My guitar collection - G&L

 
 

Another Limited Edition from G&L’s Custom Creations Department to commemorate 2 decades of success! According to the link below, the 20th Anniversary model was produced between August and December of 2000 for a total of 50 instruments, reportedly 15 for export and the remaining 35 for the US market. The guitar has a solid swamp ash body finished in Two-tone Sunburst and a gun-oil stained Bird’s Eye maple neck with vintage 7½” radius, Dunlop (Medium) Jumbo 6100 frets, and 1⅝” nut. The pickups are overwound Jumbo Magnetic Field Design (MFD) single-coil pickups with black covers, allegedly having 180-200 more windings. The rear-loaded customized wiring harness has a 3-position pickup selector, volume control, and tone control, the latter 2 with chrome knurled knobs. The Saddle-Lock bridge is another G&L invention featured here. The Certificate of Authenticity is signed by plant manager John McLaren (Jr.) and G&L co-founder George Fullerton! For more information, see its Rarebird section in the Registry of the Guitars by Leo (GbL) website and this archived snapshot from 2017.

 

20th Anniversary model

The story behind this guitar

Year:

Serial number:

Neck date:

Body date:

Strings:


You will notice that this 20th Anniversary model is #1 in the series of 50 instruments. From the date in the pocket, it is clear assembly only took place in January 2001. But this guitar happens to be well documented. As one can read on the GbL website, number 1 through 10 were sold through Buffalo Brothers in Carlsbad, CA. This particular instrument was owned and photographed by Tim Page, who with his brother Bob founded and ran Buffalo Brothers in the day. It also appears on page 130 and in the color section of “Guitars from George & Leo: How Leo Fender and I Built G&L Guitars”.


However, after a couple of years it was sold to another serious G&L collector and participant in the GbL website, Casey Quinn. Late in the summer of 2009, he listed this 20th Anniversary model on both eBay and the GbL website. I had it timed just right only to forget to press the “Confirm Bid” button. Since the bidding had not reached the Reserve, the guitar was not sold. And both listings basically disappeared. Some days later, I mailed him to see if it was still available and you know the answer now. A couple of emails back and forth and it was on its way to Seattle.


So how does it sound? Is it really as good as reviewed on Harmony Central? Yes indeed! It is interesting to notice the subtle differences between this instrument and my ASAT ‘Super’. In both cases, the pickups are overwound, but they differ in tone woods in all aspects: swamp ash vs. mahogany for the body, maple vs. mahogany for the neck, maple vs. ebony for the fingerboard. The overwound pickups add more mids and warmth to either guitar, giving both instruments a depth and tonal complexity all their own. But the 20th Anniversary model still has plenty of single-coil spunk compared to the ‘Super’ and is a very versatile guitar.

The story behind this guitar

2001

CLF21634 (#1 of 50)

none, marked ‘tinted glossy’, ‘BE’, ‘20th Anv.’, ‘Neckwork’

JAN 16 2001

D’Addario EXL110 Nickel Wound Regular Light (10-46)