G&L Legacy Special

New, 2006 model, left handed. 3 single coil sized humbucking rail type pickups with passive bass and treble controls as opposed to tone controls. Maple neck, alder body, locking tuners, trem, med. jumbo frets. ordered with a v-shaped neck back and gun oil tint. Black with matching headstck and tortoise guard. Purty....

I do not really play Strat type guitars a lot because of the noise in single coil pickups. I know there are lots of aftermarket noiseless pickups, but I guess I feel that the problems with Strat buzz should have been cured (by Fender) after 50 years. I'd heard nothing but good things about G+L and figured I'd give on a try. Because I'm left handed, I was taking a chance on ordering one cold. No chance of finding a lefty in any stores near me to try one out. I have to say that I am really pleased with this guitar. Dialing the bass control off gets you a clear Strat type sound, and you can boost the bass for a more rock sound. The bridge pickup is hotter than the other 2 pickups and this is especially useful for more LP style tones in overdriven or distorted situations. Plus, the guitar is extremely quiet. Why didn't Fender think of this? I guess purists may not like the sound of these pickups- they are not as pristine clear as regular Strat pickups, but to me the tradeoff is worth it. No noise.

The guitar was well setup for the .010 strings it was shipped with. I use a .0950 set and had to tweak the action just a little higher to suit my needs. G+L uses nice and stout trem screws and adjusting the trem for the string change was a breeze. The G+L website states that they will be out of their standard curly maple for necks until fall of 2006. I don't know why. My guitar has quartersawn hard rock maple finished with the hand rubbed gun oil tint and it looks great. Controls are solid, graphite nut is well cut and shaped and the trem works beautifully although it does not have quite the range of some similar units. This may be due to my setup changes. Overall though, playability is excellent.

Much more solid feeling than any Fender Strat I have owned, and that includes some Custom Shop models. Locking tuners add mass and I think it makes a difference in the way this guitar sustains- notes, even clean ones, seem to hang a little longer. This is my new "Swiss Army Knife" guitar. Clean funk, neck pickup blues, cluck and quack, and bridge pickup raunch all with one guitar. Brilliant.

Did not deal with the company. I bought the guitar from Guitar Adoptions in Wonder Lake, Ill. Dave is a great guy. Everything was in order and it arrived about 3 weeks early.

I've been playing about 20 years and have owned lots of guitars- too many to be honest. This is a well made, well thought out, useful instrument for the working pro or weekend warrior (like myself). I have owned it for about a month and have not had any second thoughts about buying it. I love the way it feels- ready to roll, rock solid. It's heavier than most Strat type guitars I've owned , but it has a nice cutting midrange that I like. G+L has it together!

made probably late 90s/early 00s. Got it from ebay... four-bolt model. Swamp Ash, translucent blue finish, rosewood fretboard, still with the original pickups, locking tuners and all the other standard features for a Legacy Special.

I've been playing from clean funk to prog metal on this guitar. I use it for recording and play it through either a Mesa Boogie Studio preamp or a Mesa Boogie Quad preamp, which both run through an ADA Ampulator. Due to the humbucking pickups, this guitar has not quite a strat sound, although you can thin out the sound with the bass knob. I've been thinking of replacing the pickups with some nice single coils, but then again, these pickups have a nice sound on their own, not as fat as a full sized humbucker but not as wiry as a single coil. They're brighter than most humbuckers, too. And, for recording, they have the great advantage of being dead quiet. No hum, no nothing. Probably some day I'll get those pickups out and put some Steven Kersting S90s in (skguitar.com), just for the heck of it. As it is now, this guitar is cool for rock rhythm and lead guitar. Especially for leads, since it has really great sustain - more than I would have expected from what is basically a strat construction. Very good sounding guitar, but not a 10.

Got it from ebay, and the setup was not great, but can't blame G&L for this. I'm using 009-042s on this, had to adjust the tremolo, swapped the tuners around for better, more consistent string angle on the nut and had to tighten the tuner screws. Now it stays in tune well - still, divebombs throw it out of whack, but that is to be expected with a vintage tremolo. Actually, the tremolo has a great smooth action, very nice. The neck is great - a very fast playing neck, not too thin, well balanced, great fretwork. A nice neck for shredding :-) I adjusted the pickup heights as well, which made a lot of difference. Now, this is a great playing guitar, but I had to put some work in it, mostly due to maladjustment of the previous owner. As it is now, a solid 9.

