G&L Comanche

1999 Strat style swamp ash body, hard rock maple neck with rosewood fretboard with 12" radius and 22 frets, graphite nut, dual fulcrom tremolo, and Schaller locking tuners. 5 way pickup selector with mini-toggle (neck plus bridge or all pickups together). It has everything I need and nothing I don't. Hard shell case has G & L stamped on it. Awesome. I used to think a humbucker was needed for Led Zep type riffs. Then I found out John Paul Jones is the man responsible for writing the classic Zep riffs and Jimmy Page used a vintage (single coil) Telecaster to lay it down. Page's hottest work is with single coil pickups! Same with Hendrix, Clapton, Buddy Guy, Robin Trower, etc. I love single coils. Tube amps and single coil pickups are the way to go. And G & L's Z-coils produce no unwanted noise.

This is exactly was I was searching for. Single coils that are mighty, have beautiful strat type clean tones and overdrive that has clarity and expression. Unbelievable. Before ordering this I owned a Carvin DC127T. That is a nice guitar to learn on, but it is a toy compared to the Comanche. I visited 48th Street in New York City and tried out all the high-end guitars such as Paul Reed Smith's and Gibson Les Pauls. These humbucker types sounded very muddy to me and very uncomfortable to hold against the body. I also tried some Custom Shop Strats (they are very nice but not much depth to the tone), and Godins. These guitars cost about twice as much as the Comanche and pale in comparison in my opinion. I also tried out the SRV strat, American Deluxe Strat, and some others Fenders and I was not too impressed. I tried the G & L Legacy Special and the S-500 and knew I would get a G & L.

The action was set too low. I have to raise it up a little. Also, I have to install another spring on the tremolo so it won't move when I do string bends. I don't mean to sound like I am talking about my baby, but it is the most beautiful guitar I have ever seen.

It is a very well built solid guitar.

10 year warranty is great. The guitar comes with some nice documentation and a big certificate of authenticity. But there is no manual! Fortunately, I have the Guitar Player Repair Guide for setup information.

I have been playing 20 years. But intensely for the past 4 years. I love this guitar. It was a long road to find out that a G & L Comanche guitar and a Fender Deluxe amp with a Digitech RP-7 is the ultimate rig for me. (I have to sell my Roland Bluescube before I can get the Fender Deluxe, however.) I would try out all the guitars you can at the local guitar stores and play them through a tube amp. If you love single coils, check G & L's! If you like the Z-Coils, try a Comanche! You may not want to put it down.

1998 Comanche, special order model with Bird's Eye Maple neck (22 frets), Rosewood Fretboard, & Ash body with Honey see-through finish. It has standard Strat 5-way switch, with an extra toggle switch for more options (w/toggle up, you get either the bridge & neck p/u's together in positions 1&5, or all 3 p/u's together in positions 2,3,&4). This guitar has three G&L MFD "Z" coils that are ceramic magnet pickups with adjustable pole pieces. There is a separate bass & treble tone knob, which I have never had before, but is VERY handy to have. It has a satin finish on the neck, strat body style, Dual Fulcrum pivoting bridge, locking tuners, & graphite nut. The neck is soft "V" neck, that is very fat from fretboard to back of the neck. Deluxe hardshell case was included.

My style is Blues/Rock, with a little Jazz thrown in from time to time. I use different amps depending on the situation. I have a BF Fender Pro (1x15" speaker), Blonde Bassman, & a Re-issue Marshall 1987X. This guitar sounds good through all these amps, & I can switch from clean to bright channels with no problem. The main qualities about this guitar is that it very versatile & is very quiet (not as much single coil hum because of the special wind). You can get a pretty close humbucker, sound, & a close approximation to a Strat sound. The dual bass/treble tone knobs have a lot to do with this versatility. If I cut the bass almost all the way down, & the treble close to all the way up, it sounds like a Strat. If I reverse this, it sounds thick & full like a double coil (- good smokey jazz sound also). But with everything full on, it is very trebly. Too trebly. Also, a compaint is that it is a little on the harsh side. I think this is because I use Alnico pu's, & the ceramics take some getting used to. Not as smooth by any means. But still expressive. It sounds close to these other guitars, but does not replace them. It has a niche all its own. Listen before you buy one to be sure you like the sound. But change the knobs when trying it out. Don't just try it with everything full out.

