My guitar collection - G&L
After having discussed the HG-2 prototype w/DFV at length, this is the “ordinary” production version of this G&L ‘entry level’ models. It has a 2-piece soft maple body, 2 GHB humbuckers, simple wiring harness (volume, tone, 3-position pickup selector), and hard-rock maple neck with 7½” radius maple fingerboard with the proper model decal on the headstock. Most HG-2s have a Dual-Fulcrum Vibrato but this one has the Locktight (Saddle-Lock) bridge. And a Black finish of course to stay with the theme established by the vast majority of my ‘entry level’ models. There is some confusion about the year this model was introduced and hence possible body shapes. The aforementioned prototype has a 2nd style body as has this one. Checking the Guitars by Leo (GbL) Registry, all instruments for which the body shape info is provided are 2nd style Strat bodies too. One also notices that none have 1983 as a year when neck and/or heel dates are given. But Paul Bechtoldt claims that the first HG-model rolled of the line 8/31/82 (S/N G010604), the same day as the first instrument in the SC-series. This undoubtedly would have been a Mustang-shaped HG-2 if true. But the HG models are not included in the November 1, 1982 price list and only make their first appearance in the August 1, 1983 price list while last being mentioned in the letter dated January 18, 1984. In all likelihood no more than 100 HG-2s were built and at most a handful of HG-1s, if any. The HG-2 is considered to be a Rarebird with its own page.
HG-2
The story behind this guitar
Year:
Serial number:
Neck date:
Body date:
Strings:
In the summer of 2012, Jon Chaikin sent me a list of instruments he wanted to sell. At the time, I did not take him up on any. Later that year, he consigned a fair number of his G&Ls to Buffalo Brothers in Carlsbad, CA. But when the Page brothers decided to sell their store, the guitars moved to Murrieta, CA, where they appeared in Guitars West’s web store. I had the HG-2 on my radar for all of that time. Finally I decided to put in a fair offer which got accepted. This guitar nicely complements my ‘entry level’ collection. Originally, I was told the S/N was “G018818” but checking the HG-2s already entered that seemed somewhat out of kilter. When inspecting the guitar upon arrival it was clear the first “8” was actually a “3” and final evidence was obtained by taking a trace included in the picture below. And that’s the S/N I used to add it to the GbL Registry. The finish on the neck has been removed by an owner before Jon and replaced by some kind of oil (I think) and feels great. The guitar was already set up for 10s and sounds great too. The pickups are mounted in properly sized pickup routs, about 0.24” shorter than needed on the prototype since the latter has Jumbo MFD neck pickup covers. These pickups are pretty bright for a humbucker and have a lot of bite to them. Again a pretty fun rocking machine, as are all the student models. The nut needed some TLC since it needed to be glued in again. But my folks at The Guitar Store in Seattle took care of that in no time. Actually, it was about 10 minutes, but who’s counting. And no superglue! “Nice guitar!” was the verdict when it was handed back to me. I can attest to that.
The story behind this guitar
1984
G013818
JUN 13 1984
MAR 1 1984
