Fenders Biggest Rival Has A Secret Weapon.
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- Опубліковано 8 чер 2024
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What's your favorite G&L Model?
Rampage, but I always wanted an L2000.
rampage!
edit: lol i was editing this and was gonna say “cuz of jerry cantrell and then you said it as soon as i typed it in the vid 😂
Lefty F-100 I got in 1981, double humbuckers, great sounding guitar. Lefty George Fullerton model I got in October 2004 for my 50th birthday, it's a copy of a 1957 Strat but with a 5 position switch. My favorite Strat, gotta love G&L's. The fact that I grew up in mid 60's in Placentia, CA right next to Fullerton where the original Fender factory was and the G&L factory is right down the road from there on Fender Ave. might have something to do with it.
I had a Comanche hollowbody strat which was build perfectly. I could not get used to the sound and after two years I sold it again…
S-500 and ASAT Special. Sold my strat and my tele and kept the G&Ls.
Leo Fender went on record many times saying G&L guitars were the best guitars he ever made. Everybody should try one at some point.
Just because he believed that doesn't make it true for everyone. but I personally think they are just about equivalent to Fender. My Strat is still my favorite guitar though.
@@SixStringSlinger1 That’s why I said people should try em, not drop everything and buy one. I’d personally be hard pressed to find a guitar that takes my attention off my Kramers.
Try where?! Never seen one in person
@@dpajc056 I’ve seen used G&L’s in plenty of Guitar Centers, Sam Ash, stuff like that.
That sold me.
I dont like what Fender has become but want a classic start style guitar and I've always been eyeing G&L and now I know why.
Fender himself did the same thing with the pickup in the P-bass: a humbucking pickup, with one coil for half the strings, and the other coil for the other half. Single coil sound, but hum cancelling.
Exactly. It’s always been better sounding than stacked ones.
Artec makes a fantastic
J bass pup that uses this construction.
And Fralin makes strat pups w that method too.
Split-coil !
As did Musicman with the bridge J pickup on the Caprice. Its not staggered but is wired EA DG as two humbucking coils.
Wasn't fenďer xii the same
@@hughschick6847Amazing info I was using p Bass pickup for Strat. Should try These
G&L are massively underrated.
My G&L not-strats are the best strats I've ever played, were very economically priced, and are my main guitars.
They are slightly more popular with bassists, but I think the problem is the headstock: it's hideous
@@thierry18I was going to reply the same exact thing you just did until I saw you already said it. I can't bring myself to buy one and it's only because of the headstock
@thierry18 it looks like a woman on her back. if you see it like that its not so bad😂
@@GabeHelma It looks like a pregnant woman to me!
Fender's biggest rival turns out to be Leo Fender himself.
The ultimate story arc
@@RobertBakerGuitar George Fullerton and Leo Fender (in their CLF Research era) also originated Music Man guitars, including the bridge design and the 4+2 headstock, after the former Fender employs who started it as an amp company decided they wanted to get into guitars. The Ball Family's bad behavior (to put it mildly) when they took over Music Man led George and Leo to found G&L Guitars, and Sterling Ball has kept the tradition alive (See also: PMT's patented Guitar Max, which EBMM turned into their Game Changer without authorization).
@@RobertBakerGuitarToo real
Not without reason were they so scared of Leo Fender. When CBS bought the Fender company, they gave him a real bad contract, stating that for ten years Leo couldn't start or even help any other git-/amp-company!
A lot of '50s to mid '60s innovations came from Leo Fender. Most of the tone controls in our modern amps, even HiFi, come from him. Not sure he invented all, but he was the first in America to implement that all.
🚀🏴☠️🎸
Robert - you completely missed the point of the PTB circuit. It's not meant to be played on "10" - you start on "5" and dial them in to the tone you want (push or cut the bass and treble). You can get everything from vintage Strat tones to P90s and a lot of really usable tones in between. As you get into the larger MFD pickups, the tone changes are more dramatic. This was the genius of Leo Fender.
I'd say the starting point is more like 7 on each dial, but otherwise agree.
Oh really? Thought since they're passive controls they'd take away a bit much at "5". But I could see having them at like 7 or 8 by default. I actually put that circuit into a Partscaster, but ended up with the knobs on 10 most of the time anyway.
I’ve had a custom shop Comanche for 9 years. It’s clear, cuts thru, and has an empress wood body just under 6lbs. The bass cut knob is very versatile. Killer guitar
Ash body?
