G&L ASAT Classic

Has every featue a tele needs -volume and 2 tones. What can you say?

I 've played hundreds of tele's and there is some some magic that went down at the Fullerton plant. Trust me , resale may not be great right now , but there will come a time , an soon when players will "get it". It's an old vintage style that's ahead og it's time. Doesn't make much sense now, but it will. THE tone , spank and pop on thr bridge and soul oozes from the neck . This axe begs to be played until you yank the strings off. No better tele tone anywhere. Take it further witha Van Zandt in the bdidge.

Top notch -never seen as much birds eye on the maple neck. craftsmanship blow F-p/s away. These guys care.

Not a worry

Great. No I don't work for en. had to buy it just like you; except everydime I make comes from playing one of these pieces of lumber; I'm not som kid wanting to know the way to play "seek and destry" by Mertalywacker. HA

This is as godd as it gets my friends. I encourage you pickers who play Anderson,Fender Pro Shop, Grosh,Crook to at least take a listen and just sit look at it a while. Thers's somthin about the lines of an instrument not cut oyt by a *$$##$#$@#@ computer.

Mine is about a '99'. It's a nice tobacco sunburst with some nice grain marks that almost look like strings coming out of the back of the bridge. It has the standard harware, tele body style, string thru body, and the stock tuners with jumbo frets. It came with a hardy case.

The guitar has a nice, somewhat bright tone, and doesn't have the body sustain to do modern rock. It isn't at all noisy, and is good for R and B, some types of jazz, blues, country varients and classic rock and roll, as well as some newer rock. It's a favorite of mine, and I own 8 guitars, 7 of them electric. I like the fact that it is so reliable, and is very consistent and forgiving on stage. The guitar is better on stage than at home. That, for me, is saying something.

I had the intonation done when I bought it. No problems and the guitar rings out nicely compared to some of my other guitars. There were no flaws, other than the little 3 way selector plastic piece which occasionally comes off.

It was my main guitar in a blues band where I was the lead player. It is hardy, reliable and actually is better on-stage than at home. It can be played very hard and be consistent and forgiving. It is usually the guitar I have as a "first" guitar to rely on when playing. I often back it up with a '68' tele with a neck position humbucker (I didn't do it). I actually sold it to a friend, and couldn't bear to have it gone. I bought it back.

I've never dealt with the company, but I like the fact that it is a California, Leo Fender company.

I've played over 30 years. I have played on stage on and off for years. Mostly now it is for fun, rather than for money. I record as well, and use it for that. There are better guitars out there for recording. I play all styles, but right now I play mostly jazz and rock and roll. I'm kind of burnt out on blues. I wouldn't replace it per se, only because I have 2 other tele type guitars, but I would definitely buy G&L again. My favorite feature is its' playability. It also has a nice cutting neck position sound. I have a 58 strat, a 53 LP goldtop, a beautiful Heritage jazz guitar, another strat with EMG Gilmours 2 teles, and occasionally a '71' ES 345. The point I want to make is that this simple guitar often sounds clearer, and plays better than these other guitars. It is a very good choice for a pro as a main guitar.

made in 2001 in u.s.a. solid ash body, birdseye maple neck with gun oil tint. standard volume, tone control, and 3 way pickup selector.
has 2 traditionally styled mfd single coil pickups.
butterscotch blonde translucent finish with black pick guard.
traditional tele type bridge with 6 adjustable "brass" saddles
(more on this later).
traditional string thru body design.
fairly light in weight.

i give a 9 rating after a couple of mods.

after initially liking the sound, i noticed that cheaper fenders were sounding more "musical". after examining/playing them, i found the biggest differences in the pickups and the saddles.

1) swapped out the pickups for kinman avn60 noiseless pickups (other traditional alnico magnet pickups would probably work well too). i felt the stock pickups were not as "round" sounding as i wanted. the bridge sound had a big improvement. the neck pickup was now crisper but not as warm.

so, i put the stock neck pickup back in. it's a good compromise. i can get nice warm, mellow and/or jazzy sounds from the neck. combined with the kinman bridge pickup the "in between" sound is just great. the stock neck pickup overdrives my amp easily.

although the bridge did lose some power, it more than makes up for it
with the tone. great clean twangy sounds and great rockin breakup/overdriven sounds.

