G&L S500

This is a 1983 model, the second year of production. This guitar is Leo's attempt to improve his Stratocaster design. In terms of features: 5 position switch, 3 single-coil pickups, it has a slim c shaped neck, ebony fretboard, and a 7 1/2 radius. I thought this radius would be a problem because I have big square hands with thick short fingers, but I adapted easily. The magnetic field design pickups are the only real difference here.One thing I would add is that I read the the pickups and cables are well shielded and to my shock this guitar is almost noiseless

These pickups are definately different from conventional single-coils. I always have my amp volume dimed out and control my sound with the guitar volume control. Above 5 with these pickups the sound is raw and intense. The bridge pickup will give you all the Tele sound you could want. Below 5 the sound is sweet and very articulate. I would even say piano-like.

G&L always has great fit and finish. Why do people value Fender's over these guitars?

No problems

No need.

This is a solid and unique guitar. I'm not sure how it compares to the newer version. I use to own a S-500 Tribute and I thought its sound was closer to a conventional single-coil.I'd say this guitar fills the gap in between a Start style guitar and a Tele and covers them both. This is the vintage guitar I chose for my collection. It amazes me that any Fender since Leo sold the company is valued over these guitars

My S500 is built 2009 with swamp ash body, birdseyemaple neck and was built in the USA.
It has 22 frets and has the typical ptb system where you can adjust treble and bas directly on the guitar which in my opinion is very useful. the guitar normally has 3 magnetic field design pickups, which haver very much output and give the guitar a quite dark and modern sound although i would have thought it would be very twangy with that combination of wood and neck.

i mostly play blues, blues rock and rock, so i need a very classic sound, more vintage. i didnt think that the mfd would have that much output.
with the original mfd the guitar would be a good choice for harder rock, but for me it does not work good with my setup. but if you like a more modern sound the pus will be just right.
however i wanted the guitar sound more like the way it sounds when played without amplification: twangy and stratty. so i put haeussel classic A5 pickups in it and now it rings like a bell and suits my needs way better than before. a very good feature of this guitar are the 2 additional switching options, where you can combine the neck and bridge or all 3 pickups together.

however with the original pus it does not sound like a vintage strat and it isnt supposed to be, g&l legacy is the right choice then

the guitar was set up very good , everything ok, guitar plays itself!

untill now everything works just fine

Mine is a beauty. I have the USA made model and by comparing the serials with other registrations, it looks to be a 1992 model. It is a wine red that slowly fades into a darker shade around the edges. Not quite a burst but moreso a two tone wine red.

Guitar is incredible. It has a lot of tone options with the 5 way selector and then two way switch on top of that. Nice tremolo, SSS pickup configuration and sperzel tuners. The only thing that I really miss would be the two extra frets (this model has 22) and a locking nut.

Sold my Ibby AT300 and got this and it was a great move.

Very full tone. Can have that vintage growl and the Fender quack. Very versitile. The cool thing about this guitar is the gain level is the same as my Ibby Universe. This is a big enhancement compared to a stratocaster. So, when I am playing live I don't have to adjust my amp levels when switching guitars. Only negative is that the single coils (as always) are a tad noisy on gain channel. This was to be expected and it's actually better than most strats I've played.

I test drove the following guitars when buying this one and this G&L S500 blew them away:

1. $2000 music man
2. Eric Johnson strat 2008 issues and the new EJ 2009 strat (greatly improved neck)
3. Vintage American strat
4. the G&L S500
5. Gibson Les Paul
6. Gibson ES335 - BBKing Lucille model

No flaws and I setup the action to suit my needs.
The remarkable thing about this one is that it is a 1992 model and didn't have even one scratch or belt buckle mark on it. I thought that was curious in itself.

Finish is very attractive and from the looks of it, very durable.

only had it 2 days

not used.

This guitar beats the hell out of any strat or Ibanez super strat and if you shop around, you'll get one for a good deal as these are still under-rated guitars. I suspect they won't be for much longer though.

