G&L Comanche

Sunburst Swamp Ash Comanche bought barely used from Harmony Central ad, like new, volume, PTB tone system, 5-way and mini-toggle switch for an absurd amount of tonal possibilities. Birdseye maple neck and fingerboard, G&L dual fulcrum trem, locking tuners, graphite nut. Baseball bat neck, jumbo frets, slightly too small factory issue hardshell molded case.

Playing through a 50 watt Carvin 212 Bel-Air. Effects are a crappy Dunlop wah,( anybody want to sell a Fulltone Clyde Wah cheap?)Maxon compressor, Fulltone Deja-Vibe, Fulltone Supa-trem, Hughes and Kettner Replex all velcroed to a Furman pedalboard. I play blues, rockabilly and funk, I gig about once a week, and have been on a quest for the perfect tone for many years. I've owned a '57 Les Paul Special (stolen), a G&L Nighthawk(stolen with the LP), a G&L Skyhawk with a Kahler tremelo ( bought to replace the Nighthawk), a late '60's ES-330 ( bought to replace the LP Special, vintage Les Pauls had gotten way too expensive by that time), a Tokai Tele and a G&L ASAT. A few months ago I decided it was time to get rid of my museum piece ( the ES-330)and give the Commanche a shot. The 330 was a great guitar, I only paid $250 for it back in 1983, but the feedback I was getting from its hollow body in live situations was making it practically useless as a gigging instrument. The pickups( P-90's) sounded great, but the 60 cycle hum was starting to drive me nuts. So I sold it (probably too cheaply with a buy it now option on ebay)and replaced it with the ASAT and Comanche. I got the ASAT first and immediately fell in love with it, it was the perfect Tele, bright but not harsh, built like a brick shithouse, everything I'd never gotten out of my Tokai. Then I got my Commanche. When I first plugged it in I was using a friends amp, and I was blown away by the sustain. I'd tried a few other Comanche's over the years and had been very impressed, but none of them had sounded like this. I figured it was the amplifier. The next day I brought it over to my rehearsal space and discovered it was actually the guitar. The sounds run the gamut from everything you'd expect to get out of a Strat to everything you'd expect to get out of a Tele to an ES-335 and back plus its own tonal characteristics which I'm still exploring. The mini toggle switch and the ability to roll back your low end as well as your highs makes the range on this guitar seemingly infinite for a solidbody insrument. The guilt I'd felt about getting rid of the ES-330 has completely evaporated. The pickups are essentially noiseless. My feedback concerns are also gone. Instead of feedback and squealing, I have almost endless sustain. My Skyhawk had always been my main guitar, when I popped a string on it I'd reach for the 330, and last but not least, the Tokai (I have a tendency to break at least one string a set). Well, now I've sold the Tokai, and I'm thinking about selling the Skyhawk and replacing it with another Comanche. I love the Skyhawk, but I'm trying to be practical. The Skyhawk just doesn't do it for me anymore. Maybe I'll just get some string savers for the Comanche, and that'll be that. I'm afraid to screw with the guitar in any way though. When I bought it, it had .009's on it and the action was kind of high. I lowered the action, put .010's on it and reset the springs and the intonation. Everything worked out just fine, maybe I should just leave well enough alone.
In conclusion, the icing on the cake with this guitar is the response I get from audiences when I play out. You can do Albert King or SRV style string bends and ride the sustain forever, and people do seem to like it quite a bit. Just like me, everyone at first thinks the great sound I'm getting is from the amplifier, and I know that's a major component, but I've played a lot of other guitars through my Carvin, and nothing has ever sounded as nice as this.

I've seen a lot of complaints about the "swimming pool" routing on recent vintage G&L's, but it doesn't seem to affect my instrument in a negative way. There's a part of me that believes it might even be contributing to some of the more Gibsonlike semi-hollow tonal possibilities that this guitar has.
The guitar's birdseye neck and fingerboard are absolutely stunning, and the sunburst, which goes from yellow to red to black over the heavily grained swamp ash is also breathtaking. I kind of wish G&L would set up their instruments for.010 gauge strings and set the action a little bit lower, but everyone has their own personal taste when it comes to guitar set-up. You can't please all the people all the time.
The neck on this guitar is huge, and takes some getting used to, but just like the swimming pool routing I have to believe it contributes to the amazing tone.
As faras the overall workmanship, no complaints, stellar job.

This is the first guitar I've ever owned, electric, acoustic, stoptail, trapeze, locking or non locking trem bridge that actually stays in tune. I'll rehearse with the guitar, bring it home play it for a few days, bring it to a gig, and barely have to tweak the tuning before we play. Changing stings is also a thousand times easier than with my Kahler equipped Skyhawk. The locking tuners and graphite nut really seem to be the the right mix.

I needed an allen screw to keep the trem arm in place when I first recieved the guitar, the previous owner said he'd never had it. I contacted G&L by e-mail and they contacted me that day and sent me out a couple of replacements free of charge, so I'd have to say so far their customer support has been fine.

I've been playing for 29 years, on and off proffesionally for 25 years. I've described my other gear above. This is undoubtedly the best guitar I've ever owned, I wouldn't hesitate to replace it if it were lost or stolen. Hell, I might buy another one to use as a backup.
I've worked in music stores, I've played hundreds if not thousands of guitars. This is, without a doubt, the most versitile, best playing and best sounding electric guitar I've ever played. I hate to sound like an advertisement for G&L, but they really do deserve praise for getting it right. God knows there are enough companies out there building Strats, not too many of them in my experience have managed to do it well, and absolutely no one has been able to come close to doing it well for the price you can snag one of these for, either new or used.

