G&L ASAT

I've got two of these that I'm reviewing together. The first was made in 1998, and it's a transparant blue over ash. The second was made in 2000, and it's a cherryburst ash. Both have the same specifications: maple bolt-on neck with rosewood fretboard; jumbo frets, 7.5 radius on neck; solid body; single coil PUs; single three way switch, one tone and onve volume control. String post are neat. They are thinner toward the base which draws the strings down. This does two things. First, it makes the angle of the string from the bridge steeper, and second, it keeps the strings in tune (thighter?) unbelieveably well. Has a fixed G&L locking bridge that's very high quality; I've never seen one better on a guitar like this. Both came with G&L hardshell case, a set of allen wrenches for all the places you need 'em, a certificate stating that they were built in the USA, and a very tacky sticker with a pin-up type image of a woman riding a G&L guitar (which I suspect keeps some women from being fans of G&L.) For a tele style guitar (which are by design susposed to be basic, I think the bridge and tuner pegs actually make this guitar one step above most... hence, an eight.

As one might expect, both guitars are very much alike in the sound department. There is a slight difference, which may have to do with the density of the ash used in each instrument. The Cherryburst is slightly darker in it's total range of sound than the Trans. Blue one is. Both, however, have an amazing range of sound. The bridge PUs are able to do the bite/sting kind of lead work you'd expect. The neck PUs can get very mellow without losing much (if any) definition in high gain situations. With both neck and bridge PUs on at the same time, you get this really clear, full bodied range of tones that's unlike most setups using two PUs. In fact, the sound in the middle position is not just a combination of the two, but something completely it's own. All three positions are very useful. I generally play through a Mesa Boggie Mark III, and find that I can get just about any tone I'm asked to deliver. On occassion, I use a Tone King with just a touch of tremolo for clean work, and It always sounds like what I'd imagine the music standing in the waiting line for heaven would be. It's just unreal. Only dislike (and it's a very minor one) is that to get heavy distortion and low end rumble you've got to do a fair amount of tweaking. The Boogie Mark III makes that pretty easy for live situations. Both guitars record very well. There is a small amount of single coil hum... much lower than any other single coils I've ever played... it's really not a problem. Overall, I like the ASAT more than anything else I've owned/played and I'm making this comparrison to a Les Paul, Gibson ES175, Gibson SG, Ibanez Artstar, Fender Strat, Ibanez Musician 500, BC Rich custom Mockingbird; Ibanez strat clone, Guild Manhattan X500, Fender 70's Tele; PRS Custom 24; and Parker Fly Nitefly. I'm not suggesting that these other instruments have a bad tone, I'm just recognizing that I like what the ASATs give me more. Oh, yearh one other thing, both of these guitars are more responsive to playing dynamics than anything eles I've owned. You vary the pick attack, you get very good response . Hence, you can move from clean/mellow to bite by just attacking harder... when you add a slight twist of the volume pot, you sound like you've just hit your pedal board without having to do so. I can find nothing to fault with the sound... that's probably why I have two. I don't have to go to an inferior sound as a backup should I need it.

Overall both the guitars are very well built. The action was set for 9s and I play with 10s; so, I had to make minor adjustments. The setup for 9's however was dead on. I really like the way the two play. While the action is not real low or build for guitar pyrotechnics, it's more than adequate for anyone who makes a living playing but doesn't have to do the shred thing. I've several musican friends who are into the flat fretboard, low frets, low action speed thing. All of them like playing both these guitars and can't believe how easy they are to play. G&L did it right on the playability for this model. The moderately thick neck, jubo frets, and 7.5 radius just seems to work.
OK, now the only negative complaint. What the hell's with the cheap input jack G&L is using? It's totally useless. If you plan to buy an ASAT plan on having the jack replaced before you take it home. It just is not worthy of the rest of this guitar. If you keep the original jack be prepared to have it cut in and out which you simply can't have on a professional level instrument. I really don't get it, why do they keep using this jack? I use nothing but very high quality cables and it doesn't matter what brand they are, they just can't keep good consistent contact because of the cheap jacks. In an otherwise well designed and built instrument this is totally unacceptable.

I have and carry both guitars... the ultimate backup for my tastes. Harware (with exception of input jack) is all first rate and very solid. The ASATs were build to be working guitars that can stand the abuse of hard work... and they do. Both are much more substantial than any other guitar I own... well maybe the Ibanez Musican 500 is in the same boat with the ASATs.

