Langcaster L20

I sent this in last month but misspelled Langcaster so it ended up in the Lancaster reviews. Sorry, here it is, cleaned up and spelling correct, in the right manufacturer spot now:
I have recently purchased a 2006 Langcaster L20 guitar out of New Zealand. Specs right off the bat are: an effortless neck with 22 frets on a 25 1/2" scale, ebony fingerboard laid on tung-oiled hard maple, has 2-way adjustable truss rod and 2 graphite reinforcement bars (really stable!), medium jumbo frets silky smooth, Schaller locking machine heads, 4 pots: volume pot, tone pot, mixer/blender pot and overdrive gain pot when the overdrive is activated and the LED lights up.
(the pots, plus the 5-position pup switch allow me to develop a really wide range of tones for different uses), hand-made string trees inlaid with New Zealand Paui abalone, on and on--the Langcaster site give ultra good detail on all this. Of course the solid body is wonderfully made with their spectacular and oh-so-gorgeous 35,000 year old, Pleistocene-era Kauri wood! That guarantees I have an absolutely 1-of-a-kind guitar which is graciously delivered postage-paid in a very nice Langcaster case made to fit. Actually I prefer a harder case without any fabric on the outside, but I will not argue because when I opened the case--just plain Wow! I have to say it is the most stunningly interesting and beautiful body I have ever seen, with a feel to it that shows absolute loving artistry in preparation! The pickups are his own invention called Lo-Impedence Langcaster pickups---simply better than anything out there. You gotta hear them to believe them. He also sells pickups alone ready to install which is a plus and a little-known secret.
OK, OK, I know, I'm sounding like a sales rep or something, but after years in the LA club scene and exposure to every double humbucked Gibson, re-worked Strat (not to mention the sharp-toned Ricks and Ibanez models)--I'm wishing these were around a long time ago.

These hand-made Lo-Impedence pups seem lot wider in sound and the guitar has a preamp on board. The set-up therefore just flows out of 15" spkrs as well as 12's = rich a tone as you like. This Strat body has 3 of his Lancaster pups which meet exactly what he claims on the company site. Again a big Wow on them and the natural, very rich sustain generated by this gat dropped my jaw. I honestly can say there is not a single thing about it I do not like and would say it is simply and humlessly tops.

Joh Lang personally worked intonation for me one more time before it hit the airplane to the USA and lowered the action perfectly. When I got it I only had to slightly get the D string back in tune. By the way, it came with Castle strings(.09 - .046), which I will probably replace with D'addarios (XL's .010 -.046). Craftsmanship is flawless--yes flawless--lemme say that again--flawless. And it plays as smoothly as cream pours out of a pitcher. Take your over-priced Alembics, Moonstones or PRS's even tho yes, they craft some fine stuff ---but I'll take a Langcaster with Langcaster pickups any day of the week over any of them. Yes, I am happy with it everything about it. Just plain happy.

I think there is no question of this guitar withstanding any amount of playing stress. You have to see it to fully appreciate what this guitar is. The finish is deep and just gorgeous. Locking Schaller strap buttons are a plus.

Joh Lang is the most personable guy to deal with. His work shows a craftsman's love of what he does and he will spend all the personal time you need. This guy is definitely NOT "big company" attitude. He stands behind his stuff 100%. I have not needed to use customer support as I have only had it a short while, but remember he is in New Zealand and thats a long way from everywhere so time will be the only factor to get you buzzing if you ever need customer support cuz you don't want to let the guitar go once its in your hands! Luckily I know he is looking to set up authorized installers for the (smart) players who go after his pickups and that may make things easier if ever you need any assistance--which I doubt due to the obvious quality in the gat.

I started playing in 1972 in L.A. with over 10 pretty successful years in the band scene there, including our band, Blazze, being picked by Magna Artists and Jet records to be the next Black Sabbath after Ozzie won the rights to the name after a court battle,--but then decided,"Nahh, I think I'll team up with Randy Rhoads and do Blizzard of Oz!"--(was I steamed, but that is a long story), and then intermittent playing ever since. Bass has always been my (forgive the next pun)base love with guitar a second. I have gone thru a 1969 Rickenbacker bass,a 1971 Fender Precision bass, a 1972 Les Paul,a worked and re-worked Gibson SG and an EB3 bass (love the short scale),two Strats, a low end Ibanez guitar, another Rick bass, Gallien-Krueger folded horn bottoms, Crown 500 watt amps, Furman parametric equalizers,misc pedals, Ampegs, a couple of studio Peaveys. Right now I have my studio Marshall,my utterly fantastic, bought-it-brand-new, 1979 Washburn SB-40 bass (try finding one of those!--forget the later ones, a Laney MXD 120 (with HCM412A cab)and a vintage pre-Samick Horugel acoustic. Anyway, I saw the Langcaster site, fell in love, and they justified the feeling. I cannot say enough about this instrument and if I lost it, I would cry a little, then I would hunt down the sob that stole it and take him out into the woods where he would hate the remainder of his thieving life. There! Thats what I think, thats my story and I'm stickin' to it! Sorry I can't say negatives on this. To my mind there aren't any, with the guitar or with the guys that built it. Yes, I want 3 more!