The fellow below me did a great job describing the S-500's features.
Mine is Swamp Ash with a maple neck. All stock. It's a few years old (got it in a trade) but like new.

Instead of Fender's Volume, Tone, Tone configuration the S-500 has a Volume, Treble-bleed, Bass-bleed set-up. Some people don't take to this configuration, but I feel that with these MFD pickups they're necessary.
You'll want to roll off some of the bass most of the time - otherwise it gets muddy quickly.

I'm really impressed by this guitar. It's quite versatile. The G&L Magnetic Field Design pickups are a ceramic design, but they're really quite nice - depending on their height they can sound like a lot of different pickups. If you set them up like a regular strat they're huge and wide frequency. In fact they're so full that you'll really appreciate having the Bass roll-off pot. At full height they're bright with a huge amount of bass. Incredible for country! If you lower these pickups you get a very sweet, harmonically rich sound - almost vintage.

The S-500 has surprising sustain much like a set-neck. The 12" radius lets you bend strings as far as you want without fretting out. Great tuners, smooth vibrato, comfortable neck, perfect balance, and LOTS of different tones.

As for the negatives - there aren't many. The pickups are a bit sterile, but I fix this with the Seymour Duncan Pickup Booster's resonance switch (#1). This is now my go-to guitar.

Again, don't forget to roll the bass off! Sure it sounds cool to have a huge amount of bass in your signal, but trust me, you'll only improve your sound.

I bought it used so I can't comment on the factory setup.
It is an easy guitar to set up yourself - just like a strat.

One odd thing about my S-500 is the body: the neck and all the hardware are top notch and built right, but the body, which has the premier transparent orange finish, is made of a poor piece of wood. The front isn't bad, but the back of the body is riddled with "worm tracks" or "termite trails" or whatever insect made them. I doubt it affects its tone, and it does make it distinctive, but how odd, eh?

All the hardware is, as I mentioned, great! Everything fits the way it's supposed to. The finish, both neck and body, is good.

This thing is built to a professional level and is a professional player. Everything on this guitar will last, except the frets, which is normal. I'd risk just taking this guitar to jams and parties, but you should never gig without backup everything!

No idea.

I've been playing over 25 years now, though I don't tour anymore.
I've owned everything at one point or other; Tele's, Strat's, Pauls, PRS, Godin's, and Ampegs, Fender's, Mesa, David Allen's, Marshalls, THD, and ones I built myself.

This a fine, professional guitar that's very versatile. The pickups take a bit to get used to (like everyone I've been using AlNiCo II and V pickups forever) but it's nice to have a change.

The case this comes with is mediocre but serviceable. The ability to use both neck and bridge pickups is nice.

The bass roll-off pot will be your friend with this guitar.

I just bought a used 99 G&L S-500 with a premier natural gloss finish, Swamp ash body, and maple fretboard. It has the standard Magnetic Field Design single coil pickups, Dual Fulcrum vibrato, a 5 position pickup selector plus mini-toggle switch enabling additional pickup combinations of neck+bridge or all 3 pickups together, volume, and PTB system. It also has some very nice locking tuners.

I have only played it for several hours but I can already tell you that this is an extremely versatile guitar. You can get a very wide range of tones out of this thing, and the pick-ups are very adjustable.

I bought this with the intention of putting some JM Rolph vintage strat pups in this, for that low output creamy vintage sound. That probably seems weird considering that this guitar is the exact opposite of that, but I didn't buy it because it's an S-500. I was shopping for a Legacy but I really liked this one, so I went for it. This guitar is a little more in your face than I was looking for. It's loud, has a wide frequency range, a strong attack, and superb sustain. You can really tell how good the wood is when you play it unplugged. It has a nice ring to it. I think this guitar does SRV tones well, but much more also. Aggressive players will really like this one. It is practically noiseless too. After trying it for awhile I think I'm going to give these Magnetic Field design pups a chance. They sound pretty dam% good!

