G&L ASAT Tribute Series

[Dutch Treat]

Hey everybody;
Heard good things about all levels of G&L guitars, so when I saw this I thought I'd check it out. Really glad I did.
Wow! This is one of those guitars that you pick up and strum, and immediately begin thinking about bringing home. Just sounded so good before even plugging it in.
I read that the black bodies are alder, also read that a number of tributes are basswood, either way very resonant. l think the bridge contributes a lot, reminds me of those high mass bass bridges you see, also that 70's era when people put big brass bridges and nuts on everything.
The neck is "not too thin", weight is 7lbs 9ozs. Don't know much about these pickups, other than a lot of fun lies ahead playing them. Tried them with just a touch of reverb, super cool.

anyway, I feel lucky to have it.

 

[Cali Dude]

Cool guitar! I really dig asat specials.

 

[Beachbum]

That's one fine looking guitar. Welcome to the club.

 

[runstendt]

Happy New G&L Day.

 

[Swirling Snow]

I think a Special is the best of the last of Leo's technology. Love the bridge and the pickups.

 

[Lockback]

Wonderful guitars and highly underrated.
A year ago I bought a B-stock ASAT Classic Tribute online from G&L for an absurdly low price. It's one of my favorite guitars. It's just a terrific guitar, beautifully built and sounds great. It's heavy, which is why it was marked down but I sit to play anyway, so it was of no concern to me.

 

[AndrewG]

I have an earlier (2015) ASAT Special in mahogany.

 

[Trenchant63]

I have the ASAT Classic Tribute, blond. It has excellent resonance. Needs a bit of fret work but not terrible. Excellent value.

 

[tery]

Beautiful and well made - congratulations!

 

[43mmNut]

Enjoy your G&L, it looks great!

 

[hawk620]

Congrats on the G&L. The ASAT Special is a very nice guitar. Leo Fender seldom gets the credit as a pickup designer that he deserves. You can learn more about the design and build of the MFD pickups on the G&L website but safe to say their dynamic range is incredible. They're quite unique sounding.

I own one the older mahogany body Special as well. It's quite heavy but it sounds great and plays so well I won't ever part with it. Leo had a habit of never going back or repeating his prior designs. The ASAT Special is an example of that. The pickups are like 1/3 P90, 1/3 Jazzmaster, and 1/3 Tele.

Cor-Tek is the builder of all Tributes and they do a terrific job on the quality of the finishing and the creation of the various components components. But the MFD pickups are all made by G&L in Cali and they are the same pickups as those used on all of the US builds with MFDs, guitars and basses.

 

[47adelynn47]

Hey everybody;
Heard good things about all levels of G&L guitars, so when I saw this I thought I'd check it out. Really glad I did.
Wow! This is one of those guitars that you pick up and strum, and immediately begin thinking about bringing home. Just sounded so good before even plugging it in.
I read that the black bodies are alder, also read that a number of tributes are basswood, either way very resonant. l think the bridge contributes a lot, reminds me of those high mass bass bridges you see, also that 70's era when people put big brass bridges and nuts on everything.
The neck is "not too thin", weight is 7lbs 9ozs. Don't know much about these pickups, other than a lot of fun lies ahead playing them. Tried them with just a touch of reverb, super cool.
View attachment 1390705

anyway, I feel lucky to have it.

i am a g&l fan...

 

[FlarbNarb]

I love the early G&L's, especially the ASAT in its original MFD pickup trim. Those pickups are awesome and the passive Treble/Bass circuit that some of them sport is very useful.
I LOVE wide aperture single-coils.

 

[47adelynn47]

I love the early G&L's, especially the ASAT in its original MFD pickup trim. Those pickups are awesome and the passive Treble/Bass circuit that some of them sport is very useful.
I LOVE wide aperture single-coils.

my s500 has the t/b cut circut with a push pull pot...it makes the bridge pickup useful...

 

[hemingway]

I have a couple of Tributes including an ASAT Special. I wish it had a 12" radius, but otherwise it's perfect.

 

[bigben55]

I have six G&L's, 3 USA and 3 Tributes. I have owned 4 other Tributes. The Tribute series are solid guitars, giggable right off the shelf. One thing though that I've noticed with them.....some have very soft fretwire that wears way too quickly. 2 of the 4 Tributes that I had and sold showed noticeable fret wear in as little as 9 months. And one that I still have was probably the worst, but I liked(still like) everything about it to the point where I paid for a stainless steel refret. I realize dropping $350 into a $400 guitar is kinda stupid, but it's a keeper. Seriously. OTOH, I have another Tribute that I play the heck out of that has little to no fretwear.

This is almost to say, if you feel your Tribute frets are wearing way too fast, selling it at that point is probably your best bet unless you simply love it.

 

[WireLine]

Such a beautiful instrument. Decades (and decades) ago I had an SC2 that got REAL close, but no cigar.

I have to admit I've always wanted an MFD ASAT, but every time I demo'd one, I ended up disappointed I couldn't get the John Jorgensen Desert Rose Band/Matchless sound. Gawd, do I LOVE that tone!

Then I started jonesing for one again when I saw my guitar idol Leon Rhodes playing one, and again...passed up the opportunity.

Now I have a Tribute Bluesboy that's a brilliant instrument, getting LOTS os use in the recording setting. Heavy, but dang it sounds so good. After seeing that MFD ASAT, I likely will be on the hunt again, so my wallet (and my wife) curse you

 

[bigben55]

Currently, of my 6 G&Ls, only the Kiloton bass has MFD pickups. 2 are Legacys, one is an ASAT Deluxe with humbuckers, one is an ASAT Junior II with P90s, and one is an ASAT Classic that I bought with Fralin Blues Special already in it. But, I've had MFD guitars before. I LOVE the neck pickups, especially the big MFDs, but dislike the bridge pickups. Those bridge pups DEMAND volume and tone knob tweaks. Straight up, they're too bright and too hot for my taste.

If I could find an ASAT Classic Custom semi hollow(they're rare) I'd swap out the bridge MFD for a Cavalier and be a happy camper!

 

[Henry Mars]

I had an ASAT Tribute for a while. I got rid of it.
Basically I had a few complaints. One was that I couldn't get it set up the way I like it.
It was heavy and had an annoying tendency to pick up static on the pick guard which interfered with the sound ... a lot of popping. I got sick of having to carry dryer sheets to get rid of it.
All in all it sounded good and for a while I couldn't put it down. It sounded good but the issues were more than I wanted to deal with.
I have however been toying with the idea of buying and ASAT Classic which is far superior to the Tribute Model IMHO.
The Tributes are probably a good entry level guitar if you get one that is playable.

 

[zsullivan38]

Currently, of my 6 G&Ls, only the Kiloton bass has MFD pickups. 2 are Legacys, one is an ASAT Deluxe with humbuckers, one is an ASAT Junior II with P90s, and one is an ASAT Classic that I bought with Fralin Blues Special already in it. But, I've had MFD guitars before. I LOVE the neck pickups, especially the big MFDs, but dislike the bridge pickups. Those bridge pups DEMAND volume and tone knob tweaks. Straight up, they're too bright and too hot for my taste.

If I could find an ASAT Classic Custom semi hollow(they're rare) I'd swap out the bridge MFD for a Cavalier and be a happy camper!

That's what I love about the jumbo MFD bridge. So many sounds from one pickup with little tweaks of the volume and tone. Don't even need the neck.