I have had this guitar for about 2 years now. No problems with it. Seems solidly made, the neck doesn't bow with the seasons. Never would use any electric guitar for a gig without backup, but this is a reliable guitar, no mistake.

never dealt with them, but the website contains some nice info, including wiring schematics and such.

It's a really good guitar. Not exactly a strat, although it looks like one. It has its own character, and plays VERY well. I think the playability is a little better than the tone, but this is no lightweight in terms of tone neither. Still thinking of a pickup swatch. Maybe I just get another pickguard, so I can pre-wire two sets of pickups and exchange them quickly. It says something about the quality of those pickups that I still haven't replaced them... over and over again I find myself liking them more than you're supposed to like non-sexy, non-vintage-sounding blade humbuckers :-) Other guitars I play are PRS, Framus, Yamaha, Gibson, Seagull and a N.I.C.E. custom. I've been playing for 21 years now. I'd buy a legacy again, if this was lost somehow.

I bought it used from the local G&L Dealer. Recent production Post '99 with a CLF serial number. Done in transparent red with a "4 bolt" neck with rosewood fingerboard. It looks like it hardly ever been touched.

I have 3 G&L's. An old 3 bolt Legacy, ASAT Jr., this Legacy Special and an old Les Paul.
I run a basic stomp box pedal board with 2-OD's, chorus, digital delay and a tuner through a early 80's Rivera Vintage Tube Fender and a JCM 900 Marshall in stereo. This setup gives me everything from Fender Clean, Tweed & Twang all the way to that Marshall on "20". This is the only guitar I own that lets me run the pre-gain at "20" without noise or squeel.
I bought the Legacy Special to get a bigger more ballsy strat sound to fill the gap between my Legacy and Les Paul for doing Clasic Rock Covers. This guitar has definately filled that gap.

I had to spend 6 to 7 days messing with the setup. I can't beleive the guy could stand to play it the way it was. The most trouble I've ever had getting the setup right. It's not that this guitar is poorly made or has any problems, it's more that my old Legacy is absolutely perfect in every sence of the word and this just made it dificult to be satisfied. I just went back a forth comparing one to the other until it was as good.

What can I say, It's a G&L. There is a reason I have dumped my Fenders for G&L's. Yes, even a August'62 Strat I had since the early 70's. G&L'a are the real thing, Leo Fender's wish came true. His Strat design, hand made the way they were ment to be. Just remember to install strap locks, the only thing they forgot.

I never had a reason to deal with any warranty or repair issues.

I started playing again in a 6 piece Clasic Rock/Blues Cover Band 4 years ago after a 25 year lay off. I have a killer Les Paul and the perfect vintage Blues sounding Legacy. I wanted another guitar with a little more punch for that all out "ROCK STRAT" sound. The Legacy Special has filled that requirment in spades.

1998 G&L Legacy Special with a Transparent Red Sunburst over a swamp ash body. Three dual blade G&L pickups that are 99% noisless and very hot. One volume control and two tone controls. Strat type body, with deep contour and the ash makes it a comfortable playing weight. It has a G&L dual fulchem trem and Sperzel Locking Tuners. It came with a Factory G&L HSC.

I really like the sounds the guitar produces. I like it far better than my American Strat. The pickups sound like humbuckers or the 2nd and 3th position sound like a regular Strat. This thing has got some bite, but gets mello and bluesy as well. Just adjust the tone controls and you have all you want. What's not to like with this guitar?

The guitar is beautiful. The Transparent Red Burst finish lets the ash grain show through. Even though I bought this guitar used, it is dead mint. There are no finish flaws and the fit on all parts is perfect. The hardware is high quality. Electronics are quiet. Controls are nice and tight.

Time will tell. This is the second Legacy I've owned. I sold my first plain Legacy to buy this Legacy Special. Everything is solid and I would depend on it to gig with without a backup.