This guitar was barely used and it was nearly flawless. The neck is very smooth and buttery, the strings are moderately easy to bend, and chords are crisp. The fretboard is a little too flat and the neck needs a slight adjustment but I don't notice it when playing at all. The natural gloss finish is beautiful and I couldn't ask for better wood. The tuners are sweet and the vibrato is smooth and very useable and does not make the strings go out of tune. It doesn't quite have that magical feel of a vintage strat, but this is a lot of guitar for the money. This guitar is 10 years old but has barely been played. It feels a little....hmmm....sterile? I think I just need to break it in a little.

I can't judge this after one day. My guess is that I will eventually give this a 10 though.

I haven't dealt with them yet.

This is a real nice guitar. It blows 1980 and newer Fenders away. I paid more than I wanted at $825 but it is considerably nicer than any of the $700 used Legacy's that I tried. The extra $125 was well spent. I will enjoy playing this gem for years to come.

It's an ash bodied strat, one piece maple neck with the ability to have just the neck and bridge pick up together, or all three pick-ups. Locking tuners.

Pearloid scratch plate and translucent blue-burst (looks sooooooo cool).

Other than that, just standard strat features. The neck is a little fatter than a Fender. The neck is modern/flatter and not curved/vintage. Plays like a dream.

It's got quite a modern sound. The sound is also very bright. I wanted something more vintage, so I've changed the pickups. The ability to use all 3 pick-ups, or just neck and bridge together makes it quite versatile.

I have US '62 re-issue Fender. The fender sounds better than the G&L did with it's original pick-ups.

I've had the guitar for so long now, I can't remember how it arrived. When I was gigging, I had it set up at least once a year, just cos I do that for all my gigging guitars. The guitar is beautifully made and plays so well.

When I was gigging, it was my main guitar for about 5 years. Never had a single problem with it. Tuning was always rock solid.

Never had to deal with them, never had a problem.

Superb guitar. Looks better than a fender and plays better too. However I didn't like the stock pick-ups. Not 'stratty' enough.

Made in 1995 in USA of course!
Lots of features, see below
The color is Custom Blonde wich is gorgeous cause you can see trough the color the wood grain, but it's not so transparent.
It reminds me of Jimi Hendrix's cream Fender Strat...
The paint job looks thick and varnish is beautiful, better than the new Fender.
It's hard to make a ding on this instrument, a bit like Gibson's Les Pauls.

Ok,

I'm running 2 amps in stereo with a T-Rex delay on my Boogie and dry on my Fender deluxe Reverb(re-issue).
My pedals are Retosonic chorus(stereo)MJM London Fuzz 2 and Fulldrive Fulltone 2!

The sound you get from these pick ups are very close to Fenders single coil but beefier and less noisy.

You can get some Van Halen tones, and David Gilmour too.
It has a transparent sound wich is very nice when you want a subtle overdive for blues.

So it is not a Fender...but better when it come to all around.
I also have a American Stratocaser so I can tell.
It's a lot heavier, better sustain.
Not really found of the Vibrato, I prefer the ones on Fender.
It's more like a Deluxe vibrato...
The locking keys works great.And the neck is superb, nice birds eye neck and swamp body.

Just perfect!
On the pick ups you got 6 allen key screws.
So you can adjust each strings individually, wich is GREAT!
So far I don't see any problem with that guitar!!!

I don't play live anymore, but it looks as sturdy as a Gibson Les Paul!!!

Did not need anything,

Don,t let any music store telling you it's not a better guitar than a Fender.

IT IS!!!
The only thing Fender has for them is a longer business name associated with some known guitar player.
And that tinkly pick up sound wich made them famous, but the ones on th G&L can be very near, but are warmer overall.
I would suggest someone to change the pick ups if they really want that tinkly sound, BUT try it first!!!

It accepts all pedals very nicely!!!

1982 mahogany body finished in tobacco burst, with three squared off mfd pickups, black powder-coated aluminum pickguard. Tele-style chrome knobs volume-treble-bass and a 5-way selector. Original components still perfect. Two-pivot fulcrum trem bridge with the original arm. Now for the frankenstein part... the previous owner didn't say why, but he replaced the original neck with a warmoth flamey maple boatneck with a thick rosewood board and sperzel tuners. It weighs more than the typical strat, but less than a les paul, feels very solid. It's got all the features I need!

