G&L Fullerton Deluxe S-500 Honeyburst

This USA G&L Fullerton Deluxe S-500 features the following:

• Swamp Ash body with Honey burst finish, 8.2 pounds
• Modern Classic neck profile, 9.5" radius
• Glossy vintage tint maple neck with maple fretboard
• Medium jumbo frets
• G&L split and drilled tuners
• Three-ply pearl pickguard
• 3 G&L Magnetic Field Design pickups
• Passive Volume, Treble and Bass controls
• 5-way pickup switch
• Mini toggle for neck + bridge pickup
• G&L Dual Fulcrum Vibrato with plated brass saddles
• Plek?? laser guided fret finishing
• Tolex hardshell case

In terms of build quality and hardware, the Fullerton Deluxe series in no different than a build-to-order G&L. It is essentially a built-to-stock guitar that gives dealers and customers access to high quality, attractive instruments without the wait of a build-to-order guitar. With it's swamp ash body and glossy finish neck, it's no stripper model, and the Honey burst finish is one of our personal favorites. Plus the optional upgrades (finish, body wood, gloss neck, pickguard) are at a savings over it's built-to-order sibling.

We also like the pairing of swamp ash and the MFD pickups, which results in strong low end performance, more midrange clarity than alder, and a clean sweet top end. It's a good match for pickups that have a lot of midrange presence like the G&L S-500 pickups. Speaking of which...

The G&L S-500 is a departure from the traditional tones of a Legacy or typical Strat?? type guitar. G&L designed the S-500 MFD pickups with an eye towards better balance on more usable tones in all positions. Built somewhat like a P-90 pickup, 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 the low resistance results in a very even frequency response. Compared to the traditional ALNICO Legacy 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, which is truly usable, and lacks the thin, brittle sound common to many guitars of this type.

This guitar will appeal to players who love the idea of a Legacy or Strat?? but need a fuller sound that is still single coil in nature. The fatter midrange and smooth high end of the MFD pickup is great for driving pedals and producing thick, complex distortion. It's not the glassy scooped sound of a traditional vintage pickup, but in many ways it's a lot more useful in the context of a band. 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 hard rock. The position 2 and 4 "in-between" tones also 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.

G&L's Modern Classic neck profile with 9.5" radius provides a slim profile popular with many players, and a 1-11/16" nut width that reduces any possibility of string falloff on the high E string. Essentially a re-engineered version of G&L's Slim C profile, it's what many players have been asking for, and is a great combination a features for both chords and single note work. And as with every USA G&L, the Plek?? fret finishing assures consistent playing all along the neck and easy setups.

They say that insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. The G&L S-500 breaks this cycle, and is the natural evolution of Fender's timeless design, tailored to suit more modern styles of music without forgetting its heritage. The S-500 is a professional quality instrument for players who want to keep one foot in tradition, and one foot firmly planted in rock 'n roll.