My guitar collection - G&L
Shortly after introduction of the Comanche V in early-1988, with its revolutionary Z-coil pickups, Dale Hyatt and G&L employee Steve Reed developed the Comanche VI with similar appointments as the V but an entirely unique wiring harness. This initiative was taken independent from Leo Fender! Instead of the PTB circuit one finds a volume control with single tone control and the usual 5-position pickup selector replaced by 6 mini-toggles: a triplet of 2-position switches to turn the separate pups on/off, and a trio of 3-position switches to turn on either of the half-coils or both for a total of 63 useful combinations. There is another, more subtle difference between the Comanche V and VI: the former has the 2 half-coils connected in series, the latter in parallel which leads to a sweeter sounding pickup on the VI. This Signature has a Skyhawk-shaped swamp ash body, a Dual-Fulcrum Vibrato (DFV), white enamel aluminum pickguard, hard-rock maple #2 neck with 7½” radius East Indian rosewood fingerboard, and traditional G&L headstock with Sperzel Locking tuning machines. Production of both the Comanche V and VI was halted in 1991 before BBE Sound, Inc. took over operations. G&L’s Custom Creations Department (CCD) reprised the Comanche VI as the Comanche Studio VI in 2007 in a limited number of 100. Visit Greg Gagliano’s ggjaguar.com website to find a 1990 Comanche VI Signature and another one from 1992. The pre-BBE Comanche VI has its own page among the Rarebirds prominently displaying a Comanche VI Signature, exceptional twice over with its Interceptor-shaped body and sickle headstock, shapes usually associated with a non-Signature version.
Comanche VI Signature
The story behind this guitar
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After I received the Cavalier-E, I was definitely gunning for a BBE-era Comanche V or VI to finish of all source guitars, i.e. non-ASAT models on which a pickup later found on an ASAT variant was introduced. I found a Comanche V in France, a little far away to be able to get it economically. C’est la vie! So in May 2015, I put out an ad on the Guitars by Leo website. Lo and behold, I got a response from noted collector Larry Garrett no less (who sadly passed away July 2, 2021). He offered me to pick any of his 3 Comanche VIs. I selected this one not because it was the most beautiful, a BBE-era 1992 employee guitar once owned by Gary Maki earned that distinction, nor was it the oldest, that honor befell a Comanche VI with Interceptor body and sickle headstock without the G&L hook. Rather I picked this rather utilitarian version because it fit the goal of being a “source guitar” best, even knowing this guitar needed some TLC in a whammy bar, new tuning machine for the B-string, and affixing the strap button properly. The kicker was that Larry offered it as part of a package deal including the ultra-rare (and that’s an understatement) ASAT Classic ‘Buck Owens’ he got from Dale Hyatt a couple of years ago. This Comanche VI Signature was entered in Dale Hyatt’s sales log on 5-26-89 for invoice #4254 and came originally with an all maple neck and board. But it was returned only a couple of weeks later (RR 4584) and was sent out again on 6/13/89 as part of invoice #4260, now with this neck with rosewood board. According to Larry, this was the best sounding though. It is fun to experiment with all of these settings but hard to find some sound that really speak to me. The number of switch combinations is rather overwhelming, and when you also throw in the tone control, keeping track of it all is somewhat of a nightmare. Still a very cool guitar though!
The story behind this guitar
1989
G024665
MAY 19 1989, marked ‘#’, ‘#2’
MAY 10 1989, marked ‘#’
