G&L ASAT Classic

Mine is a 2008 ASAT Classic. I bought it new a little over a year ago.

Standard telecaster styled body, but the bridge is 6 saddles instead of 3. This really makes setting up the guitar easier than a typical Fender Telecaster.

The Classic comes with two of G&L's MFD single-coil pickups which are a little more modern (and less twangy) than typical telecaster p-ups.

The guitar is US made and the best part about G&L is the guitar is very customizable. I chose mine to be maple neck with the gun-oil tint lacquer. The body is a 3-tone sunburst finish with a black pickguard. Alder body.

I was originally looking at buying a Fender telecaster, but I was sold on a G&L ASAT classic after sitting down and playing one. The sound was much suited towards my style. My playing style is heavily influenced by 90's emo, folk, and some country. I was looking for a tele that could sound great through a British high gain amp. The only Fender I found that did this well was the Highway-1 tele, but the build felt really cheap on those guitars.

This guitar cleans up very nicely too. I use this guitar for all my american styled cleans in the studio. I use my Gibson LP standard for that pushed style of clean because I feel the humbuckers do a better job at that than single-coils.

I have found that the ASAT sounds incredible through my Orange Rocker 30. It is such an amazing gainy rhythm tone. My AD30htc and '86 800 2205 like humbuckers better though.

I don't know how the guitar came set up because I had the dealer set it up toe 11's once it came in. Besides that everything exceeded my expectations of a guitar for just over a grand.

The guitar is very reliable. I haven't had one issue yet.

Haven't dealt with them yet. From what I hear from the dealers, they are a great company to work with.

The guitar isn't perfect, but then again I didn't have the money at the time I made it to make it perfect. I plan on getting either an ASAT special, Gretsch Duo Jet, or PRS custom 22 next. If I end up with another G&L, I will go all out in the customization department.

2005 Fullerton California
22 Frets
3 piece transparent Honey Swamp Ash Body with 1 piece Gun Oil Tint Glossy hard Maple Birds Eye Neck
Sealed Schaller Tuners
3 Way Switch
I replaced with 1954 Seymour Duncan Single Coil Staggered pole Bridge Pup and 1955 Seymour Duncan Seth Lover Humbucker Neck Pup

Plenty of natural sustain from swamp ash wood and hard maple neck

Lots of Noisy harmonics due to 1954 Seymour Duncan which gives it lots of snap and breath. Very responsive nice alive bright sound. Very easy to translate your touch. The 1955 Seth Lover humbucker kicks warm sustain forever when called upon.

Bought used on EBAY with Seymour Duncans STL2 and STR1s.
I did not like being too hot for this guitar hiding much of its true voice.

Action is very good low or high. No buzzing, great engineering. Sting thru body with the ashtray bridge and old brass 50s string tree

The swamp ash wood is top notch matched seamlessly on body. Can only tell its a 3 piece by looking at the bottom and top edge of guitar

Hand Built very well, nice and tight neck pocket which is essential for the excellant sustain that it has.

The Best. Stopped off at the factory in Fullerton to see Leo's office where he set up Music Man and G & L. They were awesome, gave me a tour and a free G & L case. Mine came with a 90s damaged Fender case to protect in shipping. These factory and office guys really like their job and care.

Playing for over 30 years. My other favorites I use is a all original 1969 Les Paul Deluxe, 1992 Fender Strat with Fat 50s pickups and a Gibson 1972 SG. I went for a G & L knowing they are made by hand using the similar machines that Leo used prior CBS prior. It was one of the best days of my life seeing these guitars being born at the California Fullerton factory with great care and attention from all the craftsman. Its not a large facility...very personal with alot of human touch. You can feel the history especially where Leo had his last 1970's shop and workbench.

Standard features. It has what I need and what I want. This gets a 9 for lack of features that allows a guitars natural tone.
Classic in white with 2 single coils. lightly finished baseball bat neck

I play through a vibro-king, Fulltone FD2 and a Maxon AD-9. This setup live is amazing. Same goes for the studio. The G&L is a pro level guitar. It stays in tune, sounds amazing and it pretty versatile. I play alt-country and rock stuff and it just works, feels very comfortable and allows me to focus on the music. These classics with

I picked this up from Rocker guitars in San Francisco for 899. Best buy IMO. The fit and finish from the factory was great. I haven't touched it and it just plays sweet. The guys at G&L pay attention.

not much to break on these bad boys and the parts used are high quality as well. I have many guitars and this is the one... at the moment.

I called and talked to the guys at G&L before I purchased this one to find out more about why the cost was 899 and not 1200+ like the other classics. They were very cool and quickly informed me that they save the money on finishes and not supplying cases as well. They were available, helpful and honest.

This is a best value instrument at 899.00. Just a solid custom instrument. Go play one and see for yourself. The overall revues say it all though.

This review is for a 2008 G&L Asat Classic 'Tele'

Butterscotch Blonde with 1-ply black pickguard, Maple neck with Polished Gloss finish over Hand-rubbed Gun-oil Tint, G&L Magnetic Field Design single coil pickups, Alder body on Standard and all solid finishes, Swamp Ash on all Premier finishes, Hard Rock Maple neck with Maple fingerboard, Neck radius: 7 1/2" (190.5mm), Neck width at the nut: 1 5/8" (41.3mm), Traditional boxed steel bridge with individual brass saddles, 3 position pickup selector, volume, tone, Chrome Hardware, G&L molded hardcase.

I love the 'plain' and 'cheap' looks with the Butterscotch Blonde finish. This guitar has great character. Stays in tune very well.

Normally I'm a real Les Paul guy so I wasn't thinking about a Tele-style guitar at all. It's just recently that my love for Fenders got bigger everytime I played one. I didn't really like the Yamaha SG-2000 I recentely bought, because it played and sounded to much like the Les Pauls I already had and honestly I wanted something real different instead of basically a Les Paul again. I went back to the guitar store with the SG-2000 for having it exchanged and there was a beautiful G&L Asat Classic waiting for me. This had to be 'The One'.

Playing it unplugged it has a beautiful, sweet 'ring' to it with great resonance and good sustain. All of my Gibson Les Pauls sound dead compared to this G&L AC. The G&L is much more alive naturally with sweeter balance between the strings. I don't think it can get much better than this.

Plugged in it's HEAVEN. Never thought it was going to sound this great through my (trebly/tight) Engl Screamer 50 combo. It's the first guitar that sounds perfectly balanced through my Engl. Most Les Pauls and even the Yamaha SG-2000 sounded thinner and more ice picky on the clean channel, especially when using the bridge pickup. I couldn't ever get a ringing, balanced and clear sound out of it. Problem solved now. The cleans of the G&L are God-like and I had a very hard time to put it down when I tested it in the practise room of my band. Although these are single coils, they are still warm and thick sounding with great balance between the strings AND pickups! I don't want to change a thing on the pickup height or polepieces, because it's amazing already. When switching from the neck pickup to the bridge pickup you'll only get a different tone, but without any loss of volume or balance. The pickups are perfectly matched with each other. You'll get the famous G&L feedback/squeel when playing hardrock or metal on high volumes, but it isn't a problem for me. I won't change anything on this tone monster, because it shows all the purity and character of this guitar.

It's set-up with 10's, medium action. It didn't have any flaws or something, it's just great how it is.

No annoying buzzes across the fretboard. It still sounded great with very old, rusty strings on it, but I changed them soon after I bought the guitar...it feels even smoother now. Normally I bring my guitars to my trusty luthier for having a professional set-up, but I don't want to infect this G&L. Maybe I'd get lost of the sweet, ringing and balanced sound it has with the current/factory set-up if I'd set it up by myself or a luthier. Having a guitar set-up to your own taste can be great, but any change could also destroy the original sound you had before.

I don't know anything yet about the durability or reliability of this guitar, but it seems to be very well made. The fretboard will stay smoother through the years compared to any of my Les Pauls, because of the special hand-rubbed Gun-oil Tint they used for the G&L. I'd play this one definately without a backup.

I've never dealt with the company.

As a musician it took me a long way to get where I'm now, but this G&L Asat Classic is probably the last guitar that will serve me through all the years, always with a smile from the inside. It has the greatest cleans I could ask for and it helps me to get recognized as a musician and above all as a person. The guitar fits my character and playing style. When I feel bad OR happy, I'll grab my G&L and not my Les Pauls anymore. That says a lot, to me at least. If you care mostly for hardrock or metal, this probably wouldn't be your dream guitar.

I have a 2006 Classic with the standard "tele" type mfd pickups, blonde ash body, gun oil glossy finished maple neck and fretboard, jumbo frets, 7.5" radius, and a beautiful pearloid pickguard. The finish is gorgeous - translucent blonde with plenty of grain showing. Non-locking tuners with G&L stamped on them, but they work fine. Not exactly feature rich, but it lives up to my expectations for this type guitar.

Love the pickups, especially the neck pickup. The neck pickup is apparently reverse wound so that in the middle position there is a humbucker effect nice. I'm playing through a 70s Fender Twin and sometimes a DrZ-28; sounds great through either. The neck pickup isn't as bright as my Tele neck pickup and I miss that a little, but I'm not too disappointed. I can overdrive my Z-28 with this guitar and get a smoother distortion than with my Teles, but I like both to be perfectly honest.

I bought this as new, even though it was a store display model that had been played numerous times. No flaws at all that I can find, and I'm a geek in that area. What else can I say? At present, I don't care for the shape of the headstock with the big letters on it, but I realize they had to change it from Fender's headstock. Maybe it will grow on me. I also don't like, actually, I hate the way the output jack is mounted. I prefer the recessed jacks on the Telecasters. Otherwise, I'm happy as a kid in a mud puddle. It don't get any better than that!

"Will this guitar withstand live playing?" Dumb question, but I'll say "yes". Every guitar I've ever owned, including my old Kalamazoo or my Silvertone would withstand live playing.

"Does the hardware seem like it will last?" Yes.

"Is the finish good enough to last, or does it seem thin and easy to wear off with lots of playing?" Actually, I wish the finish WOULD show just a little wear, but its tough enough to last a lifetime. No doubt.

"Are the strap buttons solid?" Surprisingly, yes. I'll likely install strap locks soon, but these buttons are actually big enough to hold my strap in place without them.

"Can you depend on it?" Nope, these things can turn on you in a heartbeat and just blow up or start playing out of tune for no reason. Seriously though, yes I can depend on it.

"Would you use it on a gig without a backup?" Yes. I take at least one other guitar to a gig, but not because I'm worried about equipment failure.

Never used them, but I hear they're very helpful. That's the advantage of buying from a relatively small builder. They have a little more time to support customers.

I've played seriously for about 45 years. I currently own one Les Paul Custom, a Gibson CS356, an ES175, 2 Telecasters (one usa, one mim), and this ASAT. I've owned a lot of others in the past, so I probably have a somewhat reasonable background to rate a guitar. Now just to be fair, let's shed a little light on some of the BS that's circulating on some of these reviews (which I've learned to take with a grain of salt over recent months). Seems that a lot of us ASAT owners want to compare these with Teles. Well, there you go - that's what this is - a well made Tele for sure, but basically a Tele. OK? But, certain reviewers aren't content to just compare, they go and make dogmatic statements like "this blows away anything Fender makes nowadays" or "its a better guitar and don't question my professional opinion mister". Oh, shut up! Now, these aren't exact quotes, but the gist of some of the hype I've read. Here's what I've found to be true in my case (are you sitting down?): My MIM Baja Tele as well made as my USA G&L. Honest to God, no joke, & don't laugh. In fact, it actually has more features - 6 pickup settings instead of 3. The build quality on the Baja, and my luthier agrees, is on par - tight neck pocket, flawless finish, and a great feeling neck with wonderful tone. Maybe mine is a fluke, but that's the way it is. Granted, the factory hardware is more solid on the G&L than the factory baja hardware, but I can always upgrade my Tele hardware - easy, easy, easy. Bottom line: I like each for its own nuances and that's why I still have both. A lot of pros - Redd Volkaert, Brent Mason, Scotty Anderson, Forrest Lee, Jr., Prince, to name a few, still prefer & use Fender Telecasters . . . not just the vintage ones but newer models as well. I think they know a good guitar when they play one, so let's cut the crap, ok? True, some of the US teles I've played lack the quality of my G&L (or Baja for that matter), but if you try, I'm sure you'll find a great one. On the other hand, G&L really does actually have a good consistent build quality from what I've seen and hopefully this is what the previous reviewers meant. The salesman who sold me my USA Asat blurted "you would have to buy a Custom Shop Tele to find one that even comes close to this". Now friends, that's what you call sales hype(aka BS). I bought the ASAT despite that because it was 'purty' and the price was right. Sincerely, after all is said and done, this is a great guitar and a very good value.

Has all features I wanted so...10. All high quality parts used.

I play alt country rock and rockabilly swing type stuff. It sounds great with this style. I also play a little jazz and this guitar. Led Zepplin 1 sounds abound. I play mostly in the bridge position and sometimes in the middle position. This guitar has a beefier tele sound but still has all the twang. Does not sound as treble-y as most tele's I've heard.

I use a bad cat mini cat into a Fender Deluxe with a Fulldrive 2. This setup works well and I get a lot of tone compliments at live shows with guitar and amp combo.

Came set up perfectly. I have not adjusted a thing on this guitar. I could tell as soon as I picked this guitar up that it was a very high quality guitar. I've been playing for 23 years and when you pick up a G&L guitar you know they've paid attention. Stays in tune like a champ which is how I judge a good guitar at the end of the day as well.

never take a backup. This sucker is solid and built on a fundamental design that is tough as nails.

talked to the guys there at G&L and they were cool and responsive.

This thing sounds great plugged in or unplugged. I've pretty much kept all of my other guitars in their cases since I got it about 8 mos ago. These guitars do not even compare to Fender Telecasters IMO. I wanted a tele but could not find one that compared to these G&Ls. There is a million teles out there in shops and I picked up a lot of them. Every single G&L I have picked up felt like a real instrument with character.

This is a Tele plain and simple it has a nice thin neck
just the way I like it. Has 22 Jumbo frets and a maple
neck. The top is solid with three cotrol Vol, Tone 3way Switch.
Made in the USA with two Traditional size G&L Magnetic Field
single coil pickups. Made in the mid 90's with a three bolt
neck. The body is Swamp Ash with a Natural Finish.

This Guitar nails the sound that I'm after I play 60's
music Beatles , Byrds, and Beach Boys with Paul Revere
and the Raiders. My Amp is a brand new Fender 59 Bassman LTD
Ressiue and the only effect that I have is a Electro-Harmonix
HolyGrail Reverb. Its not noisy at all and I get a nice warm
sound and it can go into a nice bright sound for leads. There
nothing that I dislike its everything that I need.

I bought this guitar used and had the music store set it up
to how I wanted it. The pickups were just fine and the bridge
was dead on. No flaws at all.

Should have no problem playing live with this guitar.
Hardware should last for ever and I love the natural
finish. The strap buttons are a solid as can be and
this is my main giging guitar and I won't have to bring
another guitar with me even tho I do have another guitar.

I have not dealt with the company I can get it myself

I've been playing since 1988 and I just a brand new
Fender 59 Bassman LTD Reissue and my other guitar is
a Gretsch 6128TBEE Duo Jet-Pre Fender. If lost I would
replace it with another G&L Asat Classic or Special. What
I love about this Guitar is that its very easy to play and
for me there nothing to hate about this guitar. I compared this
to a Fender Tele and this one played and sounded so much better
then the Fender. When I played the neck I could tell this was the
guitar for me. This guitar may not be for everyone but for me this
guitar and my Gretsch are two of the best playing guitar that I
have ever had. I have had PRS Custom 24 Rickenbackers, Parker
Fly Deluxe and Steinberger GR4 and every now and then I come
across a guitar that just right and I found my two. I don't play
hard rock and besides 60's music I play Rockabilly (Carl Perkins)
type music.

Your basic tele type guitar with a beautiful ash body finished in orange. Gun oil tinted neck with a maple board. Tele style pickups and controls. Locking tuners are the only option. Not fancy, just a tele.

My style varies from some country to jazz to rock and thing in between. This guitar can do it all with its own style. I use it with a Fender reverb amp, Vox ac-30 and my favorite amp that was handmade to my specs. This guitar makes all of them sing, scream, grind or float depending on what I want it to do. Like all teles, this guitar is not for those who want to hide their shortcomings on technique. This guitar will bring out all nuances of your playing, worts and all. The ASAT can do one of the best solid body imitations of jazz that I have ever heard. Great sound overall.

The guitar was not set up well at the dealer, so I can't comment on how it was from the factory. A little adjustment to get the action down a bit and it plays like a dream. The finish on the guitar is top notch. The wood appears through the finish as though it were 10 feet deep. No visible joint in the body, so it might be a one piece body. The neck pocket is the tightest that I have ever seen in any bolt-on. Good balance, weight is kind of heavy, but I like to be able to feel that I have a guitar strapped in. No flaws that I can tell.

This guitar is built like a tank. The guitar can withstand my constant abuse so I am well pleased. The only concern is the input jack is cheap and can cut out sometimes. I replaced the jack with better parts, but that was the only quality issue I have had. G&L, take note, the jack the way it is now is totally unacceptable

It depends on who you get at the factory. Some people are really helpful while others should not be allowed to answer the phone. It is best to go through a dealer to get any warranty work done. That is, when the G&L rep returns calls as ours seems to be out to lunch. . . all the time.

Although I gave the guitar a couple of dings about the jack, overall, this is without a doubt, the best playing guitar I have ever played. I have owned a lot of gear in my time, Les Pauls, Fender teles, strats, etc. This guitar has them beat hands down. Everytime I walk past the case I have to open it and play for couple of hours. IT feels and plays wonderfully. The sound is top notch, although I did swap out the bridge pickup for a Dimarzio Fast Track 1 because of the uncontrolable squeal at high volumes, but that is an easy fix. If the guitar were stolen I would be ordering one just like it. It is my number 1 guitar.

