Re: Show Off Your STRATOCASTER !!!
I used to have a vintage 1960 Strat that I bought for $150 back in 1973. I got into a big financial hole after my divorce in 1990, and sold that guitar for tidy profit. It was a great guitar, but it had been all beat to hell and refinished, and need some serious restoration. When I finally got back on my feet, I went looking for another Strat, thinking I would get a '62 American Vintage, but a guy showed me a brand new G&L Legacy and I fell in love, in about 5.7 seconds. I have never looked back, and to this day I do not own a Fender-branded guitar. (Though I still have my Fender Precision "Lyte" bass that I never play, LOL!)
G&L is of course, the company George Fullerton and Leo Fender started after Leo sold Fender to CBS and recovered his health. Their designs sought to improve the work Leo had done at Fender, and he continued to refine his designs until his death in 1991. His Dual Fulcrum Vibrato, the Passive Treble and Bass tone controls, the Magnetic Field Design pickups--details right down to the re-design of the strap buttons on his guitars--are all representative of his commitment to engineering a better product, and his creative genius.
While maintaining the feel of my vintage Strat, the Legacy offered several improvements over the original design. And for me and my tastes, it is the only guitar on the market that offers the "right" blend of modern and vintage features. I really love the 12" radius board and the medium jumbo frets for the bluesy style I play.
I now own 19 G&Ls: eleven Legacys, three Legacy Specials, two each of the Comanche and S-500 models and an ASAT Deluxe. I also play Gibson Les Pauls and 335s, and in my current band I might take as many as six guitars to a gig (including an acoustic, a banjo, and a 12-string or two)--but my NUMBER ONE will always be a Legacy.
Here's a trio of lovely ladies:
On the left: I've always wanted a "Mary Kaye" Strat, and couldn't resist this Transparent Blond G&L version we found on E-Bay. I've added some gold plated parts, except for the DFV, so it has a bit of a Rolex look. The pickups are Texas Hot Antiquitys, with the RW/RP middle and the Custom Bridge. Great sounding guitar.
In the middle: a beautiful Butterscotch Blonde Legacy Special that I've nick-named "Marilyn Monroe". That's an ebony fingerboard on a gloss, Gun-Oil Tint neck with heavy birdseye figuring and a slightly fuller profile than most of my other Legacys--just like the real Marilyn. The pickups are Gotoh Dual Blades, and they have a unique, thick, PAF-ish sound that make this a wonderfully versatile guitar. And with the PTB tone circuit, I can get very close to the sound of a typical Strat's vintage alnicos. I love to gig with this guitar, as it can back up not only my Legacy, but also provides enough thick tone to back up my Les Paul--not many guitars can do that. Playing this guitar always puts a smile on my face!
On the right: Meet Jo-Jo, my girlfriend Leslie Jo's alter ego. Hot, flashy, seductive--this is every thing I love about a great Strat. The pickups are the stock CLF-100 G&L pickups. It's one of the few guitars I ever bought in a solid color, rather than a sunburst, and now I love them. The Fullerton Red (aka Fiesta Red), the cream plastic and the Gun Oil Tint neck is just a beautiful combination. Another smile maker.
Here's a close-up of Jo-Jo--that Fullerton red finish really pops on stage. Women especially seem to be attracted to this finish--wish I'd known that years ago! LOL!
The Comanche on the left has a very tight-grained swamp ash body, with a Tobacco Sunburst finish. The Z-Coil MFD pickups are fully humbucking, similar in design to a P-bass pickup. The pickups are very powerful, and have a wide range--deep lows and an extended high end--and, they are very high output. If your preamp tubes aren't up to snuff, the Comanche will let you know about it--in a hurry. This is a POWERFUL guitar, and the Z-Coils always garner a lot of attention at the jam sessions I go to.
The S-500 on the right is "Mom"; she showed on the used market up right after my mother's estate was settled in 1995, no doubt a gift from my angel. Again, a swamp ash body with a traditional Three-Color SB. This picture shows a Duncan JB, Jr. in the bridge, but it is not a good match for the S-500s' high output MFD single coils--volume wise, it just can't keep up, but it does offer a nice thick rock tone. The original pickup is going back in. I love the figure in this ash body.
Here's a matching pair of basic alder, RW, TCSB Legacys. Meet "Judy" and "Leslie". Judy is bone stock; an early model Legacy with Duncan SSL-2s, and this is my first G&L. "Leslie" was the first guitar I acquired with my girlfriend; we bought it off E-Bay. It also has the SSL-2s, but in this picture sports a set of the Legacy Special Gotoh Blades. It came to me just filthy dirty, but it cleaned up nicely, though it has a bit of natural relic-ing. This one has a neck profile that some G&L folks call a "stupid slim" profile neck--but it is fast and comfortable. I honestly don't hear a big difference between the Duncan SSL-2 and the G&L pickups; the Antiquitys in "Mary Kaye' though have a much thicker tone. Tuning stability on all my G&Ls with the DF Vibrato is excellent, BTW.
So I love my G&Ls, and as far as I'm concerned, these are the REAL Fenders--modern Fender Strats are just, well--rough drafts!
Bill