My guitar collection - G&L
Clearly, the 1999 ASAT ’50 Special Edition is heavily inspired by the Fender Esquire. The latter, first produced in 1950 and the first electric guitar sold by Fender, sports a lone pickup in the bridge position and predates the Broadcaster/NoCaster/Telecaster. G&L’s version of the Esquire only saw the light o day almost a decade after the 2-pickup ASAT Classic. It was designed by Tim Page, in collaboration with his brother Bob and long-time G&L employee Tony Petrilla, and sold exclusive through Buffalo Brothers. The lightweight, single piece swamp ash body is finished in Butterscotch Blonde and has a single-ply black plastic pickguard. The single ASAT Classic Magnetic Field Design (MFD) bridge pickup is mounted in an ASAT Classic 6-saddle bridge. Its wiring harness is an exact copy of the original Esquire schematic, with the 3-position “pickup selector” hooked up to a set of capacitors to provide tonal variations. In the forward position, a lot of highs are drained off and the tone control is bypassed. The same is true in the backward position, but in this case no highs are drained off. The tone control only has an influence in the middle position: when on “10”, it sounds like the switch in the bridge position; when on “0” it is similar to the switch in the neck position, but with slightly more highs. This guitar has my favorite neck, a gun-oil stained Bird’s Eye maple Bi-Cut neck with a matching 7½” maple fingerboard, Dunlop vintage Medium 6230 frets, and 1⅝” nut. Furthermore, it comes with a special “G&L Special Edition” neck plate, a Certificate of Authenticity with the specifications and number in the series, and a TKL faux-tweed hardshell case. Also check out the G&L Rarebirds section of the Guitars by Leo (GbL) Registry:
ASAT ‘50
The story behind this guitar
Year:
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Pinch me! Do I really own an ASAT ’50? Tim Page’s ASAT BB (Blues Boy) ‘Contour’? Check! Bob Page’s Clear Red ASAT Trinity Special Edition #24? Yup! Oh, and on top of that Tim’s 20th Anniversary model #1. But each of them were produced in a considerable larger quantity than the mere 10 for the ASAT ’50. Looking around for a number of years, I have never seen any offered for sale, unlike the aforementioned models. So what to do? GbL does have a Marketplace and that’s where I put out a Wanted ad at the end of July 2010. Much to my surprise, renowned collector Gary Maki responded the same day, offering #1 of all! The very guitar shown in black and white on p. 132 of George Fullerton’s “Guitars from George & Leo: How Leo Fender and I Built G&L Guitars”. Too good to pass up on. So thank to Gary! This guitar was built in the exact same year as its brethren, my ASAT Classic. Not only that, they have the exact same color scheme providing a literal 1-2 punch. As described above, the wiring harness is very interesting. But the thing just sound absolutely fantastic. And in the end, that’s all that counts.
The story behind this guitar
1999
CLF12070 (#1 of 10)
none, marked 'NECKWORK', 'TINT SHINY', 'Esq', 'VF', 'BE', 'CC'
15 JUN 1999