2) swapped out the brass saddles for steel saddles. although i heard/read that brass saddles are for a vintage sound, i went ahead and swapped in some fender steel saddles. this was the trick (at least for me).
here was the sound i was after. now it has that "musical" something that just feels right. i can only describe the brass saddles as being
"sonically dull". it's probably a matter of taste tho.

now i feel i have the best sounding and most solidly built "tele" type guitar.

everything was set up well from the factory.
no flaws in workmanship or materials.
action was good. i did ajust the action to my taste.

has taken live playing well.
hardware is solid and will last.
finish is solid and will last.

have not dealt with them.

been playing off and on for 25 years. have a amer dlx strat, ric 360, g&l s500 and a g&l legacy special(this one was a rare lemon but i didn't inspect it well enough during purchase).

if stolen i would get another and make the same mods. however it's hard to find a good dealer around the chicagoland area.

now i love the sound, playability and lightness.

only thing i now wish it had was a concentric tone control so it could have the ptb controls that the legacy and s500 have. i might also try the kinman broadcaster pickup in the neck at some point.

good guitar in stock form. great (at least for me) in modded form.

2003 Translucent natural finish of ash with an all maple neck and fingerboard. This neck is supposedly the 7.5" radius, but it feels a little fatter than that. This neck also has a V-carve really giving a nice palm-filling feel. Two MFD smaller single-coil pickups in the traditional Telecaster configuration. Ash-tray bridge with the older style saddles, jumbo frets and std. G&L tuners with the slotted groove making re-stringing easier than other tuners. String-through body design like the original Teles. In addition, the cream-colored pickguard is a very nice touch combined with the natural ash finish making this ASAT Classic very attractive indeed. I had an ASAT Classic before in swamp ash and that guitar was much heavier than this one. Nice and light with a killer neck and an even better sound (see below).

It's hard to rate the "features" category. I mean, if you are compairing it to a classic telecaster, it's perfect. If you are compairing features to a modern digital-plug-in w/piezo electronics and a design that looks more like bagpipes rather than an electric guitar, then I don't know what to tell you. So, for simple purposes, the features on this guitar are fantastic and I couldn't be happier! Locking tuners might be cool, but then that would take away the vintage vibe of this wonderful guitar.

It's funny. The first ASAT Classic I had took me a while to get used to the new pickups. I loved the feel from the very start, but it wasn't the pickups sounded bad. They sounded a bit different. Thinking I wanted more of a traditional Telecaster sound, I swapped out the MFDs with Duncan Real '54s. It took me less than two weeks to remove the duncans and put the MFDs back in. In case you don't know what MFDs are, it's G&Ls Magnetic Field Design Pickups. They use ceramic magnets instead of alnico, which yeild a higher output with less wraps of wire. This allows more clarity and punch without muddying up the sound. In addition, both pickups sport a base plate underneath rather than just the bridge pickup of standard telecasters. Base response is improved and your neck pu is now much more useable for leads than std. tele neck pups. If that's not enough, you can adjust each pole piece to your liking. What a concept! You can set the pole pieces to your string gauge, string height and fretboard radius giving you a multiple array of sounds.

What I also realized is the bridge pickup is bright and hot and very articulate. You can get all of the old tele sounds, as well as hot blues leads and rock and roll chime. The tone and volume controls are very responsive, so by turning the tone back, you can get nice jazzy sounds in the neck pup and your volume control is great for going from rhythm to lead without having to adjust anything on your amp. I liked the sound of my old ASAT Classic, but I love the sound and feel of my new one better. I don't know what it was.....Whether it is the ligter, more resonant body of the new ASAT or it's G&L's propensity to involve more hand-making techniques over the use of CNC machines, this guitar sounds absolutely amazing. This is a very versatile and great sounding guitar, and I have no problem going from vintage tones to a more modern vibe with this guitar.