I've been looking for one of these for years. It was worth the wait. The MFD pickups in the mahogany body are a magical combination. The sound can range from Gatton and Cropper tele bites to Hendrix/Trower tones to thick bluesy warmth to Knopfler/Cray quack, and all the sounds are great at all gain levels. So smooth. The responsiveness of the MFD pickups is pretty amazing. They catch the tiniest nuances of both hands and really make the most of the guitar's substantial harmonic content. The treble and bass controls are a great idea. Not sure why more makers don't use them. You can warm and thicken the bridge pickup or get a super shimmery lean&clean out of the neck, mid or the 2/4 out positions. Every one of the five selector positions is a great sound, they are all usable. Most strat mid pickups just take up space. Not this S-500. I use it for surf tunes and with the right reverb level, it's a total wipeout.

This is pretty subjective, everyone likes their setup the way they like it. I use 11s and like a medium low action with almost zero neck relief. I had to set this guitar up to get there, but it got there really well and easily. Intonation was easy as well. The trem turned out fine, with the 11s it floats a bit and I get about a step up plus dives down, and it stays in tune really really well. Can't comment on the neck as a g&L but this is my second warmoth neck (the other one is scalloped padauk) and they are both fine. The tobaccoburst finish has held up well for 25+ years, minimal checking. the hardware likewise is almost free of any tarnish or pitting. With the natural tobacco burst finish, it's a nice looking guitar in an understated way.

This guitar has been used for 25+ years and it still looks and sounds great. that's a pretty good testimonial. Way to go, George and Leo!

N/A

Play out, have played for decades. Had/tried/sold a lot of guitars. Have gravitated to strat-style mostly. This is to me an essential strat kind of guitar. Nothing left to be desired. I have a pretty rare top-luthier strat with Fralins and this G&L compares very favorably. My Carvin DC400T may be a bit easier to play but not much, and my 335 p90 clone may rip more but not much. This is definitely a go-to guitar for most occasions and would be sorely missed if lost or stolen.

This guitar is a U.S. made S-500 with what appears to be a swamp ash body in sunburst finish.It has 3 g&l magnetic field design pickups,g&l vibrato/tremolo bridge design on double fulcrum points,5-way pickup selector and one volume and two tone controls.It has a set of sperzel locking tuners.The neck is a two piece maple design following g&l standard practise.I bought the guitar brand new so I presume it is a 2007 model.The quality of constuction is the best I have seen for a "strat" style guitar.The neck /body join is faultless and the finish of the instrument first class.

I have owned many strats including a 63 strat and a very nice 57 re-issue.I played a trbute model in a store and was impressed so I ordered a U.S.s-500.I was'nt a huge fan of the way the way the treble and bass pots were configured so I contacted Chris Robosan at g&l and he was very co-operative and agreat advert for the company.The tone pots were replaced with standard pots and i am even happier with the guitar.The sound of the pickups is a little fuller and less "tinkly" than a normal strat with great sustain and warmth.The bass strings have amazing definition and body.I own a gibson firebird and the sound of the mfd pichups is between these a and 57 strat in character although much closer to the strat.I honestly believe these are the most versatile pickups that I have used on a guitar and I've played Kinmans,bill lawrence,burns tri-sonic,fender&gibson pups ,all great but if I had to go with only one guitar to cover all those sounds it would be this one.The less obvious "hollowness" in positions 2&4 may at first take a little getting used to but the extra body more than makes up for it.Leo Fender did a brilliant job.

Action was great out of the case with the pickup height spot on.Their were no fret rattles or buzzing.The frets were well fitted with no sharp edges.The neck/body join was immaculate.The body appears to be ash and is finished in a 3-tone burst.The chrome work on the tremolo/vibrato and volume/tone control is clearly heavy duty and designed to last many years.This is a better built instument than my 63 strat and on a par with my best Gibsons.