Haven't dealt with them other than to complain about the input jacks. They were friendly, but thought the design was ok...

I've been playing for over 10 years, but only seriously for the past five years. I would indeed replace either of these two if lost, stolen or somehow missing from my life. I absolutely love the combination of playability, tonal range and quality, simplicity of design, and quality of these guitars. They are not designed to be art, they are designed to be used in making music, and the certianly excel when it comes to that. I compared the ASATs to Fender teles, Andersons, Carvin, and several Warmouth built instruments. The ASAT is simply more guitar for the money if you're looking for exceptional tone straight from the guitar without a lot of electronic tweaking in your signal chain. Nothing makes me smile more than to plug either one of these straight into the amp and then just play... The tone is really that good. Get an amp with great clean tone (I always figure you can add effects to great clean tone, but it's hard to create great tone if it's not there first)and you won't believe what comes out of these simple creations.

This was made approximately a few years ago, I wanna say about 1996. There's a (short) story behind this guitar that will explain that. I got this guitar used from one of my favorite local shops, where the guy specializes in "boutique" and some vintage stuff (mostly used, as he only deals G&L guitars, and VHT, H&K, and Carr amps new - I think). The guy who originally bought this guitar special ordered it from G&L - originally, maybe even when Leo was still alive. But, it wasn't right like he wanted when he got it. So I know he sent it back once, maybe twice (I know they had to be tired of seeing this guitar). So, apparently disgusted, he sold it anyway. I got it for the sage-ly sum of $600. And it's what I wanted, and I didn't have to send it anywhere.

Okay, story over. Here's what it is: RED, RED, RED! It's got a transparent red finish over ash(?), with rosewood board w/tall frets, non-painted headstock (I don't like painted headstocks), a red pearloid pickguard, and 3 pickups (the "outside" pickups are your standard P-90 size ASAT type, and the middle is a regular Legacy strat-style single) with a 5-way selector. Oh, and the one feature that grabbed me was also standard - the greatest Tele tone ever (well, IMHO anyway).

Oh, and all the red-ness combined with the white pickups looks stunning, to say the least. I rated this a "9" in an attempt to be fair to the rating system, but this has got more "stuff" than most Tele guys want anyway.

Sound? How does this guitar sound? I think the G&L ASAT line has got to be the perfect Tele type guitar out there. This seems to be the result of Leo tweaking until it was right. G&L pickups, to me, are the best Fender style single-coil pickups made. They don't sound "vintage", more like an update on the vintage sound, whereas the new Fender stuff to me sounds like change just for change's sake. G&L's advances in pickup technology makes the guitar signal sound round and "woody" and punchy, and detailed. The modern Fender pickups sound lopsided, unbalanced, and sterile to me - that dynamic thing just isn't there.

Sorry to pick on Fender so much, but I've always been a fan of the underdog anyway, I guess. Especially when you consider that the guys who started G&L (George & Leo, as in, Mr. Fullerton and Mr. Fender, respectively) were the same guys who were responsible for the (now) Fender Corporation's "classic" designs, the reason that Fender is where they are today. They actually made killer stuff then - well, they still do, we just can't afford it anymore (and have to go to people like G&L, which I like better anyway - huh, funny irony there - the wheel in the sky just keeps going).

Anyway, to make a long story longer, I actually prefer the sound of this guitar to a Tele - ANY tele. This isn't to say that I like the feel better, because I still love the great velvety feel of an old, well-worn Fender, but man, I wonder if you combined the two ...well, it's a thought. Like anyone who owns a G&L will tell you, it doesn't have as much treble bite as a tele (which works for me, most Teles are just a little piercing - like an icepick through any of the newer Fender amps). Built like a tank?! Hell, it SOUNDS like a tank! Just imagine perfectly balanced Fender tones that can either be delicate, or kick you in the chest with a mass of air. The tones can be both jagged and beautiful, but they are much smoother than your standard Telecaster fare. Teles, by comparison, just rip your face off and stab your ears.