Dark Orange finish on the body, amber stained finish on the curly maple neck. I don't have to explain Telecaster style PUs and switching, do I? Except: The middle position is quieter, so I'm assuming there's a fake humbucker thing happening there. Also, it's got a little more beef soundwise, compared to the PUs running individually.

I play bluesy singer-songwriter-stuff, I tend to like warm, slightly overdriven tones. I use a bunch of stomp-boxes, the most important ones in terms of sound-shaping being a Hughes&Kettner Tube Factor, and an old RAT. I use a THD Univalve, usually equipped with an EL84 in the power stage, which I run through a Mesa Thiele cabinet equippet with a Jensen Alnico 25W speaker.
I had entered the store wanting an Eric Johnson Strat (and I guess I still like that guitar.) But the three EJs in that store on that day all felt like lemons to me. Could have been the shitty strings. I saw the G&L, noticed that it had an autograph by G.E. Smith on the pickguard, which made me try it out of curiosity. Wow! It sang. It had great strings on it, which I have since tried to find without success. They are golden colored, with black ballends. Someone told me they might be Prism strings, and no store I've tried so far had them. But anyway, that's a detail.
I guess this is not the most versatile guitar ever in terms of sound variety. But I don't believe in that, anyway. If a guitar has a great sound with a couple of slight variations, than that is this instrument's voice, and it shouldn't have any gadgetry to bend that out of shape.

This is a short category. Superb!

Rock solid. Everything makes sense. No bullshit.

I've been playing for almost 30 years. I own a bunch of fine acoustics, but nothing in the electric department that could touch the G&L. I have a Danelectro U2 which I love for spanky trebly stuff, a shitty old strat with a hardtail bridge, and a Yamaha semiacoustic with a P90 in the neck position, which sings nicely but has intonation problems and an awful spaghetty neck. The Asat is my breat and butter guitar. I'm not sure if the price I payed is a great deal, since I've seem them much cheaper online. But this one has a fantastic curly maple neck which I can't believe is standard, plus that autograph might be worth something one day. Anyway, I don't intend to treat this as a collector's item. This is one hell of a player.

Blue, metal-flake like with a maple neck. Bought it used, so not certain of when it was made, although it seems a little old.

Made in USA.

I play mostly blues & blues rock through a Vox 30W modeling amp. I took it into the local Guitar Center to choose an amp and the a number of people in the store just stopped in their tracks and several commented favorably about the superior tone. This store carries Fender products, and a side by side comparison with their best Telecasters found Fender to be woefully wanting. I find myself playing almost exclusively in the neck pickup position, the middle position is of course brighter but somehow lacking "something", and occasionally in the bridge position for an almost painfully bright Tele twang. I find that using heavier strings relly, really adds a lot to the sound, and your fingers forgive you after getting used to it.

Bought it used, so I can't comment about set-up. Buzzed a little with original .009 strings, beefed up to .011's and problem solved. Stays in tune forever.

Seems heavy and substantial. Probably will outlast me.

Never needed any.

I would like to but another electric to dedicate exclusively to slide guitar, I might buy a Godin for that. The only other guitar on my wish list is perhaps a thinline Eastwood from Ed Roman's shop.

If stolen, I would earnestly hunt for another. It's pretty much the perfect single coil solid body electric IMHO.

Very light paint job, which lets me know that it isn't cheap wood because I can still see the beautiful grain of the wood. This is a tele style body with a pretty standard style tele bridge. It has G&L brand tuners (I don't know who makes them). The neck is maple with a gun oil finish, it is very pretty. I think it has medium frets. It is C shaped and just a little thick like old style tele's. It came with a G&L hardshell case, certificate of authenticy, allen wrenches, and a sticker. It was made in Fullerton, California, USA, in 2005. It has 22 frets with a solid top. It has a 3 way selector with a volume and a tone knob. This has some of the hottest stock pickups i've ever heard. One single coil in the bridge and one single coil in the neck. I don't know the model of pickups, but they are awesome. Its body is alder wood with solid maple for the neck.

This guitar is incredible. I play country/rock/blues and metal. It works well in all categories because of the hot pickups. Better suited for country/rock, I still use it for metal because it has incredible crunch, even for single coil pickups. I am playing through a Crate GFX 212 right now, although Im saving up for a Nick Greer amp (check his reviews). I use a MXR dyna comp compressor, an Ibanez TS_9 tube screamer, a Boss CE-2 chorus, a Boss DD-6 delay, a cry baby wah, a boss Tu-2 tuner and a Ibanez chorus/flanger. I use my amps reverb. The guitar is not noisy for the most part considering that single coils. You get some noise at high gain/volume settings, but I have leaned how to control it. This guitar is perfect for me and my stylings. I play more country and classic rock than anything. Hands down great guitar.

It came set up wonderfully. I played it at the store for months before I bought it. I had the action lowered just a bit for my metal material, but left everything else alone. This baby had no flaws at all, and still doesnt.

I swap pickups alot so my selector switch gets used a lot. The knob came off once. I glued it back on and it hasn't done it since. Ive gigged the crap out of this guitar since I bought it, in country/rock cover bands and a metal side project (think Iron Maiden meets Tool). The strap buttons are big and I use a Levy's wide leather strap to help with weight distribution. The guitar has some weight to it, but that is good for tone. I've played for three hours with it non stop before. Just get a good wide strap and you'll be fine. I never use a backup although I probrably should. This has been dependable so far with no problems.

Never had to deal with them. It has a 10 year warranty. The guitar is very sturdily built might I add.

Got hooked when Will Ray did a clinic in my home town and never looked back. I also have a fender mexican strat, an Ibanez with humbuckers (currently out of commission), and a Yamaha TRB 1005 5 string bass (check these out if you play bass as well, best bass ever for the money.). If this were stolen I would track down the thief and castrate them. This is my pride and joy, I play it every day. I love everything about this guitar. I like it better than my strat because you can palm mute the higher strings, plus it sounds better. I've been playing for going on 14 years. Check this guitar out if you are a serious player. I checked out fender teles before buying this and there is no comparison.

2005, made in ??? i dont remember- i sanded that part off... very solid body, HEAVY. its basically a Telecaster. i got this one in stead of an American tele, saved $200 then used it to replace pickup, nut, jack, and strap buttons. i put a Seymour Duncan "Hot Rails" in it- the origional pickup was REALLY twangy (not my cup of tea). i got it after playing an Epiphone (that i bought for the same price) for a few years. the Tribute definately showed a better value. the neck pickup (still orig.) isnt very unique, i wouldnt say it sounds muffled- but its not the most articulate sounding. maple frettboard, black finish with tortise pickguard...

well, the pots are smooth. they taper seemlessly. my last guitar would roll back 3/4 of the way before making any change in the sound, then they would cut out in the next 16th of a turn. it has some character, a lot more than other guitars of its price. i use it with a Mesa Stilletto and an Orange 4X12 cab- it has a straight rock kind of sound. of course i DID replace the bridge pickup... its solid, and its a GREAT value. thats all i can say.

im not a tech. it looks good, the cut of the pickguard it a little sketchy- makes it look like it didnt belong on the guitar origionally. its nothing to write home about.

i ripped out the jack, stepped on the chord and it did the same thing any other guitar would have done... tuners are stable, i ruined the finish with an Alkaline Trio sticker... replaced the trap buttons... it is what it is, which is a little bit better than what they charge you for.

i like it. you get what you pay for, and then a little. needs a little love to be great, but what guitar doesnt? i give this guitar an overall 10, not because it could compete with high end guitars- but because it will destroy any other guitar of its price. (hear mine at www.myspace.com/wewantmusicians)

Basic vintage Tele style appointments.

Have 2:
1 solid black w/alder body and rosewood neck (7.? " radius)
1 trans red w/ash body and tinted maple neck (12" radius)

Amazing. Bought one, liked it so much I bought another (wanted one alder - darker 60's tone/ ash - brighter 50's tone).

Only drawback to the MFD pups is they tend to get microphonic in high SPL situations - rather than a musical feedback they get an open mic howl).

Top notch! Hand made perfection!

These will be here for many, many years. Excellent!

Phenominal Customer Support! Answer calls and emails promptly, will spend time on the phone, are very friendly. Kudos!!

Now have 3 G&Ls and will probably acquire more before it's all said and done. Great value new for a hand built instrument, but an amazing value for a hand built instrument in the resale market!

While not quite a Tom Anderson or Suhr - also reflected in the pricing - they're one of the best guitars available!

2006 Custom ordered. Swamp Ash body, maple 12" radius neck 22 frets, Graphtec nut, Blueburst finish, including headstock. Standard G&L MFD pup's. It's a Tele-style, so a basic guitar.

I originally purchased a G&L ASAT Tribute series. I liked that guitar very much, so I decided to check out the American version. WOW! This thing has the tele-style sound I was looking for, but fuller with more body.

Setup was perfect, fit and finish were flawless. The Blueburst finish is an absolute thing of beauty. I was surprised to find Sperzel keys on the guitar. Overall, the craftsmanship is impeccable with the possible exception of a tiny rough spot on the back of the neck.

I recieved the guitar from G&L via Oklahoma Vintage Guitar on a Thursday and gigged with it on Friday. The Tribute stayed in the case! So, a baptism under fire, and the outcome was fabulous. The next morning, all the gig grime and sweat wiped right off, and now it looks brand new again. I carry a minimum of 3 guitars with me on a gig for a variety of sounds, so I would never gig without some sort of backup. This thing seems like a tank, but only time will tell.

I spoke with several folks at G&L, and they were awesome. They helped answer questions when I was contemplating what to order, and were very patient. They told me to expect an 8 week time of delivery from the outset, so I expected that. I placed the order on Feb 28. However, I informed them I had a gig planned (my first after a 15 year hiatus) on March 31. Guess what? The guitar arrived at my house on March 30! Just a shade over 4 weeks for a custom built guitar? Just awesome! I can't tell you how much it meant to have that special guitar on such a special occassion. G&L really went the extra mile, it seems!

Been playing 30+ years. I also play a Gibson LP Doublecut, Gibson '79 Flying V, Gibson '67 Explorer, Ibanez Artist, Larrivee LV05 acoustic, Godin 12 string. Stage rig: Mesa Triaxis, TC Electronics G-Major, Furman, Korg DTR2000, Mesa 20/20 amp, Rocktron Midi Mate controller. If you have the patience and know what you want, I would highly recommend ordering a guitar from G&L. If it were lost or stolen, I would order another in a second.

2003 USA custom job
22 Frets
Solid top
Features the ever faithful ever present magnetic field design pickups
Clear orange/swamp ash
neck-birdseye maple (sick piece of birdseye...22 dots per fret, I counted twice!)
Cream pickguard

This guitar growls like woah! I have been playing a USA standard telecaster for several years and in 03 got this ASAT custom ordered and have been wowed daily ever since. It is a little noisy if you don't lower the pickups a little...they are powerful. I play artsy fartsy underground rock so I combine jazz,rock,punk, and noise so I need a guitar that has a universal sound. It sounds nice and harsh when you run it through overdrive on the back pickup and it sounds smooth and mellow when you play jazz chord structures with the middle out of phase sound. It is bright, so roll off the tone on your amp, especially fender amps.

It was set up exceptionally well by the good people in Fullerton.
Pickups had to be lowered for my eardrums sake. There are two dark dots on the back of the body that I can't tell if they are errors or just wood grain. They don't bother me though.

I have really acidic sweat so I already have to change out the tailpiece. The stovepipe hat covering the selector flew off years back. The metal on my volume knob has flaked off. None of those things bother me. The guitar is a tank. The only thing more solid than these suckers are PRS's...which suck...that's right. I would never gig or tour without a back up, I break too many strings.

I haven't dealt with the company yet.

I have played this thing up against anything fender made and it all pales. Let's face it...fender is not the same company Leo started, we all know that. Their products get worse and worse through the years. G&L fills a room with rich tone. I've played this guitar through some boutique amps (Bad Cat, Bogner, Dr. Z, Rivera) and I've played it through some rinky dink practice amps and it STILL sounds incredible.

I gave this a 9 because the prompt said "tons of features" other wise i would give it a 10 . It`s a TELE not the space shuttle. Volume, Tone and 3 selector switch for pickups . That`s a tele.Tone controls are very effective and give wide respose. Volume works well .All pots and controls are top quality and should outlast me.No noise.The standard single coil G&L pickups MFD`s are excellent. The first tele I played where I can use all pickups anytime for the sound i want .Those of you that wine about the input jack go out and buy a decent cord idiot.I have played this guitar for about a year.I looked at Fender but the quality is gone from fender. G&L`s are hand made and have feel and vibe far above the price tag i have bought another G&L legacy previously.
.As Leo said about G&L " these are my best guitars yet"
. See www.leoguitars.com

From the first unplugged strum, This has resonance, say TONE!! Neck is sweet midle very versatile and bridge has the twang. Quiet no single coil hum.Brass saddles and ashtray bride give vintage sound. Some expensive feders have more sustain.But i wanted a guitar that sounded like Leo Fender.Not a guitar some corporate suit selling to 18 year olds dreamed up.I play without pedals WOW!! Imagine a quality guitar With good cable played through a 30 watt clas A amp {Laney VC30-212 2 x 12 celestions.It`s called TONE. .The guitar neck is like putting your hands in hot water on a cold day. Intonation perfect. Oh Ya , Get the graphteck nut upgrade. Add gun oil tint and satin finish and you`d sware you just piked up a REAL 52 TELE.

Right out of the case top drawer. setup, pickups adjusted, birdseye maple fingerboard and neck, seen that on a fender lately?. Beautifully polished frets, solid vintage bridge, neck to body? can`t get a business card in there anywhere. Hand made by PEOPLE who care. Solid!! Electrical is all top notch. I gig with it and do not bring a back up. First time I`ve ever done that. Vibe and Tone only available from a hand made instrument.As before Get Graphteck nut and a good cable.

I think I have adressed these issues above. This is as good as it get`s. It is rock solid and I will probably will this to my son and it will still be working well. This is a giging workhorse . Ready to play hard and long evey night. Just change strings . D.R., pure blues 10-46 suit this guitar well.Never had a problem ,don`t expect to.

Unfortunately I have a really bad dealer. G&L seem helpfull. But there is some contractual issues involving Canada and distributorship. Unfortunately the customer is in the middle . I ordered locking tuners, guitar came with split tuners. After a year with no results, I gave up. I am happy with split tuners and got a refund on the locking ones.

I have been playing 40 years professionally. I own at present A 61 Les Paul. A 2004 Legacy G&L and the 2005 G&L Classic ASAT. Victoria 5112 amp and Laney VC30-212 amp all class A.I compared it to every TELE i coud find, Fenders,and a selection of hand made instruments some costing twice or more. The ASAT is A Leo Fender Tele pure and simple. Putting fender quality to shame. This is a hand made instrument,It has Mojo, Vibe, and a something special.It has everything you could want in a TELE. If Lost I would buy another one immediately having already done a years reseach. These are Sleepers and the price will be going up as well as resale as experienced musicians find out about G&L. As For the pimple crowd please go to your fender dealer and keep out of the production waiting list.

Butterscotch color with some grain showing through. Had a white pickguard that I painted black. Rosewood fingerboard. Slight birdseye look to back of neck. Neck is kind of a nice C shape. No issues with fit or finish.

Neck pickup is great for lead, particularly if you like the "woman" tone or "brown" sound. Bridge pickup is very bright but can be controlled by the tone control. Stronger than most Tele pickups. Not exactly vintage sound but very nice none-the-less.

No issues. Fairly high action which is fine with me. I use 52's to 11's and play slide about 50% of the time.

Absolutely no issues. Built to play and play and will last and last.

Never had to use them.

Overall very dependable with usable sounds for country, blues, rock, and even jazz (with tone control rolled down a little). Playing through Mesa Subway Blues with an additional Mesa cabinet with single 12. Will soon be using Boss BD-2 modded by Analogman. Also have Voodoo Labs tremolo pedal that adds gain and edge (with both knobs on "zero", almost like clean boost pedal. Amp has reverb so no other pedals.

ok,my beauty asat classic was born on the 6th may of 2003 and yes i had to order it special made from a dealer and yes i had to tell the dealer what features i wanted in it.madi in the usa baby! it has the same controls as those fenders.2 pick ups,in a black finish and etc... a very very fine and nice piece of furniture.

ok i play various styles of music but my main is the emo/indie/alternative/pop/rock. confusing hu! ok as far as effects i do have like 10 pedals or so and for that info check my other submissions just type chuy and itll take you to the various subbmissions.my main amp is the all mighty great 2002 vox ac30/6 tbx. my guitar is not noisy,it is rich full sounding.as far as the kinda sounds i can get well it depends on my pedals but i can get the sounds of the 60's,70's,80's,90's,00's and beyohn.in example radiohead,u2,coldplay,gustavo cerati,pete yorn,beatles and man a whole others of bands from all eras.i do like everything of my guitar. better than those fenders in my opinion and the price is great.

when i got my guitar there wasnt any deslikes,it came adjust and all set up just how i like it.pick ups great adjusted.no cracks. all good quality components ans wow what a great paint job.very fab.

i have play not only localy but national and international and all i use is my asat classic and it does with stand live gigs,no problems what so ever.and yes it seems like the whole complete guitar will last a lot of yrs to come.i had change the strap buttons to a shaller locking buttons,nothing wrong with the originals is just that i wanted those locking ones.i can depend on it,oh yes.i dont need a backup.if i would get a back up it would be in case i break a string but how i play this baby i had no problems.yes i would buy another asat classic!!!

i have dealt with the company just to find out when was my guitar made and they are pro people in that company,thanx.the warranty is 10yrs man who else does this,i wich my vox amp had the same longavility of warranty but thank god i had no problems with that either.

well before i bought this guitar i didnt know about the company(well duh oviously).but then i saw gustavo cerati live and i saw him using the asat classic all thru his show so im like wow thats different.i wanted a fender tele so much and i knew it was a mass production company.so it wasnt until i saw gustavo cerati and i started searching info on the company and as well as their guitars and so i saw that leo fender was the man so im like wow watta heck?so i couldnt find one at the local stores so i contact a dealer out of my state and grab some info and right then i order it without me trying one so the deales ask me some questions on how i wanted that guitar so i told him.it took like 2-3 months i think for me to get it at home and when i open it up it gave me one of those great feelings like woooooow and when i plug it to my vox ac30 my god no dissapointment what so ever what a sound, i mean i been playing for 12yrs now and man this is a very nice hand crafted piece of furniture and no complains,it came with its g l case.if stolen i would get another one. if you like the teles and you wanna get one try this ones the g l asat classic,you wont be disapointed.try it out... check out groups.msn.com/frequencia

Bough used, this a 1991 U.S.A. made. Tele style, 22 frets, solid-top, 1 tone 1 volume, with 3-way selector, 2 pu designed by Leo Fender, passive electronics.
Swamp-Ash body with Cherry sunburst finish, maple neck with rosewood keyboard and Leo Fender signature on the upper corner of the body.