@@stamppedals3536 no I ordered mine specifically with Empress wood for the body. Very light weight
IMO, the G&L slayed the Strat. Much clearer, louder, and less harsh in the high end.
And less noise
Yes, the majority of the reason I don’t like ceramic pick ups they’re just so biting and tribal is just off the hook sometimes
Pickups in g&l are wayyyyyy better
As a noob I have to agree. Maybe, just maybe it sounded a little too clean and clear? I'm thinking the Strat would fit better in a smoky bar, some dude sits on a stool in a corner and just plays a bit. Then again, nobody smokes anymore so that vibe is probably not valid...
@@sirtogii5216 🤡👍🏻
My opinion, and I stress OPINION, you may need to clean your Strat, cuz the G&L just pooped all over it! Again, just my opinion.
100% Robert's strat sound fizzy and with bad saturation when he plays dynamically harder
Yea I thought the g&l sounded better
That's not an opinion. More an unbalanced insult lacking an intellectual basis.
@@ChrisShortyAllen What ? I bet you're fun at parties....! Totally unnecessary and rather childish comment...
@@ChrisShortyAllen ChrisPoopAllen
1. G&L is not Fender's biggest rival, not by a long shot
2. The "tone" controls are a Bass Cut and Treble Cut, significantly more usable than standard Tone controls IMO
I thought G&L IS Fender?? it's not a rival
@@vincentl.9469 It was founded by Leo Fender (and George Fullerton) but it is not owned by Fender.
@@justafase I see. Those Z pickups seem to be a cross between the original Fender wide range humbucker and stacked noiseless single coils
@justafase you could say that G&L's are cousins with Fender
@@vincentl.9469 They are the same structure as the P-Bass pickup, just they are for a six-string.
That switch to bring in the neck with the bridge is a "Gilmore" mod.
And a Tele middle switch position.
Gilmour.
#pedantmode
I regularly remove the middle tone pot from my Strats and put the switch in there for the mod. It's such a great tone.
@@JohnLloydDavis I changed the electronics on my strat a bit where I have 1 master tone and the second tone knob is now a knob where I can dial in the amount of the neck pick up. Works very well
@@jeroenwoeltjes6823 That's a good idea, not thought of that.
I like that the pickups were less scooped. Even the neck had plenty of mids, which is a nice difference from the scooped strat neck pickup.
Once you get used to the bass rolloff, and when to use it, you'll find it becomes pretty key. One of my first mods on a stock guitar and my go-to for anything home assembled is that PTB circuit
A lot of pros use treble boosts, bass cut seems like another way to get there to me.
Love that it's built in and not a separate box at the start of your chain.
To properly compare the neck pickup, slightly turn down the volume and bass knobs on Comanche. This is the secret of the PTB system, made by the genius Leo Fender. G&L guitars with MFDs and Z-Coils are not meant to be played exclusively at 10. There is a whole different wonder world down there, hehe.
This! Love z-coils
100% correct. This review was not a good representation of what the Comanche can do.
that bass contour literally dials in any given era or model of Fender pickup. I can also make my Skyhawk HH go full strat or tele when coil split using the bass contour. In H mode they are modern and great sounding pickups, but is rare to find an H with a good sounding coil split.
+1 for the PTB system being really cool. It's a genius idea really.
@@hearpalhere Reverend does it too. The genius of it isn't that hard to figure out. Different capacitors filter out different frequencies. I believe the same value capacitor is in the treble bleed circuit.
G&L is by far the best evolution of what Fender should have been. Leo really put his best into these.
Try bass cut on fuzz - very useful. Also useful for muddy overdrive pedals if you wanna clean it up
Thank you so much for covering this. To my generation at least, I feel like G&L haven't done much of a job selling themselves and talking about the innovations that Leo made while with them. Like you, I was only really familiar with Cantrell's use of the Rampage. They'd do themselves a great service to put out a video explaining all the improvements Leo made to his classic designs and promoting the hell out of it. Otherwise I think lots of players assume that (like with the headstock) many of the changes were more of a matter of copyright or brand distinguishment rather than technical innovation.
I like the treble cut and bass cut circuits. They don't work like anything else, so you can get tones you can't reach on other guitars.