I use this with a number of different amps, modern hi-gain and vintage non-master stuff (bridge pickup just absolutely rules with a Matchless - that perfect "Beatlesque" power pop chime and slight grind - great for Matchbox 20, Radiohead, Sheryl Crow stuff, etc). Or you can sound more like Albert Collins than Albert did. Well, let me clarify. This seems to have more of what he was going for than he was getting with his old Teles. I would have liked to see him live long enough to get one of these made to his specifications. Or you can rip some ZZ Top, and Led Zep tunes sound incredible with this guitar (can still rip just enough face to get that Jimmy Page "beautiful and nasty at the same time" sound). SRV, Hendrix, and even Eric Johnson stuff rings true. In fact, I can't think of much electric guitar music that you can't do with this sound and be believable, besides obvious stuff like detuned 7-string crunchiness (hey G&L, there's your next project - quick, before that's out of style). Man, even jazz stuff, on the neck pickup, sounds like jazz, and ANYTHING that's remotely in the "classic rock" category.

My ONLY complaint is that the middle pickup has a noticeably lower output than the neck or bridge pickups. This makes the neck/middle position sound just a little muddy (I can still live with it), but the trade-off is that the middle/bridge "quack" position sounds great (wouldn't be the same probably if it was brighter). This is minor though.

This isn't really relevant to the guitar, because I didn't get it from the factory, but this was set-up in the shop. Everything was great on this guitar, and really, anything the factory sends out with 10's (guage of string) on it is fine. 9's on anything, to me, never sounds right.

A tank of a guitar! Will withstand all but Pete Townshend style stage abuse. But I ALWAYS carry a backup, without question, because I like to be able to just grab another guitar if a string busts.

Sorry, never dealt with them, don't have a clue...

Okay, so I gave it an overall 10! Hey, somebody needs to let the world know that this is the REAL Tele. I also own a St. Blues Strat style axe (formerly known as Strings & Things Custom), a PRS Custom 22, a Fender Flame (pre-Robben Ford guitar), and a Heritage H-535 with vari-phase switching. Thinking of getting rid of the PRS, as I get all the sounds I really want from the others, and I just have it now, I guess, as a "pretty" guitar, and the others I got cheaper (wish I found them first!).

I've been playing about 10 years, and I've owned or played just about everything out there. This has the most massive bridge single-coil sound I've heard. Like a P-90, except much different. The P-90 has a dull roar, wheras this is brighter and just knocks you over (but can still sing). We like it, we love it, we want mo' of it.

I have two older G&L's bought new as back-ups for my '74 Tele Custom, ash body with (2) P-90 type single coil pickups, 3 way switch, volume and tone controls. One is a Blonde stock model (1988) with lacquered maple neck. The other is a 1988 NAMM Guitar with silver sparkle finish, rosewood fretboard and unfinished neck. Now the Tele has been regulated to back-up. The strap buttons are the best I've seen and these are the only two of my eight guitars without straplocks. All things considered I'd opt for unfinished necks eah time. The maintenance is a little more and they look a little dirtier but are they fast and easy on the hands. The guitar is a little haevy though.

I play strictly orginal Alternative / Punk / Mod stuff through an Ampeg 60 Watt combo with Celestion speakers and equalizer, chorus, delay, overdrive and volume pedals. Noise is low and mostly eminates from bad power and interference throught the cable chain. It is a little silkier than a good tele and vastly better than 90% of the tele's out there. Rich full single coil sound. all combinations of the pickups woek well and if manipulated right give a good versatitlty. It won't give you the les paul sound or a heavy metal feel. But that's not what I play.

Everything has been perfect on this from day one. Hardware has held up remarkably well in 12 years. Slight rust on the saddle springs.

See above comments about durability and strap buttons. It plays well live and certainly stays in tune better than most. Given enough heat and hard playing I have found no model that can't go out of tune. I have used it without a backup but usually with have at least one spare with me in case I break a string. Other guitars are set-up for different tunings.

Never had to use them!

For a ripping single coil sound (not strat-like) this is the best guitar I have ever played. I have the two G&L's, Tele Custom, ES335, Rickebacher 12 string, custom Ibanez, and Gianinni acoustic. I used to own Les Paul copy, 64 Fender Jaguar, and 52 Tele. The only one I wished I hadn;t gotten rid of is the 64 Jaguar. My frends with 50's / 60's Teles prefer my G&L. I've played for 24 years. I wish I could find a Les Paul that played as well.