I play blues, rock-blues and jazz-blues, and the guitar is perfect for my needs. I use with a Fender Blues Jr with a Marshal Bluesbreaker II & a Univibe.
The sound is full & rich. The neck pu, sound like an humbucker, the bridge pu is very sharp but fat. A lot of sounds can be done with this axe. The tonepot works fine, giving you a lot of variations.

Bought used I can't make any consideration about factory setup. But the owner manual give you all the tricks to make the right setup.
I've refretted mine with jumbo frets (like my other guitars) and I've cut a small portion of the telecaster bridge, to work fine in fingerpicking.
The finish is good enough for a 14 years guitar! No factory flaws. Is a truly work horse!
Is light and has a great playability.

It has just 14 of service, now I suppose to work on it for another 40!
Only six month, but it's on every gig, with my old '79 Stratocaster. It's very important dor my sound.

No problems!

I'm playing since 1970, but guitar from 1981. I own a '79 Stratocaster, a '00 Stratocaster with Texas Special, a '84 Japan Telecaster. I love all of this guitar, it's light, easy to play with a great sound.

My Classic Asat Classic has the classic Tele 6 sadle bridge
single volume and tone knob
maple neck witha gun oil finish
heavy gold flake finish
2 standard style pickups

the neck pickup is the best Tele Pickups for the neck that ther is I swaped it out with several Duncans even the quaterpound neck for tele and it did not have near thepower and clarity of the G&L neck pickup.
I did change the Bridge pickup to a Duncan vintage Tele Lead and the guitar came alive the stock pick up was to mid range and did not have the spank that the duncan did I am using a boss me-x floor
effects pedal with a ts9 boss ds1 and boss bd2 ran into a peavey classic 50 4/10 with efects I would matc the vintage tone of this setup with anything this setup will give clean jazz to rock and super twangy country

The finish is great heavy gold metal flake also on the head stok a maple neck with a gun oil finish the string action was a little high I had to shim the neck under the neck a little to achieve that perfect low action all the way up the neck

the input jack acts up a little seems if you use a cheaper guitar cord it wont work properly but if you use a high quality cord it will work fine

i have had to call G&L about another G7l legacy special guitar that I have I had to leave a messagebut they called me back with in 10 mintues but I was disapointed that they would not sell me another
dual blade pick up I had to go thru a G&L dealer time consuming I just put in a seymour Duncan instead

I have been playing for over 30 years and this is the guitar that
nails that perfect Tele tone if you have been wanting a Tele than this is the guitar I have owned several teles from the 70's and they did not come close to this G&L has a moore one on one aproach to building there guitars even the Legacy special is great better that any strat I have owned Just Take a on line tour the G&L factory and you will see the diference

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.

Interesting Maple neck listed at the store as a #2, which is the standard neck for ASAT Classics with the 7" Radius, but I had an older ASAT Classic that had the standard neck and that one seemed much smaller. I like the smaller radius, but this neck, with it's very unique "V" shape has its own vibe. The body is natural swamp ash and the harware is ASAT Classic Standard stuff. Based on the original Telecaster. Jumbo frets, MFD Tele bride and Tele neck. Came with the standard G&L ABS hardshell case.

For what I use it for, it's perfect!

I've had an American Tele and an older ASAT Classic that I sold. The Classic I sold is what made me miss the ASAT. The older one was heavy and was the three bolt neck. I wasn't worried about the 3 bolt design, but it was quite a bit heavier and while the pickups were same, this guitar just seems to sound better. I definitely has a great acoustic resonance and one strike of the strings and you'll feel the neck sustaining long after you've strummed the strings. G&L puts a bass plate under both pickups unlike the standard Tele that just has a bass plate under the bridge. What you get is a much more proportionate neck to bridge output that gives you a great notch position (in between neck and bridge), and a much warmer sound than the standard Tele pickup. The MFDs are considered to be warmer, and while this is somewhat true, the pickups still retain great clarity and articulation. I find getting the classic Tele sounds for "chicken pickin" or old rock easy with the bridge pickup. And, while the neck pickup has a little more hair on its chest than the standard Tele neck, there is still enough smoothness for rythm and plenty of punch for lead. I've found even Jazz sounds decent on this guitar. Contrary to some reviews, I don't find the MFD pickups cold or sterile. In fact, they allow you to shape the sound with your amp rather than your guitar. You can also take advantage of the adjustable pole pieces on each pickup and adjust each individual string volume to your preference. This is one of the coolest things about the MFDs. Still, if you want to just raise the pickup, you can do that too.

This will definitely work for classic country, but can also be used for anything else. Maybe a bit bright for dark metal, but hey, you may strike onto something new........Overall, an extremely great sounding guitar.

Just awesome. This is my third G&L. I had a used ASAT Classic that I missed the day I sold it, and I also had a Comanche. Both of those guitars were very well made and really put Fender to shame with the price to quality ratio. This guitar feels great in my hands and everything about it is a joy to play. The frets were well dressed and ready to go and the action out of the box was near perfect. The pickups were even adjusted right. I can't ask for anything more than that. No sloppiness anywhere on this guitar. Great job from G&L!

I found a used G&L ASAT Classic that had been beat to you know what that is still cranking out the tunes in someone elses hands as we speak. This guitar is no exception to the quality and durability of these guitars. They do a nice job with their special truss rod design to ensure a pretty stable neck. Humidity and temperature can still irritate the neck a little, but that's usually the norm for most guitars.

I'd depend on this guitar as much as my other ones. The handmade aspect just seems to draw more attention to detail, and as a result, you are less likely to encounter glitches via switch and pickup failures when someone responsible for making it is standing overhead as opposed to it going down a conveyor belt in an assembly plant or being run under some computerized machine.

I've only ordered new saddles for my old ASAT Classic from the parts store on their website and it took a little longer than I would have liked, but it all turned out good. They are facing some growing pains with the sudden increase in demand as people are starting to figure out G&L knows how to make a damned good guitar. I suspect they'll be around to help if I need it down the road.

Playing 20 years and I currently own this ASAT Classic, an Ernie Ball Music Man Axis Super Sport with MM90s, a Heritage H-150 (Les Paul) with Duncan Antiquities, A Hamer Newport Pro, and I have an Ernie Ball Music Man Albert Lee on special order. I currently play through a Rivera Quianna (great amp), but I'm selling the amp due to its weight and my chronic back problems. I've settled for a Hot Rod Delux Limited Edition with the Alnico Jensen and Laquered Tweed. I've somewhat shifted my playing style and interests from jazz and blues to country twang and blues. Don't know exactly why, except Albert Lee and James Burton blow me away when I hear their licks on CDs. Plus, I believe I'm finally be-bopped out for the moment.

You know, at first I was wishing this guitar had the original #2 neck, but it's so unique, it's actually grown on me quite well. In addition, it's very different from other G&Ls of the same model and make giving it it's own individuality. I also like G&L's translucent colors, and while the natural is pretty, I love the white blonde or even trans. orange. However, this natural color has grown on me as well and now I like it just fine.

Lost or stolen, I'd quickly replace it with another if I could. As I've already said, this guitar has a few very unique features that make it all mine, but G&Ls quality and consistency is so good, I'd still go and buy one with the full confidence the next one would be just as good. In my quest to replace the ASAT Classic I sold, I looked at the Tele '52 Reissues, but even that one really didn't compair (in my opinion) to any of the ASATs I picked up. I still like Fender Teles, but I like the ASATs better. They just seem to be a little less bland than the standard Fender guitars and the handmade aspect gives every G&L its own personality that most Fenders just don't seem to have. They cost a few bucks more on average than the standard American Fenders, but they seem like quite a few bucks more when you're plugged in and playing one. Or even not plugged in and strumming it while sitting on your couch.

As I've already said, I love everything about this guitar. The tone, the feel and playability and the classic look. There is nothing I dislike, although the ash tray style bridge can take some getting used to as your hand becomes acquainted with the saddles and the corners of the metal bridge. My favorite feature is the vibe from this guitar.

I've already answered what I was looknig at. I thought my Axis Super Sport would serve as my Tele, but that guitar, in all its greatness, is its own animal with it's own vibe. I also love the Albert Lee that has a very twangy edge to its tone, but that still is more of a strat than a Tele. And as I transform to twang from be-bopp, the Telecaster has become one of my main guitars of choice for not only country, but just about everything. And, if you want the real thing, then you should just go out and get it instead of trying to substitute it. I had switched the MFDs in my old ASAT with Seymour Classic '54 Tele pickups, but switched them back only after about a week because I found the MFDs to be more versatile and every bit as twangy as the Seymours.

The only thing I wish it had was maybe a cover for the bridge, but that would look odd, and it won't allow you to string mute. It would be a hand saver though. Some folks complain about ASATs being too gentle in the guitar chord insert, but I'd much rater have a soft exit when unplugging over something that literally causes hardware to become loose because you have to pull so hard. Wrapping the chord around your strap before plugging in will solve this problem for you guys still having trouble.

I'd just like to encourage those of you intrigued by the G&L line to go and try one. Legacy, ASAT, ASAT Classic, Comanche, etc...They're all good and every one you play will feel totally different from the one before it. When you play a good guitar, the "f

Telecaster through and through. It might have more modern style pups but they rock. I've had two and played both for about four years now and they are both going strong. These are the real American made G&Ls. I'm disappointed in G&L importing the new ones from Taiwan. What a sell out, it will get them a bad name.

Great fat blues tones effortlessly through Tony Bruno's Cowtipper 35 and a 64 Vibroverb. These pups are more like the old broadcasters pickups only much hotter but with a similar tonal range. Very responsive for players with touch... I tend to be always heavy handed but that's my fault. In some clubs the single coils are noisy but do better than other single coils I've used over the years. I think pickers will like this guitar too the country Tele thing is right there.

I've already refretted my main GL Classic because over the four years, I haven't been able to put it down. Very set-up-able guitars, stable and very well made... the paint is nice and thin and the whole thing has a great lively feel to it.

Built to last a lifetime or two. No Problems.

There is one snag with these Classics... the neck pocket joint is all their own and you can't fit a std Tele neck in there so if anything terrible happens to the neck you will need to make some friends at G&L. Warmoth, for example are not going to help you out here.

Don't know, Don't care until I need a new neck, then we'll see.

I love it. I've yet to find myself hating it.

Brand new guitar with the standard tele features. 6 brass saddle bridge. Maple neck and board.

Great sound on the front and back. very tough sound on the back. I played through late 70's super reverb that has been "corrected". More versatile than I expected. Wide tone range. Better than my '67 sad to say , very quiet too. I was suprized. I Played it most of the night and was suprised that kept on for songs I would probably have switched for.

Really well done from finish to set-up. staight as an arrow neck. Had it set up with .011's and consistant action from top to bottom. Every thing felt and looked high quality. Nice job on the wood binding, tortise guard and ivory white finish. Nice tint on the neck.

Seems vey solid.

N/A

I have lots of guitars and amps. Vintage strats to new Les pauls and home made strats. Lots of great amps. I am blessed. This is one of the best guitars I've played. It's just done right all. The guys in the store love them and raved on. They weren't kidding. I gave this thing a good hard work out for about 4 hours.

I recently purchased a butterscotch blonde G&L ASAT Classic off Ebay. It's in great condition, has all of the original parts, ash body, 1 ply black pickguard, maple neck and fretboard with a terrific gun oil tint and glossy finish.

Most ASATs I have played have a terrific sound, but some how or another I got screwed over. G&L has terrific idea of adjustable pole pieces on the pickups, but I got screwed over with a crummy bridge pickup. First of all, the single coil pick howls/feeds back like a mofo. I mean, I know single pickups squeal (hence they made humbuckers) but no where near as bad as this!!! So, I took it to a shop had it waxed, and it squeals less (there must have been a loose wire that was wrapped). Now the low E string, no matter how low you adjust its volume with the pole pieces, over powers the rest of the strings with its fat, toneless sound. So I'm some what pissed, this guitar has potential to sound awesome, its just that I gotta drop another 60 bucks, after I already spent $40 waxing my pickup, to get a good pickup (look for this guitar on ebay soon!, ha)

The setup on this guitar was okay. I've read a lot of reviews dissing the setup, and maybe the dude before me set it up okay, but I still have to adjust the high E string. It has been slipping for some reason and I've been getting the sitar effect for sometime.

This guitar seems like its pretty reliable, and wont break down on you in the middle of your set or anything, but who knows...maybe your low E string could shit out and it would be all fat sounding???

N/A

I'm not knocking the G&Ls and I'm sure that most of them are terrific (from all of the ones I've played). I just think I got screwed over with the ebay thing, so my words of advice are play your guitar before you buy it from some guy you don't know. If it got stolen, i'd feel sorry for the dude that stole it, because he's gonna be dropping $150 to fix it up.

2003 model.

It sounds pretty good but nothing special. A little better than an American Standard Tele. Stays in tune. Pickups sound a bit harsh ..not a "vintage" sound.

Here is the big problem. I custom ordered this guitar. It took 6 months to get it and when I did I liked it but then I noticed that there was a major "dead spot" at the 11th fret. I sent it back for a warranty repair (more about G&L service/support below) and after 5 weeks I got it back with a new neck. G&L make the necks by hand and it's no suprise that the new neck feels totaly different. The buzz is gone but no the guitar is "neck heavy" and get this...the neck is slightly thicker around the 5th fret than it is by the 12th fret! No "taper" here. Strap it on and the neck wants to point south if you let go. It's a real drag. I really wanted it to work. This is my 3rd G&L and I have no given up. Those CIJ Teles are way better for less money. Custom Shop are nice but WAY overpriced IMO. CIJ or Real Vintage is the only way for me now.

G&L's service sucks. They seem very aloof and ready to "just get off the phone". I waited 3 weeks after sending them my guitar before calling to see how it was going and when I did they said they didn't know anything yet but I should have my guitar back in 2 weeks. I called back 2 weeks later and they said that they still didn't know what was going on with it but that it must need a new neck since they had had it for so long and that I could expect my guitar in another 5 to 6 weeks ...Again sounding bothered that I was asking! The thing is...how can they miss dead spots at the factory? Don't they have anybody play the things at all before they send 'em out? And also why just slap another neck on there? Why not just repair it? And they didn't even try to match the new neck at all...they just threw any neck on there.

It's sad because some G&L's are really nice. The key is you can't mail order these. You HAVE to hand pick them...and there are not many around to pick from...and when you do find them they are in some tacky swirl or sparkle finish with z coil pickups. All in all this is still a pretty good guitar but the fact that is is neck heavy and "bloated" in the middle of the neck...add to that my experience with G&L service...I am going to sell it. Lessons learned.

My Classic is a 1991. It was built in Fullerton, Ca. like all the USA models are I assume. 22 jumbo frets, metal pick guard, maple neck and beautiful orange burst finish. Two single coil tele pick ups that sound better than ANY single pole strat pick ups I've ever heard! This guitar is absolutely one of the finest made guitars I've ever owned- and I've owned dozens. It also came with a molded hardshell case.

I play everything from ZZ Top to Buddy Guy, and this guitar can handle everything in between. I play straight through a Hughes & Kettner ATTAX 80 with no other effects except a wah wah pedal. The sound can go from the the clearest cleans, to an awsome Jimmy Page, Jimi Hendrix style distortion and nail them both. The pick ups are just incredible if you ask me. The action and fit on the guitar are comfortable, although it took me a while to get used to a tele style bridge. I dare anyone to knock this baby out of tune. Quality from headstock to bridge.

Like I stated above, I do not have one single complaint about the action, workmanship, or feel of this guitar. It's absolutely beautiful!

Extremely dependable guitar. I've never dropped it, but I don't "baby" my guitars. No matter how aggressively I play, the guitar takes it without a problem. The finish is tough, and it almost dares you to knock it out of tune. I've never owned a non locking tremelo guitar that stayed in tune as well as this one does. G&L really outdid themselves with this one. I'd only keep a back up if I were playing a Pantera or Anthrax set. The Classic can pretty much handle everything in between- believe it or not!

Never neede to yet.

Been playing for 10 years. I also currently play a Les Paul Studio Lite, and a Peavey Wolfgang Special. I love em all, but I love this one the best. NO question, if this guitar were lost or stolen, I'd buy it's twin tomorrow. This baby is cool!

This was made in the USA out in sunny or smoggy southern California "with a big nasty redhead by my side." I do not know what year, but I think it was a 1996 model based on information from the seller or off the web. It has all the standard features. Two pick-ups, a rosewood neck of sufficient length to easily play a high d on the high e string, sperzel non-locking tuners, the G&L industrial strength bridge etc. The finish is unusual. It is black, but has a swirl or almost marble look to it. It's pretty cool. It also has a pearloid pick guard. Due to the unusual finish I believe that it is swamp wood.

