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G&L S-500 Emerald Blue Basswood
This G&L S-500 features:
- Basswood body with Emerald Blue metallic finish, 7.6 lbs
- G&L Modern Classic neck, 1 11/16" nut width and 9.5" radius
- Vintage tint satin neck finish
- Maple fretboard
- Bone nut
- Parchment 3-ply (BWB) pickguard
- 3 G&L Magnetic Field Design pickups
- Passive Volume, Treble and Bass controls
- 5-way pickup switch
- Black covers and knobs
- Mini toggle neck + bridge pickup
- G&L Dual Fulcrum Vibrato with plated brass saddles
- G&L split and drilled tuners
- Plek® laser guided fret finishing
- G&L deluxe Tolex hard shell case
This guitar has a Basswood body which is a new build option at G&L. It is an abundant material, so it is less expensive than a Swamp Ash upgrade and more consistent in terms of weight. It's tonal profile is also very similar to Alder which makes it a no brainer if you want punchy tone, solid mids, and comfortable weight. As some of the forum chatter is prone to point out, Basswood is a little softer than Alder: But if you are going to drop your guitar hard enough to dent Basswood, you'll dent Alder too.
The G&L MFD pickups employ a fairly strong ceramic bar magnet with a low resistance coil. Typically these pickups only measure about 5K ohms, quite low for any pickup. They possess a stronger output than a traditional design single coil but with a more even frequency response. Compared to a traditional Alnico pickup, the S-500 pickups are less glassy, with a huskier tone that has a stronger midrange presence. This is really felt at the bridge where the sound is noticeably more meaty, and without any high end brittleness. Finally, a bridge pickup you can actually use.
If you are wondering "why play an S-500?" we'll give you a quick answer: For a lot of styles of music it just works better than a traditional Strat®, especially in the context of a band. We sort of miss the glassy scooped tone of a great conventional Strat neck pickup, but the S-500 outperforms just about everywhere else. The fatter midrange and smooth high end of the MFD pickup is great for driving pedals and creating thick, satisfying rock tones. The highs do not get overly bright like a normal single coil, and these pickups combine a pleasing blend of thickness and clarity that is great for classic rock, prog-rock, and even the borderline metal.
The position 2 and 4 "in-between" tones are fat, punchy, and less anemic than traditional Alnico pickups. Players will be able to rock out these positions just as easily as with the neck or bridge. And the mini-toggle control allows the player to select the neck+bridge position for some twangy Tele® style country picking.
Other than the G&L MFD-design pickups and mini-toggle, the S-500 is essentially the same guitar as the better known G&L Legacy. This guitar comes with G&L's newest neck profile, the Modern Classic. Slimmer like the old "Slim C" the Modern Classic has a 9.5" radius and a 1-11/16" nut width. The string spacing is the same as their 1-5/8" Classic C necks, and the extra width is there to help prevent string fall off. Players who like an American Fender® neck will take to the Modern Classic. The Plek'd® frets make setup a snap, and we love the smooth dry feel of the satin finish maple neck.
They say insanity is doing the same thing, and expecting a different result. The G&L S-500 is not the same thing, and it offers classic sounds tailored to suit more modern styles of music. Updated but not forsaking its its heritage, the S-500 is worth serious consideration.