Reverend guitars also have this
The treble cut is actually a regular tone control, the bass cut is simple but cleaver, because if you put it wide open it's completely bypassed for 'regular" tones, so that purists can still have it on their guitar without problems
@@tesco24 Reverend uses a different treble-bleed circuit and a different bass capacitor.
unless you have an EQ
@@peterg5383 you can get real close but it's not quite the same. For example I use the bass cut knob to clean up fuzz pedals, EQ pedals might introduce buffers and other stuff that wouldn't work just the same. I have to agree, though, that EQ pedals are some of the most useful tools a guitarist can buy, and many people would spend a lot less on other stuff if they bought and properly learnt how to use EQ
The bass roll off is important for those pickups because they sound too full to match with normal single coils. Roll off a little bass and a little volume and your pretty much there. Or just enjoy it for what it is with everything on full
I’ve got three G&Ls; Legacy HB, S-500, ASAT Bluesboy. They are each unique and excellent guitars.
You should check out the ASAT Z3 too.
A friend of mine had an S-500 in the late 90s. I still think about that guitar. It was the best sounding Strat that I’ve ever heard.
The Z-Coil pickups are awesome. In addition, the G&L Dual Fulcrum bridge is one of the best out there. Extremely well thought out and built and it feels wonderful. I have one of the earlier Comanche's from 1989 with the different body style and it's been a workhorse since I bought it brand new. The ASAT Specials are also a different but fantastic take on a Tele. Once again, on the ASAT, Leo outdid himself on that bridge design and the MFD large pickups sound amazing. For a radio repair guy, Mr. Fender came up with some incredible stuff for us guitar players, starting with Fender, then Music Man and finally G&L.
Well said.G & L guitars are fantastic.
I played em for many years. Still love em. Your playing sounds great on the opening track!
Wow the G&L has more "Note" definition and cleaner/clearer Mids, the Fender is more blurry on the mid and has some fizzy, distorted tone, specially when Robert plays harder ...I really prefer way more the sound of the G&L
G&L's pickups and designs are genius. Now I will say, that something I like about vintage staggered single coils is that what happens to be their biggest shortcoming is also one of their biggest strengths if that makes any sense, and that would be the quack and chime they provide. However, it also helps if you're someone who uses compressors on your pedalboard. That immediately fixes the downfall of vintage staggered pups.
i have a fretless authentic 2007 butterscotch blonde usa comanche and i also have a replacement neck with stainless steel frets. the trem, the wood, the construction, and the pickups are fantastic. the two things i did was 1.shielding it with aluminium tape and 2.changing the circuit to a master volume (without the stock treble bleed capacitor) and i also changed the to 2 treble cut tone controls. one for the neck and one for the hotter bridge pickup. the middle pickup has no tone control. also the value of the two different capacitors is fine tuned for each pickup. i used lower capacitance values from 0.22, so the tone controls only cut a smaller amount of treble. just enough for making the high gain sounds smooth but never muddy. i also got rid of the mini switch, because it gets in the way of my fingers and once it caught my pinky between the knob and the switch. the guitar is built like a tank. the neck pocket and the trem inserts are superior to any other guitar in any price range. also the wood grade is closer to fender custom shop and has nothing to do with mass produced fenders. this does not mean that fenders or other stratocaster copies are not good. but G&L is certainly better made in its price range, compared to anything else i have seen and i dont say it lightly. i have played innumerable guitars in 43 years, especially pricey or, custom or, original vintage models and only in the 5k and up of very few custom build makers there is a neck pocket and a sturdy bridge like that. thanx for the demo.
When I finally decided to invest in a strat style guitar my research lead me to buying an S-500. (The asian models use the same pickups as the Fullerton models.) It's got everything a fender does plus extra tones and bigger output. I eventually got an ASAT Special to get a T-style guitar without being stuck with too much twang. The jumbo MFD pickups are a unique design worth exploring.
The "Bass Contour" (Reverend Guitar's name for it, they have a slightly different circuit but same function) is good for Fuzz.
Yeah I love this feature personally on my Legacy, great for heavy overdrive style sounds for sure
I have a partsocaster project paused for other work which combines the G&L PTB circuit with per-pickup volume controls and a trio a Railhammer Humcutters (Neuvo 90 set neck and middle, Heavy 90 bridge); some other features will give it more than 1,000 tonal options with which to use those five knobs (two concentric, one standard).
@@Robstafarian And the pot that isn't concentric, you can make a push-pull to add an invisible switch to bypass the treble roll-off circuit if you want that icepick-in-the-forehead bright bridge pickup sound.
@@mal2ksc I have not been able to find a push/pull or push/push 1MΩ C (reverse audio) taper pot from any vendor. I know part numbers from various manufacturers, including my preferred manufacturer Bourns, but no one stocks them.
Interesting. I like the Z pups. More bite, mid range growl. Maybe you should keep this one Robert!