I have never owned a Telecaster and although I always wanted one, I had played some that had a very thin tone and some that were great. Undaunted and with a little blind faith, I bought this off the internet from a guy in Cincinnati who was very helpful and did a good job packing it and sending it to me. Thank you Nick.

Anyway the features are all I expected since I knew what I was getting.

I had doubts about buying this without playing it first, but I got a good price and went ahead and did it.

It was a sound purchase (pun intended). The tone is fantastic. It can play the rock and roll, the blues, the jazz and the country with out much trouble. I have a GT-3 Boss Guitar Processor and it is the best sounding of my guitars in the most settings.

It is clean, but if you give it some overdrive or distortion it handles it with no problemo!!! If you like Mark Knopfler and the bassy, bluesy tone he gets on a lot of his solo stuff this guitar is for you. If you like Mark Knopfler and the "Once Upon a Time in the West" clean tone, this one is for you.

As the Beatles once said, "It's a clean machine." But it does even more.

I buy guitars for the sound and tone. This is a great one.

The action is slightly higher than what I'm used to, but that really is not a big issue, because it is still very playable and I can adjust that if and when I need to.

It is a used guitar so there were a few little mars in the finish, but no gouges or scratches. It looks pretty cool.

Controls were in good shape. If I ever got another one I would like a maple neck instead of rosewood, but that's not enough to dislike this one.

I think this guitar will last. It is not particulary heavy, but it feels very solid. The finish seems to be of a good quality and I don't expect it will wear off easily.

The strap buttons are very solid and appear to have been made by United States Steel.

Can not say, because I have had no reason to call G&L. I did visit their website and that was helpful in learning more about this model.

I've been playing for over 30 years. Like I said before, I always wanted a Telecaster guitar, but I'm glad I waited to get a G&L. It is great. If it were lost or stolen I would get another one.

The tone and neck are great on it. The neck feels solid and fits my hand very well.

I am very impressed with it, especially the TONE!!!

Probably a 2002 g&l asat classic, the refined version of the tele. I got the #2 maple neck with gun oil tint and glossy finish. All the other features as described below.

I play roots rock. I run the asat and some teles into: whammy pedal-->vox clyde wah-->fulltone deja'vibe2-->maxon tube screamer-->boss hyper fuzz or metal zone (depending what mood I'm in)-->korg multieffects thingee for chorus and delay--> fender hot rod deluexe or deville. Single coil pickups are noisy, but they sound great with effects or bypassed straight to the amp. Bright sound.

This is the best factory set-up I've encountered in 25-years or playing. There is no problem anywhere on this guy.

Will this guitar withstand live playing? Yes
Does the hardware seem like it will last? yes
Is the finish good enough to last, or does it seem thin and easy to wear off with lots of playing?: Fullerton Red (kind of an awful orange red but hey I got a deal) finish is pretty thick, but it doesn't seem to dampen the tone at all.

Are the strap buttons solid? Yes
Can you depend on it? Yes
Would you use it on a gig without a backup? I would never use any guitar without a backup, that would be silly.

Haven't tried to deal with them. I've heard from dealers they won't make an asat classic in a particular configuration I dream of, but I've never actually tried to place that order.

How long have you been playing? 25 years

What other gear do you own? tons of teles, effects as described above, fender amps, custom warmoth guitars with joe barden pickups.

Is there something you wish you had asked before buying this guitar? "How orange is fullerton red?".. it's homely but it plays and sounds great.

If it were stolen or lost, would you buy it again or get something else? I'll buy it again without it being stolen or lost! I'm-a-savin up for a Blues Boy.. this will have the gun oil tint #2 maple neck as well.

What do you love about it? it plays and sounds great
What do you hate? the god awful orangeness of "Fullerton Red"
What is your favorite feature? the neck

Did you compare it to other guitars? nah Which ones?

Why did you choose this one? pre-recession impulse buy. turned out to be a very good choice.

Anything you wish it had? perhaps a honeyburst finish? Maybe w/binding.

Anything else you'd like to share? ***PEACE IS PATRIOTIC!!***

The reason I bought this G&L Asat Classic [hereto referred to as ?it?, ?the thing?, ?pig?, and ?piece of sh_t?] was because the body was an extremely lightweight & resonant piece of ash. The thing weighed in at 6.8 pounds [and it was not one of those ridiculous hollowed models]. Furthermore, the neck was made from beautiful bird?s eye maple.
How the hell can you screw up a Tele-style guitar built from wood like that? Continue reading for the answer.

I tried it through a VHT Pitbull 45, Budda Twinmaster, Mesa Boogie Rocket 440 (another piece of sh_t), and ?59 Bassman Reissue. Not one of them could extract the punch, spank, or twang you expect from Tele?s.
In short, the thing reproduced the sh_tty tone of those mid-seventies, dead-wood, so damn heavy they?ll put you in traction, Fenders. But hey, if the only song you know and ever intend to play is ?Hotel California?, than this pig would be for you!
I blame those asinine MFD pickups. These MF?ers are way overpowered for a Tele and kill any articulation you may posses. I considered swapping them out for Lindy Fralin?s or John Suhr?s but abandoned the whole effort for a Terry C. McInturff. (Good decision!)

This was supposedly a ?Premier? finish? an attempt at Blond Transparent. After getting the thing into some decent light, I discovered that the finish appeared? ?swirled? or ?pooled? or ?drippy?. Have you ever attempted to re-finish wood without completely removing the previous finish? Bingo!
Now the following really pissed me off. The neck shifted around in the socket causing a loud ?creak? every time I bended the strings. Now I consider string bending somewhat important to my style of playing, so this was a real problem for me. (Don?t be an idiot and mutter to yourself ?tighten the bolts!? It?s not that simple; the world doesn?t turn that way.).

Reference the above ?neck socket? anecdote.

Dear G&L,
Stop making Leo Fender?s widow tarnish her good name by signing you stupid ?Certificates of Authenticity?.

I?ve read that the name ?Asat? was borrowed from a surface-to-air missile. One should have been used to blow this pig back to hell!
My fault? I expected something exceptional from a production guitar. But if you?re used to playing Fenders? current offerings [or similar garbage], you?ll love G&L?s. They?re a step up.
On a positive note, the dealer?s tech could not correct the ?neck shift? problem, and was compelled to take the piece of sh_t back after my return policy had expired. I feel sorry for whomever they foisted if off on next.

Mine was purchased new in '95 or '96. Has a maple fingerboard, plus the fatter frets used by G&L at that time (don't know about recently. Uses a plastic stringtree, and has really nice tuning posts and machines. Maybe the nicest, best designed ones I've ever seen. Otherwise, if you've ever played a tele, this is basically the same thing.

I gave this category a 6, because the guitar is not feature rich.

This guitar is so good, it put my '61 strat back in the closet. I had a Japanese-made Fender tele for years. Well made, but lousy pickups. It got me thinking hard about teles. Got to play a '62 tele deluxe for two minutes, which really connected me to what this tele design is all about. But how to afford such a thing? Didn't know much about G&L, but found this axe in a great store on Carmine Street in NYC.

It blew me away. 700 bucks new. At the time the new Fender Teles were more. They sounded and felt inferior to this. The sound is (of course) tele-like, but distinctly different. It's a bit hotter and darker than the Fender tele; the sound is wider somehow. Hard to explain the difference, but the changes make this an even more versatile instrument on stage than the tele itself. The treble position is very useable. Roll off the tone knob, back off the volume a bit and kick up the amp volume. The sound fattens up and gets wide. It kills! By contrast, I can't get it quite sharp enough to match Roy Buchanans icepick tone. The neck position sounds so good I didn't even use the other settings for at least a year. Wherever you set it, this guitar sounds huge at stage volume.

I play through a '67 deluxe reverb, and thank god (and Leo) everytime I plug in. There's no better guitar/amp match-up. Put the amp on 4, and there's an overdrive edge to the sound, particulary on the middle pickup or the bridge settings with volume and tone rolled off. It's beautiful.

BTW: This is the only guitar I've ever played that's equally good at regular playing and slide tunings. Tune it up to Emajor, switch to the neck pickup and stand back. This thing has a slide sound to die for, much better to my ears than the strat.

You should see the grain in the maple fingerboard, and the very subtle greenish hint in the white/tan body finish. This is a very plain, very attractive instrument. As always, the factory setup didn't do it. It was a little hard to play out of the box. The frets needed dressing. After the first winter, the neck has shrunk just a bit, while of course the frets did not. Took it to Sadowsky; he did a simple set up, cleaned up the edges and the action. That turned a really good guitar into a great one.

Everything about this guitar is top-quality and heavy duty. It looks and feels very solid. The tuning pegs and strap keys in particular are custom-quality. Everything about this guitar says high priced, which it was not.

No need for support here.

I've played guitar for 35 years. Until this G&L, the only guitar I couldn't live without was my vintage, beat-to-hell strat. The G&L has the sound I want. If you mess with volume and tone just right, you hear how close the early, single-coil les pauls were sonically to the 50's teles. Both basically just planks with two pickups. Leo Fender actually did himself one better with the ASAT classic. The updates are subtle, and functionally very logical. If you're considering a Fender Telecaster, do yourself a favor. Find one of these and do the A/B test.

Mine is a 1996 Classic Custom, with a Cherryburst flame ash top with pseudo (no spray) binding and a back scoop. Presumably an alder back, though I've never checked it. Otherwise as per usual. Rosewood board, I guess 12" radius. Cool pearloid pickguard.

I haven't made any changes yet, but have a Fender 4 way switch ready to drop in (which will give 2 pickups series as well as the standard parallel). Might try the brass saddles and or 3 saddle bridge at some point, but there's nothing to be dissatisfied with at this time...

I have tried about half a dozen ASAT Classics, though no other ones of this spec. This particular guitar is 50% better than any other speciment of the breed I have tried - it was love at first twang.

Great sound from both pickups. This guitar has a huge acoustic "sprang" - I've never played a solid with so much acoustic vibrancy. The tone control is wonderfully flexible and responsive and gives everything from in-the-closet jazz wuffle to full tilt rockabilly screech without needing to touch the amp. (Which for me is a Rivera 30-12). You can also get fabulous blues tone with a little tweaking here and there - perfect for mid 60s Clapton or Green, believe it or don't.

I bought mine new but shop soiled. It must have had a hard life - there were a couple of quarter inch chunks out of the back.

Also, I could never get the neck and action quite right - in the end I had to have the frets removed and the fingerboard shaved to get a kink out. Because of the other problems at the time of purchase, I shouldn't blame G&L for this, but it has cost me an extra chunk of money that I wouldn't have spend on a less magical guitar.

See above - but otherwise would depend on it absolutely. Have only broken one string in 3 years of hard playing (on an old set at rehearsal, going for a 5 semitone full neck width throttle on the high E).

It does insist on top quality leads for solid contact - I'm using a diMarzio which is fine; lesser leads have crackled.

No rep in Australia.

I've been playing 35 years and presently own a Legacy Special and a Larrivee OM3R.

This ASAT is the best guitar I have ever owned, and as good as any I have ever played. It gives total sonic satisfaction, looks sensational, and is a source of solace in times of need.

Despite it being relatively expensive (at the time) and requiring a premature refret, I cannot imagine ever trading it at any price, and it makes other makers' premium offerings look ridiculously overpriced.

Understanding serial numbers are not my strong point, but I believe this model is a 1993. With the wear on the body and neck, I should be pretty close. This is your standard Fender Tele-like guitar, but with a 3-bolt neck, maple fretboard, 22 jumbo frets made in California USA. The finish is a translucent red on a heavy swamp ash body and the pickup configuration is like the telecaster and not the soap bar style with the ash-tray bridge pickup and smaller neck pickup. 1 volume, 1 tone and 3-way switch. The neck is a 7" radius and seems a little narrower than my American Tele, but not too narrow. It came with a pretty beat up hard case.

I bought an American Tele that was absolutely beautiful. It was see-through white blonde and was in perfect cosmetic shape....The pickups were fine too. I had a problem with the neck, however, and never felt comfortable with the overall feel....I was browsing in a local music store looking for a semi-hollow guitar, when I noticed this one, picked it up, and never looked back.

A 9 for having the nice finish and jumbo frets......10 is perfect, and I think too many people get too biased with their guitars, so a near perfect is what I'll give her.

I really liked the sound of my tele. I had no complaints. I just didn't like the feel. With the G&L, you still get the twangy, gritty bridge pickup, but with much more punch. Not just noisy volume, but a much warmer, fuller sound without being a humbucker. The same goes for the neck pickup. Similar to the tele, but not really. These pickups carry a lot more volume to both the neck and bride without sounding muddy or noisy. According to G&L, it's the magnets with the adjustable pole pieces that are responsible for this. The sound is very satisfying, which at first, if you are expecting it to replace your tele, you may be a little confused. But, once you play with them a while, you will realize that not only does this replace a tele, but also can be used for a variety of other styles the tele just couldnt cover. I thought the Tele in the neck was a little brighter, but I have to say, these ASAT pickups compete (as far as volume goes) with a Robin Avalon with Rio Grande Humbuckers in them.

Another important factor (at least for me) is how the guitar plays unplugged. Very alive and balanced. Not too many people on here comment on that. If you are reading this review, and others, you are probably a consious shopper wanting to make the best decision for your money. If this is the case, you should ALWAYS see how your guitar will play right off the rack. Pickups can do a lot for a guitar, but remember, the PUs are just amplifying the sound of the woods and the vibrations they are picking up. And this G&L, along with other G&Ls I've played have a very strong resonance to them and sound great without amplification.

A nice sound with more variety than a standard Telecaster, with more unplugged sustain and natural brightness than it's predecessor.

For a used guitar, that really looks like it was appreicated and used by its former owner, I was very impressed. Aestetically, it had some nicks and the knobs were abit loose, some wires were loose and the input jack a little worn, but in my opinion, these are all suggestions of a guitar that was used over and over again. And I get the feeling it was not because it was this person's only guitar, but because of it's special feel when you pick it up. The Jumbo frets are nice too, along with just an overall terrific balance. About the only thing I had to get used to was the ash-tray style bridge and saddles. Where the Telecaster has smooth saddles, the ASAT uses the older style that have the adjustable knobs on top of the saddle rather than flush. I will play with my hand over the saddle a lot, and I had to get used to not doing that as much as before. A minor detail and nothing that affects this great guitar.

Well, I mentioned this guitar was used, and it appeared it was used quite a bit. This guitar seemed to have passed with flying colors, and looks like it will hold up for as long as needed, providing adequate care it taken of it. G&L has been known for quality, and this guitar does not seem to be an exception to that theory. A solid guitar with quality parts.

I've never had to use them, nor have I really had to use any guitar manufacturers warrany department with top-notch guitars. I really can't rate this, but with their website and growing number of fans along with their already large quantity of happy G&L customers, I would assume their customer support to be great.

I've been playing for around 20 years. I've owed many different guitars and sold a lot of them and have since built up my collection again. I have the same Am. Strat, a Robin Avalon, a Gibson ES-135, and now the G&L ASAT Classic. I've owned a les paul, a 335, an L-5, a PRS CE-22 a Guild Bluesbird and a Fender Telecaster, which all have very special sounds and feels about them. However, since I am far from being rich, I try and keep one type of guitar for a particular style of sound(semi-hollow, solid body humbucker, strat and tele) with some wishful hopes of adding to my collection and further expanding my tonal diversity.

I would have kept my telecaster had the neck not been messed up, and for what it's worth, I probably could have had it fixed, but after 4 trips to the set up shop, I grew impatient. I sold and shipped off a beautiful tele, but in turn, I got a very well-made fine-playing guitar that rivals the tele in every aspect, but also adds more tonal variation from just one guitar.

I see many people reviewing Fender and Gibson styled guitars bash these companies along with other established companies, and I don't think that's very deserving. Fender and Gibson have made many people famous and are standards by which all other manufacturers are compared. I can't think of any other companies that cater to such a wide range of musicians from an experience and budget standpoint. In addition, the Les Paul and Fender Stratocaster are cultural icons in american music. I don't care what anyone else says about that, it's the truth.

BUT, and this is a big BUT, many companies have done their homework. And their assignment was to not just mimick, but improve what had been working with electric guitars. And I think G&L is one of those companies. Especially since Leo Fender set out to improve upon his own design, this in essence, is what he did. He improved upon the American Standard Instruments he helped make famous. I've always been told by many Nashville musicians, the G&L was a Fender custom shop at American standard prices. While I do not disagree with this, I have made my own conclusion. The G&L is a G&L. A well-made instrument with competative pricing considering companies like Anderson, Zion and others improving upon the design and tonal perfomances of the strat and tele while also improving upon their retail prices (and not to the good of the public).

Along with the Fender and Gibson names, comes resale. As you may or may not know, the resale market on quality american made guitars that are not Gibson or Fender can be brutal for a person paying retail for their guitar and then trying to sell it. Fortunately, word gets around, manufactures get greedy and mature people loose their concern for the name on the headstock and start paying closer attention to what plays and sounds better. I've had a couple of Heritage guitars that I lost my tail end on when I re-sold them, and, in turn, have picked up some good guitars taking advantage of their less than stellar resale values. The G&L kind of fits in that niche, but around Nashville, they are too well known for their quality and sound and command a pretty fair resale value. I got, pretty much, an even trade on my Tele for my ASAT, and in the long run, I think I got much more guitar with the G&L.

Why did I say all of this. Because, if you are thinking about a tele-style guitar, there is nothing wrong with a genuine fender telecaster. However, if you are thinking about a G&L and can get one for the same price as an american standard fender, then you stand the chance of getting much more guitar for your money.

