G&L ASAT Special Deluxe

2004 model, USA s/n:CLF28368. 22 jumbo frets. 3-way switch , Volume & Tone knob. Basic Tele stuff...but with one exception: Unlike Tele, ASAT Classic and Special, the pickup switch is positioned between the knobs, making it easier to achieve a fast switch after a downstroke motion! Much better than typical tele switch. 2 pickups :G&L Magnetic Field Design high output single coil pickups. Body is American Tilia and neck is maple. Redburst color, white pickups covers, i fell for it, the moment i saw it on an internet auction. It really looks like no other guitar and is what i can call a serious piece!The bridge is also a G&L Saddle lock innovation (not body-through) that keeps in tune forever and gives awesome sustain! Non-locking Schaller tuners. The guitar is simply AN masterpiece! Simple but exceptional (both quality of material and ... well appearnce!). It's a 10 for me, but some people might just need another pickup, some more frets, piezzo crystals, coffee grinder, e.t.c

This guitar simply sounds great! Both the woods (i know that G&L makes a great work choosing the wood) and the pickups give it a unique, rich sound satisfying all of my needs. It suits almost every style (i say almost because you dont play metal with this one...unless ...you really want to be original). With my band we play all kinds for 5 hours every night, from slow ballads,rock, blues, punk...it simply sounds great for eveything! The buzz is less than anything i've heard on singles before, and i actually like it. It makes me feel that it's alive! All my other guitars before used to have humbuckers, so i was afraid that a single coiled only guitar would turn me off. Not even close! The attack sound on the 1 position is clean and crispy. Middle position is actually humbucking and used for most gain parts. Neck gives a very very warm bluesy sound, and with some eqing you can get really awsome lead solo sounds too!To synopsize: guitar sounds great with all kind of cleans, sounds best with little gain (i yet have to try it directly on some Class A valve), and very good with most distorted sounds.

The action is normal ( for some people, it would be high). It's easily adjustable. The pickups are well adjusted. One, can manualy adjust the pickup height for each string individualy, and thats definately a plus! The guitar spent 23 days on UPS before reaching me, travelling around europe, and it arrived almost in tune! That speaks volumes about the hardware quality! No flaws, and all parts give easy adjustability!

My previous experience with a tele (although a cheap Mexican model) was one of 3 broken strings on one night! (lots of punky 8th note downstrokes that night i remember)! The ASAT special deluxe, seems to be made for this thing...and if a guitar keeps it's strings after such a thing then you dont worry about breaks any more! I dont want to mumble about how good the material and hardware are, so that's the last time: all parts are exceptinal. I dont wish for nothing more. Period!

G&L gives 10year warranty! That's lots of time huh? I guess i wont need it! I havent had any contact with them and i believe , i wont need to for the next years! It deserves a 10, as much as the warranty years, since i cant base my mark on anything else!

I have been playing for 9 years and this is the first really serious guitar i owned! THe only other expensive guitar i had was an Ibanez JPM-100 (i used to be a progster), which is a great guitar but for some specific style only! The ASAT Special Deluxe fulfils all my current needs, plus my ex-needs too:) If it was stolen i would go for another, blindfolded! I also tried the G&L Legacy before that, and the ASAT classic, and of course the equivalent Fenders (Strat, and Tele). This one easily made it through the comparison with more points than the rest! Of course the money is a basic thing here too! I believe that you have to give 3 or 4 times its money to get a fender of equivalent construction and quality! Once again : a Masterpiece

This is a relatively new model from G&L - launched in 2001 (I think) and made in the old Fender factory. The body is Tilia (Basswood) capped with beautifully flamed maple - finished in natural gloss. This is a stripped down guitar - the essentials done nearly perfectly. Not much to add to the previous review - the tuners on mine are non-locking Schallers with a nice G&L logo engraved on them. The Pickups are mounted directly to the body (in their own cavities) - there is no pickguard. The controls are passive and straightforward.
The neck pocket is very accurately cut - giving a near perfect fit - much better than my Strat Plus. The fingerboard is a fine piece of rosewood which is superbly fretted with chunky fret-wire.

Fantastic - mellow, woody, crisp and full. The controls work really well - the tone control provides a huge range of useable tones. Each pickup position provides unique and distinctive sounds.

These pickups must some the best single-coils ever.

I use a Peavey Classic 30 which seems to compliment the ASAT almost perfectly across a range of styles/sounds.
The overall sound is aided by a highly resonant body/neck - the sound of this guitar un-amplified has to heard to be believed!
There are so many 10s awarded for so-so performance in these reviews - I want to award 15...

All very nice - action was a little high for my taste - but that was easily sorted. You can't set the action too low otherwise the strings choke when bending - the neck only has a 7.5" radius.
The intonation was good for the factory fitted strings, and was easily adjusted for my Ernie Ball Hybrid Slinkies.
The body and neck finish are nearly flawless. The nut is finely cut and worked well with the factory fitted strings and my somewhat different choice of gauges. The chrome plating on metal parts is of fine quality. You would have to be super picky to find anything much to criticise.

The ASAT Special Deluxe seems seriously robust and resilient - there is very little to go wrong in the first place, and it seems so well made it is difficult to imagine anything coming loose and falling off. The substantial strap buttons deserve special mention - they offer extra protection for what is a pretty expensive guitar.

10 year warranty - which I don't expect I'll need to use. I haven't had any contact with G&L.

I've been playing around 30 years - mostly bluesy stuff. I use a Gibson BluesHawk and a Strat Plus - it is significantly better made and setup than either of those were - and brings a unique new pallette of highly useable sounds.
This is a great guitar - but then many G&Ls seem to be - I'd hate to lose it - but I suspect I could find another G&L to love.
This was pretty expensive guitar - I suspect I will try a cheaper G&L sooner rather than later.

This is a slight variation of a the ASAT Deluxe. G&L's version of the "Tele". Has two, large rectangular high output "soap bar" pups. They look like P-90's...they are not! They are better. Beautiful flame maple top, clear orange, with wood bound top. Rock hard maple neck, 7.5 inch radius, 1 5/8" at nut, satin finish, Sperzel non lock tuners. Great bridge design...NOT thru the body strings.
This is a work of art. G&L's are still a best kept secret in the industry.
This tyoe of a guitar is not noted for "features". Got to rate it high because you can special order any G&L to your specs.

Fantastic sound. Really clear, lively, and responsive pups.
running it thu a Fender De Ville at the store, a Carr Slant V6 at home. Get the Tele sounds, with a warm ES-335 sound at the neck pup.
A bit of 60 cycle buzz, but these are single coil high output pups.

Action was a little high on a couple strings, but these are easy to work on...even a mech. challenged sole like me can handle small adjustmnets. They give you the Allen wrenches in their 'Mom & Pop' package. beautiful finish. Well matched flame maple top, alder body clear orange finish. Too bad they don't make creme colored pup covers.
Then I could give it a "10"

I own three G&L's. May get one more (there is this Legacy screaming at me). May sell my Clapton Strat for it. I love the 'new and improved' Clapton... how highly I think of G&L products.
I have read the input jacks can be tempermantal on some G&L's, in fact my older Legacy's jack is acting up a bit. Maybe they fixed that problem on recent models

Never had to deal drectly with G&L, but they seem like good folks, with a mission to keep Leo the "King." Retailers of G&L are incredibly loyal. Questions are dealt with immediately by real people at G&L (not voice mail etc.)

The ONLY thing I did not like was the neck width (across) It is a 7.5" radius, so it crowns a bit. Getting used to it. I could have waited and ordered a 12" radius neck. I still may do that.
If we parted, I would definitely get another.