I remember well that day many years ago when I set out to buy my first electric guitar. I had learned to play on my Dad’s guitars and I was ready to get my own. I walked into a small local music store and there it was sitting on a stand in the middle of the showroom. It was a butterscotch Fender Telecaster®. At the time, country singer John Anderson was very popular and this guitar looked just like the one he played. I knew I had to have this guitar, so I emptied my pockets on the counter and headed home to play "Seminole Wind" like Mr. Anderson.

Once I got home, it took me about thirty seconds to figure out that owning a guitar that looks like a well known artist's instrument does not mean it will sound like theirs, or that you will automatically be able to play like them.

Although I loved the guitar, I also found that the Telecaster® was somewhat tone limiting relative to other styles of music that I wanted to play other than country. Alas, the guitar that had enamored me for a short while was traded in for a much more versatile Stratocaster® which stayed with me for many years.

I always liked the look of the Telecaster® style guitar, and have wanted to get another one, except with a fuller sound and more tonal flexibility. A few years ago, GuitarGearHeads.com started doing reviews for G&L Guitars, and I was introduced to the ASAT®. The first time I played an ASAT®, I knew that I had found the guitar I had been longing to own all these years. About a month ago, G&L sent me another ASAT for review. This model is the ASAT® Special Deluxe, and once again I am impressed with the great work of the craftsmen and designers at G&L Guitars.

It is amazing to me the amount of choice we have these days in the number of guitar colors, shapes, and styles. In terms of finishes alone, flame and curly maple tops on electric guitars seem to have ruled the stage in popularity. These highly figured tops come in a variety of finish colors that help the grain to stand out, creating an exceptional looking guitar. The high popularity of these guitars has sent manufacturers in search of the next great style of wood. We are now seeing some fantastic forays into a new figured top called spalted maple.

Spalting can be broadly defined as “any coloration in wood caused by fungi”, however, the most common type of spalt used in guitar construction is known as “zone lines”. These zone lines are not actually the fungi itself, but rather a barrier that the fungi erects to protect its recourses from other forms of fungi that may try to invade their space. These lines manifest themselves as dark random lines that create very interesting patterns on the wood. The trick with this wood is to acquire it, and start the drying process after the zone lines have been erected, but before the fungi can start breaking down the wood fibers which make it “punky” (in the vernacular), or too soft to work with.

At the winter NAMM show in 2007, Samick began to introduce Limited Edition guitars in a couple of their most popular model lines. These are being released as single year production models that will be discontinued at the end of the year of manufacture. One example is a spalted maple limited beauty in the Avion line, the “AV6LTD”, the I was recently sent for review.

I used to love Saturday mornings as a kid. I’d usually wake up before my mom, venture out to the living room, and turn on our hopelessly outdated black and white television. Throughout the morning, I’d watch a slew of cartoons like Space Ghost, Superfriends, Hong Kong Phooey, and Captain Caveman! About that time, my mom would kick me out of the house for a couple of hours to cause trouble with my friends.

By the time the afternoon rolled around, it was time for another round of television. At that time there were only three good major channels plus the fuzzy independent one that took just the right mojo on the rabbit ears in order to receive. The choices in the afternoon were limited because you usually had to choose between Wide World of Sports or 1950’s serial re-runs like Abbot and Costello. At some point though you’d get around to those awesome spaghetti westerns! That’s how I first learned of cool things like the “Battle of Little Big Horn” and the “Gunfight at the O.K. Corral”.

Besides scenes of “masked men”, “high noon”, and “saloons” - I have memories of hundreds of television Indian warriors chasing down poor helpless riders out on the open plains. Often, these warrior tribes were made up of Cherokee, Sioux, and of course … Comanche! Man, those were the days.

That was probably the longest transition I have ever written for a guitar review, but any guitar that carried the Comanche name had better measure up to the nostalgia of those precious years. We have reviewed a few G&L guitars here at GGH and all have received top marks. Two guitars in the G&L lineup have eluded us until now – the Comanche and the Legacy Deluxe. The short version is that these guitars were worth the wait! Just like those old television shows, nothing exudes American tradition like these guitars – both of which receive our “Rig Ready” award for 2007. Read on for the full review!

When I grow up, I want to be in a Rockabilly band. Besides awesome songs about cars, dancing, rebellion, and chicks – there is just something about growing sideburns, slicking your hair back, and playing as fast and as loud as you can on a “big box” jazz guitar! I guess just love those blues laced racy tunes!

Recently, Greg Bennett released a “limited” series of guitars based on several of their most popular models. One of the first off the production line is the JZ2-LTD, which is an enhanced version of the Lasalle hollow body series. As a straight ahead jazz box, the LaSalle is already well known. Since its release, it has been well received in the press and in user reviews as having great features and sound for the price.

I’ve always had a secret desire to own an ASAT. The unfortunate thing is, I don’t play country music, and most ASAT models that I know about are constructed with single coil or lipstick pickup designs that just sound too trebly to my ear. What I really wanted was an ASAT Monster! My vision called for a blues machine, a tobacco-sunburst demon capable of splitting earth and shattering rock.

Then came the finer points to the guitar -- matching headstock, high end tuners, ebony fretboard (very atypical for an ASAT), and white binding to round out the visual appeal. Don’t forget tonal options like a 3-way pickup selector and a coil splitter. I wanted this beast to be solid and versatile – something I can count on to get me through any situation whether at a gig or in the studio.