Don't buy this superb guitar unless you want to keep it a long time or sell it for less than it's worth. The warranty is of little value unless you live within an easy drive of the factory. The store items at your dealer are likely shopworn and in need of work. It's a great instrument, but I hope you can buy yours cheap, just as I did.

That said, My Comanche was made in 2000 on Fender Avenue in Fullerton, CA. I know because it says so on my official Certificate of Authenticity bearing the machine-imprinted (not handwritten) signature of Ms. Phyllis Fender, Leo's wife. What an empty gesture the certificate is. If I didn't think it was a real G&L Comanche, would I pay this kind of money for it? No. And, am I convinced by the certificate? No.

It is, however, a real Comanche, so you probably know all the features, but let's run through them for the sake of uniformity in the format of this review. 22 medium jumbo frets. They're just the right size and shape for me. It has the distinctive, and wonderfully effective, G&L electronics and controls: One master volume pot, passive treble and bass roll-off pots, a Fender-like 5-way selector switch, plus the mini-toggle goober switch that allows you to get all three pickups at once or the bridge and neck together. The controls are one of the best things about this guitar, and they give it a surprising range of voices. I love them.

The pickups are G&L's own Z-coils. They're a great innovaiton, and I love them too. The body is two pieces of ponded swamp ash. The neck is bird's eye maple with black abalone position markers and a black graph-tech nut. The finish is really quite pretty. It's a red and black sunburst. If you look at the redburst finish example on the G&L website, you'll see a paint job where the black is really just on the edge of the guitar. Mine is prettier, and the black wraps about an inch and a half around the edges both in front and back. The center of the burst is actually more of a magenta than a candy apple red. Magenta is sort of a whore red, ya know? Sound ugly? It looked ugly to me for the first 8 months I was "dating" this guitar in the store. Now that I've got it home, I have to admit it looks fine. It's finished off with a white, three ply, mother-of-toilet-seat pickguard, chrome plated metal control knobs, and a machined stainless steel rod for the whammy bar. The neck has a satin finish, which enhances playability, even with a sweaty hand. The total effect is very handsome.

It's a strat body style. That is, offset double cutaway. The bridge is G&L's dual fulcrum tremolo. The tuning machines are German-made, crome plated Spertzel locking tuners. Very classy, and they work well too.

The neck is G&L's #1 neck; one-and-five-eighths inch wide at the nut, with its 22 frets spread out over a long scale (25.5") and a whopping 12" radius. These necks are hard to play compared to the short scale guitars I own. There's more string tension in a long scale guitar if you play tuned to pitch (I do) and the frets at the top of the neck are further apart. If you have relatively short fingers (as I do) the long scale is harder to play. You can't buy a Comanche with a short scale, I don't think, so you should go try one if you think these playability issues will bother you. I love this guitar in spite of these two factors, so it's no problem to me.

The guitar was supplied with a G&L case that is about a half inch too short for the guitar. This is because the headstock is exactly a half inch longer than a stratocaster's. Go figure. Supplying a case that actually fits the guitar would probably raise the price, so I'll let this cheesy touch go without any more fuss. It also comes with an impressive array of Allen wrenches that were handy in correcting some of the assembly errors.

This guitar can suit all musical styles, including mine. It's amazingly versatile in the sense that it seems to have an infinity of different voices available depending on how you manipulate the great G&L tone controls. I play it through a Fender Deluxe Reverb Reissue and it sounds great. Not as thin and tinkly as a stratocaster can sound, but I've always hated that sound anyway. It can get enough clean, glassy treble to go surfing, for sure, but not so much that it's annnoying. At the same time, while it won't get quite as fat and sassy as my thin-line, hollow-bodied Gibson, it comes remarkably close, and it will also do a very convincing imitation of a fat-bodied hollow jazz box. Like I said, the breadth of sounds it will cover is simply amazing. The pickups, because of the unique way they're wound, are as quiet as death. Bottom line here is that Jackie likes it.

There are problems in this area, but as far as fundamental build quality the fit on this guitar is amazing for the money. The inlaid position markers are so well done that it looks like they grew there. The neck pocket is so tight I can't believe it. And the finish, as I said, is really quite beautiful if you ignore the ding in the front. It goes through the paint and clear down to the wood. I paid $10 to have that repaired. Most of my complaints about this instrument fall into this category. Here they are:

The factory set-up (at least as the guitar was when I got it home from the store) was just plain awful. The strings were about 1 micron above the 1st fret, but about three eighths of an inch above the 12th fret. There was too much relief in the neck. My local all-star guitar tech and general set-up wizard (at Precision Guitar in Phoenix Arizona) fixed this without making a new nut. He did, however, have to fill and re-file the factory nut which was a mess as delivered. I like this guitar well enough to spend money on making it as good as it can be. But I'm not impressed at the condition it was in as a new guitar.

The frets protruded out the sides of the neck about a half a millimeter on each side. All the way up and down the neck. So did the nut. I'm not guessing on this next judgment, folks. This condition is a symptom of a neck that was made in a climate controlled factory and then shipped to Arizona. The guitar hung in the store for about 15 months, the neck dried out in the air conditioning, and it "shrunk." Neither the individual frets nor the nut shrunk, so when I bought it they stuck out. I paid to get that fixed too. The dealer offered to do it for free, but suggested that their tech has never done that job before. It only costs $35 to get it done right by an expert, so I decided not to let the dealer's amateurs anywhere near my guitar.