Mid '90-s opaque white finish, ash body, maple neck, six-saddle bridge, two traditional Tele size stock p/u's, three way switch. Just what you'd expect in a vintage-style Tele setup. I'm giving it a '10' for having just the needed features and not a lot of useless bells & whistles

I owned this for close to a year only being about 70% satisfied with the sound. When I looked around at the more recent models, I noticed they had six brass saddles instead of the steel ones that were on mine. I ordered a set of the brass saddles, installed them, and that has made all the difference. Now it's my favorite Tele, Yes, I have gone to music stores and played the much sought after vintage ones, and this compares, if not surpasses, those. I thought I would try different pickups and installed a set of Lindy Fralins and Bardens and I actually think the stock G&L p/u's sounded better in this particular guitar. I may feel like experimenting somewhere down the road, but it's nice to not feel a sense of urgency about it, because once I swapped the saddles this thing really sounds great.

All the workmanship looks really good, but since I bought it used and it was REALLY badly set up and needed fret work, so I'm leaving this blank

Seems nice and solid to me, like a professional instrument should

Beyond ordering the saddles (which arrived in 2 days), I haven't used them

A really nice version of a vintage Tele, IMHO a superior guitar in terms of playability, tone and workmanship to anything currently made by Fender, including the '52 Reissue and the Nocaster. The pickups were a real surprise, they really do a nice job of getting those Tele tones with a slightly fatter presence.

This is a standard model rosewood neck telecaster. Two single coil G&L pickups, 6 saddle bridge. The bridge uses the modern style saddles. 3-way switch and a volume and tone control. This is not the current model, but from around 93-94. The neck is more like a strat neck than a tele neck, which is what made me want it. Ash body finished in a transparent green.

It sounds like a tele. The spank, bite and guts are all here.

I had to remove a GR-pickup and generally clean up the guitar. I bought it used. Except for a few nicks it is in solid shape. I did adjust the neck and bridge and everything is great.

This guitar is built like a tank. A very solid design and execution.

If you get parts from the web page, that is fast. However, They don't seem to answer their email. Haven't called.

This is a great take on a tele. I really like the neck, since I don't get along with a standard tele neck. I'd probably buy another one for that tele thing if I needed it.

i believe it is a 90, 91 or at the latest a 92 model (s/n 0034452), i bought it used from the original owner about 6-7 yrs ago... he was (still is) a G&L Legacy/s-500 freak and was not using this g'tar at all. lucky for me he needed some money and the rest is history.

solid ash, 2 big fat ASAP p/u's with the fat poles, black w/white pick guard, blonde (maple) neck, tel-style, G&L saddle lock bridge, 7.5 radius 22 frets, hard case, strap locks, G&L tuners (weird tuners)... thats all.

tone, tone, tone... neck p/u = fat blues or classic rock power comp chord. bridge p/u = clean country picking or drive it hard for cut through wicked sustained leads. blend the 2 and you have arpeggio clean capability or meaty clean ryhthms.

this is my final solid body... i need to look no further.

this guitar was set up very well by the owner (who owns a great guitar shop). but i switched to D'Addario EXL110W (.010-.046's w/wound G string), so i had a luthier/friend reset the p/u's, file the nut, etc to accomodate. this is the ticket for this type of guitar which i condider a utility guitar that needs to cover a lot of ground.

this is a "utility" guitar. made like a tool to make a living with. it is not a complicated tempermental delicate mamby-pamby guitar. it is dependable. you set it up how you want it and forget it... it will stay in place because the hardware is simple and high quality. i don't have a back-up or would even condiser needing one.

never checked.

been playing since i was 8 yrs old. i am now 46 yrs old. most people condiser me an excellent player, but i feel i am just middle of the road, and have not yet arrived. i own too much gear to list, but as far as g'tars go i am down to 3... this one, a 10 year old Ovation Custom Legend, and a 21 year old Yairi dreadnault (original owner of both). i don't even want to discuss the thought of it getting stolen (but i would try to find another like this one). I love the durability, simplicity, yet addictive playability of this guitar. it is even fun to play unplugged (sounds good too). i don't hate anything, but i don't like the G&L tuners. they keep in tune just fine, but i can't get used to how the strings set in place. once you get them wound its no problem. i might replace those with Spertzel locker's one day. i have owned other solid bodies and knew i wanted to settle down with a tele style... i just did not like the fenders. thank God Leo still lives on through these G&L's. as a review below brought up... i wonder how a fishman bridge would sound, but i would be hard pressed to get rid of the G&L saddle lock (its too awesome). i keep thinking about having it painted the ol mellow yellow like the 50's teles (the black is cool too). but i use it too much to let it go for any length of time.

made in USA 2001,22 frets 7.5" radis rosewood neck two piece alder body finished in 3-tone sunburst (very well i might add)the normal
Tele spec two single coil pickups one volume and one tone control.
The neck is a D-shape and drops in between modern and vintage.Finish
in a pale satin vac or rubbed oil.

I play country/blues/rockabilly and a bit of jazz and i mean a bit.This guitar will do all of the styles i play no problem is not a heavy rock axe as the pickups will feedback and not in a nice way.For
clean and crunch tones it's awesome,the pickups do sound pretty damn
good for stock pickups,i have always changed my pickups for the real thing like JOE BARDEN'S or CHRIS KINMANS they sound awesome with no
hum.These pickups are a lot bigger and warmer sounding than Fender
guitars i've tried.And there a good output as well.(Well done G&L Guitars)see if you can get rid of the hum.I'm giving this a 10 because they are stock pickups and you can't put the best and keep the retail price of the guitar the same.The tone pot is very good it work right away so you can get a good jazz sound or the classic british woman tone (blues breaker)

Well hard to say it came with 9-42 gauge strings and they suck big time so i change them after about mmmmmmmmmm 10 seconds and put some
10-46 the different between these to gauges is unreal.The frets are jumbo and they make the action feel high at first and then you realize
the higher the fret the higher the string is of the fret board.Once you are used to it they are so much better and easier to bend strings
and do hammer on's and pull off's.

No problem at the moment and can't see any happening

Haven't needed any

The guitar sounds and plays awesome and i mean awesome,if your a Tele
player you will love them,they have all the tone with a bigger and round sound an a classic Fender and more sounds an a reissue the finish is top draw well mine is anyway.A great guitar at a good price.

I might up grade the pickups to Joe Barden's to cut the hum and get
that Danny Gatton tone.Joe's pickups are just the best.

Mine a '93 cherry sunburst. It has George Fullerton's initials penciled in the neck pocket.
The body is solid alder, and the neck is standard maple with maple fretboard. Frets are "medium", which is larger than on any of my other guitars. Fretboard radius is said to be 7 1/2 but if feels flatter the one on my Fender 50s reissue. The VERY satin finish doesn't look like much but it sure plays nice.

Everything is stock, including the 2 G&L ceramic single-coil ASAT pickups with adjustable polepieces.

It's a Tele. Do you want/need?

The sound is darker and punchier than most Fenders I've played. It lacks the icepick-in-the-eardrum capability of a vintage or vintage-style Fender, which may be good.

It's pretty hard to get a bad tone from this guitar, especially through a decent tube amp. I alternate between a Fender Blues Junior and a Super Reverb. A little reverb, compression, and slapback echo and I'm in heaven.

Body finish is excellent. Neck pocket is a little loose, though.

The original owner used 09s, so I pulled on the truss rod a bit to accomodate 10s. The action is terrific.

One niggle I've had about 90s G&LS is that as the neck ages and dries out (I live in Colorado), the fret ends start grabbing your fingers. This is easily corrected.

I like the reverse taper on the tuner posts that locks the string in better and "dresses" it down automatically.

You could use it to hammer nails, but I wouldn't recommend it.

A cool feature is the extra-large flange on the strap buttons. Takes longer to strap up, but you've got to do something really stupid to drop this thing.

No need to test this, but I've heard from those that know that G&L service is top-notch.

If you want/need a pro-level Tele, and you can have only one, and you want to play it and not fuss over it, this is the one to have. It does the country, swing, and Keith Richards things equally well.

I've got a hot rod Tele that I've fussed over (Japanese reissue neck, Duncan lead pickup, and Warmoth ash body) that is really special (to me). I wouldn't recommend going this route as a plan, though.

Yeah, I picked up another one. One that I used to own. I knew I could probably get it back some day. Listen tele guys:ASAT Classic rules. The guy that preceeded this review has the right idea....Fender makes more guitars in one year than G&L does in 10. Try to buy a 1990 ASAT Classic signature guitar now. I saw on ebay for $1900.00 and one in the Vintage guitar for $999.00. (I may buy that one!) Other than those , they are becoming scarce. They are dissapearing and will continue to get more rare until you can't afford to buy them. The same thing will eventually happen to the post 93 models. If Eric Johnson played a tele, it would be one of these. (maybe he owns something else, heck I don't know. But I do know this: This is a real Fender guitar, designed by Leo, produced by Leo and Leo said that "these are the best guitars I have ever made!" Nuff said.

These are extremely versatile guitars with amazing pure, clean guitar vibe. If you turn the treble knob down slightly it sounds just like a Custom-Shop Nocaster. I know. I have one. It plays 10 times better than the no-caster. (What kind of neck did the guy in one of the previous reviews want? A neck manufactured by a CNC machine? DUHHH?? I bet he put a Floyd Rose on it also.He also said it didn't sound very "tele-like??" and that he played it through a Traynor. I am sure it is not the Traynors' fault! Learn to play like a tele player and you'll appreciate the tones on this guitar.

What is the big deal about factory set-up? I set my action fairly high. Any player worth his salt is going to change the factory set-up!
Very high quality workmanship for a non-custom guitar. I dare you to find better for less than twice the price. No problems with the knobs or switches. They should last a lifetime too.

I have played my number one for over 12 years and it barely shows any wear at all. It has one ding due to my carelessness with a dropped screwdriver.

NA

I have played a lot for the past 35 years. In the 1970's you couldn't buy a good new guitar! The best quality in guitars has been over the last 10 years. Gibson is better (by far), Fender is better too. But G&L is the guitar I choose to play. I have been this excited ever since my first one back in 1989.

Early 90's Asat Classic. I ordered this guitar from a my local music store who happens to be a G and L dealer, I was there when he called in the order to the factory. Alder body finished in a beautiful gold metallic which has since been discontinued (can you say collector value?), maple fingerboard with special order 12 inch radius ( I just can't get along with the 7 inch thing), tortoiseshell guard. Two MFD pickups, jumbo frets, tele ash tray style bridge. Non locking G and L tuners. G and L SKB case. I give an 8 for features because this is a nuts and bolts players guitar with only the essential tone producing tools, the 3 bolt tilt neck is a useful feature as far as I am concerned, as I have used it and it is very stable. I had a 75 Strat with Fender's lousy tilt neck and it would move if you really honked down on it while you were playing, but the Asat is solid as a rock.

Here is where it gets good, this axe sounds soo good. The bridge pickup gives you all the twang and bite you could ask for, with all that good midrange meat that your amp can chew on when you really dig into it.. The middle pickup position is a delight, Ricky sounding air and spank, I find myself going here a lot. And the neck p-u is no slouch, often overlooked on a Tele-style guitar, it is very useful for Hendrixy-SRV type bluesy stuff, sweet with hammered double stops on the middle strings up the neck. The tone control is very useful, and the volume control does a great job of maintaining good tone when you turn it down. I play this honey through a nice silverface Princeton Reverb with a Fulldrive 2 for some boost. I think my tone quest is solved, I can make sounds with this rig that I only used to dream about. I know that some find the ceramic mag pickups cold, but that is not my experience at all, I think this guitar is about as warm and funky as you could want. Maybe it ain't a 53 tele, but not much is. And I am sure that any good player can make it sound as good as anything out there.

A couple of minor beefs: the setup from the factory was useless, the strings were practically laying on the frets. A quick trip to my guitar tech fixed that, along with a set of 10's, which every guitar should have. As he was doing the setup of the saddles and the neck adjustments, he noticed that the neck was slightly misaligned. No problem, a quick tweak to the three bolt neck and it was fine. After the setup---mmmmm, gooood. As he was working on it, he said, "and this is a NICE guitar." This is coming from a guy who has built beautiful electric guitars from scratch and has repaired everything under the sun. I have noticed one other problem, the high E string has a weird raspy twang overtone, it is there both open and fretted, so I have no idea where it is coming from. It comes through the amp too, and is rather annoying, but I think it is something that can be fixed without too much problem, I am thinking a saddle problem.

This guitar is as solid as they come, end of story. I would definitely gig without a backup. The finish is as beautiful as it was when new, the hardware is very solid, and although the guitar is pleasantly light (that is why I ordered alder) it feels like a tank.

N/A, I never had to deal with them. Ten year limited warranty, which is good enough for me. What can go wrong with a guitar like this?

I would go into a week long period of mourning if something happened to my sweety. It is the perfect guitar for my style (R and B, progressive country, e.g. Lucinda Williams, Wilco, Delber McClinton, etc.) I have been playing for about 20 years, and I own a Hamer Sunburst (a sweet little guitar in its own right) and an Alvarez-Yairi acoustic. The Guitar Player tele shootout caused me to check out this axe and I never looked back, Fender didn't even enter the picture when I tried a G&L. As has been said here many times before, Custom Shop quality for a fraction of the price. The truly savvy buyer would look for one of these honeys used, cause for some stupid reason they don't hold their resale value very well. Oh well, just good news for some smart player with a few bucks to spend on the guitar of his or her dreams. And I could care less about the resale, because I would never think of parting with my G&L, unless I lost both of my arms in a sawmill accident!

2001, american,hand made telecaster type... which sounds so much better than a fender. 22 frets,solid top,one volume and one tone knob... 2 g&l single coil pickups. maple neck and fret, alder body,"premier" sunburst finish...the real leo fender tele. ash tray bridge,string thru body,g&l brand tuners,non locking,fat neck with medium jumbo frets,(maple)... includes deluxe g&l hardshell case.

awesome axe here.... suits a mod or a rocker or a mocker... anything really... i play hendrix, and beatles mainly, i throw a little zeppelin in there too.i use a peavey mark 3 half stack that sounds pretty good with it.... i wish i had a tube, but dont we all? but it has the fattest tone ever! its sweeeeeet!~ happy, because of the maple fretboard, andbest through a tube.it sounds ok distorted heavily, but easy blues distortion makes this tele shine. it sounds sweet clean though,and it has all the makings of a bad @$$ guitar

its hand made, so i warn a buyer online, or a mail orderer, that a neck or a body, might not be like you want... i picked up a legacy, with the most uncomfortable neck ever! but i looked and found a classic with a sweet.... everything. (the action is flawless)the pickups are like the fender, but the neck is a custom g&l magnetic pickup, unlike the tele, whatever those silver things are... but the bridge, is too... twangy i guess. im gonna get a lace or something.other than that, this guitar is awesome ... perfect in every aspect.

this little slut will take anything.... live playing, studio stuff... etc... it has everlasting hardware apparently... (we'll see) ...and a sweet sunburst finish, 3 tone. solid strap buttons, i can depend on this guitar ... i would definetely gig without a backup.

i havent had to deal with g&l ... and i hope i never have to. it has a 10 year limited warranty. and some crap about the life of leo fender, the maker of g&l , thats pretty useless

i have only played,just over a year, but i know what a good guitar sounds like...i would definetely get another one of these if it got stolen.compared to the fender telecaster,the tone from the g&l blows the tele away... maybe because they're made by 3 year old children in sweat shops in mexico... but as well as its little burrito brother,the american series teles get torched too. they are still machine made in america, but this time by more experienced mexicans.
if you want a sweet, hand made telecaster, g&l's are the way to go

same as everyone else have listed

Sounds excellent! Much better than the Fenders that I've played. Bright and punchy. The stock pickups could be better, but they are still ok. I don't understand why the resell on these guitars are so low! They are just as good and I think better than Any of the modern day Fenders.

Bought the guitar used. Only did some minor adjustments

Very solid guitar. Never have had any problems with it at all. It is also one of the most comfortable guitars I've played. Especially the neck.

Never had to contact G&L

I would definately but this guitar again. No question. I've been playing for about 7 years and I've played my share of high-end guitars. This one has quality written all over it! Do yourself a favor and buy a G&L instead of a Fender. Fender just produces far too many guitars anymore and their quality is not what it use to be. The Assat is excellent!

Mine is a 2000 model, with 22 frets. The body is swamp ash, with clear red finish, white binding on top and pearl pick guard. It has a maple neck, two of the smaller G&L MFD pickups, and traditional tele style bridge.

The sound is great but it is not quite a tele sound. I use it with a Traynor tube amp.

The fit and finish is flawless. I did lower the action a little bit, but only because I like the action to be very low.

It seems to be built tough. I can not answer the questions about playing out, I spend my weekends working on a racecar.

I think the warranty is 10 years. I have not had any problems.

I have been playing for 23 years. I also own 3 Strats '83, '84, and '95, a '95 Telecaster, and a '88 Asat. I hate the neck on this guitar and will never special order another G&L. I let this guitar sit and play all the others becuse of the uncomfortable neck. I wish G&L's resale was better so I could dump this piece of shit without losing my ass. I would buy another one as long as I could play and get the feel of it. G&L has too many neck options and being handmade their never the same. A CNC machine needs to brought in to make the necks, you can pick up three Fenders and they will all feel the same.

I own eight (yes 8) ASAT Classic Signature guitars. I have been aquiring them since 1990. I perform several times a week in church and professionally for many years. I see that there are some very intelligent guitar pickers on this page because they have chosen a very, very high quality guitar. I have played some of the newer models and have been very impressed by these as well. I like the signature guitars because I like knowing that Leo was around when my guitar was manufactured. Features? How about classic tele sound (on steroids) and better than vintage manufacturing? How about the highest quality bridges,pickups, tuners, frets, wood, etc. that I have ever seen on a plank wood guitar. I don't need four pickups, a whammy bar, active electronics and a electromodelling whirleegig...just a great guitar with great tone. This is it boys. THese guitars will go up in value over time, mark my word. I'll be buying one of those semi-hollow jobs some day also.

