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G&L Custom Shop ASAT Classic S P90 RMC Honey Burst Spalted Top 2024 Electric Guitar w/Custom Shop Gig Bag
The G&L Custom Shop is a dedicated area of the G&L factory in Fullerton, CA where magic often happens. Allowing the customer an even wider range of options than their Build-to-Order line, the Custom Shop is turning out one gem after another. This ASAT Classic S P90 represents our idea of the "ultimate ASAT" combining a spalted Alder top, Swamp Ash back and their "Nashville" style pickup configuration with their excellent P90 pickup. Exceptional flexibility and stunning looks, this "Nashville" 90 has it all.
This Custom Shop ASAT Classic Bluesboy 90 features:
- Honeyburst finish
- Swamp Ash body, 8.0 pounds
- Spalted Alder top
- Light Toffee tint quarter-sawn Maple neck
- Indian Rosewood neck with synthetic abalone inlays
- Spalted wood "G&L" logo inlay on back of headstock
- Modern Classic neck profile
- 9.5” radius, 1-11/16” nut width
- Jescar Medium Jumbo frets
- G&L P-90 neck pickup
- G&L MFD S-500 single-coil reverse-wound middle pickup
- G&L MFD ASAT Classic single-coil bridge pickup
- 5-position blade selector, volume, tone
- Mini toggle to engage neck+middle or all three
- Custom Shop Premium gig bag
G&L's P-90 pickup is a well-kept secret, and a real gem. Originally developed by Gibson around 1946, it was the mainstay in their hollow body jazz line for years. It was the also original pickup used in the the first Les Paul guitars in the early 50's. Using a fairly shallow, wide bobbin and a bar magnet underneath, the P-90 "Soapbar" develops a thicker tone than a traditional Fender single coil, with more midrange.
Many players have never experienced a good P-90 pickup, and the temptation to over-wind them can make them sound stuffy and one-dimensional. Wound in the mid-6K range the G&L P-90 is anything but that. Moderate in output, the G&L P-90 is open and clean with a full midrange, defined bass response, and a high end that is softly rounded but detailed. It sounds more open and less compressed than a traditional Alnico Tele pickup, with better attack on the wound strings and less compressed when you dig in.
G&L's MFD bridge pickup assembly combines plenty of rich twangy goodness, and compared to a traditional Alnico pickup it has more body, midrange, and a less spiky top end. It's a great pedal pickup and will drive distortion and overdrive pedals with lots of crunch and harmonic content. You can truly rock it, and it's got humbucker-like output with enhanced clarity and detail. It's a great pickup for lead guitar work, and with your favorite stomp box you go can go from Bad Company to Brad Paisley in an instant.
The addition of the S-500 middle pickup adds the slightly metallic, grainy blues tones you'd expect from this position, but with that extra MFD midrange presence and dynamic range. With its 5-way switch, the in-between positions on the Classic S are pretty spunky -- not as much quack as a true Strat -- but fuller and with more punch. And we added a mini toggle so you can still get the traditional neck + bridge and even all three pickups together.
Lastly, the light toffee tint Maple neck is quarter-sawn for additional stiffness and response. What is quarter-sawn? It's a cut of wood where the grain of the wood is perpendicular to the length -- and to the fretboard -- which makes for a very stiff "beam" structure. Most necks are flat-sawn, with the grain is parallel to the fretboard. Quarter-sawn necks are more stable, and the additional stiffness is felt by some to add more pop and attack to the notes.
We've always been big fans of the 3-pickup ASAT concept -- we have a couple of them amongst the shop staff -- and they are a Swiss Army knife of tonal flexibility. By using G&L's P-90 pickup you get what we feel is their best version of the ASAT Bluesboy with the added benefits of the Nashville conifuration. While not a radical departure from the G&L format, it's a great mixture of of craftsmanship and functionality that is meant to be played.