The strings were actually kinked where they crossed the nut, as if the guitar was whacked across the nut with a ruler or a drumstick. The four thinnest strings were driven down into the nut like a cheese slicer. This was repaired, but very bad in a new guitar.

The pickups were also maladjusted. All three are the same distance below the strings. Even I can look at that aspect of the set-up and see that it was wrong. Who knows how bad the intonation and other bridge adjustments were? All in all, this thing played like it was set up for a slide guitar player. That all changed, of course, but at my expense.

I'm lucky I got all three control knobs. They could have fallen off in the store. The Allen set screws on each one were so loose that I pulled them off the pot shafts without tools. And did no damage. Pitiful. I guess they slapped this one together in a big hurry.

In fairness, I have to say that I paid a very low price for this guitar. For that reason, the set-up expense probably should be my problem. I'm not happy about the ding, but it was repaired for a small price, and without having to ship the guitar back to the factory.

Will it withstand live playing? I suppose so. It looks like it will. From what I remember of live gigging, it should do fine. After all, it survived the factory and the dealer.

The hardware is quality stuff and should bear up quite well, and the finish is a good quality modern finish that should be very durable. The strap buttons are solid, and I guess I can depend on the guitar, in general. Although, I don't ask much of my guitars. I give them a good home under my bed, and I play them once a day.

Wouldn't gig with it without a back up, but only because I don't have to. I own three electric guitars, and I'm proud of all of them, so taking an extra one to a gig (if I gigged) would be like showing off. Show me a guitar player that doesn't like to show off.

The warranty, such as it is, is 10 years to the original purchaser against defects in materials or workmanship. I had a very friendly and business-like exchange of email with these folks about the condition of my new guitar. I still wound up paying to fix its problems because it was easier and cheaper than shipping it back to California and risking that set of hazards. They come on real strong in all their promotional material about the warranty, their quality, and all the usual corporate happy talk. But the warranty is written to protect the company at the customer's expense. I'm a lawyer and I've thought for a long time that the warranties on a lot of this contemporary music gear were largely worthless. G&L's is worthless to me, and I'd be glad to tell you why. These arguments apply to any warranty by any manufacturer that doesn't have a nationwide network of capable repair facilities. And G&L doesn't have one.

The warranty, which I've read closely, requires the customer to ship the instrument to G&L at the customer's expense for any and all warranty service. This is why it's worthless. Does the company think I'm going to pay $40 shipping to send the guitar to them when I can get the problem (like a ding in the finish, or a set of protruding frets) fixed locally for the same money? Of course they don't. Especially because if I did that I'd be giving the baggage apes at UPS a crack at my guitar. So, they can be sure most buyers from dealers will not return their guitar, and then the company doesn't have to perform its warranty. They call it a warranty, but I bear the cost of forcing them to perform under the warranty. And speaking of risk, the warranty also recites that if I want insurance on my guitar while it's in transit (either to or from G&L) I gotta pay for the insurance myself. This isn't a warranty. It's a piece of paper that says "warranty" at the top. But, all it does is tell me how much extra it's going to cost me to get manufacturing defects repaired at the factory. If it was a warranty, it would tell me how to get manufacturing defects repaired for no cost and at minimal inconvenience. If, as a legal matter, it really is a warranty then it's a worthless warranty. I rest my case.

I think I know what I'm talking about when I tell you there are only certain circumstances under which you should buy a G&L Comanche. Buy one if you can get it for half price, as I did. And buy one if you intend to keep it forever, because there's a puzzlingly low demand for these guitars. You may never be able to sell or trade it for a fair price. I know you may think this review reads like it was written by big jerk, and you may be right. But, so you'll understand that I'm qualified to have the opinions I've expressed here, let me tell you about myself. I've been playing guitar and bass guitar for 35 years. I was a working musician while I was an undergraduate in college and have used musicianship to er, uh, lubricate social contacts with memebers of the opposite sex ever since.

I own this gear: A Gibson Custom Shop ES-446s made in 1999. A Steinberger GT Pro that I use as a travel guitar. An Epiphone EJ-200 acoustic six-string. A POD v 2.0. A Fender Deluxe Reverb Reissue. A 1x12 extension cab for the DRRI. A Fender Frontman 15R that I use as a practice amp, on vacations, and other travels. And a battery-powered mini-Marshall that I use as a practice amp in countries with irregular voltage or other electical problems. I produced sound recordings for two years while I was in graduate school before becoming a lawyer. One of the problems G&L, and its customers, have is that there is a very limited market for their products, fine as these guitars are. I don't know why this is true, and I think at least part of the problem is that their marketing department must be screwing up. I should be easy to create demand for a line of instruments as fine as these. But there is no demand in many areas of the country.

As a result, two things happen. First, dealers want to sell "custom order" items more than their stock, because they can charge the highest possible price for each custom order. This keeps the price artificially high. Second, because of low demand (and because dealers don't promote the sale of stock items) the store's inventory of G&L models ages and becomes shop worn like mine did. Then, the inventory items need work by the time they do sell.

But the warranty that allegedly "covers" that work is a sham, so you the buyer have to get your new guitar repaired at your own expense unless you want to ship it to and from the factory; gambling that it will arrive, be repaired, and be returned without further damage. I choose not to take those chances, and I'm lucky. I have the money, and I know the people, to get the problems repaired by local people whose expertise I trust.