Haven't needed them.

I've been playing for over 45 years. I also own a G&L ASAT Special, a G&L ASAT III, a Fender American Strat and a Gibson Les Paul. I play through a Fender 65 Deluxe Reverb Reissue and a Crate GFX 120-T. This guitar has everything I need and then some. I chose this one because of past and current experience with G&L. If it were lost or stolen I would definitly try and find another one (after I got through crying).

1994, American model. Solid body, Clear finish on swamp ash. Locking tuners, dual-fulcrum tremolo and locking sperzel tuners.

I play classic rock and blues, This is my main guitar. Runs through a fender princeton chorus and korg toneworks effects box. very clear, solid tone across the spectrum of sound, and with the dual blade pickups it manages to give the best of both worlds, the cruch of a humbucker, yet with the bass rolled off, in the 2 and 4 positions it will strike the sounds of a tele or strat.

Beautifully done finish that has not marred in 10 years since buying the guitar new. The neck joint is very tight, and despite a couple spills i have never put a ding or crack in the clearcoat..very heavy duty.

As Ive said, the finish is solid. The hardware is still great, with the exception of some rust on the tremolo springs and screws.. but thats due to my acidic sweat, and really not a defect. This guitar can really hold up to whatever punishement you may put it through, and if i was gigging regularly i would depend on it.

never dealt with customer support. lifetime warranty.

I have been playing for 11 years, and when i was 13 i saw this guitar and knew it had to be mine. 8 months of saved paper route money bought it, and to this day i dont regret buying it. They make a very high quality instrument, that you dont see that many players using..so not only do you get hand-crafted excellence, you get something thats a touch different than the norm.

I would definitely buy one of these guitars again, with a carvin being a close second. I can honestly say nothing bad about this instrument.

Its a couple years old i think, its exactly like the Legacy speacial shown on the offical G&L website. its got the gun oil finish on the neck and all (very nice). id say the features are great. locking tuners are very nice.

It has a good sound for a more bluesy or jazzy player, but its playes any thing well in my opinion. but i am a metal player so its not realy for me. id give it a 9 for blues and jazz or rock playing, but for metal ill give it a 6.

Action is very nice. very well put together, no lose ends.

It was droped in the store before i got it, sufferd a minor dent on the bottom. so id say its pretty durable. hasnt broken on me in the 1 1/2 years iv owned it so its pretty reliable.

Havent talked with them, but the guitar came with a letter for leo fender so that was pretty cool.

I would give this guitar a ten over all if i was more into blues or somthing. but im probably going to sell it since im a metal player.

I beleive that this one was made around 2001. It is swamp ash with red translucent finish, rosewood fretboard, dual blade pickups

I waited a few months to review it just to make sure I'm not talking out of my colon. It really is a very versatile guitar. The dual blade in the bridge is capable of producing humbuckeresque tones, although without the mudiness associated with some buckers. I have messed with the tone controls and have found that rolling off the bass producess the trebley strat snap. I really like the middle pcikup alone as it is a great balanced riffy kind of sound. I have DR 11's strung on it (as I am into the power strum ala Pete Townshend) and the swamp ash really growls. I run this s Marshall JCM 900 2x12 Dual Hi Gain. I don't use the hi gain channel, I max out the low gain channel and go for the mild overdrive sound. All in all it is a great sounding/playing guitar and it is in my opinion a high level professional instrument.

Action is whatever you dial in. I strung 11's adjusted the truss rod/saddles, and presto. Special note about the trem unit - really pretty design, polished chrome, does the job. The only, and I mean only thing I don't like about this guitar is the head stock design and logo application. It kind of looks like what you'd find on a toy. I know that Leo needed to come up with a different headstock to keep the CBS Intellectual Property team away, but I'm just not a big fan of it. But in the end, I guess it's the sound that matters.

I can't see any problems here. Everyting looks and feels rock solid.

No problems, so I can't comment

Sound for sound, a really great strat. I think it's a great value.