I haven't met a G&L I didn't like....To plagerize Will Rogers a little bit.....It's true though. Consistency, flawless construction and a meticulous attention to detail have been my experiences with G&L. For those of you who see it otherwise, I question whether you are playing a real G&L? You may have bought it used or got an axe that fell off the freight truck and got knocked around. Because, the more G&Ls I pickup up and play, the more I am convinced these have got to be among the best guitars for the money period. Looking inside the pickup cavities or any other places that aren't immediately visible, you will see excellent fit and finish in even the smallest corners that some manufacturers don't care about. Coming from the factory, you'll also see 10's on guitars rather than 9s, sparring the cost and time of a set-up prior to taking it home. I see a lot of pride and attention to detail with new G&Ls and while I do not work for G&L or have any affiliation with them other than being a believer in their product, I cannot say enough good things about the quality of these guitars.

Have bought used G&Ls and have bought several new ones, and they all have been well-built and reliable. G&L uses high-quality pots, switches and hardware assuring the player a long life from the guitar. I have heard stories about a less-than-stellar input jack, and my used Classic did have some problems with shorting, but I think it was because the previous user had switched out a pot and his/her soldering techniques were the source of the problem. I rather like the easy-input jack as I don't have to yank too hard on my guitar cable to take it out. You keep pulling too hard on your expensive guitar cable and you'll end up shorting it out. You can easily wrap your cable around your strap and solve any worries about your plug coming out unintended.

The 10-year warranty is plenty for me. PRS offers 2-years, Ernie Ball offers 1-year, and my conviction is if they are well-built, any warranty is fine with me. If you don't have problems withing the first 90-days of use, you most likely won't run into problems. With cheap switches or other cheapie parts, that's a different story, but as long as reputable companies insist on using the best components money can buy, you should never have a problem. If you are going to throw your guitar around on-stage and leave it subject to humidity and extreme temperature, then you deserve to have your guitar play and sound like shit. Take care of these babies and they most certainly will take care of you for as long as you want.

I did have a problem with getting email responses back from original parts I ordered for my used ASAT Classic. However, the parts arrived and I got over it. I think their website is helpful and I like the user forums, as well as the sound clips. I won't comment as I've never had any warranty issues, but I think the best companies offer the best customer support and will kiss the ass of any customer regardless of the expense of what they are inquiring about. And that includes quickly responding to a simple question about a tone control pot and bridge saddles.

As I said above, a 10-year warranty and I've never had to exact on any G&L I've owned. Usually the best companies offer the best and longest running warranties, and G&L is no exception.

I've spilled my guts in about every other colum for comments, so I will try not to be redundant. I've been playing a long time and seem to enjoy playing guitar more and more every day. I love and appreciate different guitars and it's easy for me to become impulsive and spend more than I have to spend when I play a great guitar. I try and justify my spending habits by being single and happy I'm buying guitars and not diapers or being manipulated into spending money on bullshit for some woman.

Up until a couple of years ago, I had heard of G&L but never understood just how good these guitars are. I dismissed them as a Fender knock-off with poor resale. What I discovered by actually playing these guitars are they make Fenders seem very average at best, and I've found them to have a proportionate resale compaired to fenders. In fact, the best compliment G&L has is to set up a distributorship who also sells Fenders. I challenge you to really A/B a Fender and a G&L of similar style and features and see for yourself. I tried getting a strat with a rosewood neck as I have a legacy with an all maple neck because the strats were less expensive than a legacy with an ash-body and rosewood neck by about $400.00. I couldn't justify the $829.00 on a strat, but could easily cough up $1,200.00 for the legacy. In my opinion, the legacy is $400.00 better than the strat. The same goes for the ASAT Classics, as well as any other G&L product. My next investment is an ASAT Semi-hollow. By the way, that guitar is being made as we speak on my request. While in a conversation of my dream guitar, Chris, from Corner Music, said.."let's make that happen." He took some notes as to what I wanted, made a call to G&L, and viola! My guitar will be here in a few months....Talk about cool. On top of that, the price tag will be well below a Fender Custom shop, and even less than a mass-produced Gibson or Paul Reed Smith.