Telecaster style swamp ash body with a bolt-on maple neck and a 21-fret rosewood fingerboard. A really heavy-duty looking G&L bridge keeps the strings attached in one end and 4 G&L open-backed tuners at the other. I think the finish is polyurethane but I'm not sure.
The 2 pickups are G&L humbuckers and you have 3 knobs and 3 switches at your disposal. The knobs control volume treble and bass, and the switches are a pickup selector, coil-splitter and pre-amp on/off/treble boost.

The electronics in this bass gives it a very versatile tone. It can go from a deep jazz sound to a bright stingray. I normally go for the mellowed out jazz style for both my alternative rock band and 70's hard rock band. But the wide variety of tones are really handy when you got that odd lounge gig. It takes some time to find just the setting for you because of all the knobs and switches, but when you've found it you're in heaven.
I recently took the bass with me to the studio, where I really discovered how great it really sounds. The bass was recorded totally direct. No amp, no EQ, no nothing. Just a little bit of compression and the bass sound incredibly warm and round. It blew the engeneer away, and it was completely noiseless.

The action is set up perfectly and very low. There is a minor string buzz but it's not important as you can't hear it through your amp. The controls are smooth and firm, so your sound does not dissappear when you jump around like a maniac.

I've only owned this bass for about 3 months so I can't really say much here. Since I bought the bass it hasn't changed a bit, excerpt for the strings wearing out. Overall it appears very solid. The strap buttons are bigger that the standard size.

I've never dealt with them.

Well this bass is the most versatile instrument I've encountered in my 4 years as a bass player. I've tried through a number of different amps (including Hartke, Marshall, Laney and Trace) and it sounds great no matter what. Most of the time you can set the EQ on the amp flat and still sound great.
Before buying the bass I tried out both Fenders and Stingrays but i settled for the ASAT because of the lower price, and because with the ASAT yuo get the best of both worlds and a little more.

Bought brand New (2000) from Local Guitar shop(authorized G&L dealer). Butter scotch blond ash body, birdseye gun oiled maple neck (vintage tint) 2 "soap bar P-90" type pickups. I was in the market for a "Tele" style guitar. A lot of Guitar techs I talked to told me G&L was the way to go: good quality for the buck. I played a few and was sold on it. I was looking for almost a year for a used ASAT with the features I wanted-no luck (did not want to go the EBAY route- I have a BIG problem with buying guitars without playing or seeing them!). I walked into a local shop on a whim and fell in love with it instantly-bought it 1hr. later

I have played guitar for 25+ years.I play mostly blues, funk and jazz.
This guitar sounds great for all three- I am quite impressed with the tone- it definitely blows away the Mexican and American Teles. I've brought it to several Blues jams- the keyboard player came over after the gig and complimented on it's tone (in my books a non-guitar playing musician's compliment is worth 10 guitar playing ones.) The neck P.U. has a nice warm Fenderish "woman" tone. The middle switch position (both P.U.'s on) has a nice funky, slightly nasily vibe, and the rear P.U. is great for quackin' pinched harmonic leads. I've played it, and it sounded great, through the following amps: Fender '53 deluxe, 63 vibroverb, hot rod deluxe, Victoria 45410 (bassman copy). I didn't like the sound of it through a '70s non master volume 4-12 cabinet Marshall- too bright and brittle.
The P.U.'s are pretty quiet (for single coils)also.
It has a nice clean sound when you want it(volume knob 3/4 up), but will also drive a good tube amp nicely for some sweet singing lead work with the knob on full. I don't like a lot of distortion and this axe works well for me.

The guitar had no flaws- top quality throughout. The only problem I experienced was about a few weeks after I took it home, it developed a back bow in the neck. I took it back to where I bought it and they did a complete set up on it free of charge. It has played great since.

I own a 70's Strat, 60's Les Paul, and a Carvin Bolt. This axe has become my Main Giging axe. It was designed by the man Leo Fender himself, and like an old Fender, I see no reason why it won't be around 30 years++ from now

It comes with a limited 10 year warranty. I never had to deal with G & L yet. The music shop I bought it at is an authorized G & L dealer, and so far they have been great to deal with.

I hate to give such a glowing review, but I can't find anything that I dislike about this axe. The only bad thing is that there are not a lot of after-market P.U.s for this guitar (Rio Grand is the only company I know of), so if you want to change the sound a bit you are S.O.L. If you are in the market for a "Tele" style guitar definitely check these out- you can pick them up used for around 500-600+; they are one of the best deals out there in this price range, I.M.H.O.