It only sounds bad, when I'm having a bad night. And it's not the tone that's bad, it's my playing... :) Great for everything except high gain. And as far as I'm concerned if you're using that much gain you need to be doing some more woodshedding and less shredding. This guitar speaks the truth that is coming out of your fingers. If your talent is mediocre, this guitar is not for you. Again most of the people that are buying this guitar are experienced, long-term guitarists. Or they are bright enough to buy a guitar that will last a lifetime, sound better with age and will retain its' value. (If you take care of the thing. I know this guy named Stu Pidasso that likes putting his cigs in the strings on the head stock. He also thinks that it is cool to "toss" the guitar to give it some "charachter." Stu bought a "beeootiful" ASAT Classic with his Dads' money and gave it "some charachter." He moved to Nashville on a whim to "Learn to play the guitar" To bad he left his beaten G&L Classic in a music store so I could see it every time I walk in. I would like to give him a piece of my mind. Oh well.) Moral is....Take care of these darn guitars 'cause there's not that many of them around!

Great workmanship. Especially on the older Signature ASAT Classics manufactured between 1989 and 1991. Some models made in late '92 and 93' aren't so good. It appears that the quality of the newest models are extremely high. However the necks are not made with the same precision and nut fit as the old ones. However, they seem to be great sounding and great players.The detailing on the neck doesn't seem to affect the guitar. I think there is less hand manufacturing on the newer necks.

I have never, ever had a single breakdown with this guitar. What could break down unless Mr. Pidasso (Stu) was the prior owner. I have had to clean the cord input with "Golden Shower". (Or some darn stuff.)

I purchased a "non-commemorative" guitar. (That is a guitar that was made of "Commemorative" parts but without the gold and the rose.) The guitar had screws coming from the saddles that were way too long and were cutting my hands. I sent a letter to G&L and they promptly sent me shorter ones.

I have played avidly since 1965. I perform several times a week at church and professionally. I own about 14 guitars, 8 of them G&L ASAT classic Signature models. I am on a lifetime quest to accumulate as many as my budget will afford. I believe that this is probably the finest overall guitar ever made for country, blues, classic rock, rockabilly and most other popular music styles. It won't do the "Eddie VH" thing very well,but I don't care. I would put this guitar against most big jazzbo's also. (Try using the neck pickup with the tone control down about two thirds...Sounds darn good to MY ear!) Another thing. Every one of the ASAT Classics I own has it's own unique charachter. My favorite one is not the fanciest one. It is 3 color sunburst with a maple neck. Pretty plain as far as guitars go. But when you get older, what guitars do YOU want in your collection? A bunch of Jacksons or Ibanez's with the "genuine FLOYD ROSE??? Heck no! You're going to want some Gibsons, Martins and some "REAL" Fenders. Here it is boys. (and ladies if there are any out there..:) ) By the way there isn't much better of a combination than an ASAT and a Deluxe Reverb. (Although a JTM 45 reissue sounds great as a "blues dog will hunt" amp.) Vox is cool too. I can't afford the stupidly expesive "boutique" stuff. I guess someday I'll break down and buy a Victoria or something, but till then....remember this.... "FENDER TUBE AMP!)

I own a '97 ASAT Classic. Standard Equipment. Beautiful BlueBurst finish. Solid as a rock, and I don't baby it. Holds tune well even with all the bending I do, and regardless of string gage.

I'm a country guy and it is the best sounding Tele I have. Live and in the Studio. I only wish it had a little more high end on the bridge pick-up. New Fenders don't even com close!! Thru VOX AC-30 and Fender Twin...WOW!!

It looked like a million bucks new out of the case, and still looks great today. I mess with my action a lot so I can't remember what it was like from the factory, doesn't matter much, I change it anyway.

I play live 10 to 12 hours a week (not counting practice and rehursal during the week) and use the ASAT 95% of the time. One of the tuners is getting a little sloppy, but it on the string that I bend the heck out of all night long. Only problem I've had is with the saddles. I was breaking strings on two of them and just flat wore them out. My hand is on the bridge so much, chicken picken, that the acid from my palm ate the saddles up. The finish still looks great I get comments all the time, I guess mine is pretty rare. I often bring a backup, but that is habbit, and usually it my B-bender, and I'm always upset when I pop a string and have to play the Fender. Now that I think about it, I did have the jack replaced when it was about 1 year old. The dealer took care of it.

Warranty is 10 years. Does not include normal wear and tear. Had trouble getting replacement saddles that I had to pay for anyway. The local rep was in the shop I bought it at and I talked to him, he said I was lucky that G&L didn't the whole guitar sent in just for new saddles. I can't do that it's my work horse! The warranty took care of the jack.

I've got 7 or 8 guitars (including 2 fenders) and my G&L is my favorite by far. I play the crap out of it and it's still going strong. Take it from a country guy who gigs every week, this guitar is more Fender than Fender. In fact, my next purchase will be a matching Legacy. Maybe G&L is now, but I wish they'd do a fat tele with a humbucker at the neck, maybe a B-Bender. Now were talking.

Bought used on consignment from Elderly Guitars (what great, helpful, knowledgeable folks!) in Michigan (I forget the website...www.elderlyguitars.com?). Had the original certificate with it, but after much discussion, we could only pin manufacture down to "early 90s."

-22 frets, better than 21, but I would have preferred 24
-typical Tele set up: 2 single-coil pickups (they look like standard G&L's, although one p-up doesn't have a cover and exposes some white cord/string wound around the outside)--p-ups have individually adjustable poles, which is very nice!--volume and tone knobs, 3-way selector, standard "ash-tray" Tele bridge with strings fed through the back of the guitar.
--Bolt-on maple neck (7.5" radius, according to the www.glguitars.com website) and maple fretboard--nicely sanded/smoothed with *no gloss*, which feels wonderful and makes *me* feel like there's something wrong/toy-like with glossed necks. The neck is bolted with only 3 screws, not 4, but probably more than sufficient.
--jumbo (medium?) frets, which are just great
-Transparent finish over tobacco burst (hint of red on the edges might suggest classic to some people), white pickguard...the ultimate in looks, to me, though I care far, far more about tone.
-Looks and sounds like an alder body, which is what I wanted (for jazz warmth), although swamp ash would have been a good warm alternative, I hear.
-came with Sperzel tuners, which are the cat's meow and stay in tune even better than the Sperzels I had installed on my Epi Sheraton II.

Overall, this is one of the best guitars I've ever laid my hands on. I only knock off a point on account of the combination of the frets, bolts on the neck, and the question of the bridge pickup cover, but maybe this was consequence of being used, and thus might differ from a new guitar.)

I play mostly jazz these days, but wanted a rock/blues guitar to salve my "get yer ya-yas out" moments (from Rush to the Stones to whatever...), and to back up my Epi Sheraton II archtop for jazz. (The G&L is considerably lighter, too!) That's why Teles are so damn versatile, and fit the bill nicely.

The rig I tested is as follows:

both this guitar run straight into a Carvin 212 Bel Air amp, and also processed in some combination: Morley Volume-->Nady CL-5000 compressor (channel 1)->Route 66 dist/comp-->Boss G-7 EQ-->{amp, then effects loop]-->Nady CL-5000 (expander/noise gate, channel 2]-->Lexicon MPX-100-->[effects return].

The sound? I love this guitar to death. Had been missing that single-coil sound for most of my guitar playing life (I'd had splittable buckers before, but those were crappy pickups on crappy guitars... :). Sure, single coils are moderately noisier (not in the middle, hum-canceling blend of the two pups), but these are no noisier than most, and don't even pick up steam in front of my computer monitor.

This G&L packs plenty of punch and great twang when you need it, distorts smoothly/well (not exactly a metal guitar, but I have no problem doing my Alex Lifeson knockoff :), and just has a huge "Play me!" vibe from across the room. The bass is happening and surprisingly full for a Tele, but if you really need more, insert a smidgen of EQ tweaks on your amp/pedal, and it'll even do "Back In Black"/"Shook Me All Night Long" with nothing to be ashamed of. Take that, Gibson freaks... :) (Of course, metal heads seeking something black and pointy with hot pickups wired into Marshall stacks should look elsewhere...)

Certainly, this guitar likes to do Rush's "Red Barchetta" or "Limelight," even as a Tele-style beast, and arpeggiates "Distant Early Warning" the way it's supposed to sound (albeit sans whammy). Back off the distortion, and the ASAT Classic grooves mightily while playing Stones, Little Feat, NRBQ, James Gang "Funk #49", or early, un-processed Grateful Dead. Even SRV strat styles like "Couldn't Stand The Weather" are quite attainable on this axe, and the same certainly goes for Yer Traditional Tele-manglers, Steve Cropper and Albert Collins. Even heavily processed, the ASAT Classic doesn't lose much personality and keeps a great tone.

Clean sounds are just great, with great acoustic airiness in the middle position--a touch of chorus (or not), and you're off to the races...I'm not sure you'd need or want a Fishman piezo bridge, but I'd be interested to hear how it turns out on an ASAT Classic. It's also full of warmth and clarity for jazz on the neck pickup. The tone pot will give you plenty of brightness, but I personally tend to roll it fairly far down for smooth warmth.

I'd correct what one person said below--the ASAT Classic will do great for jazz, but it will *not* mimic a 335, let alone non-neckthrough archtops. It can get somewhat "woody" sounding with some EQ tweaking on your amp and/or pedal, but nothing like the real hollow sound on a true archtop. (My Epi Sheraton, on which I just replaced the so-so Epi stock pickups with Seymour Duncan 59s, does that 335 thing far, far better). Still, I suspect Tele jazz players (Ed Bickert and Howard Roberts, to name two) would be satisfied in this department. I know I have had no qualms about taking it to play with my small jazz combo; our alto saxophonist gets a bit jealous when he sees this guitar.

I was A/B'ing the G&L against a Carvin TL60T (Wilkinson trem, S/S/S AP11 pickups, neck-through design), and the G&L won. The Carvin was a fine guitar, a bit more versatile considering the 3 pup setup, sustained a bit longer than the G&L and had perhaps a tad more clarity, but was just harsher and tinnier on the stock pickups which would have needed replacing. See my review on it, if the spirit mo

Setup was great. Required almost no tweaking of intonation, and certainly none on the truss. I tweaked pickup pole pieces a bit, one of which was a tad rusty. But hell, it was used. The action was noticeably moderately higher than the Carvin's (too) way-low setup, but I like that, and it suits any solidbody electric.

Teles are the ultimate plank, intended to outdo nuclear-defying cockroaches. Bolt-on necks are just great in case you have to dismantle it for the airlines' tender mercies. (You want more sustain than the thing's already got? Buy a pedal or a compressor...)
Everything just feels SOLID, G&L is doing some nice work on this...
Could easily handle a beating on a gig without a backup, but rather than tempt fate, get a backup.

Have never dealt with G&L directly. Elderly Guitars had great support over the phone, and as I recall, 2 or 3 days to try out the guitar--as they put it, you'll know within a few hours if you love or hate the guitar in sound or workmanship.

I've been playing just about 15 years now, much more seriously in the last four, because of getting into jazz. I honestly fail to see why people insist on paying for the Fender name and/or that of their favorite stars (based on old history, not the identical replication of models!), when G&L appears to be making virtually the same guitars with nicer workmanship, and far more dependability, especially in the tone department. Were this guitar lost or stolen, I presume I'd be in a nice hospital room with rubber walls and hopefully catatonic, because the alternative is the Big House and 25 years to life on account of the thief. Like I said, the Carvin TL60T is a fine guitar, but this particular G&L took the trophy when it came not just to price, but sound.

White-ish alder body maple neck tele-style beauty. Silky to the touch but not so much like a credit card as Les Pauls.
22 frets, although only about 20 can be reached easily enough.
Just a volume and tone control (which works) but then what more do you need? You buy this type of guitar for the tone - so why do you want to change it?

I don't really stretch the guitar as I play mostly blues & jazzy stuff. If you want to go more extreme you will need a stomp box. It has a somewhat bright sound (as expected), but also has a very rich rounded sound with both pickups on.
That indefinable but instantly recognisable tele sound is what I was after, and that's exactly what you get with this guitar.
I went to Manny's, NYC, to buy a Fender Tele and the salesman went along with me until I made my choice (an American Tele) then he said "before you go, try one of these G&L guitars". The ASAT Classic sounded more Fender than a Fender. As soon as I picked it up I knew it was a 'real' guitar compared to the poor setup and rough edges of the Fender. I was sold. I had heard very little about G&L but I didn't care - I was the one who was going to play it.
Now I recommend them to everybody - and my next guitar will probably be another G&L.

No need to get it home and send it out again for set up. It's had perfect intonation since the day I bought it.
Action is perfect compromise of playability and easy fingering and with no flaws whatsoever.

Although not subject to the rigours of regular live dates, it is clear the guitar is no wuss. It's kept in a busy room full of office equipment and other guitars and things and there is not a scratch after 18 months.
It's probably the only guitar most people would need on a date - just remember to buy it a pint!

No dealings with aftermarket service.

Playing guitar and bass for about 25 years off and on. Now I'm using a Fender Hotrod Deluxe which is ace for the tele sound.
Also using a Gibson Les Paul occasionally (but it doesn't get much of a look-in).
If I ever lost this guitar I would buy another - no question. The way it fits neatly into my hands and always sounds as if it's ready for business. It's difficult to put down.
If there was one thing that I occasionally miss is a little more sustain - but that's what strats are for, isn't it?

Very blue; very glossy, very beautiful wood grain. Tele-style, but trust me brothers and sisters, this is no tele. Two pick-ups, two knobs, but unlike most guitars, the tone knob really works.

Now dig this: I play folk music on electric guitar. No, really. And this guitar sounds beautiful. Full and rich and clear on the neck pick up, a little twangy on the bridge pick up. The guitar is more versatile than I am, because as I've mentioned above, the tone control really works. I use it with a Fender Princeton Chorus and an Electar 10 (with a Jensen CR8 speaker!).

I bought this for a low price at a local shop that doesn't put any effort into prep work or set-up. Anyway, I spent about a year very frustrated with this guitar, but then I let Tracy Longo at Guitar Tech Corner in Ventura, CA set it up, and WHOA NELLY! Once it was set up properly, the guitar melded with my hands and heart. I'm not a very good guitarist, but this guitar satisfies what I thought was a mythical quest: it makes me play better!

Very solid. Very tight. Inspires trust.

No experience, but the "guitars by leo" web site is pretty cool.

I've been playing for about 17 years, and as I've done well in business, I've owned a plethora of guitars and amps over the years. This one has made it into the pantheon of keepers with my 79 strat and my Martin and Gibson acoustics. Just bought a Heritage 150; my seventh Les Paul style guitar, and realized I should have ordered a G&L ASAT Junior. Maybe I still will. G&L guitars are not just a fantastic value, they're fantastic guitars.

USA Made. 24 fets. Solid ash body, string through design. Standard Tele controls, master volume, master tone, 3-way blade switch. Neck single pick-up, bridge single pick-up. Maple neck, rosewood fretboard, 7.25 radius. Very high gloss "blonde" transparent finish...exceptional looker! Tele-style bridge with six adjustable saddles, chrome tray. Hard shell case included. I needed a reliable back-up; so I traded 3 decent imports for this one...but don't be mistaken, I still made out here :)

I play exclusively blues and classic rock, sounds great through a Laney LC-50 tube using Tech-21 Comptortion and Voodoo Labs analog chorus. Does have the ole' single coil hum; but what are you gonna do? Extremely clear/ will shatter glass and cut through the mix without a doubt but this can be controlled with a little tweeking of the tone knob on the comptortion pedal. If you want a rock solid guitar with versatility yet predictability...this is the one.

This guitar has the 7.25 radius so it also has the ole' arc to the saddles which can take some getting used to, but otherwise the set-up out of the box was right on. The pick-ups have individually adjustable poles, which is an awesome plus which lifts this guitars' versatility above all others in the Tele-style. Good thinkin' Leo :) Neck pocket is as tight as can be, finished detail is immaculate...but you will pay for that.

Absolutely rock solid. Could beat the bass player in the head most of the night without concern for damage. I would use this as a primary without concern if I ever lost my current primary which is a Ric 650......also, I suppose you could beat the drummer too without much concern for the finish.

Great web site which addresses most imaginable concerns; including how to beat bass players/drummers in the head "properly" so as not to void the warranty.

I've been playing over 20 years. Currently use Rickenbacker 650 series guitar, Yamaha dg-100 solid state amp, Laney LC-50 tube amp, Tech-21 CompTortion pedal, VooDoo Labs Analog Chorus pedal. The G&L is comparable to the Rickenbacker in quality. Far better than any Fender; even better than Fender Custom Shop guitars but for about 1/2 the cost. Immaculate finish; extreme quality controls. If this guitar were stolen; I would beat the bass player/ Drummer in the head for not watching the stage while I was away getting another beer.

basic tele set up. love the tone control. great tuners i belive the body is alder. the fretborad is maple. came with a hard case. it came with stock pu's. i changed the bridge pick up with a s.duncan little 59. it sounds great. the features are basic but thats the great thing about this set up. vol, tone, 3 ways pu selector.

i play all types of music. but one thing for sure is i like chunk . so this is why i replaced the bridge pu with a s. duncan little 59. now i have a whole range of full chunky to crisp bright sound from this pu set up. dont get me wrong the stock pu's are great but i felt i needed a little more bulk. i am running it thru a marshall jcm 800 and a rp6 floor processor. over all this guitar sounds really great..

this guitar shines in this area. came set up great and in tune. now i have tweaked the action on this from really low to pretty high. i finaly got the action right for me and havent moved it since. the one thing i love is the intonation. it rarely goes out of tune and is in tune all the way up and down the neck.

this guitar is a rock ..i think it will out live me. i have had no problems playing this guitar live. and since im lazy i dont like backups. just more stuff to worrie about after the show.

havent had a chance to deal with them. no reason, thats a good thing. reflects well on the product.

i have been playing about 12 years. i have owned other quility guitars. including a prs, and steinburger among other "names" over all of the guitars i have owned this one has the best intonation. its a great guitar

I have an early nineties asat that i just love! the one piece hard rock maple and fingerboard perfectly fits my hand, and those jumbo frets are great for a positive feel. The pickups are great! you can adjust them precisely, so no matter what weird strings you use, you can get a nice, even response. the schaller tuners and bridge are terrific: the guitar never goes out of tune! however, i am planning on replaceing the steel saddles with brass ones, for tonal reasons. controls? this thing is a tele! master tone, volume, and pickup selector. the pots are great, nice and smooth, and the volume pot doesn't cut off high end as you turn down. the finish is "old school" laquer, which preserves tone over the years, and is easier to repair. the finish is perfect. simply stunning! and the neck joint is the best i've ever seen on a production guitar. no, i take that back. on ANY guitar. Exquisite! a work of art!