At g&l leo Fender seemed to want to take his concepts to a higher level of engineering and quality than he had before.The vibrato is the best (and best engineered)unit I have used and demonstrates Leo's commitment to surpass himself.I would have absolute confidence in the reliability of this instrument in the years to come.

When i decided to swap the more complex circuit for a simple vintage circuit I contacted Chris Robosan in their repair department and he organised it right away.Chris always got back to me within 24 hours and gave me the impression that G&l take their relationship with musicians seriously.In short a great advert for the company.

I have been a pro muso since 1977 and been lucky enough to have met a variety of great players including Barney kessel,Eric Clapton,joe Pass,Martin Taylor among others.I,ve owned numerous guitars including;Gibson les pauls and Firebirds,Burns shadow deluxe with tri sonic pickups,Hofner Jazzica custom,Framus archtop,Fender 63 strat,Bill Lawrence strat,Telecaster deluxe and a couple of 70's Ibanez.I teach over 50 private guitar students a week and I have seen a huge variety of fine guitars come thru my studio.The s-500 is as good as any guitar I've played and a tribute to the genius of Leo Fender.Although it uses Leos strat shape( He did design it after all!) it has it's own character and should be approached on it's own terms.If you do this you wont be dissapointed.

Mine a standard S500 with a Swamp Ash Body and blonde finish with a gun oil neck and pearloid pick guard. The rest is as follows edited from the G&L site:
PICKUPS 3 G&L Magnetic Field Design single coil pickups
NECK RADIUS 12" (304.8mm)
NECK WIDTH AT NUT 1 5/8" (41.3mm)
TUNING KEYS 16:1 ratio locking machine, sealed lubrication, adjustable knob tension
BRIDGE G&L Dual Fulcrum vibrato with chrome-plated brass saddles
CONTROLS 5 position pickup selector plus mini-toggle switch enabling additional pickup combinations of neck+bridge or all 3 pickups together, volume, PTB system
OTHER Chrome hardware; 3-ply white pearloid pickgaurd

The sound and range excellent! I have been playing through a Fender Blues Junior Laquer Special Edition with the Jensen Greenback speaker made in Italy. I agree with a previous review that it is slightly less highn and pitchy than a strat but it comes really close. I have a strat and we did a side by side and it really was hard to tell the difference in some tonal ranges however the G&L can pull in a multitude of sounds the strat can't touch. Don't get me wrong cause I love Fender as well and will always keep my strat but the G&L is amazing. The additional toggle switch will allow you to dial in some great tone's and the MPF's are an awesome set of pickup's. The sound it deep blues, full and rich with sustain forever. This will most likely be my main guitar for a lot of reason's but just as it relates to sound the range is far greater than my strat.

Again Excellent! The finish is like glass, the neck fit etc. is flawless. Even the neck finish is somthing you need to see up close to appraciate. When I received the guitar a few weeks ago I expected it to be this good cause I know few guys who play G&L and one guy in particular has the ASAT S3 with same MFP's, similar gun oil finish on the neck, butterscothc see through finish and his guitar is so beautiful it's actually what got me looking at G&L again. I had and ASAT about 10+ years ago and back then I wasn't too impressed but I must say they have come a long way. Keeping in mind though that this is one of the higher end finishes. My Fender is an American Standard and although a different price point you can't touch a Fender with this quality unless your ready to cough up about twice as much as I paid for this guitar. I'm not picking on Fender at all but let's face it if your looking at this guitar in particular Fender Strat is probably the most common guitar you'd compare it too. Lastly the setup from the factory was awesome, it does play like butter and I'd say it's the best playing guitar I've owned.

It seems to be built very well and hes it does hold it's tune even when using the vibrato a lot. I can't really give an accurate reliability/durability rating cause I havn't had it long enough but I'll give it a 10 because I see no reason not too. I can't forsee any issues.

I'm giving them a 10 cause althogh I only had a need to contact them once when looking for a schematic for the switch configuration I got a guy on the phone who was really helful and directed me right to the site to download it.

It's exactly what I expected and if there are no issues in the future I could see buying another if anything happens too it.