I know I've gotten off the path from the ASAT Classic I am reviewing, but quality breeds quality. The G&L line is simply amazing. Their prices have gone up, but are still a very good deal considering the skyrocketing costs of some other manufactuers. By the way, I am not by any means knocking Fender. I have Fender amps and used to own a few Fender guitars. I just think, for my money, I'd rather put it to a more custom-made guitar that wipes the floor with any mass-produced guitar on the market. There are some Fenders I like, but they are well above the cost of a comperable G&L model. In addition, I don't like them as much as the G&Ls. Other strat and tele protypes are in the same boat. Great guitars, but a lot more expensive than their G&L counterparts with a lot less vibe. Two G&Ls do not sound alike. The proof is the two ASAT Classics I own with the same woods and pickups used. Also the two legacy guitars have the same alnico handwound pickups, but sound completely different and even feel unique to one another in my hands. Plus they are all beautiful guitars. Resonance, sustain vibe and mojo are what I get from this ASAT Classic. I encourage you to check out G&Ls if you haven't already. You might be pleasantly surprised.

Late 90's. Beefy maple neck with satin finish, big frets, flatish neck radius (12?). Feels great. Ash body, Mary Kay blonde (beautiful!). Tele features. Bridge is 6 indivudual saddles, but the long pole kind, and I thought rattled, even after tweaking. Swapped it out, quite favorably, for an American standard style bridge. Tuners are a thoughtful variation of the old Kluson type where the cut string is inserted into the hole on top, and they draw the string down to the base of the tuner to get the best string angle. Case provides excellent protection.

It's versatile, and you can cover more (heavier) styles than with most Tele's. G&L magnetic soundfield design pick-ups are quite ballsy, between a good broadcaster tone and a P-90. All the way up, you could substitute this guitar for a Junior. You can twang, but not like you can on a good Tele. Neck pickup is strong too, but you can get a Jimmy Bryant tone too. In my opinion, the black neck pickup is quite ugly. Good funk sound in between. Don't expect it to sound just like a tele.

Except for the bridge, guitar is very well made and very nicely finished. No problems here.

Very sturdy and dependable. Some people gripe about the input jack. I've never had a problem with a good cord, and I always tuck the cord under the strap. Good guitar to gig with for its versatility, as you can cover styles from Buck Owens to Led Zep.

Don't need it, I always tweak or fix my own guitars, but I've had no problems in the 4 years I've had it.

Playing 30 years. Many teles, strats, les pauls over the years. Certainly much better than my old '77 tele custom. Totally different from my '74 twang machine tele w/ Duncans. I play it through black face and silver face fenders. Sounds best when rocking through Maxon 808. Find one cheap on e-bay (below 5 bills) and I think you'll enjoy it. I'd probably buy a Legacy if it were lost or stolen.

My guitar is a mid 90's ASAT...3 bolt neck...Nice beefy frets...Maple neck on a swamp ash body...Standard tele like features...I'm giving it a 10 not because it has some geeky features , but because it's exactly what a tele should be...

Tele on steroids...but in a good way...With a tube amp it's exactly what Leo intended...Yeah, it's a bit noisy...What would you expect? For blues and rock it can't be beat...I bought it for country at which it excels...If you are interested in one of these guitars you know what you're after and you won't be disappointed...Classic...

Bought it used, but everything works the way intended

Tank like...As good as it gets

The only comparison I have is the 78 tele I owned a while back which was very nice, but in no way comparable...This thing is by far superior...I bought a mexican tele and dropped some Bardens in it ...It's got a big tele sound, but this thing makes it sound anemic, which I never expected...It's nicely balanced...The tone control is actually usable...A ton of sounds are available and they're all good...An all round tone monster for a really good price...If every guitar was as good as this one, the world would be a better place...I own seven or eight guitars from a 60's gibson melody maker to a really superior Heritage les paul and this is my current favorite...But a Legacy is on the way...

This awesome guitar seems to be a newer one made in the last few years.

I bought this guitar used from a guy who bought it new and never learned to play.

It's the blonde over Ash body which is absolutely gorgeous with Rosewood board and some light flaming on the maple neck. BTW this is a nice light weight guitar..

First I want to say that I LOVE the neck profile..been lookin for a vintage style Tele for a long time..this neck starts out fairly normal and gets slightly thicker and wider as you slide up toward the body..Perfect!

When I first received this guitar the set up needed some normal adjustment. I intonated it and set the action to my taste and played it for a while. I noticed that the pickups sounded a bit harsh, so I adjusted them down some and the harshness went away.

