NGD: G&L Tribute Legacy

[JB_From_Hell]

I was cruising a local Facebook music sale group, spotted a natural finish Tribute, tortoise guard, stock everything, but a little old and crusty. It was listed really cheap, I offered the cash contents of my wallet, and I just got back from picking it up. I’ll post some pics later if I get a chance. Needs a bunch of cleaning, fret polishing, etc... but for $122, I feel pretty good.

 

[shupe13]

Re: NGD: G&L Tribute Legacy

Congrats!

I love mine!!

Sent from my REVVLPLUS C3701A using Tapatalk

 

[dystrust]

Re: NGD: G&L Tribute Legacy

That's a steal! Here's hoping that it doesn't take too much work / expense to get it where it needs to be.

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: NGD: G&L Tribute Legacy

Here's hoping that it doesn't take too much work / expense to get it where it needs to be.

The frets are going to take a minute to clean up. Aside from that, I'm going to take it apart, give everything a good once over, probably take the bridge apart completely and clean all the gunk off it, then string it up and see what happens. Also, I need to source a trem bar, so that's the only real expense.

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: NGD: G&L Tribute Legacy

View attachment 94065

I thought it would be funny to do a NGD post in the parking lot 2 minutes after buying the guitar. The cell service was bad, so it didn't work. Here's the crappy pic I took in my car.

 

[dystrust]

Re: NGD: G&L Tribute Legacy

I thought it would be funny to do a NGD post in the parking lot 2 minutes after buying the guitar. The cell service was bad, so it didn't work. Here's the crappy pic I took in my car.

That looks great, and it's an even better deal than this one was:

'87 Charvel Model 1A

Found on CL in the Summer of 2013 for $150, but no case or electronics.

Congrats on the score, and looking forward to hearing how it cleans up.

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: NGD: G&L Tribute Legacy

Tore it apart, broke an intonation screw, replaced them all, got it back together, and did a rough setup. The neck on this thing is rock solid. I’m told it sat unstrung for years, I threw 11s on it and the neck is straight as an arrow. Haven’t plugged it in yet, but even if all the electronics are junk, the neck alone is worth more than I paid.

 

[Silence Kid]

Re: NGD: G&L Tribute Legacy

Congrats- That's a choice I'll never argue with. The DFV can be miraculous, enjoy.

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: NGD: G&L Tribute Legacy

The DFV can be miraculous, enjoy.

Have you ever broken one down? It has a MASSIVE block, and is super heavy. Like the rest of the guitar, it seems solid and set up effortlessly. The only part of the guitar I'm less than thrilled with is the trem claw. The screws are too close together to make the Carl Verheyen setup work (i.e., angling the claw). I'm pretty devoted to that on my Fender, but maybe it won't be necessary on this guitar.

 

[Silence Kid]

Re: NGD: G&L Tribute Legacy

Believe it or not I haven't done a tear-down on mine because it worked perfect right out of the box - at over thirty years old. The main components/operation are the same vs. the new ones, but mine uses zinc saddles & block; at some point they switched over to chrome plated brass blocks/saddles (meaning one might argue they improved with time- but I have no problem with the zinc.) For a while they offered steel saddles/block but that option evaporated.

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: NGD: G&L Tribute Legacy

Plugged it in, tweaked the pickup heights a little. Somebody did some odd wiring. Position 2 is the only one with any buzzing, and the controls are T-V-T. The first knob only affects position 2 (which may be bridge & neck, it has a superswitch of some type), and it sounds like it’s adjusting phase. Kinda weird, but there are some interesting sounds. Gonna mess with it awhile before I decide if I want to change anything.

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: NGD: G&L Tribute Legacy

Don't worry. The Carl Verhayen angled claw is utter nonsense. There is an inflexible metal block that maintains its shape no matter how much you angle the claw. The vibrato unit follows the same path regardless of how the springs are set. All you are doing by angling it is adjusting total spring pull on the block.

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: NGD: G&L Tribute Legacy

Don't worry. The Carl Verhayen angled claw is utter nonsense.

Works pretty well on my guitar, but if you say so.

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: NGD: G&L Tribute Legacy

Works pretty well on my guitar, but if you say so.

There's no reason it doesn't "work" like any other spring adjustment. There's just nothing special accomplished by angling the claw. Think about it for more than half a second, and you should see why. The vibrato/bridge assembly moves in exactly the same path regardless of whether the claw is straight or angled. All you are doing by angling the claw is making a spring adjustment, like any other spring adjustment.

 

[Gone_Shootin]

Re: NGD: G&L Tribute Legacy

Congrats, that's a great price!

I picked up a 10th Anniversary at GC awhile back for a couple hundred, last spring, IIRC. Very impressive guitars for the money.

 

[Boogie Bill]

Re: NGD: G&L Tribute Legacy

Plugged it in, tweaked the pickup heights a little. Somebody did some odd wiring. Position 2 is the only one with any buzzing, and the controls are T-V-T. The first knob only affects position 2 (which may be bridge & neck, it has a superswitch of some type), and it sounds like it’s adjusting phase. Kinda weird, but there are some interesting sounds. Gonna mess with it awhile before I decide if I want to change anything.

I LOVE the G&L strat bodied guitars. If you want to rewire it to the stock PTB controls (which I highly recommend!), the schematics are available at the G&L Forum. The correct parts are available at the G&L website from their on-line store.

Most techs don't know what to do with the G&L DF Vibrato. You can find the factory set-up instructions and specs, also at the guitarsbyleo.com Forum.

Congrats!

Bill