My favorite guitarists are john frusciante, syd barret and steve cropper. i can get all of their tones, or at least as close as mortals ever will. running this thing though my plethora of effects, which include a voodoo lab chorus, route 66 overdrive/ compressor, old ? wah, some type of big muff and my new baby, an ibanex ad-9, to my music man hd-130 head and 1x15 or 4x12 cab, i can get thick and searing, or sweet and subtle. manipulating the tone and volume controls only enhances this magnificent beast!

i got it used, but the action was perfect, not too low, but not too high, the neck was straight and true, the finish was smooth, and neck joint was tight. frets are smooth and perfect. woods are top quality, as are all the plastic and chrome parts. the pickups are better than anything i've ever come across. think an old tele with a lipstick/ strat neck pickup hybrid, but with more output. these are extrodinarily dymnamic, though, unlike many other high output pickups.

it's as steady as they come. a tele was the most durable guitar in the world for 40 years.then old leo (bless his soul) outdid himself tenfold...

fast, polite and fair. 10 year warranty.

i'm a composer, actually. 4 years of theory 9 on piano. i've never taken guitar lessons. however, i'm sure i can outplay someone out there... ok maybe not.

Bought used about 3 years ago. I think the guitar was made in late 80's,(has the "by Leo Fender" engraved in the bridge. Standard ASAT Classic setup. Original pu's. I like them better than any I've had before. With my Fender Tele +, I changed to S/D Antiquities, but I will not change these G&L PU's. No need, It'd be impossible to find any better. Jumbo frets are great for bending. Very well-made guitar. I gig every weekend and just don't use my Fender Tele+ anymore. I don't even take it as a backup. Tele-style bridge is great and guitar stays in tune very well. My guitar's finish is the transparent natural finish (blonde). I've tried Fender Custom Shop guitars that are not nearly as well made, nor sound as good as my G&L Asat Classic. I also own a Fender Am Std Strat, that I want to trade for a G&L strat.

I rate it a 9, rather than a 10, as a 10 is a perfect guitar, which I have never seen, but this is very close. I play country, chicken' picken, "Chet Atkins style, and blues ad they all sound great with the guitar. Play through an old Fender Twin Reverb with JBL's and a 72 Fender Vibrolux. Good meaty sounds, with lots of range. nothing is dislike about the guitar.

Bought the guitar used, but have not done anything to it, after I set it up the way I like it, except change strings. Very well made, with no defects, stays in tune. No noise, or loose parts. Finish is perfect. Almost Bird'seye maaple neck and body .

I depend on this guitar every weekend. I've been playing for about 40 years, and have owned many guitars, and this is my overall favorite. My other favorite is a Gretsch 6120, and it's a different guitar, altogether.

No contact with Cust. Ser

Would definitely buy one just like it as soon asI could, if something happened to this one. It's durable, good-lookin', and not too heavy. I did have my guitar rewired to get the "JD" 5-way switch set up that gives me several different tones, but still have the tele vintage sounds.

This is a '98 ASAT Classic, in a transparent blonde finish over an ash body. There is some birdseye and flame on the maple "V" neck. This is one of the finest American made guitars I've ever owned. One quick glance, and you'd think it's a Fender Tele, but the similarity stops at the body shape. This guitar is easily as good as those guitars coming out of the Fender Custom Shop. I was looking for a Tele, and had played almost 200 Fender Telecasters; none of them impressed me too much. When I picked this one up, I was floored.

I'm playing this through a Mesa Boogie Rocket44, and I was using it, for a time anyway, through a Fender Super (4X10). I vary the effects I use, but straight into the amp really gives me all the tone I need. It screams when I need it to, but I can also get that "twang".

This guitar is (almost) flawless. The only thing I don't like about it is the bridge. The strings come through the body, then go to the side (just a bit) until they pass over the saddle. I plan on putting Graph-Tec saddles on it, so that's to big an issue for me. As far as everything else, it's just about as close to perfect as you can get. The neck/body joint is nice and snug, and has a perfect fit. Did I say perfect? I mean it is PERFECT.

I've been playing the daylights out of this guitar for the past year, and it's as road ready as the day I bought it. There is nothing that would be considered "unreliable" about this guitar. I would, and have, used it without a backup.

I've dealt with G&L on a dealer basis, but I haven't had to deal with them on a customer level. Given that, I won't comment here.

I've been playing for over 23 years, and this is one of the finest guitars I've had the pleasure to own. If this were lost or stolen, I would DEFINITELY replace it. I'd replace it in a New York minute. When I pick this guitar up, I know I'm playing a solid, well built guitar. It just "feels" right. I chose this over a Fender, mainly due to the inconsistencies in quality and construction I was seeing in the Fenders. I could echo my comments made here about every G&L I've played. It's amazing that a guitar of this quality can be had for a price like this. I know there are those out there who will pay for a name on the headstock, but they're missing out. The other guitarist in my band, upon seeing the new guitar, asked me "Yeah, but who's playing one?", as if a pro endorsement was the mark of a great guitar. He later spent $650 on a Fender Tele, and it pales in comparison to my ASAT Classic.

This ASAT classic has a two piece swamp ash body that is so well matched you have to really search to find the seam. The finish is a honey burst with a pearl pickguard. The neck is a highly figured maple neck with a rosewood fretboard. It is definately custom shop quality! Has the standard tele pickup configuration with two G&L MFD. The bridge is a 6 saddle bridge and the strings paass through the body which(IMHO) makes the ASAT classic sound more like a tele than the Fenders do! My rating of an 8 is based on the quality of the instrument. It is still a basic tele style guitar just done well.

I play country and R&R and this guitar fits the bill! I am using it with either a '65 Fender deluxe reverb, '66 Fender Pro reverb, or '59 Bassman RI. It sounds great through all of them. For the country solos I just use the volume control on the guitar to step out front. It really cuts through the rest fo the band but the high end is ont too harsh as I have heard with some tele's. The neck MFD pickup is fuller and "throaty" and is more strat like than what you would find on a Fender tele. Some may not like that but for my style of playing it is perfect. For tele tones I preder the ASST over a Tom Anderson Hollw T that I own.

Fit and finish on this G&L is better than what one would find on a custom shop Fender. Believe me I know, I have owned them. Fender could take a lesson from the boyus at G&L on how to make a quality instrument. If you wnat better quality you would have to buy an Anderson and that would cost you twice the price of a G&L.

This is a quality guitar and a workhorse and will provide many years of problem free playing. I always gig with a backup just out of habit but many times the other guitar goes unplayed all night.

Never had any opportunity to call G&L for service.

I have been playing professionally and semi -professionally for 25 years and have been through many guitars and amps. I have hung on to this one for awhile so that says something right there about how I like the guitar. For a tele style guitar, you can't do better for the money. Alot of quality for the price. "Mucho Bang for the Buck!"

1998 Asat Classic made in the USA! Alder body with a maple neck and fingerboard. The neck is finished in gunoil. This gives it a very smooth easy to play feel. Also gives the maple a darker vintage look. This guitar has the basic tele shape. It also has the basic tele controls. One volume and one tone with a three way selector. Two single coil pickups. Stock G&L MFD pickups. Poly finish. non locking gotoh tuners. 1and 5/8 at the nut. Came with a hard shell molded case. Everything you really need in a tele guitar. I would prefer locking tuners, but it stays in tune fine, and they are an option from G&L. It also has a vneck profile. I love it.

This is a good sounding guitar. I play poprockalternative music in a Christian format. I don't really play any country with it, but it can get that sound. This guitar really rocks for a tele style guitar. Some people love the stock MFD's, but some people hate them. There usually are not many people inbetween. I am one of those few that are in the middle. They just don't sound 3d enough to me. I feel they can be a little to harsh. I don't play vintage music perse, but I love the sound of vintage pickups. I will eventually change these with some Rio Grande tall boys or Fralins. These pickups are good,I just prefer something else.

This guitar gets a perfect score in this catagory. It plays like butter. Super smooth. It came with a great setup. I did reset it for tens after I purchased, but that was no problem. I have a sunburst finish on mine. It is the best looking one I have seen. It is not to light and the middle and there is hardly any redish orange color. The grain of the alder body is great. People are stunned when they first see this guitar. I usually hate sunbursts, but this one was to good to pass up. Everything was perfect when I bought it.

I cannot see having any problems with this guitar. The build is first rate. I play it out live every week, and I play it at home almost every day. The poly finish is super durable. I never gig with one guitar, but I have never broken a string on this guitar. I use it and two other guitars almost every show.

Comes with a factory warranty of ten years. I have heard it is hard to speak with someone there, but they are quick to respond to their dealers.

This guitar is G&L's take on the traditional Tele it has an alder body finished in white with a slim maple neck with rosewood fingerboard. Pickups are two small G&L MFD units and the bridge is the traditional metal tray type tele bridge but with 6 saddles as opposed to two on a vintage tele. Controls are as per the standard tele. Machine heads are G&L branded schallers with tappered posts witch operate smoothly.

This guitar gives the classic tele tones but with lower noise. The pickups are higher output than the standard tele pickups so you can drive your amp a little harder. It sounds just as you would expect a good tele to sound.

The build quality is superb with probably on a par with a custom shop Fender and required no additional set up out of the box. It also comes with a 10 year warranty.

I think this guitar will stand up to life on the road no problem all the parts are high quality.

I've never had to deal with the company and presently in the UK there is no distributer for G&L, but I did have a query and a US dealer helped me out and said that G&L would look after any warranty issues as lomg as I have proof of purchase. It seems that G&L have a good reputation for looking after it's customers so I am basing my score on this.

I've been playing 20 years my other guitar is a PRS and the G&L easily matches it for performance and quality. I'd love another one if I could afford it.

You know what this guitar is about from the other reviews, mine is Left Handed AT NO ADDITIONAL CHARGE! The classic semi hollow comes with or without F hole, mine has the F hole. rosewood neck. Jumbo frets, and molded HSC.

This guitar is amazing! It has enough bite(in the bridge position) to make Jaws look like he needs dentures. Middle position rings like a Rick with a country feel, and the neck position is all ES335. I cannot say enough about the full spectrum of sounds this guitar is capable of.

This guitar came from California, durring one of the biggest heat waves in a long time, out of the case it was still in tune! Nothing needed to be adjusted. The bookmatched top is spectacular. Every detail was A+, I don't know when I've seen a more perfectly finished guitar. The rosewood neck is tight grained and deep in color. Fret dressing was dead on. Intonation also dead on.

If I had enough money to buy more than one guitar, I'd buy another G&L. I have to go to gig's without a backup, but I'm not worried, this guitar is built like a brick s#it house. And yet it's very light

Because my guitar is left handed I want to talk to the people at G&L to make sure they knew what I wanted. Everyone I spoke to was really nice, and they were great people to work with. Super support!

I bought my first electric guitart in 1971, I was 19 then. Ive been playing for thirty years, and never have I seen or played a finer guitar. Before I knew about G&L I thought I wanted anothe tele', but I also wanted a Rick, and a 335, now I've come as close as I can to having all three in one axe. This guitar is a thing of beauty to listen to, play and look at. Please try one of these guitars before you lay down your hard earned cash for a decal on a head stock. Buy a guitar built by people not a machine. Would buy this guitar if stolen, what do you think.

Left-handed swamp ash Telecaster-style body, nicely-grained and finished in a beautiful clear dark blue, with a pearloid pickguard. Slim C-shape (7.25 inch radius) maple neck (with a nice grain and a little birdseye, but not much) with a rosewood fretboard. Pickups are G&L Magnetic Field Design pickups that are the same size as classic Fender Tele pickups, only the neck pickup has individually adjustable polepieces like the bridge (not as attractive as a chrome Tele neck pickup, but sounds great). Classic ashtray Tele-style bridge with six brass saddles. Strings through body. Three way switch that feels nice and chunky. Volume and Tone that have decent tapers and feel really solid. The volume has a treble capacitor so that when you turn down the volume, all the high end isn't sucked out, which makes the volume control much more useful and better for controlling gain. Rectangular G*&L logo-ed SKB plastic case. Came with all the allen wrenches you need (4 of them: truss rod, saddle intonation adjustment, saddle height adjustment, and pickup pole pieces).

Beefed-up Classic Telecaster. With the exception of some jazz and metal, an ASAT Classic can cover every style of music. There's a LOT of tonal variation in this guitar. I play everything from rootsy rock and country to power pop, and this is THE guitar for my sound and playing. I play through a Vox AC15TB and a revolving cast of mostly vintage analog effects, and occasionally through a SF Super Reverb, and this guitar sounds incredible through both amps.
The ASAT Classic pickups sound more like a Tele than the ASAT Special pickups. Neck position is nice and full with good balance. The adjustable pole pieces allow you to tweak the output of each indivdual string. Neck gets a great bluesy tone with some distortion. Middle position is classic Tele jangle, full-throated and smooth. Sounds great clean or with distortion. A BIG sound, great for rhythm work. Bridge is classic Tele spank. Great for country when clean (steel guitar style double stops sound awesome), great for rock with some distortion. A little trebly sometimes, but that can be tamed with the tone control. The pickups are pretty high output (compared to vintage-style Tele pickups). They're also somewhat noisy, but that's the nature of single-coils.
The tone pot has a pretty decent taper though most of it's range is just before it basses out completely. Even when turned all the way bassy, it has a notched wah bassy tone that's tough to describe, but it's a much more usable tone that the mush you usually get at that point. The volume pot has a decent taper. The best feature of the volume control is that there's a capacitor that preserves the highs when you roll the volume down. So, you can really use the volume to control loudness and gain/distortion and not lose all the high end out of your tone. It's really versatile.

Simply put, custom shop quality from a production guitar. All the electronics have a beefy, mil-spec feel to them. The neck joint passes the Guitar Player business card test. The neck is beautiful and all the medium-jumbo frets were nicely finished. The clear blue finish is thick and beautiful and showcases the nicely grained swamp ash underneath. I didn't get it straight from the factory, so I don't know about factory setup. It's a multi-piece body, but I can't find the seam. Same goes for the neck, which G&L splits in two to install the trussrod. All the hardware seems totally bomb-proof, and all of it feels very solid and beefy, especially the pots and the 3-way switch. The string retainer is plastic, though, which seems cheap (and it's ugly), a strange little detail on a guitar that shows great attention to detail.

Seems REALLY solid, especially the hardware. Finish seems pretty tough, as I've bonked it good a couple of times and no dings resulted. The strap buttons were odd-looking but worked just fine. But, I always install straplocks, so that's not really an issue for me. I'd use it without a backup based on the guitar, but I always have a backup in case I break a string.

Ten year limited warranty to original owner. Company responded pretty quickly to my inquiry about a catalog before I bought one. G&Ls don't come with a manual, though. A small manual pointing out features and offering basics on setting the guitar up would be nice.

This is how Fender wished its Telecasters felt like! Leo went back and took his original solid-body electric guitar (the Esquire/Broadcaster/Telecaster line) and refined it even further in the ASAT. This guitar has it all: it's beautiful, sounds awesome, feels great. Honestly the nicest guitar I've ever owned, and nicer than most that I've played. Only my Rickenbacker 360 has this sort of feel of quality in the construction. It was no contest between this guitar and a Fender American Standard Telecaster, which is roughly the same street price.

I bought this guitar new in 1996. It is the lightest one I could find, and came w/ rosewood neck, body is the opaque silver w/ black hardware. 2 P-90ish looking pickups.

I play country/rock/blues in a couple of local bands, and this guitar has never failed to give me what I want. It sounds simply amazing! The string definition is even, and even when pumping high gain the notes stay well defined. It always keeps its own Tele charactor, which is a good thing. The notes just seem to "whip" out when I solo, so sez the bass player I play with.

The only beef I have w/ this instrument is the poor quality input jack. It started going south about a year ago, so my local thech replaced it with a more robust one- no problems since.

Hey- its a Telecaster! It takes gig after gig with ease, and I have no worrys playing without a backup. The finish is durable, I can depend on this baby no problem!

Never bothered to deal with them.

Been playing 20-something years, am a shameless gearhound, own lots of cool stuff, which I delight in playing out in the local bars. If this guitar was stolen, I would get another in a heart beat! The ONLY thing I wish I could change about would be to have a bit beefier neck on it.

1998 ASAT Classic, Burnt Orange Ash body (Tele style), maple birdseye neck, jumbo frets, ashtray bridge, 2 single coils and a 3 way selector, G&L tuners.
The finish is just beautiful. Transparent orange, great wood highlights!
Made in the USA!
This is the most well manufactured Tele style guitar I've ever seen! Head and shoulders above the Fender Am Std Tele, which I passed over in favor of this one.
I'm not going to give a number because the Classic has all the traditional Tele features that I bought it for.

Classic Tele sounds, as one would expect from Leo's "classic." Tele's are very versitile, and this one is no slacker. For a 2 pickup, 3 way selector, ou can get a nice range of sounds. The tone knob allows you to role off the treble to a nice warm sound from all selectors. Good for country, jazz, BLUES and Rock. I bought it for blues and rock. I would look elsewhere for metal, but you knew that.
The pickups are exceptional! Great clarity, warmth and the classic Tele sound that you like to hear. I'll give it a 10 because I wanted this sound and am not dissapointed in the least.

