My guitar collection - G&L
Robert Poss is well known for modifying his SC-1 guitars by installing different pickups, although usually still with at least one Jumbo Magnetic Field Design (MFD) pickup in place. And the SC-2 has 2 such pickups, one slanted near the bridge and one near the neck perpendicular to the direction of the strings. If it is true the SC-2 neck pickup has a comparable footprint as the GHB humbuckers, used on the HG-2 entry level model, and the SC-2 bridge pickup’s footprint is comparable to the HG-2R “Angled Offset” humbucker, used on e.g. the Cavalier, why was there no mix and match going on at the G&L factory? The answer might be it actually did, but so rarely it is unknown how many SC-2 guitars left the factory with a combo of GHB, HG-2R, and/or Jumbo MFD pickups. But at least a couple of them did. First a 1st style, Mustang-shaped prototype, a true humbucking version of the SC-2 with an HG-2R in the bridge, a GHB in the neck, and a phenomenal paint job by its original owner, Fred Villarreal, to boot. The second is a guitar dubbed the ‘SCav-2’ and shown here. That one has a rather plain Bahama Blue finish over a 2nd style soft maple body, i.e. with horns on both sides, a Locktight (Saddle-Lock) bridge with serial number stamped on it, an HG-2R bridge pickup, Jumbo MFD pickup in the neck position, 3-position pickup selector, volume control, tone control, #2 hard-rock maple neck with 7½” radius fingerboard, 1⅝” nut, G&L branded Schaller closed tuners w/tabs, and SC-2 model decal on the headstock. The specs make it kind of the original G&L Fallout, a model for which the idea is to combine a bridge humbucker with a single-coil in the neck. But then the GbL LE-2 comes even closer with its MFD pickups in both bridge and neck positions instead of Alnico for the Fallout.
‘SCav-2’
The story behind this guitar
Year:
Serial number:
Neck date:
Body date:
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I had heard rumors for decades guitars like these might exist. Fred posted about his “GUITAR” in May 2013. The picture clearly shows it to be a prototype with re-drilled holes in Jumbo MFD covers akin to the pickups on the HG-2 prototype. As such, the pickup routs on that guitar exactly match those found on an SC-2. It would take until 2019 before another one was spotted on Reverb. And not surprisingly, I was intrigued and wanted to get to know that guitar. After a little back and forth it made its way to join this collection. What do the pots look like? Clean and all from 1983. It has the same wiring harness as the 2nd style SC-2 and production HG-2, both also from 1984, with a 200pF treble bleed capacitor on the volume pot and 1,000pF (.01µF) and 22,000pF (.022µF) caps on the tone control. What are the date stamps on neck and heel? Both are older than the equivalent ones for the 2nd style SC-2 referenced above, although the bodies differ by just 1 day. Is the solder work clean and void of any traces indicated a pickup swap? Looks identical to any other SC- or HG-model. And what about the pickup cavity and paint inside? Given the gaps on either side of the bridge pickup, the rout is for a Jumbo MFD bridge pickup, i.e. about 0.225” longer and at 15° angled a little steeper than the 11° needed for the HG-2R. The rout is clean with Bahama Blue paint streaks on the walls and the bottom. So although not intended to house an HG-2R, it still looks all original indeed. I could not take the pickup out because the screws are a bit dicey. Hence it is unknown whether there are any other markers in the pickup routs supporting its authenticity. I could contact the dealer who left the stamp on the back of the headstock: “FRONT PORCH MUSIC, 1711 19th Street, Bakersfield, CA 93301 (805) 325-7161”. That shop still exist; only the area code has changed. But I guess it will be too long ago. The guitar sounds very much as expected: the HG-2R retains plenty of highs and you have to dial down the treble down either on the guitar and/or amp. But it is a great combo with the Jumbo MFD. Of course the ‘CavASAT’ has the same pickup combination but in an ASAT body and a slightly different wiring harness. However, check out this SC-2 prototype with three HG-2R pickups!
The story behind this guitar
1984
G013738
FEB 17 1984, marked ‘#3’
JAN 11 1984