1996 Model made in USA, Stunning Blueburst Swamp Ash body, great hard rock maple neck, three single coil humbuckers - two dual blade pickups, one powerblade in the bridge. The neck has a satin finish that is easy to play. G&L dual fulcrum bridge, locking sperzel aluminum tuners. Volume & seperate bass and treble roll-off pots(controlling all three pickups) instead of v/t/t of a regular strat. I find it more useful since the swamp ash is so boomy.

Great strat sound - a little bit hotter than a standard legacy or strat. Very clear and lots of low end from the swamp ash body. Very quiet guitar without hum or buzz. I love the clarity of the sound and the ability to roll back the bass a little bit for clean sounds, and the treble for distorted sounds. I will likely try a set of Lace Sensors in this guitar to soften the tone just a hair - but that only my personal taste and no reflection on the quality of the G&L pickups.

Sets up fairly easily - a little easier than a regular strat, though it's accomplished in about the same manner. Pickup height makes a big difference to me so I messed around with them quite a bit before I zeroed in on the right spot. Beautiful wood choices and top-notch finishing - no flaws and a lot of character. Even nicer looking than a Fender Deluxe Strat I had.

Heavy and solid - built to last. Great wide strap buttons that don't cause me to worry about installing straplocks (hate them and the sqeaking) though if I was to play it on stage I would put the locks on anyway. Can't use a trem guitar without a backup of course but the smoother bridge saddles (and the graphite nut) should be much less condusive to breaking strings.

G&L staff I've talked to are easy to reach and are very helpful, never needed any repairs but they did spend time with me when I had questions. They also have a wiring schematics, drawings, tech specs, and a great forum so you should get all the info you ever need online.

It was made in 1997, handcrafted in USA. It has a gorgeous cherryburst finish over swamp ash body, maple neck with rosewood fingerboard, white three ply pickguard, Sperzel locking tuners, Dual Fulcrum tremolo, 3 dual blades pickup, passive electronics and a nice hard shell case.

I had a Les Paul deluxe and a USA Fender Fat Strat. Well since I got this Legacy Special, I sold them both (I'm not gigging anymore, so no need for backup), this is how good sounds this guitar, I can get it to sound like both these different type of guitar and more. Eveything at 10 for the Les Paul and roll back the bass to 5 or 6 for a Strat single coil sound. Rich, full and bright sounds, name it. Also it is impressive how lound and how much sustain this guitar has unplugged, this is to say that the good base is there to get a more than professional and satisfying sound.
I kept the original pickups, they sound just real fine with my AMP. they are a blast with tube amp, gain/distortion can be control from the guitar very easaly nad that volume knob rolls evenly.
I play mostly classic rock and blues and its the perfect choice for both.
Each of the 5 positions gives a unique sound with dramatic change in the tone which is a plus.

Well i'm playing with this axe since the last 6 years, it has never being touched, still the factory setup. It came with "9" and I did not change the gauge. The action was and still perfect to me, a little bit on the high end, which I like, the playability is excellent. It is a confortable instrument. The craftmanship is excellent, you need to carefully look very closely to attempt to see that the body was made of two pieces, they are so well matched that you could think it is just one piece, I could say the same thing for the neck, yes it has been cut in half for the rod, but almost impossible to tell. The finish is superbe, perfect with no flaw, and hard has a rock. Using the wammy and it stays in tune all the time.
The satin neck finish is like even and gives you that extra speed.

The only drawback ? It should come with locking strap buttons...

Just to say that I would gig with it without backup if it would not because a broken string can happen...I'm playing it since 6 years, and still no dent, no scratch on it.

Not had to deal with them

I'm playing since 25 years, don't gig anymore since the last 5 years. I play with friends and record. I use this guitar with the following setup: Legacy Special to PWO Power Wah (big chrome 25 years old) Morley, to Crate GXT100. With a Boss chorus-2 in the effect loop. Too bad that Wah is not manufactured anymore, it is really something. Also the AMP is not manufactured anymore, I don't know if mine was special, or if it was under-rated (because it's an hybrid), but I would not replace it, I can get that clean Fender type tone on the clean channel, and from creamy bleusy up to Marshall devastating overdrive gain playing just with the volume knob on the guitar on the gain channel. Simple setup but I can get any sound and play anything.

