Pawnshop find G&L Legacy - an Demo p.2

Ankhanu · Post by **Ankhanu** » Tue Mar 20, 2012 5:32 pm

On a lark, I popped in to the local pawn shop; I've never spotted that great deal, but, ya never know. There were a couple guitars, mostly some cheap Epiphone, Applause and Slammer junk, but there was a G&L Tribute Legacy HSS, made in Korea hanging there too, for $150. My immediate thought was that this was something of a deal, they didn't recognize the brand as something decent and just marked it as crap... but at the same time, I'm not too certain about G&L's Asian lines. How are they? Is that a deal price?

mkt3000 · Post by **mkt3000** » Tue Mar 20, 2012 6:29 pm

I'll put this in the easiest terms possible. BUY IT.

BUY IT BUY IT BUY IT BUY IT

BUY IT!

I regret ever getting rid of my Tribute S-500, and if I find another one at a reasonable price, I will jump on the opportunity.

At $150, that's about half of what they're going for on ebay. I'd pay $150 for it all day long and twice on sunday. (but if you can try to haggle, go for it

)

I would put my Indonesian S-500 against any American or Japanese Fender (except custom shop) without exaggeration.

mkt3000 · Post by **mkt3000** » Tue Mar 20, 2012 6:32 pm

In case it wasn't clear before:

Ankhanu · Post by **Ankhanu** » Tue Mar 20, 2012 6:54 pm

Haha, yeah, that was my instinct seeing it... and I just keep feeling that... I should convince my wife it's a good idea.

... And convinced. If I don't like it, the lead guitarist in my band is interested, so I'm clear either way.
Off I go to get it!

mkt3000 · Post by **mkt3000** » Tue Mar 20, 2012 6:57 pm

Ankhanu wrote:If I don't like it, the lead guitarist in my band is interested, so I'm clear either way.

That's exactly who I sold mine to. I could've kept it, but finances said otherwise.

Ankhanu wrote:Off I go to get it!

HNGD! Do an demo... cause I sold my G&L before I could do one (although I might record lead guitarist's other project and post them as a sort of demo)

SGJarrod · Post by **SGJarrod** » Tue Mar 20, 2012 7:44 pm

awesome find...this will blow any MIM/MIJ out of the water without a thought

Ankhanu · Post by **Ankhanu** » Tue Mar 20, 2012 8:07 pm

Because it was missing the trem arm and set screw, I got it for $85. Very pleased.

I'll give my thoughts as I mess around with it.
I popped over to the music store next door to the pawn shop after I got it and picked up new strings and two more springs for the trem. Gonna get it all set up

othomas2 · Post by **othomas2** » Tue Mar 20, 2012 8:59 pm

Congrats !! You got a deal and a half.

stewart · Post by **stewart** » Tue Mar 20, 2012 9:01 pm

Ankhanu wrote:I got it for $85

FUCK

damienblair17 · Post by **damienblair17** » Tue Mar 20, 2012 9:04 pm

Nice deal dude. Love the color too. I'd hit it at that price.

mickie08 · Post by **mickie08** » Tue Mar 20, 2012 9:06 pm

Nice. I have had at least G&L tribute guitars (3 tele and a legacy) as well as a USA G&L s-500. Been really wanting to get a G&L commanchee. G&L's are awesome guitars, import or not. Fortunately for me Buffalo Brothers is one of the largets G&L dealers (if no thte largest) in the country.

Ankhanu · Post by **Ankhanu** » Tue Mar 20, 2012 9:47 pm

Couldn't get a third spring in there without bending the spring more than I could, or desoldering the ground wire (it's attached to the middle post), so I just tightened the bracket. I think it's in a good spot now, but I'll have to mess around with it more later to figure out the sweet spot.
Cleaned off the grime and got the new strings on it, eventually got it tuned up and intonated (didn't have to do much to get it right)... This thing is incredible, though it could be my sense of self-satisfaction talking at this point

My amp is in my jam space, but my friend's Fender RocPro 1000 is here, so I gave it a little test through it. (I'd only played it through a Squier Champ 15 in the shop and it sounded passable, and the electronics worked without any issues)
Pickups have a super sharp attack, which might actually be a bit much; some tone control can smooth that out when needed, and it sounds pretty snappy. Lots of Stratty tones, as you'd expect, and the humbucker split sounds good in both modes. Pickups somewhat hotter than my other guitars, I think; definitely stands above the quiet ol' Jaguar, and maybe a little hotter than my Tele. It's definitely a rock machine.

