My New G&L S500 Strat ....

[rogerbayliss]

I ended up buying a G&L S500 after trying the Legacy and S500. Very happy with it and it does a great Shadows sound. I think the tone controls are great much better than a normal strat and the trem is nice and works very well.

Heres some pictures



G&L S500 Strat Pictures

[asimmd]

Hi Roger

Lovely looking guitar i am sure you will have many hours of enjoyment from it.

May i ask where you got it from as they don't seem to be readily available.

Alan

[rogerbayliss]

Thanks Alan I am very pleased with it although I have done a setup on it myself as I preferred to do it to my own taste.

You are right I struggled to find a dealer in the UK although they are readily available on the well known auction site. In the end I located a shop whose link I will put below in Stratford upon Avon. I had to try them out before I bought one and was wondering about the sound differences between the Legacy and the S500 so I needed to play them. I thought the Legacy would be the one with the Strat Shadows sound but after playing the S500 I realised it had the right sounds and was more flexible overall. They do not do this finish on the Tribute series anymore so I dropped lucky ! When I left the shop he only had 2 Trbute series Legacys left. No USA models either.

The tremolo steel block is not the cheap alloy either it is a proper steel job and the tremolo is really good. I thought the Pickups would be too full sounding but on mine they are not and Leo Fender worked his magic again on this S Type guitar.


Here is the shops link.


Richards Guitars Stratford

[asimmd]

Thanks Roger

Can we aspect some sound demo's any time soon?

Alan

[rogerbayliss]

I might do a sound file when I get chance, maybe sometime later next week

[rogerbayliss]

Some details about G&L pickups I found on the internet which may be of interest. The PU's on my guitar the S500 are 4th in the list.

Mine has an Ash body and the MFD pickups sound great however the Tribute series S500 normally is made with a Mahogany body and not sure if that would darken the sound overall.



G&L Pickups specs

[skcee]

a bit funny -- a couple of months ago I bought a S-500 tribute second-hand. Tobacco sunburst, mahogany body. The only thing I cannot get used to is the wider fretboard at the nut. But yes it is a great guitar, and my opinion - far better than MIM-strats in the same pricerange

Regards
Søren

Denmark

[rogerbayliss]

I used the S500 at the Hankies club last night and 4 different players tried it out. It gave out a great Shadows sound which was as good as any other strat I have heard at the club in fact it more of less nailed the sounds. So I whole heartedly recommend the S500 in Ash body and I am very happy with the results after taking a risk with an unfamiliar guitar with different PUs to the usual alnico type. Leo Fender scores again with this guitar sheer genius.

[baz]

Hi Roger.....guess this proves the point that a good set of single coils on a decent lump of wood (looks like swamp ash?) is going to make very Fendery noises. Leos genius was in recognising this 60 years ago.


Baz

PS.have bought and sold guitars from Richard.................a real genuine guy with a passion for his business.

[rogerbayliss]

Yes Baz I dealt with Richard directly and he was an absolute gent and keen to realise customers expectations. He was not pushy etc and left me trying the guitar out and making up my own mind. He also knocked a little off the price and gave me some strings.

G&L also do some great Basses and telcaster style guitars....

[rogerbayliss]

Have put up a live soundfile of the guitar for you interest...


Peace Pipe G&L S500 Strat Live