I'd buy another one, because I'd have no choice if this one were lost or stolen. There is no guitar like a Comanche, and there is no finer solid-bodied electric guitar in my opinion. I compared the Comanche to many other strat-style guitars from MIM and MIJ Fenders all the way up to Fender American Deluxe Strats. The combination of build quality, looks, and unique electrionics makes the Comanche a clear choice for me, because I'm willing to pay to cure its occasional faults.

I wish it had a case that fits and a shorter neck scale. Neither will ever happen at these prices.

Look out for neck shrinkage. It means that if you live in a dry climate, even if you buy a custom-ordered new one, you'll have to have the frets knocked down in about a year and a half when the neck is done seasoning itself. So buy one if you, like me, simply must have one. Negotiate politely but very hard on price, don't plan to ever get your money back on trade or resale, and place small reliance on the warranty.

Custom made this year Aug/Sept 2001 at the G&L plant in CA.
Honeyburst finish on Solid Swamp Ash body, standard Z-coil pickups (standard for the Comanche)Rosewood on Maple neck, Polished Glossy finish over Hand Rubbed Gun Oil Tint (matches the Honeyburst)matching headstock. Pickguard is pearloid. The neck is a #1, radius 12" width at nut 1 5/8". Other than this Comanche is just like any other, no fancy changes...
Locking tuners, G&L Dual Fulcrum Tremolo, Graph Tech Graphite nut etc...
This is a really beautiful electric guitar, the Honeyburst looks like it's dripping and with the see through finish the swamp ash's grain looks so rich and molten.
They did a real top notch job on this baby.
The case is the only real sore spot about what comes with this guitar.
They are standardised to fit the industry norm and thats Fender Strats.

I have a Blues Deville 4-10's tweed w/ ox blood grill cloth. This with my Danelectro pedals and a crybaby with the Comanche I have a very lethal arsenal. The sound can be very bright so some tweeking and the tonal qualities are out standing! I'm still learning what I have here and for now I'm a very happy camper! I also have a Legacy Special and I havent even picked it up since I got the Comanche.
I don't have any complaints. I'm still in the breaking her in stage.

As far as set up I don't have a real problem with what they did at all. The place I took it to for the first set-up was quite impressed with her and how she was set-up from the factory...

If I had anything to complain about it would be because it was so freshly made, I understand that there's a settling in period where she needs to really be played and played hard to set. I get a buzzing when playing un-plugged in the 7th to 14th fret area of the E-A & D strings. Originally this was mainly the G string's problem so I'm playing her hard and going to take her in for another professional set-up hopefully by week's end here just before the year ends.

At first when I used this baby to play live I just got her and went to Grass Valley in California to show my Uncle. This same weekend we had a benefit to do in So.S.F. and this was easily one of the hottest days of the year! I couldnt keep her in tune so I was very glad I brought along my Legacy Special for backup...
The finish appears to look like it's going to last with out any worries. The hard ware seems to be very solid I don't get any crackling or anything when turning the knobs. This guitar seems to be thee guitar for me I can go from A surf/spy/spaghetti Western tone to a real rich acoustic sound and then I can get that Quack and then I can go to a harder edged sound with out much tweeking! This is how versatile she is...

I dealt with them when I needed a new neck for the Legacy Special I purchased used and they were a big help...Hard to get ahold of if you don't know the way. I made contact with Tim at Buffalo Bro's and he hooked me up and as well help me in the ordering process of the Comanche! Very knowledgable and a heck of a lot of help too.
The warranty is the G&L standard...
So far no issues or problems have surfaced to have to find out how they deal with a brand new instrument so I don't have a comment.

I put the guitar down for almost 15 years after being so disgusted with myself and those around me, it seemed like either the drugs were more important or it was all about the party and believe me I was there enjoying the excesses! But when I finally decided to get serious about it I found out how much I didn't know about the guitar and my skill level as a guitarist was minimal...

I was so locked in with my way of playing I couldnt break the habits I instilled. So the best thing I could do was put it down then when I came back to the guitar I'm actually learning and hearing and listening!
there's so much I still don't know, but the difference is I can learn, absorb and play and now I know what I want to sound like, what it's going to take to get there etc.

This Comanche is a major stepping stone for me!

When I picked up the guitar again I didn't quite know where I was going, though the Swing thing was a big influence for me so I had purchased a Washburn HB-30 that looks like a Gibson 335, I had a Bigsby Tailpiece put on it, then after struggling with re-stringing it I purchased a set of locking tuners to compensate with needing a third hand!

Then my wife graced me with a MIJ Strat and I started to find my sound and I was in Strat heaven, till I started reading more and thats when I was all of a sudden I was blinded by this new looking guitar with these strange looking pick-ups it was on the cover of a Guitar Player Magazine. this issue was about strengthening your chops...
This guitar was/is the Comanche I couldnt get this image out of my head...
I checked here to read reviews and joined the Guitars by Leo Forum http://www.guitarsbyleo.com
learning all about this guitar and the differences from the other G&L guitars.
I would be heart broken if she was stolen or lost. I'd strike with a vengance on the fool that tried! I'd replace her if it came to that.
I love this guitar so much.