Next I played with the individual adjustments on the pups to mimick the stagering poles that older Fender style guitars have and volia! The tone!!!

Came with OHSC which is OK but I prefer the older wood ones over the newer plastic style.

I rate this category high. The features, fit and finish are nicer than my more expensive USA '62 RI. Although I love both guitars I end up playing this one more.

I like the Tone of this guitar A LOT!

It's like a Tele on steroids in a good way. The pickups are stronger and have much more string definition and clarity than my Fenders.

It sounds great like a tele should. The neck pups shines for all kinds of music especially blues and country.

The bridge pup is pure twang & high energy! I love the fat sound of this pup for older rock, country and blues it's killer! One complaint though, when you play with real high gain (hard rock, metal, which it isn't made for) the pup squeals and is microphonic.

I've isolated this problem in two areas. 1.)Too tight a fit on the pup to the bridge assembly and 2.) It's not potted enough for the higher gain situation.

All things considered this is a stellar sounding guitar and very versitile.

Also this guitar has a great tone control set up. You can actually use the tone & volume controls for lots of different tone. The volume actually turns down with out wimping out the tone or cutting the high end off. The Tone control actually is Usefull...cudo's to G&L!!

It'd be a 10 for thi category if not for the bridge pup squeal.

Action was typical factory medium, not bad. A bit of adjustment to taste and it is now awesome.

Pups needed quite a bit of adjustment and playing around to ellicit the beautiful tone..it's there you just have to work with it a bit.

The Finish is flawless. This guitar is put together right. I think G&L puts out a superior product..no doubt about it.

One cavat on the bridge and control plate..the previous owner bought this guitar in Hawaii and live on the beach for a while, there is some slight oxidation/pitting on this part of the hardware..could be from previous owners use..can't really tell.

This is a super solid guitar I can't imagine any problems with it.

Never contacted them.

Been playing for 34 years and have owned a ton of equipment.

I bought this guitar because I had previously played the ASAT with the big soapbar pups and liked it..when I went back to purchase, it was sold/gone..dang..

If lost/stolen I'd look for another these are great guitars and sleepers in the Market Place..lots of people sell them without getting them dialed in.

Find one, dial it in and enjoy the pinacle of Tele design.

U. S. made tele syle. Swamp ash body in honeyburst.

Sound is a matter of taste. This has tele sound with more ump to it.

This is where this guitar really shines. I bought this guitar used in at Todd's Music Express in Metaire, La. They could have sold this for new. Not a blemmish on it anywhere. I give it to G&L, the finish is among the best i.ve seen. The neck makes it so easy to play.

Solid.

Don't know and don't expect to need them.

Been playing about fifteen years.I was looking at American Teles in other shops, but kept finding things wrong with them, excessive buzzing, pickguards mounted hooked, etc. Depressing. Stopped in Todd's and they show me G&L's Tribute Line. Impressive. Return a week later to order the color I wanted and found they had this used U S ASAT for about what a Tribute cost. Bought it and will not regret it.

Tele - Made in 2003 in the USA - butterscotch blonde w/ black single ply pickguard and locking schaller tuners, gun oiled gloss finish birds eye maple neck. All traditional set up as respects electronics/pickups. Has the original Tele neck - 7 1/2" radius and 5/8" nut

Classic Tele twang and spank on bridge pick-up and round on the mid setting and fat and warm on the bridge pick-up. Incredible amount of sustain. I play through a Fender Blues Jr with a Jensen c12n speaker which has all the tube warmth I need and really pairs nicely with this guitar for country, blues jazz, rock, alternative, hillbilly, etc...
Neck is plenty fast and quite comfortable for quick runs.

Finish is excellent, fretwork is excellent and the electronics a re pretty quiet so I'd give it an excellent rating as well. Set-up from the factory was quite low (just the way I like it) and almost spot on - a little fret buzzing on the low "e" - easily fixed. The body has one little indentation by the jack, but I think this is more a function of the piece of wood than the craftsmanship - nothing visible unless you hold the guitar upside down and REALLY look (which I did). The wood has beautiful grain, but the birdseye maple neck is not as pretty as some I've seen, but the feel and shape of the neck is excellent - no deadspots. The gun oiled gloss finish looks awesome and the gloss adds a sleek feel. Standard tuners came installed as the locking schallers came under seperate cover. G&L indciated they don't ususally put the locking tuners on this model as the intent is for this model to be like the orifinal Tele with non locking tuners. This is the same reason they use the single ply pickguard on this model. Pots and switches are all noise free.

