SDOTD G&L ASAT Bluesboy

[roylor4]

[QUOTE=warfrat73;6984488]It showed up today. Made in China, as opposed to the Tribute which is made in Indonesia.

It's not bad. I like the looks. It's a little bit lighter than the Tribute (which is nice). Tuners feel good, solid, tight. Finish feels nice, it doesn't FEEL like one of those super thick cheap finishes. The frets are on the small side (which seems odd). The neck is nice, pretty close to the Tribute, I think I like this one a touch better... the fretboard looks better (my tribute has some dark grain lines on it which don't look great). The setup is atrocious, I need to take care of that. The bridge is definitely of lesser quality, but it doesn't feel bad or cheap.

Hard to say without addressing the setup, but the bridge pickup on the Tribute seems hotter and more full. The humbucker in the neck seemed pretty muddy and boring at first, but once the tubes in my Fender '65 DRRI got warmed up, it started to come around. I seem to recall having a DiMarzio PAF lying around somewhere...hmmm.

Not bad at all for $275.

I had a Tribute Bluesboy for several years as my main gigger. The hardware and build were quite solid. The neck humbucker was atrocious - muddy and dull. I essentially used it like an Esquire, as the only satisfying position on it stock was the bridge pickup (which was actually very good).

I could've tried another pickup at the neck but the BB was very heavy, so opted to sell it and buy a Squier thinline Tele w/dual HB's. That one was a keeper.

I suspect a pickup swap will make it a great player. Hope you enjoy it!

[GoPappy]

I just noticed that MF has this guitar on the SDOTD again, except this time it's the two single coil version and in Quartz Blue, for $270.

Warfrat, how are you liking yours?

[warfrat73]

Originally Posted by GoPappy

I just noticed that MF has this guitar on the SDOTD again, except this time it's the two single coil version and in Quartz Blue, for $270.

Warfrat, how are you liking yours?

As I said, I think it's pretty good for the price. I like the neck pretty well, the frets are kind of small. It feels good. The setup is pretty bad (I haven't had a chance to address that yet).

[warfrat73]

I'll start another thread later.... I got a chance to do a setup last night, the nut slots for the low E and A in particularly were almost comically high.

Tentatively, I think I like it a little bit better than the Tribute ASAT Classic, just marginally. I like the looks of it a lot more, the Sonic Blue on the tribute just doesn't really do it for me (it's like white with a hint of blue). I like the neck a bit more. The tuners are about the same, maybe a touch more slop in these (though could just as easily be my imagination). The bridge on the Tribute is a bit "better," it goes have the brass saddles, but from a practical standpoint I don't think it much matters, this is solid. The selector switch on the Tribute feels a bit more solid, but this one works just fine. It has a pretty nice resonant acoustic tone.

I was playing it through my cheap practice amp, a Line6 Spider II that I paid about $40 for. I found the neck pickup much more satisfactory last night, and in particular was enjoying it with the selector in the middle position and a little bit of chorus, getting a really pleasant lush sound reminiscent of Jerry Garcia's tone when I played around with the intro to Morning Dew.

I'd say worth the money. I hopped on Musicians Friend last night to double check the body wood (poplar), and was a bit surprised to find that they had nine (9!) open box ones that they were trying to move, and were asking more than they were during the SDOTD... it seems like not everybody was happy with them.