There are a couple of specific features that sets this axe completely apart from other strat clones I've owned over the years. In this case, the pickups are really powerfull and have a lot of character (despite the look of them, which is not exactly of my preference), but you have to be extremely careful with them because they can be overly bright for distorted tones. Thankgod, the independent treble and bass tone controls allow for a deep and fine pallete so you can dial in the right amount of brightness for each situation, making the system a real monster. I don't really use the switch for the aditional combinations because I've never found a use for them. The standard tones are great for themselves!
The tremolo is great. NO way back to a standard Fender bridge. This is really better and the grafite nut seems to help the tuning stability, which is incredible.
The neck has a nice profile and the frets are very well seated, almost as good as my parker Fly. Fine craftmanship. For the rest it's a standard strat on steroids but built by people who seem to treat them with loving care.
The hard case is nothing special, just ok.
The finish is almost perfect and the satin finish in the neck is a welcome, really comfortable, much better than my Music Man Silhouette Special. If you are planing to buy a strat don't confuse yourself with the logos, buy a G & L!!

It's a great guitar if you are searching for the Mike Landau thing, because the clean sounds are celestial, and the distorted tones you can get are really stratish, not humbucker dullness.
I love it for the blues. Great quality tones.

Almost perfect. Really. Better than any Fender I have owned.

My brand new 2001 Comanche with ebony fretboard, locking tuners (standard), white blonde finish with matching headstock, tortoise pickguard, 5 way selector, mini-toggle and Dual Fulcrum tremolo has to be one of the best guitars I have bought to date. I ordered it cusom through KTJmusic.com and I could not be happier with the features. Not to mention all transparent finishes come standard with swamp ash bodies. The case completely stinks. It does even fit the guitar, but I didn't buy it for the case.

My set-up is Comanche - Mesa Boogie V-Twin preamp pedal - Fender Blues Deville OR Mesa Boogie V-Twin preamp pedal - POD 2.0 - Marshall VS30R (practice and small gigs). I have been extremely happy with the sound so far. The mini toggle really helps to broaden the range of sound capable by this guitar. I have been playing Gibsons for years (I have a SG612 and a Chet Atkins Country Gentlemen) and recently I purchased a Fender Strat Deluxe which I also like quite a bit and it has been single coils ever since! The z-coil picks are really quiet and have quite a bit of output. More than most other single coils I have tried. Not to mention the pop they get. I play blues, funk and rock and the pop is crucial when you want to be funky. This has become the guitar of choice for me.

The set-up from the factory was great. The action was a little low so I got a bit of buzz but the intonation was dead on. The pickups were nicely set. I actually played around with it and I put it back where they were when I was done. The wood had a few small cosmetic irregularities but it is after all wood. The only gripe I have is that G&L use some cheesy parts. The premium knobs are brittle plastic and the some of the other pieces are also plastic. I feel like for however much they are saving with these plastic parts I'd rather they charge a few bucks more for quality metal parts. It's just my feeling

I plan on using this guitar in all of my live situations. I always bring a backup because I have a tendency to break at least one string per hour set so I'd be foolish not to bring a backup but if I learned to play softer, I would definitely use this guitar without backup in a live situation. All of the necessary parts seem to be well constructed. E.G. Strap buttons, tremolo, tuners etc. It's just some of the knobs and things but I never really end up using any knobs during shows. I use a volume pedal, I always use the neck pick-up and when I need a brighter sound I change the channel on my POD. I could see myself using the mini toggle quite a bit since I find it pretty useful.

When I got the guitar I immediately saw that the case did not match the guitar so I called and G&L said that they would not have more cases that would fit my Comanche for at least a month. Not acceptable. They didn't even offer another option. But when I called about getting some white pickup covers they were very helpful. They even called me back when I left my number on a answering machine. That I couldn't believe. Other than that I have not had another reason to call G&L.

I have been playing for 15 years and I have become quite the sound snob. I would put this guitar against anything in it's price range. I just got the guitar recently so I can not comment on it's longevity from a reliability stand point but I find this guitar to be just right for my playing style and for the quality of sound. I tried standard strats, deluxe strats, 57 reissues, Jeff Beck Sig. Strats, Eric Clapton Strats, Ibanez's (Jem, s540), I even tried a 60 N.O.S. strat (a sharp guitar and well made) but I kept coming back to the Comanche. For some reason I feel like I am missing out because I don't have a Fender logo on the head stock but the longer I own this guitar, the more I like it!

It's a G&L, and that means hand made in Fullerton, CA. Strat style, swamp ash body with a stunning 'blue burst' finish, 3 Z-coil pickups, 5 way switch(standard, strat style position assignments)and a mini toggle for additional pickup combinations (all 3 or neck+bridge together), G&l dual-fulcrum vibrato, rosewood fretboard on a lovely C-shaped bird's eye maple neck w/gun oil finish, Schaller locking tuners... the list goes on, but each feature adds class instead of clutter. Overall, this instrument is an example of form following function--although you're unaware of this until you take a close look. It is quite visually appealing. It looks like it comes from the future and the past simultaneously; it is a unique and pleasing blend of the familiar and the cutting-edge. The neck, although absolutely wonderful to my hands, may be a bit narrow for some--especially towards the top where it tapers in a bit. I find this feature most pleasing -they finally got a Music Man bass neck taper on a guitar- however, like its narrowness, this may be a drawback for some players- although it can be ordered with a different neck.

I had never considered giving a perfect 10 to any guitar until I played the Comanche. I play such a wide variety of styles that no one instrument seemed suited to every song on the set list, but the Comanche honestly manages to do it all, as far as electric sounds go. As previous reviews have noted, it is possible to mimic the sound of just about any traditional electric guitar, although this is just one aspect of its capabilities. The Comache has a slew of its own sounds-- quite unlike anything from a Les Paul, Strat, Tele or arch-top. Yes, this solid body can produce a very convincing 'hollow' tone. Name a style of music and the Comanche can bend to fit it, but it has its own voice, as well.

