My guitar collection - G&L

 
 

The Winter NAMM show, held in Anaheim, CA between January 16-19, 2020 was a momentous occasion for G&L. Its 40th Anniversary was celebrated with a beautiful large banner featuring Leo holding a soldering iron while working on a wiring harness and several models commemorating this anniversary. The real ones were a the Custom Shop 40th Anniversary Espada and a Custom Shop 40th Anniversary L-2000, both a mouth full but, with their 3A quilted Maple top on okoumé back in Clear Ruby Red Thin Urethane finish and highly figured roasted maple neck, a sight to behold. Somewhat less flashy were 2 other guitars which, like the 40th Anniversary Espada, were featured in the preview. The model: a Doheny in pretty much standard configuration, i.e. alder body, Dual-Fulcrum Vibrato (DFV), 2 JM Magnetic Field Design (MFD) pickups, hard-rock maple neck, Jescar Medium Jumbo 57110 frets, (measured) 1⅝” bone nut (instead of the indicated 1¹¹⁄₁₆” on the spec sheet), and G&L branded closed tuning machines on a headstock without model decal, as is customary for the Doheny. What makes them special then? Well, Johnny Garcia is no longer the only artist who has collaborated with G&L. The shown guitars feature 2 different designs by famed Tiki artist Clee Sobieski (pronounced SEE-lee SO-bee-ES-kee) where the details are unique to each guitar. This guitar has the more laid-back Hula Art design featuring a Miami Blue finish, hand-painted artwork, 9½” radius maple fingerboard with black dot position markers, and matching Miami Blue front headstock with gold G&L logo w/black border. The second option is a Doheny adorned with gothic ‘Elvira’ themed Mermaid Art, Graphite Metallic finish, matching headstock, black pickup covers, and an ebony fingerboard with pearloid position markers. In total only 30 of each have been built. And although not provided with a G&L Custom Shop logo on the back of the headstock, it does feature Mr. Sobieski’s autograph and the spec sheet does include a “Limited Edition” header at the top. For more information, please visit:

http://glguitars.com/product/doheny-tiki-limited-edition/.

 

Doheny Tiki Limited Edition w/Hula Art

The story behind this guitar

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I liked the peaceful Hula Art design with its volcano, tropical beach, and ukulele playing hula dancer better. Not just for the stunning Miami Blue color and the design but also because it has a maple fingerboard complementing the rosewood board on my first Doheny. By coincidence, this Tiki Doheny was completed on 12/18/2019, 2 years to the day after that first Doheny. It would have been nice to score that NAMM guitar but 2 others were available in different stores on Reverb soon after the show closed. I approached both stores with the exact same proposal. Tommy Roberts at Tone Shop Guitars in Addison, TX replied enthusiastically and the deal was quickly closed. The artwork on all 3 is very similar; only focus on details unearths the minute differences. The guitar sounded bright right out of the box. But nothing a PTB circuit cannot solve.

The story behind this guitar

2019

CLF1910188 (1 of 30)

10/16/19, marked ‘DOHENY-HULA-MIAMI BLUE’, ‘MP’, ‘TORT’, ‘PH’,

‘ART BY SOBIESKI’

OCT 16 2019

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