Nothing I’ve ever seen at any shop came close to these specifications. Besides, I have a bunch of great guitars…I was looking for “THE” guitar. Fortunately, I had this same conversation with Dave McLaren at G&L Guitars, and he started jotting down notes. Dave prompted me a couple times with “Is that an ebony or maple fretboard?” and “Sounds like Seymour Duncan’s to me – that good with you?”

As you might expect, we wound up doing the deal. It took a little longer than I expected, but eventually the delivery truck arrived with my custom powerhouse. The guitar looked fantastic! What about the sound? Read on and find out!

G&L Guitars are world renowned and noted G&L artists include: The Hellecasters’ Will Ray and John Jorgenson, Jerry Cantrell, Brad Whitford, Vince Gill, Peter Green, Neal Schon, Art Alexakis (Everclear), Laurence Juber, Peter Frampton, the late Carl Perkins, the Fariss Bros. (INXS), and countless others.

George Fullerton & the late Leo Fender, two of American music’s engineering pioneers, founded G&L. According to the G&L Website, "Leo Fender spent the last decade of his life lavishing all the knowledge and wisdom he had acquired over the years on the creation of his beloved G&L instruments. He considered the G&L guitars and basses the masterpieces of his lifetime of creativity. Leo worked in his private laboratory at the G&L factory in Fullerton, California, until the very last day of his life and he would not have wanted it any other way."

In 1985, Leo Fender created a guitar that I believe was one of the most innovative guitars of its time. This guitar was called the ASAT, and remains one of G&L Guitar’s most popular models even today. At first glance this guitar looks like a recreation of the Fender Telecaster® which was one of Mr. Fender’s earliest designs in his long and industrious career. Aside from this familiar body style, it is the heart of this guitar that sets it aside from all others on the market today.

Leo fender was fascinated by electronics, so his passion lay in these aspects of the guitar design process. Everything else was secondary. In fact, during a recent conversation with Dave McLaren at G&L Guitars, he told me that Leo was not concerned with eye pleasing esthetics in the guitars he built. In fact, he could care less about what a guitar looked like, as long as it sounded the best it possibly could. It was a decision by the marketing staff at G&L that continued the tradition of his widely accepted body styles throughout most of the G&L Guitar line.

For many years, G&L has offered a value oriented line of guitars know as the "Tribute Series". The bodies and necks of these models are built overseas using highly advanced CNC machine technology. While these bodies and necks are not hand made, all of the electronics and hardware are virtually the same US made parts that are featured on the hand built models from the Fullerton, California factory. For this review, we are going to focus on "ASAT Special Semi-Hollow Body" Tribute model.

Metal was king in the 1980’s. Tony Iommi and Black Sabbath showed the world the face-melting supremacy of a heavy power chord. Yngwie Malmsteen showed the world that shred was not a new concept – that guys like Beethoven and Chopin had composed symphonies that seemed to have been written for speed guitar hundreds of years prior to the instrument’s invention. Eddie Van Halen blew the world away with his novel tapping style and virtuoso skills.

During this time a plethora of guitar companies were born. Some survived and some did not. Through this whole period, G&L guitars listened to the suggestions of its customers and went beyond the traditional designs in order to meet the needs of the modern performer. Blending these ideas into his own concepts, Leo Fender created the Invader line specifically for those players who want to play heavy and fast and demanded an instrument with the monster tone to match. As such, the Invader became one of G&L’s most coveted instruments. GuitarGearHeads was sent one of these beauties - a gorgeous blue-burst, dual-humbucking beast – from their Invader XL Standard series. Read on for all the drool inducing details.

When I received the Wavepoint guitar from AXL Guitars and opened up the box, I was immediately struck with one of those transcendental questions, “Should your guitar reflect your music?” In many ways, I think the kind of guitar you play can inspire you to take creative paths you might not expect. If you are playing metal, then perhaps you want to reflect a barely controlled, raging inferno of emotion. In kind, the guitar should be capable of bone crushing power chords and lightening fast riffs. Ultimately, the total image and tone should be hard and sharp and keep you living on a razor’s edge. If this sounds like the kind of music you want to play, then read on, because the Wavepoint is certainly all metal…all the time!

Mr. Leo Fender is arguably one of the most important people in the history of guitar design innovations. There have been no guitars in history that have been copied and emulated more than his original Telecaster® and Stratocaster® designs. Interestingly, Leo the man was not much interested in building sleek guitar bodies. He was more concerned with the practicality of the guitar than the look. From these solid foundations, he concentrated on his true passions which were electronics and mechanical features. The capstone innovations from Leo's brilliance can be seen in G&L exclusive features such as the "Magnetic Field Design® pickups, the "Dual Fulcrum® vibrato", and the "Saddle Lock®" bridge.

Since Leo Fender passed away in 1991, G&L has continued the tradition of quality hand made guitars. Any new guitar models are released only after it is agreed that Leo would have approved of the design. Because of this, every guitar that leaves the G&L factory is a continuation of the legacy left behind by the man known as one of the fathers of modern guitar. It only seems fitting that the guitar we are about to review is called the "Legacy Standard" -- a guitar that lives up to the legacy of Leo Fender himself.