Gadow Guitars Monterey

2007 Gadow Monterey, made in USA, bought used. Mine has an Alder body, Tailfin green body with a tortoise-shell pickguard, cream pickup covers, 25.5??? scale length, and a 1 11/16??? bone nut. Looks like a pau ferro fretboard, maple neck, pearloid inlays, headstock has ebony veneer on front and rosewood veneer on back, Hipshot hardtail bridge, shielded body cavities. 22 frets, 5-way pickup selector with two knobs: one for volume, one for tone. My understanding is that this guitar originally had Wolftone pickups, but these were swapped out for Lollar Blackface pups. Came with the original Gadow TKL hard case.

The tone of this guitar is what led me to purchase it; this guitar has the "sound" I've been digging for 30 years - right there in the middle of Knopfler / Mayer tone heaven. I don't know what the original Wolftone pickups sound like, but these Lollar Blackfaces nail that vintage out-of-phase position 2 and 4 tone that I almost always try for. If only I could play as well as these guys! I use this primarily through a Fender '59 Bassman which I am sure helps create that rich tone. No noise, even with fluorescent lights all around.

This guitar was perfect right out of the case, but I bought this used, so either the previous owner - or the guitar shop I purchased it from - may have done the setup. Intonation, string height, pickup height all perfect. The guitar has no flaws I can see or feel - the guitar seems flawless in every way.

Everything used to build this guitar is the highest quality, and I use this routinely without backup (keeping in mind I only play in a church band). I don't anticipate any problems.

I've never needed to contact customer support for any issues with this guitar, but I know that the company has an active message board on their website, and the president of the company himself often responds to messages within a few hours. This being a used guitar, I am unaware of the warranty.

If anything happened to this guitar, I'd definitely get another. I love all of the features - hardtail, bone nut, Lollar pickups, the color is really unique. But ultimately it was the sound and the feel of it which won me over. I own a Suhr Strat, a Sadowsky Strat and a Fender Masterbuilt Strat, and this compares favorably with all of these, and is priced lower than all of them.

2007 Gadow Monterey, made in USA, bought used. Mine has an Alder body, Tailfin green body with a tortoise-shell pickguard, cream pickup covers, 25.5??? scale length, and a 1 11/16??? bone nut. Looks like a pau ferro fretboard, maple neck, pearloid inlays, headstock has ebony veneer on front and rosewood veneer on back, Hipshot hardtail bridge, shielded body cavities. 22 frets, 5-way pickup selector with two knobs: one for volume, one for tone. My understanding is that this guitar originally had Wolftone pickups, but these were swapped out for Lollar Blackface pups. Came with the original Gadow TKL hard case.

The tone of this guitar is what led me to purchase it; this guitar has the "sound" I've been digging for 30 years - right there in the middle of Knopfler / Mayer tone heaven. I don't know what the original Wolftone pickups sound like, but these Lollar Blackfaces nail that vintage out-of-phase position 2 and 4 tone that I almost always try for. If only I could play as wel as these guys! I use this primarily through a Fender '59 Bassman which I am sure helps create that rich tone. No noise, even with fluorescent lights all around.

This guitar was perfect right out of the case, but I bought this used, so either the previous owner - or the guitar shop I purchased it from - may have done the setup. Intonation, string height, pickup height all perfect. The guitar has no flaws I can see or feel, but there is one aesthetic issue I'll mention. When the guitar's body is symmetrical down the center line (like a Gibson DC), a headstock which is also symmetrical down the center line looks nice. But when the guitar's body is not symmentrical (like a Fender Strat), a symmetrical headstock looks out of place to me. I realize this is the "Gadow Trademark Headstock" but maybe they should come up with another non-symmetrical trademark headstock to go on some of these asymmetrical guitars they make. This is a trivial aesthetic issue - the guitar is perfect in every other way.

Everything used to build this guitar is the highest quality, and I use this routinely without backup (keeping in mind I only play in a church band). I don't anticipate any problems.

I've never needed to contact customer support for any issues with this guitar, but I know that the company has an active message board on their website, and the president of the company himself often responds to messages within a few hours. This being a used guitar, I am unaware of the warranty benefits.

If anything happened to this guitar, I'd definitely get another. I love all of the features - hardtail, bone nut, Lollar pickups, the color is really unique. But ultimately it was the sound and the feel of it which won me over. I own a Suhr Strat, a Sadowsky Strat and a Fender Masterbuilt Strat, and this compares favorably with all of these, and is priced lower than all of them.