Re: Calling tone gurus!
I'm 55, and I do all kinds of music and I own 32 guitars--and the Legacy Special (LS) is my favorite! It's THE ONE guitar that I would NEVER change out the pickups on!
One cool thing about the G&L line is that if you like the Legacy design, you can have your Legacy flavored with the vintage alnico single coils (Legacy), S-S-H (Legacy HB), Legacy 2HB, or the LS with Gotoh Blade humbuckers. And then there is the S-500 (with Leo's high output MFD pickups), and the Comanche (with the MFD Z-coils). That's a lot of different models with the same basic layout, differing only in pickups.
The Legacy has that vintage alnico tone. The high-output S-500's MFDs have a very agressive single coil tone--I love these for Texas Blues and hard rock. The Z-coils are totally quiet, and sound very close to the S-500s single coils. Both are very wide-range pickups--they can sound "hi-fi", or "sterile" or "edgy". They will demand the very best from your equipment--if you have bad tube in your rig--these guitars will mercilessly expose it! Some folks think of them as an "acquired taste"--you may need to re-think some of your tone settings--but if you are patient, you will be rewarded with GREAT TONE!
So, where does the LS fit in? I can't live without a Legacy--about 60% of the stuff that I do is a Legacy. That bright alnico sound works for Classic Rock, Country, Blues, Oldies. But I have to have a 2HB guitar, too, for certain jazzy or bluesy things or rock songs like Cream's "Crossroads" or Santana's "Black Magic Woman". So I drag a Les Paul or 335-type along, and the LS.
I really would NOT want to do a four hour gig with a Les Paul--I'm a Strat/Legacy guy. And one of my rules about gigging is, "Always have a backup!" That backup is going to be a Legacy-bodied guitar, then. But, the LS can backup BOTH guitars!
The LS has PTB, for Passive Treble and Bass tone controls, and it's great. PTB gives more control over your tone than the vintage strat controls, with GLOBAL Treble and Bass. On the guitar, I "normal" the volume knob at about 7-8, with the PTB T=10, and the B=5 for a nice thick tone. The Gotohs definitely have a HB flavor to them, but due to the narrow aperture and the blades, they retain good definition. There's still quack in positon 2 and 4. If I just want to punch up a solo, I add a little more Bass. For Clapton or Santana "woman tone", I just switch to the neck pickup, and roll the treble back to T=5. The middle position is great for thick Fusion leads at this setting.
And if I need something a little more vintage sounding, I roll the treble back up to T-10, and the bass to 0-2--THEN, I lower my guitar volume to 5-6. It won't get totally to alnico territory, but it will get very close. For songs where I want a hard rockin' tone like a Les Paul, AND a vibrato--yep, the LS does that very well, indeed. The bridge pickup is a Gotoh Power Blade, and it rocks.
Of all the wonderful guitars that I have, and I am really blessed right now, believe me--the LS would be the last one out the door. I don't buy into the theory of ONE guitar that can do it all--that guitar just doesn't exist--at least not for me. But I can tell you that I have done entire gigs with JUST a Legacy Special and not picked up either Legacy or Les Paul. And from me, being a total gear head, that's a solid testimonial.
BTW, I think one of the guys in Tim McGraw's band is using a LS--I saw him with a green one on a TV Special late last year, I think.
The Gotoh Blades are great pickups, and there's really nothing else on the market that sounds like them. And I would seriously think twice before changing them. For the kinds of things you are doing, I can't think of a better guitar to use. For more tips, go to
www.guitarsbyleo.com.
Bill
- Cool Rails (m) - 4 wire '59 (b) .. wire em for splittable with a minitoggle or push/pull ... plenty of versatility ... the AIIP will MORE than fake a jazzy tone, trust me ... 