I have an HSS Chapman ML1 that just had a 3 way toggle stock. Slapped some Duncans in there, and added a toggle just like that, but for the middle pup. Basically wired it up as a 2 pickup axe and then bring in the middle pup with the toggle for in between tones, or all 3 pups at once in the middle position.
G&L's trem bridge is awesome, I've had quite of nit of success keeping it in tune even with some decent bending.
Absolutely on the G&L bridges. I have a ‘97 legacy special and I hardly ever have to tune it. Just so well designed and made. Easy on palm too when resting on the bridge or palm muting. Rock on, time to go play the guitar now haha
That thing is sweet. I modded my strat with a similar tone expander. I use a no load pot, and wired it to the hot wires of the bridge and neck pickups. At 10, it is off, as the no load disconnects completely. But as I roll it back, it blends in the pickups in. Some interesting sounds are found through the middle of the range, and at 0, it is a straight connection.
The MFD pickups are built like P-90s, but designed to sound like tele (ASAT classic), strat (S-500) and now jazzmaster (Doheny) pickups. However they have more output, so if you ever wanted Fender pickups to be louder, check out G&L.
They are definitely louder 😂
None of the MFD pickups is built like P90. The MFD pickups have a bar magnet underneath each coil which is magnetized on the vertical axis (rather than the lateral axis as in P90 and humbucker bar magnets): they get their volume from their flux density and their treble extension from their low winds. You can see the basic structure in US Patent 4,220,069 granted to C. Leo Fender on September 2, 1980.
I wanted a Strat in the mid-90s. I ran the racks at every local music store checking out Fender American Strats. Then I played a 1996 G&L Legacy (USA made). Done deal. It just had something special. Still have that guitar and it's in excellent shape despite lots of play time over the years. The Reverend Jetstream 390 has my attention (3 P-90s) as a vaguely strat like thing that's not a Strat.
Also been playing my P-90 equipped Reverend a lot lately too! Out of curiosity how do the tone circuits compare to the Comanche? Obviously different pickup types but I love the bass roll off on the Reverend and was curious if they are comparable at all
Split coils, like the 2nd Gen PBass pickups. The passive tone circuit stuff is pretty geniusy.
About 15 years ago I was on the look for a "silent Strat" and it came down to the Comanche and PRS NF3. I loved both of them even though they sounded quite different, but both checked all the boxes for me. It finally came down to weight and the PRS was over a pound lighter so that's the one that came home with me. No regrets to this day, but I could still see getting a Comanche if the weight and the price were right.
G&Ls are amazing and super underrated. Their passive treble bass circuit is so flexible and useful. I have 3 G&Ls; a Comanche, ASAT Special, and SB-2. ASAT Special is a tele on steroids. If you haven’t played one highly recommend it. Bet it becomes your favorite t style guitar. I don’t play my 71 strat anymore and sold my 75 tele deluxe after getting my G&Ls.
The z coils are pretty cool. They're really humbuckers. Bass side gets a coil, treble side gets a coil. Clever way to get him cancelling.
Mine is an ASAT Deluxe Tribute (T-style archtop HH w/ coil split) from Indonesia. Its bridge is the most comfortable for palm muting I've played; kudos to G&L.
the Comanche has more lows and more highs than an average strat so you really need to work those T&B cut controls to get it to sound closer to a strat
I worked for G&L back in the mid 80's, back when metal was at its peak.
Leo didn't cater to the metal heads at all, and I was playing a BC Ritch.
Thier fretboard radius was always too small, and I could never get good action out of them.
On the other hand, they were very well made to last a lifetime.
The BC Rich or the G&L had a small radius and bad action?
@RobertBakerGuitar the neck is two pieces, but not in the traditional way. The neck is made and then splitted in two halves to introduce the truss rod.
I had a nice ASAT Classic. I like higher output pickups and those are built somewhere between a Fender and P-90. I put an ASAT Classic neck pickup into a tele I built. Didn't realize I'd have to route the guitar deeper to fit. (the bar magnet is at the bottom with adjustable allen poles.)
I like the bass cut circuit enough to have built one for myself. I reversed the position of the Treble and Bass knobs though, as I'm using a push-pull pot in the Treble spot as my Expander switch. (Well sort of, it just brings in the neck pickup regardless of the 5-way setting so sometimes it has no effect.) Finding a C-taper 1M pot for the bass control was hard enough, they don't seem to exist in push-pull configuration. B-taper 250k pots on the other hand (which is what the Treble bleed uses) are widely available with push-pull switches in them. I want the sticky-outy knob as far from my right hand as possible so the treble goes in the bottom slot and the bass goes in the middle.