The Z-coil pickups are as quiet as any humbucker thanks to their treble/bass string pole reverse winding, and can sound as dark as the muddiest 'bucker out there by rolling off the treble knob. They can also get as sharp and twangy as a vintage Tele by deleting some bass. With both controls on full, however, their sound is unique-- not somwehere in between. The best way I can think to describe it is a slightly treblier P-90 without the Gibson's natural compression, but these pickups can only really be described in terms of themselves. The Z-coil is open, warm, full yet bright, and powerful enough to give a swift kick in the pants to a good tube head. The output is probably comprable to a vintage PAF... maybe a trifle less, maybe more.

Unless you want it to, the Comanche really won't sound like anything you've heard before...make sure you like it and it's ceramic magnet Z-coils before dropping any cash. It isn't exactly traditional, although it can come close enough to win a cigar.

For my tastes, however, it is as close to perfection as anything has come-- and I do not say this lightly. Nothing I have played comes as close to the sounds I hear in my head as this guitar, and I have gone through hundreds of other instruments in this search.

It's a G&L... neck is tighter than a drum, action is set kind of high, but I would have set it that way anyway. Finish was flawless, but these have a tendency to scratch easily and the rim around the hardshell case proved this... It arrived with .009's. These strings do not do this guitar justice in any way. I put .011's on and had to add the included third vibrato spring and make a slight screw adjustment. The vibrato tension screw was missing, but see my comments under customer service. There was some left over wax in the allen holes on the pickup polepieces, but this is the only hint of any sloppiness anywhere on it at all. It falls short of 10 here because of this... I didn't want to do it, but it wasn't perfect.

Rock solid. This guitar will survive the next cataclysm with only a few scratches added to the one I accidently put in it. Future archaeologists will find G&L's and will be able to play them once they figure out what they are.

I had never dealt with G&L or BBE until I needed to order vibrato tension screws. I didn't feel I had the right to request a free one because I got the guitar on ebay. I ordered a set from G&L's website, but made an error in completing my order. I sent them an email, and the next day a representative actually CALLED MY HOUSE!!!! The young lady who called was the most courteous, knowledgeable company rep I have ever spoken to. There are very few manufacturers who would actually go to such lengths to clear up such a minor situation. G&L has built a reputation of personability and attention to detail, and they truly live up to it.

I have had this guitar for about two months, and in this short time it has become my absolute favorite. I take my G&L Legacy along to gigs just in case I break a string. If not for this unavoidable difficulty, I would not need any other electric guitar on stage. Ever. It's nice to have others for recording, as each instrument has its own unique personality, but for live shows the Comanche can handle it all.

There is not enough good that can be said about it, in my opinion. It probably isn't for everyone, but that's about the worst thing that can be predicated of it. This is the one guitar that I honestly would take to a 'desert island' situation (provided the island had electricity) and be perfectly happy. It is exactly the right blend of tradition and innovation I had been dreaming of, it replicates its lineage very well but does not fail to put its own spin on it. They are not cheap to come by, but are an immense bargain compared with a Gibson or a custom shop Fender-- both of which (speaking from experience) have shortcomings which the Comanche more than makes up for.

Subjective preference aside, the Comanche is an exquisitely crafted instrument worthy of the title 'classic'. If it hasn't already, it should have earned its place in the museum next to the Strats, Teles and Les Pauls-- none of which have ever been able to please everyone. While, like the classics, it cannot do everything, but it comes as close as physically possible while maintaining the ability to do its own thing. It is in this last sense, more than any other that the Comanche deserves its place in history as a guitar which takes things to the next level.

Hand made in Fullerton California,USA! 22frets, 3 of the "Z" pups, 5-way toggle plus mini toggle plus bass & tone controls that realy work grained/matched ash, clear orange finish, satin sinish maple neck, rosewood board, G&L bridge is a real work of art. Schaller locking tuners, standard G&L case (kind of cheesy)
I bought this guitar with the attempt to consolidate my collection, but exchanged it for another G&L model with a better neck...necks are a priority to me.

Lots of different tones can be acquired with this instrument. Tele to strat to Gibson ES-335. Real rich quality. Playing through a Fender Vibrolux "custom". A/B at shop thru a Peavey delta Blues both sound great. Can get the 'squawk' sound too. the Z pups are different not only in design. they cancel hum fairly well, but like other reviewers say; "they are NOT single coil"...make sure you like them!

These are hand made...at least that's what "they" say. I belive it.
You have a choice of necks that could make your head spin at first, but if you are picky, I would NEVER purchase one over the internet. each G&L has a nuance. This particular one was set high and the neck seemed to 'crowd' me...one man's pleasure ic another's poison. This one had a 12" radius, 1 5/8" neck. It was my 'poison" as it just did not fit my fingers. but I cant knock it for what it is. Only problem was a volume control that crackles...could have been dust.
Finish is outstanding, matching grain shws well with clear orange finish. All G&L bridges are works of art. Medium jumbo frets were finished well.

No opinion, but I know pro musicians who swear by this guitar. I ttok mine back for an ASAT semi-hollow that fits better.

Staff at Bananas @ Large are great. 10 year warranty from G&L...a company who's mission statement is perpetuating George & Leo's dream.Can't get much better than that.

Great guitar that has all the tones. little bit of an identity problem...it looks like a strat (body), sounds "like" a couple of guitars (Tele,Strat, Gibson) depending on settings. However, I would rate this guitar very high based on its unique ability to deliver all tones with high quality sound. If it only had the neck of my ASAT....I'll always keep searching for that perfect "10". Bang for the buck? It has to be the Comanche!