This is a U.S. made G&L ASAT with the standard Tele-style controls (single tone control, volume, and a 5 position switch). The pickups are the Magnetic Field pickups usually found on G& L models.

The body is Ash, and the neck is maple - finished in a satin-like cobalt blue with a creme pickguard and edging.

I rate it a "1" for features - hardly any are present, but that is what this guitar is all about - simplicity of form - JUST PERFECT!

This guitar produces a really nice vintage guitar sound - suitable for Buddy-Holley-esque rockers or really nice clean tones. I have tried it out with full distortion and other effects - and the tone is so clean that they all sound good.

This guitar is probably best suited for a rhythm role over a lead - but with a stretch and a good player, it would work either way.

Great factory set-up - only needed minor adjustments to get the pickups where I want them.

This is a top-notch manufacturer - so I did not expect to find too many imperfections. The only thing I can complain about is a sticky volume control - it tends to jump from full on to full off with only a tiny twist, prohibiting really fine tuning the volume output at the instrument level.

This guitar is a real "working" guitar - suitable to play as much as your fingers can take...and not likely to drop out of tune before you do.

QUALITY is the watchword here...you get what you pay for, and G&L has delivered to match that old cliche.

After 7 years of self-taught playing - I decided that is was time to purchase a REAL electric to replace the old strat-copy I had. G&L had the quality, price and style that I was after...even my favorite color.
The poor gut at the store couldn't move them...everybody wanted Fender or Epiphone or Gibson...I got this one at fire-sale prices as a result.

I would not hesitate to go right out and pick up another ASAT if something ever happened to the one I have...Though I don't forsee this one ever dropping out of service.

The best thing about it is the really beautiful tele-tones you can draw forth out of this guitar. It is warm and round or jangly and tough depending on how you want it to sound---the way a guitar should be, rather than predetermining that sound at the factory.

For the deal I got...there was NOTHING better out there...
I hope that this fantastic guitar continues to gain recognition...it is WELL deserved.

I bought my ASAT bass in 1998 new in Tulsa, I was working at a music store in town that sold Ken Smith , top of the line Yamaha's and Earnie Ball basses. I went to a another store to buy the G&L and paid $800.00 without the case. I have played bass since 1965 and besides my Fender Jazz that I played for 20 years, the G&L is the best bass I have ever owned. The 35" maple neck did need some tweaking. After a minor neck fix, I took it on the road for a year and it is still my favorite electric bass. The fit and finish are as good as the best basses I've seen. The pick-ups are unbelievable in tone and versatility...the best! In fact, I used an Ampeg SVT3-Pro head with a 4x10 Eden cabinet, and the G&L ASAT. Every club I played in, someone would come up to me during a break, and comment on how nice my bass sounded.

Incredible tone possibilities, very clean and strong pick-ups.

Great finish on body and neck. The neck did need some minor adjustments. It plays great now. The hardware is also above average.

The bass is a road-dog work horse.I would definately buy another ASAT.

None needed, I did a minor truss rod adjustment.

If my bass was stolen, I would buy another one!

US-made in '97 according to the serial number registry at the G&L tribute page, bought '00. Tele body shape with two of the big MFD pickups. The usual Tele controls, 3-way switch, volume and tone knobs of textured metal (no numerals). Mine is NOS, several years old, and still has the 3-bolt neck. However, the neck pocket is extremely tight - no room for a sheet of paper, let alone a business card or two, so I don't anticipate that the neck will go anywhere anytime soon. The neck is maple, with a maple board with 22 nice big frets.
Tuners are G&L branded, but really Schallers, I believe. There are some nice G&L-proprietary features, including the non-skunk stripe neck, recessed bridge and lockable saddles.
It has all the features I wanted, i.e. not many, so I'll omit a rating.

I play blues, folky stuff and light jazz. The ASAT suits all that just fine. My other main guitar is a Les Paul DC, and tonally, the ASAT is very complementary to it, the ASAT pickups being much brighter. However, the ASAT still has a pretty wide tonal range, with a fairly rich neck pickup and a good deal of snap to the bridge. The middle pickup position gives a really nice rhythm sound (in fact, it's sometimes mighty hard to NOT play rhythm on the ASAT). Some people find the MFD pickups a bit harsh, but if you set them down a bit from the strings and tweak the appropriate tone controls, no problem. I've played it primarily with a Fender Blues Jr around the house, but it also sounded fine with a Super and a Peavey Delta Blues at jams.