Bought it used, but it was set up very nicely. It is one of the best playing guitars I have. G&L is (almost) Fender Custom Shop quality at a Fender Factory price in this regard. Everything in this category is top notch. The whammy takes some getting used to if you're a Fender whammy guy. I don't like the whammy as much as Fenders, but that's probably preference & years & being used to one thing, it's not really a quality issure.

Great reliability/durability. I can't think of any problems at all.

I lost a G&L whammy bar for an old Legacy, & good luck EVER finding another one! I live in Dallas/Fort Worth, TX, & I can find only one G&L distributor! It took three calls to G&L to find a current one. They kept giving me names of stores, & the store would be out of business or tell me they were not a G&L distribtor. I have had no reason to call G&L about the Comanche. I mean, they tried to be helpful, were nice about it, but I didn't get the proper info off the bat, & I still don't have a whammy bar!!

I've been playing ~20 years, have had a lot of Strats, Teles, Les Pauls, & now a few G&L's over the years. Too many amps to name, from Fender to Marshall to (gulp) Seymour Duncan & Roland Jazz Chorus. Never been a big effects guy. A little reverb, wah pedal, delay, & compression, & not a lot of any of these. Overall, I like the guitar a lot. It is a neat design, & people always ask about the guitar, because it LOOKS cool. Kinda different with those Z coils. It is a great guitar for someone that is sick of changing guitars in between every song. It is a little harsh, but that is not necessarily a bad thing, & besides, the tone controls can tame most of that harshness. If you're hooked on Alnico pu's, I would give this a listen to before buying. But it is one of the best MADE guitars I have, & is solid as a rock. And it was a steal buying it used. If I paid $650 for a Fender, it would not be CLOSE to this quality. The sound & the whammy bar setup are the only two things to think about before buying. G&L's are a diamond in the rough. I am suprised their resale is not as good as factory Fenders. Oh well, it's my little secret...

Strat body style, ash body, maple neck with ebony fingerboard, 22 medium jumbo frets, dual fulcrom tremolo with graphite nut (non locking), sperzel locking tuners, made in the U.S. 1999. It has the Z pickups with 5 way switch (standard strat selections) plus a switch which can connect neck/bridge and all pickups together. Blueburst finish. It comes with a hardshell case.

The sound is similar to a strats with a rounder top end. The Z pickups are hum cancelling so they are very quiet. The variety of sound is quite good. There are a total of 8 pickup positions. Plus the tone controls are very good. One for bass and one for treble. This guitar was made with versatility in mind. It is a little strange at first to hear single coils without hum but that's easy to get over. The sound is somewhat similar to Fenders Noisless pickups but I believe the Z's have more character. The guitar can get a heavy distortion without feeding back like typical single coils would.

The guitar was made great! I custom ordered it so it was brand new when it arrived. The neck pocket is very tight and the fretwork is meticulous. The only thing I would say against it is that the nut was definately set up for .009 size string. I put in 10's and had to work them in the nut. The setup wasn't the greatest, low action, intonation off. This could be because it's brand new and the neck needs a little time to settle. It had been shipped from the factory to the store than to me. I'm going to give it very high marks for the way it was made but say the set up was not that good.

I haven't had it long but I'm not worried about it's durability. It was handmade with quality parts and the work is very proffesional. I have a G&L ASAT classic that I've had a couple of years and have had zero problems.

The warranty is ten years. I called G&L twice. Once to change my order (neck size). And secondly when I had a question about adding a third spring for the tremolo (included). Both times I was able to speak to techs who gave me the information I needed. I'm not positive but I believe these are the actual guitar builers (G&L is a very small company).

I've been playing about eighteen years and have owned about fifteen different electric guitars. I would say the workmanship on this guitar is comparable if not better than a Fender Custom Shop. The z pickups are great but you should make sure you like them before buying this guitar. They have a unique shape and you would have to do some work putting in other pickups. The tremolo won't stay in tune as much as a locking system but is very good (I had to work it in a little). I would say it's comparable to the wilkinson roller system. For the price I think you would have to look very very hard to find a guitar this well made.