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G&L Legacy Honey Burst Swamp Ash

This sharp G&L USA Legacy features:

  • Honeyburst on Swamp Ash, 7.8 pounds
  • G&L 'Modern Classic' neck profile, 9.5" radius, 1-11/16" nut
  • .820" Depth at the 1st fret, .870" at the 12th
  • Satin vintage tint finish maple neck
  • Maple fretboard
  • 3-Ply Tortoise Shell pickguard
  • Parchment knobs and covers
  • DF Vibrato bridge
  • (3) G&L Alnico single coil pickups
  • 5-way switch, volume, treble and bass controls
  • G&L split and drilled tuners
  • Plek® laser guided fret finishing
  • G&L hardshell case

The Legacy is Leo Fender's evolutionary continuation of his most famous guitar design, and the world's most popular guitar. Some of the Legacy improvements include their Dual Fulcrum vibrato, which instead of hinging on wood screws, the DF vibrato floats on two hardened machined pivot points. And unlike the original design allows pitch bending in both directions. The Legacy also features their handy passive treble and bass controls. As most players find out, the authentic Stratocaster® design has no treble control for the bridge pickup, which is the pickup that needs it most. The Legacy has global controls for treble and bass that work on all the pickups, so you can finally "de-ice" the bridge pickup.

However, you'll also notice the Legacy pickups don't have the overly brilliant top end like many of the "vintage" pickups on the market. The G&L Alnico V pickups are wound in the low 6K range, which gives them a little more warmth, body and a smoother top end. These pickups have the glassy quality that Strat® players love, but not to the point of getting shrill. The middle pickup is true to form with a springy low end, and a midrange bite that is hard to describe, but is a classic sound used by countless Texas blues players. The slightly warmer tone of these pickups also helps the bridge sound less brittle and edgy, but not snarly like an over-wound pickup.

The Legacy's Alnico pickups have enough critical midrange content to work well with pedals. Tested with a variety of overdrive and distortion pedals, we were able to get nice crunchy blues tones that maintained good note definition, and did not get overly sharp and screechy. There is also a lot of flexibility available working with the Legacy's clever passive treble and bass controls. Effects -- especially distortion pedals -- are very sensitive to specific input frequencies, especially at higher volumes where the bass response on the neck pickup can get to be a little much. With the passive bass control, the player can take a away a little low end, which is useful for getting a tighter more defined tone.

While the traditional wood for a Legacy (or Strat) is Alder, this guitar has an optional Swamp Ash body. Swamp Ash tends to have a little less midrange punch than Alder, but a sweeter top end. On this particular guitar, the highs were remarkably clean and detailed without sounding as if they were too bright. That sounds contradictory, but it's more a matter of clarity than just more treble. Switching to the bridge pickup and rolling off the high end just a touch, the tone was crystal clear and borderline ethereal. While by nature single coil pickups have a clean distinct tone, the swamp ash really brings out the detail in a useful and musical way.

The G&L Legacy is not a radical departure from the original, but its beauty is in the details: Excellent fit and finish, Plek'd frets, neatly wired controls with high quality pots and switchgear, and a ten-year warranty. Plus a real tolex case to boot. It's an outstanding value for a USA made guitar, and a professional level instrument that will inspire you to play more.