I have no idea whether I got the factory setup or not, since it sat in the local shop for a while. Whoever did the setup did a nice job, no rattles (amplified, anyway), and easy bending. It came set up with 9's, but I may change up to 10's, as the current strings are too easy to break.
The wood is alder, I believe, and not particularly impressive in its grain, although it looks fine. However, it's not too heavy, and I find it just about impossible to detect the seams.
The rootbeerburst finish was nicely done, although a couple of knots in the wood picked up a bit more stain than their surroundings. The body finish is nice and thick and looks like it will resist scratching well. I particularly like the satin finish on the neck - much easier to get around on than the usual.

Seems pretty solid - no problems in the first month, anyway. G&L's seem a bit prone to jack problems, but I haven't experienced any. In fact, I haven't had any problems other than popping more high E strings than I like, and it's the only guitar I take to jams.

Ten year warranty, no contact with them.

I wanted a single-coil guitar to complement my LP, and this was a great choice. The ASAT is a real nice guitar; I'd replace it with the same if need be. It's solidly constructed, well designed and good-looking, all for less than the typical price of a US-made Fender equivalent. I like the pickups better than the more Tele-like ones in the ASAT Classic. I'm not too enthusiastic about the Tele body shape and the lunky big pickups, but if you're playing, you don't really notice those things, right?

Mine is a 1997 ASAT with two MFD pickups (passive). Classic Tele style guitar, with a sunburst finish over a beautifully grained ash body. The pearloid guard sets it off just right. The neck is birdseye maple (with just a hint of flame), and it has a subtle "V" shape. The fingerboard is maple. It has non-locking Schaller tuners. Everything you want in a Tele style guitar and then some. Its' simplicity is the genius of this guitar.

I play mainly classic rock, but dabble in other styles as well. This guitar allows me to go from one style to another without having to ask myself "How's this gonna' sound?". Currently, I'm using it with a Mesa-Boogie Rocket44 amp, and the amp allows this guitar to sing. Pedals include Boss TU-2 Tuner (yeah, that really colors my sound), an Ibanez chorus pedal, Thomas Organ Cry Baby, Vox ValveTone, and an Ibanez Tube King. I like the fact that the MFD pickups are beefier sounding than the normal Tele style single coils. These are more like P-90's.

Before I bought my first G&L (this is my second), I played no fewer than 200 Fender Telecasters. The only ones that I found that were set up as well as the ASAT were Custom Shop models. I bought this guitar used, and it belonged to a friend of mine before he traded it in on a G&L ASAT Jr. He really knows how to set up a guitar. This guitar was perfect. The finish is flawless, and the neck joint is exact. You know, I know they don't want "glowing reviews" of gear, but I just can't help it with this guitar!

I've only used this guitar at one gig, and I did have back-ups with me. They just sat in the stand, as this was the only electric I used all night. I'm not exactly the worlds most careful guitar player. I put this guitar through its' paces the other night, and it didn't so much as go out of tune. The hardware is top notch. Dependability? That's an understatement.

I've never had to deal with G&L, and I doubt I ever will. I just can't foresee anythng ever going so wrong with this guitar that I would have to call them.

I've been playing over 22 years, and I gotta' tell ya', this guitar knocked my 1990 American Standard Strat into "home studio" status. If this were ever lost or stolen, I would buy another before the ink on the police report was dry. Like I said earlier, I compared the ASAT's to Fender Tele's, and the Fender's just came up short. The ASAT is on a par with anything coming out of the Fender Custom Shop these days, and is probably higher quality than many of the Fender Custom Shop models.

Gloss black 1 piece alder body w/ white pearloid pickguard; 2 white, large single-coil P-90 pickups (G$L manufactured) with pole pieces adjustable by an allen wrench. Bridge pickup is slanted, Tele-style, to pickup treble strings closer to the bridge. One piece bridge base is sunk down into the body with individual string saddles; strings are routed to the rear of bridge. 3-way pickup switch with one vol, one tone control. Neck is maple, 22 jumbo frets, I believe a 15" radius, rosewood fretboard, Schaller tuners, 2 nylon string trees for the top four strings. Neck is adjustable either thru the truss rod or with an allen wrench in the neck plate. US-made in the old Fender factory, with a signed certificate of authenticity. Telecaster-type simplicity is at its best with this instrument; a blend pot or volume boost pull switch, or 5-way switching are about the only features you could add to fully enhance the versatility of the equipment that exists.