Fretboard is somewhat flat for my tastes, but, given what I paid, who cares

Ankhanu · Post by **Ankhanu** » Tue Mar 20, 2012 11:00 pm

Ah hah! Learning about the PTS tone system sure makes a difference

The top Tone knob being a bass cut is a big part of why there was so much attack; I had it set at 10. Rolled back to 5-7 it sounds more like a normal Strat, with more balls to it than when it's at 10. Bass cut at 0 is somewhat too muddy to be useful, I think... though with the second gain channel on the RocPro, it did give a good thick distortion.
The lower Tone knob kinda acts like a presence control.

Interesting guitar, for sure.

Ankhanu · Post by **Ankhanu** » Tue Mar 20, 2012 11:39 pm

Some pics; they're just phone shots, but, there ya have it:

(I do have the back plate, but I'm still messing with the trem)

cur · Post by **cur** » Wed Mar 21, 2012 2:01 am

Nice job. Buy low sell high.

Bacchus · Post by **Bacchus** » Wed Mar 21, 2012 2:09 am

Putting them springs diagonal should give you a wee bit more tension, if that's what you're after (you mention having to move the bracket and trying to add a third spring). Also, that might give just enough tension to have the springs slightly open, which I've always found is preferred to having them completely closed. It's difficult to tell if they're open or not in your pic (looks like the near one is open and the far one is closed?).

paul_ · Post by **paul_** » Wed Mar 21, 2012 7:06 am

Nice. One.

Ankhanu · Post by **Ankhanu** » Wed Mar 21, 2012 3:52 pm

Took a little research, but I figured out what I have.

2005 G&L Tribute Legacy HB Premium
Pickups: Neck&Middle - G&L Vintage Style Alnico V (6.4K - 7.0K), Bridge - G&L AW4370B Alnico humbucker (13.4k)
Controls: Volume, PTB Tone control (Bass cut, Treble cut) , Humbucker coil split, 5-way pickup selector
Bridge: G&L Legacy Dual Fulcrum vibrato (2-spring)
Body: 2pc. Swamp Ash
Neck: Maple
Fretboard: Rosewood
Neck Radius: 12" radius
Neck Width: 1 5/8"
Inlays: MOP plastic dot
Tuners: 18:1 sealed back

BacchusPaul wrote:Putting them springs diagonal should give you a wee bit more tension, if that's what you're after (you mention having to move the bracket and trying to add a third spring). Also, that might give just enough tension to have the springs slightly open, which I've always found is preferred to having them completely closed. It's difficult to tell if they're open or not in your pic (looks like the near one is open and the far one is closed?).

When I got it, the bridge was sitting proud at about a 10Â° angle (probably a bit less), so I wanted to set it up more appropriately, and I have, somewhat, just by tightening the system. I did tighten it slightly more on the bass side than treble side, based on vague recollections of Strat setup tips I'd heard once. I'll have to look that stuff up again.
I'll look into changing the spring angles too, thanks for the tip. You're right, the bass side is slightly open and the treble side is pretty much not... and that's with a fair it of tightening when I set it. They were both quite closed when I got it. I have the bridge slightly over tight at the moment, and need to loosen it a little to get to the recommended setup from the G&L user manual.

Mages · Post by **Mages** » Thu Mar 22, 2012 12:34 am

yeah nice one. I bet that 13.4k humbucker sounds pretty good when split.

Ankhanu · Post by **Ankhanu** » Thu Mar 22, 2012 1:28 am

Mages wrote:yeah nice one. I bet that 13.4k humbucker sounds pretty good when split.

It does

My experience with split humbuckers on my Schecter Ultra VI and Hellcat VI (I just sold that Hellcat and ordered a new one with single coils) left me somewhat less than impressed... they didn't sound any different, really, just quieter, but, on this, it actually sounds like a single coil. I'm pretty pleased with it. The pickups in the VIs were all minihumbuckers, though, not full size, so that may have contributed to the lack of difference.

Playing around some more today, I'm still loving the sounds, especially now that I understand the PTB tone control system; and when using the bridge, I've mostly been using it split.
Only issue I have so far is tuning stability. This is my first guitar with a Strat-type vibrato (I've used them before, but never owned them), and I find it's far less stable than the Jaguar vibrato. It could be that I need to spend some quality time really learning how to set it up, and after that it'll be rock solid like my Jag, even with vibe use, but right now, if I bend, or put it in the stand for a while, it's out of tune somewhat to a lot (though usually by about the same amount each string). It could also be that the strings haven't properly stretched out yet, I just bought them yesterday and didn't stretch them as vigorously as I would on my other guitars... though often it goes out of pitch UP not down, so that's probably not it.
I have some setup learnin' to do here.

I was thinking of using it in the show I'm playing tomorrow, but perhaps not if it won't be in tune through both songs I play guitar on (one uses a lot of bends, the other is just bar chords). Either way, I'm bringing it to jam with before going to the venue; test it through my Twin Reverb and pedals.