G&L Invader XL Standard

2002 model white alder super-strat guitar with two zebra alnico G&L make humbuckers. It has volume and tone speed pots and a 3 way switch. It is 25.5" scale and has a rosewood fretboard (with a satin finish), G&L saddle-lok bridge. Not sure about the tuners, but I haven't had any problems with it yet. Came with a very nice G&L semi-hard case in this instance.

No rating, as it's a pretty basic guitar: does what I wanted it for!

It has a really nice sound - very defined and precise given the longer scale neck and alder body as compared to mahogany body and short scale.

The guitar itself is nice and quite, with a powerful sound for rock coming out of the bridge pickup. It is quite smoky, so does some really good cleans also.

The neck pickup is probably giving me the nicest neck humbucker pickup sound i've found. Normally, neck humbuckers give me a fat sound, but have a tendency to turn to mush or mud when doing chords - clean or driven. This pickup however sounds quite sweet without losing that fatness. If you're looking for some roaring old monster to give you sludge sounds, look away.

The centre setting sound... oh my word... love that in-between sound! Getting towards Gretsch territory with a pleasing semi-quacked glassy jangle.

This guitar deals very well with both clean and heavily overdriven sounds, and everything inbetween. For the highest gain or metal sort of stuff, you might prefer EMGs, but in my book, these humbuckers give some nice character to the sound.

I typically use it with old valve amps - whatever I happen to be playing! It has been Selmer, Marshall, Orange, Matamp, WEM along with a few solid state amps.

I've also used it with a lot of pedals: Blackstone mosfet, Emma Reezafratzitz, MI Audio Crunchbox, Banzai New Rising Sun... works nicely with all of them, and sounds monster for rock solo sounds with the Crunchbox!

I've owned four G&Ls, and always been impressed by the finish and setup. This one is perhaps the nicest action, and the nicest unplugged sound (along with a Comanche).

Flawless.

I've had this a few years and not had too many problems. I've got older G&Ls, which I bought used, and likewise have not had problems. They keep their tuning exceptionally well, and feel very solid.

G&L are usually my "go-to" guitar.

Not needed it, except for once when I lost the grub screw from the bridge on my old ASAT. Contacted the UK G&L people and they sent me spares for free. Can't do better than that!

I like G&Ls. I've been playing for about 10 years now, and have owned a few of them, along with a couple of Japanese Fenders, Gibson LP, Gordon Smith guitars and an Ernie Ball MM Silhouette Special. There's nothing I dislike about G&L build quality, and the sound their guitars gives is always distinctive.

I consider them to be far more consistent and reliable than Fender in build quality, and often with a better sound.

This is a genuinely flexible guitar that'll do you for most things except perhaps Tele-style twang or Strat in-between sounds. But then again, if you're buying a twin humbucker guitar, you already knew that, right?

Having said that, you could get some coil tapped buckers to sort that out if you want... but then again, i've always been a sort of "right tool for the right job" rather than swiss army guitar sort of person.

I recieved this USA Invader XL Standard with stock Duncan HBs(59 in the neck and TB4 bridge pup), coil split toggle, saddle lock bridge, sperzel tuners and solid white finish on an Alder body. Everything I need and a ton of features for a $700 guitar.

I have played it through 6 different amps from a Bassman to Marshall Plexi and it just sounds fantastic through all. This guitar has excellent sustain even with no effects. For overdrive I use BBE Green Screamers and a Big Muff PI. This guitar sounds great clean or overdriven. I play guitar rock, jam rock, and jazz/blues.

This guitar has quickly become my main axe supplanting my '77 Gretsch 7680 with DiMarzio pups. I have a hard time putting the Invader down, it is so much fun to play! The neck plays like butter and the tone is rich and smooth.

This is not an LP or PRS sounding guitar. It is definitely a Super Strat with a unique sound somewhere in between PRS and a Strat. When I split the coils I can get a raunchy Tele sound out of the bridge and a cool, silky Strat sound out of the neck pup. It is really awesome to split the coils on the fly and has added a dimension to my live playing that I have never had with any other guitar. The humbuckers have a nice tone and you can get smooth singing leads out of the neck pup and screaming leads out of the bridge. Very versatile!

I am giving this a ten not because it was under a grand and sounds great. This is a 10 at any price. I have owned $3000 guitars that do not sound as good, IMHO.

Great craftmanship all around. Flawless. The factory setup is very good.

Seems like a workhorse but I have not had it long enough yet how durable it is

Have not needed to deal with them

I own a '77 Gretsch Super Axe, G&L Legacy, Taylor 614CE and too many others. I play through Dr Z , Marshall and Fender amps. I have been playing for 20 years. This G&L Invader suits me perfectly. It may not be for everyone but if you are looking for a Super Strat I highly recommend you go try one of these before shelling out $2500+ on an Anderson or Fender Custom Shop guitar. This Invader is better than those IMHO.

Gloss (poly) Blueburst solidbody ash hardtail super strat shape.
Grey satin Sperzel non-lockers.
22 med/jumbo frets on rosewood board/maple 4-screw bolt-on neck.
Vol, tone, 3-way switch. Cavity in rear.
G&L "hard" gig bag.
2 G&L zebra (b/w) passive humbuckers.

Not a lot of features but simple, solid, and versatile enough.

Not muddy. Excellent AlNiCo humbuckers. 500K pots.
Jazz fluffy to Country clean, and all points in between.
These are good G&L made humbuckers. Kinda halfway between say, PAF and Dimarzio Super Distortion.
I like G&L pickups better than Seymour Duncans. More sack. Less thin, but still plenty bright with a nice round wallop, and some bridge pickup growl.
I set them fairly close to the strings and use 11's for any kind of music from Jazz/Pop to Rockin' Blues.
Endless sustain from the G&L tailpiece.

Perfect.

I reset the neck trussrod and intonation once I settled on 11's (D'Addario Nickel XL's - EXL115).

Lowered the neck pickup a touch to get a more even sound with both pu's on, and adjusted the polepieces for nickel wound strings (backed down the plain strings a bit).

Very solid and well built from good components.

Very dependable.

Good solid workhorse I use on all kinds of jobs without needing a backup. It's versatile and rugged

1 year warranty.

I do all my own work and setups.

I don't need a warranty.
It's a couple years old now.
Everything is still working and straight.

Playing guitar almost 50 years. Joined the AFM in 1974.
I have a Polytone Mini-Brute II.

This guitar is hum free and versatile.

I usually prefer single coils but these humbuckers are not muddy and the bridge pickup can cop a meaty Telecaster on steroids tone with good growl and a bit of twang. The neck is good for Jazz and Blues and combines quite well when used with the bridge pu for a bright lively Funk tone with a bit of "sproink." They do not feedback at high volumes. I don't use much overdrive or distortion.
The neck has a good feel (medium C shape) and the 12" radius works good, though I generally prefer vintage frets and radius.

I like Strats and Tele's, but this has almost as much character to the tone and the frets are much better than most Fenders. It also feels more solid, though it's not heavy.

I might like to try the alder version someday just for the experience, but I usually like ash. I would replace it in kind probably.
This is probably the best solidbody for my uses. I have grown to appreciate the humbuckers because they are not muddy like most. The ash bdy and solid tailpiece probably help that, but the pickups are impressive to me. I generally don't like humbuckers because most seem to suck the character out of the high end. These are great.

It's comfy and looks fine, though I usually could care less. I want consistent performance and tuning stability, and this guitar has that.