the following day. Even though I cancelled the online order, I was able to eventually find one locally as stated above. Great customer service!

I have been playing for a few years and am no "pro" but have always wanted that "Telecaster" sound. All of my guitars are either hollowbodies or acoustic, so this fits my preferences well in a smaller size. This one cannot be beat for the money. In terms of feel and sound, there is not a Fender made that can hold a torch to this thing. It is more "Fender" than Fender. As stated above, I could have bought the AM G&L ASAT, but just could not see an $800 difference between the guitars. The AM G&L's are prettier, no doubt, but based my personal decision on sound first. It is still pretty just not flawless. Not a fan of the gloss necks that seem to abound on the AM necks either. I would buy it again and may consider a G&L Commanche at some point in the future. Their wonderful customer service is just the cherry on top of a very solid guitar.

Basic two pick-up model. Telecaster guitar, made in Korea with G&L pick-up installed. Rosewood fretboard, ash blode body, tortise pick guard. Chrome hardware. Came with a padded G&L gig bag, a set of Allen wreches and verious hang tags.

Wow, this is where we have Leo Fender to thank, the pick-ups are the bomb! Tele sounds plus. The thing that impresses me the most is how even the pick-up sounds across all the strings. From the low E to the high E very even sounding. That's one thing I dislike about Fenders is the strings sound uneven. With the G&L it doesn't. So sound wise a solid 10.

I can roll off the tone know and get a great Jazz tone almost like a big box Gibson sound, the back pick-up has that nasel tele twang, and the front pick-up pretty much does it all.

This guitar was made in Korea. My guess is they take a G&L guitar over there and have it cloned on the CNC machines and then start cranking them out. So the fit and finish is much better than guitars of 10 years ago. No flaws.

Also these guitars get set-up in the US before they are shipped out. So set up and intonation was fine. I just took it out of the box plugged it in and played. Neck is fast and the guitar is easy to play.

This guitar is a tank and stays in tune. All chrome hardware, smooth taper pots, and a G&L designed bridge. String through body.

I called G&L once and got someone on the phone, I haven't had anything go wrong so can comment on customer service.

I've been playing for over 30 years and these G&L guitars are a super value for the money. They are solidly made, excellent Korean CNC manufacturing and American pick-ups. I just couldn't get myself to jump for a higher priced electric, after all are you are only buying a neck bolted on to a plank of wood. So the G&L Tribute line is an oustanding value for the active player and sounds better in my opinion than Fender. It's all in the pick-ups anyway and Leo did great work designing these. If you haven't had a chance to play one get out there and do it.