G&L Legacy Special Shoreline Gold Rosewood Locking Tuners

This G&L Legacy Special features the following standard and upgraded appointments:

• Shoreline Gold finish on Alder, 8.2 pounds
• Clear Satin finish maple neck 
• Modern Classic Profile, 1-11/16" nut, 9.5" radius
• Indian Rosewood fingerboard
• Bone nut
• Tortoise Shell pickguard 
• G&L DF Dual Fulcrum Vibrato
• (2) G&L Dual Blade Pickups (4.9K resistance)
• (1) G&L Power Blade Pickups (7.3K resistance)
• 5-way pickup switch
• G&L PTB passive treble and bass tone controls
• Locking tuners
• G&L deluxe fitted Tolex Case
• Made in Fullerton, California

The G&L Legacy Special clearly follows the form of Leo's "other" guitar, the Stratocaster. And other than the blade pickups, this guitar is a standard G&L Legacy. Alder is the classic wood for this type of guitar, and complements the Dual Blade pickups nicely. With firm midrange punch and a moderate top end, alder provides good sonic support, and keeps them from sounding overly thin and bright. 

The G&L Dual Blade pickups add the benefit of low-noise operation while producing a warmer fuller tone than the traditional Alnico single coils. The output is also a couple notches higher, which benefits pedal performance. The neck and middle pickups emulate the single coil style quite nicely, but with a slightly rounded high end and a fuller midrange and bass. That classic glassy sound is less pronounced, but in exchange you get a pickup with more punch and less tendency to get overly bright at higher volumes. Overdriven sounds are smoother and fuller with plenty of complexity. Compared to conventional high output single coil pickups, the G&L Dual Blade design provides added beef with better fidelity and less midrange muddiness. And G&L's handy passive treble and bass controls make it easy to trim the bottom end for a leaner traditional sound. So when you want the slightly metallic, bouncy low end of an Alnico single coil pickup, you can get it.

The Power Blade bridge pickup is wound hotter but still has nice clarity and good note definition. Again there is more midrange and slightly less high end extension, but for many this is desirable and makes the bridge pickup much more usable. It's got more sparkle and less snarl than a P90, but enough body to cure the ice-pick brittleness typical of a vintage bridge pickup. When overdriven, it's an awesome rock machine with good body, smooth highs and plenty of harmonic content. It's perfect for classic rock tones that require both punch and drive but with clarity.

In relation to tonal capabilities, the G&L DF Vibrato is also noteworthy. Rather than relying on a few springs and wood screws, it is an improved design that has the bridge floating on two adjustable hardened steel studs mounted in large brass body anchors. This type of floating mechanism allows the player to bend notes upward or downward with commendable tuning stability. Paired with the versatile Dual Blade pickups, there are endless possibilities for soaring sound creations.

The neck on profile on this guitar is the standard Modern Classic complete with a beautiful Indian Rosewood fretboard. The Modern Classic profile blends a slightly wider nut width with G&L's Slim C profile, and a 9.5" radius fretboard. The wider nut reduces the chance of string falloff, and the slimmer profile and 9.5" radius keeps the extra width from feeling cumbersome. The Modern Classic profile has been a hit with just about everyone, and while G&L offers several profiles the "MCNK" is the solid favorite.

Several guitar makers have been stuffing hot pickups into Strat-style guitars for years, but in the process losing the true essence of this famous design. The G&L Legacy Special successfully bridges the need for more output and fuller sound while still retaining the clarity and sensitivity that made this style of guitar a rock and roll icon.