I'll play country, jazz, blues or rockabilly on this rig and feel right at home. The big P-90 single-coil pickups are what make the difference. The ASAT is fatter sounding than any Tele, and to pull back some of the bright Tele twang I have to use a delay unit to bring the pick attack accents out. The tone and volume balance over all strings is uniform, which is a rare quality in these type guitars. Too often, I'll start a gutsy 2-3 scale run on a Tele-type guitar only to have the top end dissappear when I get there. Having larger single coil pickups helps put the guts back into the top string's sound. If I want to have a fuller tone, the bridge P-90 pickup can really deliver some bluesy or jazz type sounds, after all, Gibson/Epiphone/Gretch semi-hollow rigs use the same type pickup. Having a rosewood fretboard helps to bring those tones out just a bit more too, and it hides tarnishing much better than maple. The pickups are appreciably quiet, except when hooked thru some high gain stop boxes. I play the ASAT on either a 100W tube or solid state amp and the tone is similar but not exact. There are some thinner sounding single coil guitars that I could not stand listening to thru a solid state amp, but the ASAT brings in enough rich and more compressed tones to give quality clean and driven tones thru a solid state amp.

The neck is solid, a great hard rock maple feel, with a satin finish which I really appreciate on a long, hot gig. Fret work is beautiful and durable, not a single buzz on a 16-yr old instrument. I recommend getting jumbo frets because they last longer, you can find them by feel easier, and they're twice as easy to get vibrato out of as thin frets. With adjustible pole pieces in the pickups, you'll get volume dropoff when you bend the strings drasticly. I really like the bridge piece. It is a big, solid metal forged and chromed piece that translates a lot of sound into the guitar. Also, I rest my picking hand on any bridge of a guitar I play, and often mute the string, or pick it close to the string saddle to get twang. I need clearance and comfort, and Leo's patented bridge piece gives me those quite well. The classic Tele bridge plates have flanges around the edges that are about as high as the strings themselves, and it feels almost as if there are 8 strings under your hand. A few times I have plucked the flange trying to find a run on the E string, and at best it seems that I'm always scuffing my knuckles on those flanges. The point is, if you're fighting a guitar for space, or feel, the battle will be yours as long as you own it.

The plated and painted surfaces have held their glossy finish beautifully, the frets have stood up very well; every once in a while the tone pot will crackle when I turn it. The neck to body join feels solid. With a 25.5" scale, you can pick the strings harder and not pull them out of tune or buzz them as you would with a 24.75" or 25" scale. I play with .012 on top so I can work the strings hard for dynamics and not overpower them. Last summer I was at a gig, leaned over to pick up something I dropped, and the flimsy strap I was using gave way and the ASAT flopped, face down, on the stage. The microphone stand base chipped off a small sliver of paint on the top radiused corner of the guitar. Thought I was gonna die. Couldn't eat for 2 days. I have six guitars with six different straps that I trade around, and I picked a bad one that day. Strap locks are worth the trouble.

I purchased the guitar almost 3 years ago, a 1983 model, but I think the warranty is 10 years. No matter, is has been made with pride and expertise, and having that certificate of authenticity indicates to me that the folks at G&L believed they were building a classic. I have not had to deal with the company, and have not overheard of anyone else's problems with their staff. As long as they continue to make quality units that George and Leo dreamed of and built with their own hands, they shouldn't have anything to run from or be ashamed of.

I purchased the ASAT to do solid-body country with, and it has continued to grow on me. I have 5 electrics, 1 electric bass, and two pure acoustics; 8 instruments with their own personalities. The ASAT has its own special niche, as simple as it is to operate, that the others don't quite match. I haven't had the curiosity to go off and find another Tele-type rig to replace this ASAT, although I've given them as hard of a comparison test as I could, and that indicates satisfaction. I just appreciate the beefier, more balanced sound and playability this instrument gives. If it were destroyed or stolen, I would hope to find another one, but for $350 again? I don't think so. Maybe twice that. It is reasonable for me to think of this instrument as a lifetime rig.