I have a 2004 G&L ASAT Will Ray Special that has custom Z Coil pickups. The guitar body is Swamp Ash with skull inlays for fret markers and also has a b bender. It is a stunning guitar and plays and sounds like a dream.
Those pickups were on mid-60's Fenders. They were also on some Japanese guitars in the late 60's and early 70's. The Seth Lover humbuckers of the early 70's did the same thing but in a standard humbucker housing. It's basically the same thing as a Fender Precision pickup.
One of the secrets behind Purple Rain: Wendy played the famous 4 chords with her Rickenbacher330, and she had replaced the pickups with G&L pickups, maybe the big ones from the ASAT
A few years ago I bought a secondhand Tribute S-500 (import, made in Korea) and while it didn’t have the Z coils it did have the same switching and tone controls. One of the best used guitars I ever bought - I especially loved the bass control. To my ears, it dialled in a sound reminiscent of “Long Cool Woman” by the Hollies
Here's one other thing you missed, Robert. The pole pieces on the z-Pickups are adjustable, giving you more customization of the overall sound of your guitar.
I have G&L's since 2008 and a Comanche since a few years ... on the same price range, they are far better than the Fenders in my opinion (subjective but hey you asked 😉)... and the thing which is great (like with some Sterling by Music Man (that is also a brand Leo Fender co created) or Schecters') is that the entry level ones (made in Asia) have ALL, US mechanics, bridges and pickups ! which means that there is no need to buy a Made in US model as to have the best sound out of it ! If you want to test others, I would recommend the Fallout model which is an incredible light and small versatile guitar with its P90 and a splittable Humbucker but as well the ASAT Telecaster thinline model with two single coils ... a beast ... I have all of them 😃
Beautiful finish!
I own a Comanche. And I like to say it’s a single coil guitar for people who mostly play humbuckers.
I never tried one but the bass knob might be good for cleaning up mud or just sharper attack when needed. Maybe I'll wire one up on one of my lying around guitars
I've played quite a few of Leo's Big 3 (Fender, G&L, Music Man) and I've always preferred G&L and MM over Fender. The fit and finish have always been superior, and tones have been clearer and fuller, both on guitar and bass. As stated, just my personal opinion and preference
I have a G&L Asat (tribute) with the MFD pickups. If you haven't tried those pickups yet you should. They are different. Also I just saw a clip from G&L saying they are bringing back the Rampage.
More Rampages with Kahlers please.
@@GuitarGuy4647Took the words right outta my mouth! A GOOD quality, well set up Kahler trounces a Floyd for heavy handed players and you don't have to fight them all the time like the stupid high tension/ metric fucking foot pounds of pressure that Floyd's require😂😂😂
Bass players have known about that pickup coil configuration for literally 7 decades. The Precision bass was groundbreaking, earthshaking, and unsurpassed. I don't understand why guitarists haven't adopted the Zs in massive numbers.
I have a Legacy Special in the same honey burst as the one you’re playing and it’s awesome! As others have mentioned, G&L has all of the things Leo wanted to change about the Strat and Tele, implemented into these guitars. They rock!
Always loved the Comanche, those pickups just look too cool, man, and it's a great design. Not a big fan of the G&L headstock but for this guitar it looks right.
Really nice wood/finish on the G&L.
@RobertBakerGuitar I fell in love with a G&L Comanche but I haven’t run into one in over a year. Maple neck in Olympic white. I don’t love gloss necks because I have hot/sweaty hands, but this guitar sounded like glass to me and the feel was thicker but seemingly easy to play on. Nothing like anything else I’ve ever played.
If you like pure single coils the S500 or the Skyhawk may be a good fit, my tribute S500 became my favorite guitar immediately when I brought it home. The MFD pickups plus the PTB system just opens everything up
I LOVE the treble tone knob! It's way easier for me to balance pickups. I used to shy away from the bridge pickup. Now, I can set up a fat bridge tone, but cut through in any other position with a turn of the knob. Both tone controls are interactive. It's a great problem solving tool.
I bought a Comanche back in 1999 and it was the most expensive guitar I ever bought at the time. I always like the strat body but single coil made it sound weak but a humbucker or P90 was always too much and the Z pickups were a perfect in between that makes this the Ultimate Stratocaster. Sadly my Comanche was lost in a house fire back in 2004 but I loved it and I'm glad that it has survived after all these years!