This guitar was manufactured in 1998. Swamp ash body finished in clear red and weighs in at 7.5lbs.. The neck is hard rock maple with a moderately thick 12" radius slab rosewood fingerboard, large frets and Graph-Tech graphite nut. It has Schaller locking tuners and G&L Dual Fulcrum tremolo. Comanches come with a 5 way switch plus a mini toggle switch that adds a bridge/neck or all three pickup combinations. It has a volume control and seperate treble and bass controls (PTB system). It has a three ply pearloid white pickguard.

What sets this guitar apart from other strat style guitars are the G&L magnetic field Z-coil pickups. Although they are single coil, they are split and wound similar to humbuckers and they are very quiet.

The guitar came with a molded hardshell case. I believe the case is manufactured by SKB with the G&L logo molded into the side.

I don't play professionally, but I enjoy all types of music from oldtime Bob Wills country swing to Led Zepplin to Smashing Pumpkins. I also enjoy playing blues in the styles of Robert Cray, SRV, Eric Clapton and B.B.King. This guitar can do it all. Initially I found the treble to be too bright, but with practice, I've found the PTB tone controls allow me to roll-off the treble quite a lot without losing clarity of tone. This guitar can duplicate some great Telecaster country twang!

It can also come as close to a Les Paul growl as any guitar out there. I can play a lot of Santana type tones with this guitar. The interesting thing is that it is also capable of delivering a jazzy Gibson 335 tone as well. I think for a solid body guitar, this one comes as close to duplicating a semi-solid and even a hollow bodied electric tone as any guitar available. It takes practice and lots of experimenting to get there, but it will deliver.

I also own an '87 Fender American Vintage '57 re-issue. I love this guitar's deep, rich sound but the Comanche will match it's tone as well. The Comanche has amazing sustain and with very little coaxing you can get great feedback from this guitar. John Jorgenson plays one on "Passion" on the "Return of the Hellecasters" CD. Take a listen and you will see what it can do. For someone looking for a multi-purpose guitar, the Comanche would be hard to beat!

I've played this guitar for almost 2 years and I am still discovering the sounds it is capable of delivering. My 16 year old gets ahold of it and can play Garbage, NoDoubt and Rob Zombie music and loves it as well.

This guitar rivals any custom shop guitar on the market! The clear red finish reveals a beautiful woodgrain on the swamp ash body, and it is as smooth as glass. The neck has a satin finish that gets smoother and faster each time I play it. The frets are well dressed and nicely finished on the edges. Some people will criticize the swimming pool routing in the pickup cavity, but I think this adds to the tone. Unplugged this guitar has a nice resonant sound, and it carries over once you plug into an amplifier. The guitar was well setup when I got it with very low action. After a few months, I began to have some fret buzzing, but this is easily remedied with adjustment. I did change the original .009 SIT strings over to .010 GHS Boomers and have been very pleased with the results. The neck bow is easily adjusted at the tuner head and intonation is also easily adjustable. I especially like the fact that you can adjust each individual polepiece on the pickups. I've tweaked them and have dialed in the sound that most pleases me. This is a well designed guitar! Learn how to use it and it will deliver endless amounts of satisfaction.

I don't use this guitar to perform with, but I would think that it would stand up to the rigors of professional use very well. For someone like myself, this guitar will be handed down to many generations of guitar players. It's construction is superior to my Fender Stratocaster, and the Strat is very well built.

I haven't had a reason to deal with G&L directly. My local dealer is great and I can assume that this is what they expect from G&L.

I have played guitar for 35 years and have owned several acoustic and electric guitars during that time. I currently own this guitar as well as the '57 Fender Strat re-issue, an '83 Squier Strat and several acoustics. I was looking for a guitar that would move me out of my comfort zone of the last 20 years and would excite me about playing guitar again. I am old enough that I can afford what I want and I was ready to treat myself to whatever I found. I looked at PRS, Parker, Hamer, Gibson, Heritage, McInturff and Fender Custom Shop. After several months of trying out guitars, a friend of mine suggested I look at a G&L. I did and bought this guitar after playing it for 10 minutes. It wasn't the fanciest looking nor was it the most expensive, but it fit into the same class of guitar as these others and in my opinion it was the best guitar for me! (I could have bought two of these for what they wanted for most of the other guitars I looked at! By the way, if there were no G&L, I'd have probably bought a Parker or a Heritage, they are also beautifully designed guitars!)

I have read that the Comanche was Leo Fender's no-holds-barred guitar design. He wasn't totally satisfied with the Stratocaster and wanted this guitar to be it's successor. The Z-coil pickup was something that he had worked on for many years and I feel that they put this guitar into a class by itself. They can be overly bright sounding to some people, but they are very quiet and responsive and with the proper amplifier and a little tweaking of the tone controls, any tone is possible with this pickup design. I would think that if I were a professionally player looking for a versatile guitar at a good value, this one would be it. It is for me!

American-made this year (2000), strat-style, 22 frets, solid swamp ash body with see-through blue-burst finish and white pick guard, thick, solid maple neck with black dot inlays, locking Schaller tuners, a low profile G&L bridge (no whammy), 3 G&L Z-coil pickups, (neck, middle, bridge) with 5-way switch and an extra toggle switch to get all three pickups together. Included G&L hardshell case, (cheesy case - great guitar). Compared to your general strat-style guitar, the Commanche earns an easy '10' on features.