Out of the box, dead perfect! Had it shipped to me, and it was in tune on arrival. String action is right on for all 6.
The body finish is the nicest I've seen on a sub $1000 guitar.
I've looked carefully at all frets, joints, etc, and can't find a flaw!
The fretwork is amazing! Perfectly set, nicely rounded. No buzzes (of course not!).

I haven't had it long enough to rate.

10 year warranty.

I wanted to write this quick review for anyone who is thinking of buying a Tele style guitar. I own a Fender Lone Star Strat, and believe that the quality is fair for the $800 price tag. In fact, I thought the quality was as good as one could get for a sub $1000 guitar. Boy, was I wrong! G&L guitars have amazing quality and their prices are bargian-basement low. Made in the USA, my Classic is both art and history. This is the guitar that Leo Fender built and, unlike the modern Teles, a beautiful piece of artwork, both visually and musically. Having purchased this guitar, I know that I will never go back to Fender (even though I do love my Lone Star) because G&L has spoiled me. Now, for $700, I want to purchase custom shop quality instruments. You can't do that with Fender, but you can with G&L. If you haven't looked at G&L, do yourself a favor and try before you buy. You cannot buy a better Tele style guitar for less money, and perhaps not for any amount of money. I looked at Am Std Teles extensively before I purchased my G&L and Fender's Tele's just could not compete. Try purchasing a Fender with an Ash body, premier paint job and a birds eye maple neck and see what it will cost you. Then call up indoor storm and ask for their prices. It will blow you away.
I already have gas for my next G&L!

This guitar is a Telecaster with the added benefit of 40 yr's of experience built in. 2 pick-ups, a three position switch, a TONE knob, a volume knob. Very basic,very efficent.

I play in a classic rock band. We have to cover a lot of bases. Sometimes playing clean, sometimes playing distorted. This baby covers all of them with no problems. Excellent tones from both pick-ups, fat bluesy sounds at neck and dark twang at bridge. I love this guitar. I am presently using a Fender Princeton Chorus amp. (Great amp.) I also own and use a 66' Blackface Bassman with 2-15 cab. and various distortion pedals. I know tone and this guitar rocks. I have been playing for over 30 years. I'm an old man, thats why I love this guitar and amp combo it's light and effective. Owned this guitar for a year.

I haven't changed nothing but strings on it. I played several ASAT's in the store before I decided on this one. The only complaint I have with this guitar is the middle position of the pick-up switch. Maybe it's just dirt or something but I get a dirty switch noise, probably a blast of air would solve the problem. I gig regularly with this guitar with no back-up, only a set of strings.

I back-up my effects pedals, I take a back-up amp I take an extra set of strings. I trust God and this guitar to get me thur the gig. I'm not a pro, I play about 4 to 6 gigs a month.

If it got stolen or broke in half I would replace it with another one, maybe an ASAT Classic. Sometime in the future I'll probably buy a Gibson Les Paul just for that LP sound. This little G&L ASAT is gonna buy it for me. Thank you Leo.

The usual

Sound was fantastic once I put Alnico pickups in there (TX Specials). The Ceramic stock ones were to harsh and loud and shrill. This is why I only gave a 5 for features.
The guitar is awesome. Plays great, Perfect intonation, Stays in tune FOREVER! Much beter tone than a USA Fender Standard Tele. I prefer this over the asat because I think the bridge on a tele/asat classic is a major part of the tone. I also did not care for the asat "p90" type pickups. G and L has the guitar building thing down...but the pickups are a bit yukky to me.
I like the fact that you don't have to say "American made" because you know G and L makes no Imported guitars...no amps...no BS...just GREAT hand made guitars in The USA.
I am rating the sound low due to the pickups...but with the TX Specials I would give it an 8.
It is really killer sounding and bullet proof...a great gigging guitar...but an OLD Esquir or Tele just can't be beat...to me that is a "9" or "10" sound.

Great work from the dewds at G and L! Perfect neck pocket fit...again GREAT WOOD! Big fat Frets. I might prefer a slightly wider neck with less radius...This neck sucks for slide playing! But no big deal...got A guitars for that...Its called a Les Paul.

This is the BEST thing about this guitar! It is a breeze to tune...and hold true for EVER! You can POUND the strings too!

I dunno?

For the money it is great. The only downfalls are the the case (cheap skb plastic)...I want Tweed or Tolex dewds...And the pickups.
But in every other way this thing is the best out there today as far as new fender type guitars go. I think It is a Tie...G and L / Fender Custom Shop. But these are priced better. So a 10 is it.
You can blow more cash on a tweed case and pickups ($200) and still be under a grand and have one bad assed little combo!

Mine is a '96, all stock, 2pc ash body with maple neck, 22 frets and a "modern" profile, thru-the-body stringing, 6 saddle "box" bridge, vol, tone and conventional bridge-both-neck switch. The G&L pickups have large ceramic magnets and the obligatory copper shielding plates. Sealed G&L tuners. With hard case. 10 year warranty. It would rate a 10 but for the old "tilt-neck". As Teles go, it's a solid 9.

Sound is a 10, at least. I play country, blues, 60s r&r, using a Fender Stage 112 (hey relax, I'll have tubes by x-mas). In this idiom, I believe, it excels. I agree with GP in that the Classic is aggressive. That may be an understatement. The bridge pickup is typical Tele, but more muscular. Forget the metal thing as the bridge pickup doesn't seem to like distortion, which takes the "Tele" edge off the tone. Sounds non-descript, as such, to me. However, use a clean amp setting and a little compression and it will bite your ear off. The highs go right through you. Low notes and open strings clang like an old mission bell. Piercing highs and superb twang. Terrific. Put the boxes away and let your picking attack do the talking with this one. Conversely, the neck pickup loves a little OD and will do an excellent SRV knock-off. The neck pickup is not just an after-thought, as on some other Tele-types. This axe is all about tone.

Factory set up was OK. I use a hybrid set and had to tweak the truss rod a bit. Adjust pole pieces accordingly. I ordered my ASAT in Fullerton (aka Fiesta)red to match the custom color Tele on page 141 of the Gruhn Electric Guitar book. I even had a single-layer white guard fitted. It took 2+ weeks to arrive, but man, what a knock-out! The red has this "warmth" to it. Beautifully applied. Even my wife was impressed. The neck pocket fit is very tight, easily passing the notorious GP business card test. Playability is tops.

It'll probably outlast me by a very wide margin. I think the G&Ls are particularly well made. Great finish, feels very solid, sturdy, work- manlike. Only the tilt-neck (actually, its' reputation) makes me nervous. I've had 2 mid-70s Strats and both had alignment problems. However, G&Ls manufacturing quality appears to be light years ahead of CBS/Fender (oh, surprise). That, alone, may be enough to vindicate Leos' original design. I've had no problems with my 3-bolt. Dependable hardware. When Armageddon comes, we'll hide behind the ASAT. Gig w/o backup, sure.

...and its' close cousin, marketing, 4. I wrote the company to express my thanks and to ask why the tilt-neck, after the Fender debacle, and have yet to recieve a response. No where in their sales lit could I find mention of the return of the tilt-neck, yet they loudly trumpet every other technical feature. It's Leo this and Leo that. If the new tilt-neck is so great, then tell us about it, don't hide it. Anyway, I didn't expect Geo Fullerton to invite me over for dinner, but even a form letter would have been nice.

The guitar, itself, should rate a 10. Even the 3-bolt will, most likely, not be any trouble as the ASAT Classic seems especially well made. Manufacturing and engineering appear first-rate. Its' performance is tops. Just that customer service thing that bugs me. I compared the Classic to Fender USA products. IMHO, the Am Std Tele is not in the same league (tho it's some $300 less). The '52 RI was the Classics' closest competition and is a very cool guitar. It lost out because it has all of the '52s weaknesses as well as its' strengths, especially in the neck. The ASAT is much more playable. The Custom Shop models are great, but surely no better than the ASAT. They are, I think, grossly over-priced. A $2000 Telecaster??? C'mon. The Classic is a far better value, I think. In fact, I'm a bit put off by Fenders' all-consuming-corporate-mega-monster approach as of late. Check the G&L website. There are no t-shirts, ash trays, baseball caps, picks, market-saturating imports, or even amps. What you will find is that many of the tools, techniques and machinery, that Leo devised and built or aquired over the years, are still being used to make guitars, today. It feels good to know that your pickups were wound on a machine that CLF put together. I've been playing on and off for 35 years, and you bet I'd buy another ASAT Classic. Wish I could get 3 of 'em.

Natural Ash body, 2 "magnetic field" ceramic single-coil pickups with 1/4" magnets (look kind of like a P-90 and a tele pickup had a kid), 7.25" radius maple neck with rosewood fingerboard, 22 jumbo frets, saddle lock bridge, tortoise pickguard, typical tele knob layout. No bells or whistles, but works damn well. Features? Who needs 'em?

I use this guitar with either a '67 Blackface Bassman w/matching 2x12 cab or a blackface Deluxe Reverb. This is an excellent and complex sounding guitar with a substantial output. It is louder and colder sounding than a typical telecaster. This can be a virtue to a player that needs a bright and biting tone. You will have absolutely no problem cutting through a band with this thing. It is a beast.

As all G&Ls, take it to a trusted repair person or luthier and have it set up. I've had 4 of these guitars and not one of them was set up very well from the factory. When you do, you will have a guitar of comparible to better quality than the Fender Custom Shop guitars at a fraction of the price. They are also extremely durable. I can leave it in our trailer overnight during -15 degree weather, take it out and not have to tune it! This is my only guitar and I trust it with my life. Never doubt it for a second. Also, best Fender-type neck in the business!!!

As I stated above, it is an anvil!!!

I never needed a repair. I have, however, tried to order a custom guitar from them and it was like pulling teeth. They told me that they were a complete custom shop, but when I asked them to rout a Duncan '59 humbucker in the neck position, they told me 1: they were not equipped to perform such an operation and 2: It strayed too far from their product line. Grrrrr.

If you want a warm, buttery, singing tone--steer clear of the asat. If,however, you want the biggest Tele sound around with a more aggressive neck pickup, the asat is for you. If you want a guitar that cuts through horns, dense mixes, loud drummers, and most metal objects, the asat is for you. If you want a guitar built like an tank, then the asat is for you.

USA made Tele-style 1996, bought used, (with only a few hours of use on it, still had the adhesive pickguard cover on), in Nov. '97. Swamp Ash body, maple neck and fingerboard. Clear finish on body, satin finish on neck. Came with all G&L hardware, including pickups. This is the G&L model that looks and sounds like the classic Fender Tele. I have replaced the stock white pickguard with a tortise shell one, and also replaced the pickups with Joe Barden Tele model pickups. Everything about this guitar is classic Tele: slim neck with little radius (I believe it's a 7"), medium frets, chromed Tele six barrel-type saddles bridge. Came with molded case. Not a guitar with tons of gizmos and gadgets, but that's not what Telecasters are about. It has what it needs to aspire to Twangdom, so I give it a 10.

I play my ASAT through a Fender Hot Rod Deville 4x10, with various pedals, or sometimes straight through the amp. I play a little bit of everything stylistically: Rock, Country, Jazz, and heavy on the Blues if you please. Stock, this baby was pure Tele; bright, twangy and noisy. With the Barden pickups, the complection of the instrument changed dramatically. Now it is dead quiet, and extremely versatile tonally. I can get Barney Kessel jazzy, Roy Buchanan gritty, Albert Lee twangy, and even a passable Angus Young ballsy. It all depends on the tone settings of the amp, and manipulation of the onboard tone control, along with my own touch. It's very sensitive to changes in attack, and the height settings of the pickups.

True to G&L form, the clear finish is flawless, revealing the beautiful ash grain of the body. Factory setup was very good, but I had it setup when I purchased it to accomodate my string gauges; 10-52. All hardware is excellent quality, and I've had no problems with any of it, nor have I witnessed any degradation. I don't know the electronic values of the tone control capacitor, but is a very even roll-on, yet is capable of a slight "wah" effect, when rolled on in conjunction with striking a note.

This guitar will probably be inherited by grandchildren! I've gigged often with this instrument, and it is totally, absolutely bombproof!

Have not had any warranty issues with this guitar, but I own other G&L's, and the factory is very, very supportive. All G&L's come with a ten year warranty for the original purchaser, but it is not transferable to subsequent owners.

I've been playing 22 years, 21 1/2 as a semi-professional, and this guitar is probably my favorite I've ever owned. At the very least, it's in the top 3! Through buying it, bringing it home, and then rehearsing and gigging with it, it took the ASAT about a month to become my main guitar. My arsenal of guitars is currently around 7 or 8 (who's counting?), but, if I could only have one, this would be it, without a doubt. I've thought about adding a middle position strat pickup, but won't , because I'm afraid I might spoil a good thing, and I love this guitar too much to risk that. I have a beater Tele-style, and will modify it instead; if I like the result, I'll buy another ASAT. With the addition of the Bardens, which are FANTASTIC, this guitar is absolutely incredible. Yes, I like it! I love the look, feel, and sound of Teles. If you're in that club too, I could not recommend the ASAT Classic enough!

Made in '97 I think, bought in '98; Swamp ash body with Premium Clear ORange finish with white pearloid pickguard; 2 G&L MFD pickups; maple neck w/ rosewood fingerboard. Satin finish on neck. Tele style body; G&L patented bridge, Gotoh tuners. 25 1/2" scale. Hard case (SKB) included. Tone & volume controls, both very smooth and sensitive for flexible tones.

Great guitar for blues and r&B; I use it with a Fender Blues Jr., and Custom Vibrolux Reverb. Not particularly noisy, gives very clean Tele type spank on the bridge pickup, great rich & warm tones on the neck pickup (use that & turn down the tone pot and you can play warm jazz), and a nice combination in the middle pickup selection. Sounds like a Tele but with higher output, a warmer, fuller sound. Not a Tele clone (see the ASAT Classic for a more purely Tele like sound).
Excellent variety of sounds. I use either the bridge or neck pickup alone so far, I haven't found a lot of good uses for the middle setting (both pickups combined).

Superb build quality, as good or better than my Fender Custom Shop Tele. Action excellent (moderate-low), pickups well adjusted. The top is 3 piece and joints are flawless. Everything aligned right. A bad input jack caused some buzzing and was replaced right away under warranty (G&L has a 10 year warranty).
This is an impressively made guitar, and especially considering its price

Still relatively new, but seems as sturdy as every Tele I've ever seen; and since this is Leo Fender's successor design to the original Tele I have no reason to doubt it. Hardware looks good, it is a solid instrument and I'd gig without a backup. Have to see how the finish holds up but I think it looks pretty durable.

Had a warranty repair done immediately after purchase (Buzzing input jack). Done in 2 days, no problem. 10 year warranty and G&L has a reputation for high quality and good customer support.

I love this guitar! I have others that are more "valuable" but my G&L ASAT Special is a real 'player.' It and my Heritage 535 are the guitars I take with me to play out. If you want a clone of the classic Tele sound, then the ASAT Classic is the one; otherwise the ASAT Special (I think now just called the ASAT) is a great Tele-like guitar that also covers some warmer, fuller territory. I'd buy another in a second.
I don't hate anything about it. I'm still bonding with the MFD pickups, but so far I really like them. For the price, the ASAT is about the best guitar (Tele style) for the dollar that I've seen, perhaps in any style.

1995 purchased as new in 1998. Solid ash telecaster body and rosewood fretboard. Controls are standard telecaster 3 way switch, 1 volume, 1 tone. The pickups on the classic model are conventional fender tele size and this guitar came equipped with a Seymour Duncan Vintage '54 bridge and an Alnico Pro II neck pickup. Transparent blue finish. Ashtray style bridge with 6 adustable saddles and strings feed through body of guitar. Tuners are slotted with vertical hole for feeding string down into it. Neck is 7.5 inch radius. Hard shell case was included. I am rating the features as 10 because being a telecaster, it has all the features you need and none that you don't need. My guitar is pretty heavy.

The tone of the instrument is fantastic for the styles I play, blues, rock and some country. The guitar has a glassy clarity that is outstanding. I use it with one of several high quality OD pedals and several high quality fender style amps. It sounds particularly fine through my Victoria Bassman 45410. The single coil pickups are not particularly noisy and the shielding is adequate. Being a guitar with a vintage telecaster style it can produce very bright tones. However the heavy weight solid ash body gives the guitar lots of low end depth. With all my amps I can get a fantastic even tone across the entire frequency range from the bottom to the sparkle. The pickups are not wound to be noise cancelling. The neck sound can cover jazz to warm texas strat SRV tones. The bridge sound twangs and cuts like a tele should but is surprisingly well balanced and rich sounding. The middle position is very spanky. Overall I'd say the sound is clear, somewhat scooped in the midrange, and very rich.

The factory action had to be tweaked somewhat at one bridge saddle. I've went up to 11 guage strings and have tightened the truss rod to compensate. That rod adjusts smoothly. The relatively weak Duncan Vintage '54 pickups sounds best and balances well with the neck when set up fairly close to the strings. Tho bodywood was very wall matched and the seams are almost impossible to find. The neck was misaligned and the neck pocket of the guitar was too tight to permit correct alignment. I carefully filed the neck pocket myself to allow better alignment of the neck. Overall the guitar was very playable from the get go but I downrated this catagory to 8 because of the neck pocket.

The quality of everything on this guitar is absolutely top notch. I am amazed at the quality for this price range.

Have not dealt with them since I bought the guitar used. Very slightly used, It was owned by someone else for 2 weeks.

I have been playing for 30 years and presently own a '63 Gibson ES335 and a '97 Squier Protone Thinline Telecaster. The G&L ASAT Classic is a fantastic guitar that I would recommend to anyone.