I would be mad loosing that guitar, I would definitely look for another one, with the same finish, it so beautiful.

Funny when I bought it, I was going to the store for a second US Fender Strat with single coil, and to replace the AMP I had with a Marshall head or a H&K, finally after spending 5 hours with the vendor trying different combination, I went out with that Legacy Special (dual blade humbucking) and that Crate GXT100 (Hybrid with Dual valve preamp). Having made that choice the vendor saved me near 2000.00 bucks and I had better instrument and better sound in my hands...

My G&L is a 1999 Legacy Special (in left handed at no extra charge). It has a "premier" clear blue finish on an Ash body, with a 22 fret bolt-on birdseye maple neck and fretboard. It is outfitted with a mirrored pickgaurd sperzel locking tuners and G&L tremolo.

It has three rail style pick-ups controlled via a 5 way selector switch 1 volume and 2 tone knobs.

It came with a hard shell case (also at no extra charge).

I play in a band called Dead II Me. We play somewhat melodic metal. I tune to drop A#,F,A#,D#,G,C. I use D'Addario XL Light top\hvy bottom strings .10 through .52. I play it through a Hughes & Kettner Triamp. My effects include a Rocktron Multivalve and a BBE sonic maximizer. I initially was drawn to G&L because I am a HUGE Alice in Chains fan and G&L being the guitar of choice for Jerry Cantrell I thought what the hell I'll try it out. My brother who is also in my band tried many different guitars. Gibsons, ESPs, Fenders, BC Rich, PRS and many more. The first thing that we noticed was that it was really ballsy but quiet at the same time. He bought one right off the wall that day. I had to order mine. I cannot think of a single thing I don't like about the sound. I realize these guitars are for the most part blues, jazz and country guitars, but I assure you mine sounds awesome for metal. I have a USA Fender Strat and an Ibanez and my G&L sounds better than both of them in pretty much every concievable way. It is by far my favorite guitar.I change the strings on it before every show because I can't bear the thought of using any of my other guitars. The tone knobs can dial in a ton of different tones but I honestly usually just crank-em both all the way up. It isn't loaded with features (no push pull pots or switches) but I really don't use most of that stuff anyway.

When I picked up my guitar for the first time it was tuned to standard tuning with what I believe were the usual .10-.46 strings. I kept it at my house for the first weekend and played it almost constantly. I love the frets and fingerboard I couldn't believe how much easier it was to play than my Fender. I had to have my guitar guy set it up for my tuning but that was to be expected. The finish was flawless, and to this day I still like to look at the birdseye maple neck especially the back of it. The tremolo is super comfortable and easy to palm mute on, however in retrospect I wish I would have opted for the fixed bridge (I don't use the trem) I also swapped out the stock strap buttons for straplocks. Oh yeah, the tuners are awesome. It doesn't look like a "metal" guitar but I think that it is still a good looking guitar and I have the luxury of reflecting the stage lights with the pickgaurd out into the crowd when I want to see whats going on (or blind someone). It's like a damn flashlight! Now G&L claims these guitars are handmade in the USA I can't confirm that, but I have no reason to believe otherwise. Mine is beautiful top notch all the way.

Now this is the reason I'm writing this review. I find it somewhat annoying when someone has a product for less than a month and feels compelled to write a review about it. I have had this guitar for almost 4 years, and I can honestly say I still love it. I've never had a problem with the electronics or the playability. I gig as much as I can (usually two to five times a month). and It has never let me down. Now I am not delicate with this guitar. In fact I beat the shit out of it. I've dropped it, knocked it over, hell I once ripped all the strings off of it at once at the end of a show. The finish will dent a bit if you bang it into something but the color and clear are so thick you can't tell. I do bring a backup but i've played over 20 gigs in 7 months and I've never needed it.

Never needed them.

I've been playing for over ten years I own five guitars, and like I said this one is my favorite. If it were stolen I would buy another one. However I wish that G&L made an S-body guitar without a pickguard. If they did I would buy one right now. If you want to hear or see pictures of my guitar you can go to www.deadiime.com and listen to the audio clips, watch the live video, or check out the pictures. I guarantee I will be using it.