This thing seems built to last. Many people gig with them and have for a number of years so I guess that speaks for itself. The hardware is all top notch.

G&L is notorious for poor customer support. I also have an LB 100 bass I bought 10 years ago and to get the next switched out when I bought it took almost six weeks - and I was living in the LA area at the time.
I ordered this guitar from the local dealer and when he called G&L they indicated they had one in stock ready to go - but it still took almost three weeks (only shipped 300 miles). Worth the wait, but I'd hate to see how long it takes if they had to build one from an order.

I feel bad for the poor souls who's reviews indicate they got a bad G&L - I've never seen one but I'm sure one or two exist. But for the money it's hard to do much better.
I chose it because of it's tone, playability and versatility ( I like country, blues, jazz, rock, alternative), and because it is the original (better actually) - the quality. It is pretty much fully equipped at this point, maybe add a strap lock.
I play electric bass (G&L LB 100) and acoustic guitar (martin om 28V) and the biggest obstacle is getting used to the smaller nut and increased sustain, but nothing a little practice won't cure.

I bought one of the 1st Classics 4 one reason only[I never buy new/have lots of vintage stuff]...the reason was I was convinced that nice light SWAMP ASH was becoming extinct and this thing had that feature.On the tacky side was the Mrs.Fender BS//give me a break......

1st week we all wondered if we could get those PUs from G&L and put them in ALL our guitars.....wow actually controling a tele with the knobs//turn the V from 7-10 and it worked!!By 2nd week we were wondering if we should lose the PUs and drop in a trad set......they were starting to grate//the thrill was gone/gone away for good[??]....such a lovely guitar but somehow it hardly ever got played in the years that passed.......

Looks great;real great.....been doing pro setups for decades//somehow never got this one to feel absolutely right.My old tele dials in in 5 minutes//its been 5 years.....but maybe I'm a quitter.....

Trying not to quit on the set up.....and stripped the allen socket on the truss rod nut today.....maybe I'm losing it......

I'm afraid I might get a nasty letter signed by Mrs.Fender[is she locked in a basement on the outskirts of LA or something??].I think if you play a tele its because you are not the kind of person that whats to fill out warranty cards and wine to the dealer or company;u probably own a screw driver and a hammer and you get sick in a Fender dealership when you look at the 37 different BS teles 4 way too much $ and a creepy,fake vibe to them all.[isn't that why you are looking at the G&Ls??]....stay with me.....

Playing 35 years.Started collecting teles in the 70's.Must have had close to 1000 pre 69 teles pass thru my hands[truth]made a lot of $ when the vintage outrage took off.....my keeper tele is a very light swamp ash 69 maple board that is,for reasons known only to god, one of the top 5 I've owned[had one Broadcaster that was the best GUITAR I have ever played but its fame became global and I was made an offer I couldn't refuse;even today the price paid was very generous,some people can recognize perfection AND afford it].Heres my dilema;the Classic SHOULD be great//selling means a huge loss[not my style;this is not a coke habit its a guitar and guitars appreciate in value in my little world]but the bottom line is that that redneck Mr.Peavey made a $200 tele[Peavey Reactor]that out telecasts just about anything;including the G&L needless to say.The joke is on all of us;well done Mr.Peavey;even if u lost money it was a cool thing to do.So the day the G&Ls get good resale its gone and if that day never comes I will probably take it out again once a year and see if I missed something or if all that beautiful wood has decided to start singing.If it was lost or stolen I would call my nice insurance guy and get another Peavey//all the current Fender stuff is a con......the Peaveys are so cheap you can give them away and set up a kid with talent and look like a hero.....but keep one 4 yourself 4 the days your wallet gets tele fever//works 4 me.PS I am truly happy for all the guys that love their Classics and I'm sure most of them have good reason.