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.