This guitar delivers the swamp ash tone perfectly - absolutely perfectly. I play many different styles, including a lot that would use a heavy humbucking tone for which this guitar is not suited all that well, (but it can and does work for these - just adds its own flavor). For strat and tele tones, this thing is spot-on! The sound is not bright at all: very ballsy and rich... tone, Tone, TONE! I can't say enough about it's tone...

I'm play it trough a Rivera R55-112 amp, which is pretty nice, (hand-made with 2 EL34 tubes and 5 12AX7's and a custom Celestion speaker), and it sounds great through there. Sometimes I like to jazz up the effects a bit using a Digitech RP7 floor unit, and it sounds equally amazing with that.

I primarily play using only the neck-coil. The other settings are OK, but I like the ballsy growl I get with the neck coil - SRV all day! It probably deserves a '10' here, but I'm only giving it a '9' because it doesn't quite do everything - as noted, the neck/mid settings don't get much attention from me. (I've also played some pretty incredible tone guitars like McInturffs - the G&L is good and you won't find a mahogany-bodied guitar with this kid of amazing swamp-ash tone... but this can't mimic mahogany either).

The action was way too light: there was a lot of buzzing and it would fret out if I did a decent bend (which I do all the time). But, it's very easy to raise the action on a G&L, so that was no problem. It also ahd '9's on there and a guitar with this kind of tone is begging for heavier strings... that also improved the action. The pickups could be raised every so slightly, and I did tweak some individual coils as well, but that's probably my personal taste. The finish is gorgeous: a dark blue burst that's real nice to look at.

Overall, though, the playability is nowhere near that of a perfect '10' (which would be any guitar by McInturff), and not even quite a '9' (which would be a PRS or a real good Fender). I place this at an '8': very nice, but there is competition out there that is truly unbelievable... if G&L could deliver this same guitar set up as well as a McInturff, I'd be in heaven!

This guitar is a warhorse: the neck is very thick, (almost too thick if you're playing fast runs using the low strings). The straps are solid, the pick guard is thick and will withstand plenty of abuse... I love having a solid ash guitar: it's made to be beat on: no pretty flamed maple here! Very durable - very reliable. An easy '10'!

I haven't dealt with them.

I've been playing for over 12 years... right now, I either own or have on order: a Terry C. Mcinturff (TCM) Empress Custom, a TCM Monarch, a G&L ASAT Classic, this G&L Commanche, and 2 old Yamaha RG-series guitars (shredder-type). Also, Takamine NP-15C and Taylor 710CE acoustics. I've also been through a fair number of other guitars as well. Since I purchased this through Ebay, I couldn't compare it with anything - but I liked the number of pickup options - that was a strong selling point for me.

If it were lost or stolen, I would definitely replace it, but might ask for a thinner neck on the next one.

What do I love? The TONE!!! What do I hate? The fact that I bump into the 5-way switch a lot. That will change when I reverse it. Favorite feature... the extra toggle switch that gives me more tones.

Overall, I give it a '9'... FANTASTIC guitar - the best swamp ash guitar I've ever played. BUT - it could be better still... as noted above: if it had the amazing setup of a McInturff, then I'd give it an '11'!

'99 Strat style; solid swamp ash body; 22 jumbo frets; clear orange finish; 3 single coil Z-shaped pickups; 1 volume, 1 treble 1 bass control; five way pickup selector + mini toggle to activate the two outside pickups or all 3 pickups together; dual fulcrum vibrato tailpiece; Sperzel tuners; long-scale hardrock maple neck; hex wrenches, extra vibrato spring, hard case included

I've been playing for 23 years, full time pro for 16. I have to play a little bit of everything at one time or another, and so far the Comanche has been very good at covering different styles. I've been using it regularly with 3 different bands: straight blues, country and a variety "showband". My main amp is a Fender Hot Rod DeVille, and I use a variety of Boss boxes. I'm able to dial in a lot of different tones with the seperate treble and bass controls. The neck pickup with both tone controls full on gives a nice warm sound, and works well with a Boss Blues Driver. I've found that any time the bridge pickup is on I have to roll back the treble a little bit. When I play Country, I roll both the treble and bass back a little bit and use the bridge pickup for a Tele type of sound. The guitar came with 9's on it, and I've kept 9's on it since I got it (Sep 99), but I think I'll go back to using 10's so that it has a little fatter clean sound. The two seperate tone controls are great-you can dial in a lot of sounds. The vibrato works well, but it isn't perfect as far as staying in tune goes. I've never used a bar much anyway, but I need to have it available. I'd feel comfortable using the instrument for just about any style except Big Band jazz, and even then it would work in a pinch. It isn't a carbon copy of any other guitar, but it can give you the flavor of a lot af different styles. That was what I needed, and I'm quite happy with it.

The action was good out of the box, but the intonation was off. The workmanship is excellent and the finish is beautiful. I have a little trouble with the low E going sharp when I use the vibrato arm. I guess it must be getting hung up in the nut, so I'll make sure to have that checked out next time I take it in for it's 3000 mile servicing.

I have no reason to think I would have any problems with this instrument(knock on wood). All the components are high quality. I expect to play this guitar for many years.

I've had no need to contact the company.

As I said before, I've been playing for 23 years. I've owned Fender, Carvin, Gibson and Ibanez guitars. The Comanche ranks right up there with the best. I would definately replace it with another Comanche if it were stolen. I can't say it's a 10 because I don't know what a 10 is, but this guitar must be pretty close.