Great playing!!!! ❤
I have the Tribute ASAT Deluxe model which I love. Two splittable humbuckers - get a lot of sounds out of it, and G&L's locking saddle bridge. All I have done is upgrade the nut to bone.
Because the pole pieces are adjustable you can bring up the power and clarity of the bass strings on the guitar to change the tone.
Even though I have stacked humbuckers in my Strat, I would love to tango around with a Comanche or at least have those pickups loaded in a Strat or even a Tele!
Check out a Tribute Series Comanche if the neck is not too small for you. Have you considered Bill Lawrence's pickup designs via Wilde Pickups (still made by his widow Becky and their daughter Shannon)? I plan to load an HSH partsocaster with an L-500C (originally, the L-510 neck pickup) in the neck, an L-298SM (noiseless strat-style middle pickup with an AlNiCo VIII bar magnet), and an L-500R (originally, the L-500 neck pickup) in the bridge; the neck and bridge in series should approximate an L-500L (originally, the L-510 bridge pickup).
I have a fender strat and a g and l Fullerton deluxe. Both from Corona California 40 years apart. Both amazing I use them both for work everyday
Gorgeous guitar
U can find the same 63 strat tone of your fender with that Comanche if u take the time to adjust the bass tones by reducing it. And with different woods. G&l uses some..
I love the channel and your take on guitars, licks, and playing styles. I never thought about it until this video that you hadn’t ventured into G&L guitars yet. I bought a G&L Comanche with the Z coils like the one you demoed, but mine was a ‘build to order’ from a local G&L distributor and the body wood selected was Okoume. You should give that variant a try if you can. With the Okoume body, the guitar weighs 7 lb 10oz, a full pound lighter than my Player Series Stratocaster, and it sounds fantastic.
Love my USA commanche, and love the z-coils. Super versitale. Can sound very strat-ish with height adjustment (move the pole pieces up), and the bass tone control is great for dialing back flub in the neck.
Had a 2001 USA and a 2021 Tribute. Both great guitars. Recently bought a Legacy Special USA (unsure what year), also one you should try. Build quality fantastic and great tonal options.
Very good sound.
I played on of these in colorado in 1998, i totally forgot. But it was z coils for sure. That guitar sounded good to my very untrained ears. Id love to try one again
Im curious about the ' Blues Boy ' too !
I've had a G&L Fallout for several years now. A true rock machine you should try.
I love the tone knobs. If you cut out the bass, you can almost get a tele sound.
G&L. George Fuller and Leo Fender. The USA models are fantastic
I have the ASAT Z3. Great range of tones.
Nice playing there my dude!
Every G&L I've ever picked up were ridiculously heavy (for me, anyway).
The G&L Jazzmaster style guitars are kind of my dream guitars. I love the look of the Jazzbucker type pickups and they come in great colours
Thank you Robert for the review❤
It seems everyone and their grandma has made a comment on the PTB circuit so here's my 2 cents.
I wrote T(Treble) on the middle knob. Then I drew a (-) sign with a curved (->) going clockwise pointing to a (+). I pretty much always leave this one at 10. Anything less has too much treble for my setup and tastes in most cases.
The 2nd tone knob I wrote B(Bass) along with the aforementioned symbols (-, ->, +) again. For me it's way too bass heavy with rhythm playing so I almost always leave that at 5 or less when playing a verse and chorus. However, when I go to solo I will crank it up a bit to around 8-10 in most cases.
This is the best way I have found to use the system for me. The nomenclature may not be 100% correct, but I understand it which is all that matters.
I love tinkering with it at home, but in most live settings I've encountered I just want something that is ready to go without a lot of Jeff Beck-esq tone fiddling and fuss. That goes for my entire rig as well. I don't have time to fiddle with equipment when I'm putting on a show as I'm usually pretty active when playing live.
Split-coil pickups are my pickups of choice. G&L Z-Coils are of interest. Meanwhile, Fralin has Split Blades and Railhammer has Humcutters. Other than that, it's often hard to tell what's what without dissection because some pickups remove half the pole pieces but still extend the coils. Meanwhile, searching for variants always gets tons of humbucker coil-splitting nonsense spamming the results.
I have a tribute series limited edition Commanche. I love it. What a fun guitar to play.
I've always been intrigued by these and the asat special since both have unique looking pickups
Got that Fender clean buzz sound. sounds great.
I had a Comanche years ago , mine had a Butterscotch finish , Rosewood neck , & black pickguard w/black Z-coils , and I ended up trading it for something else...for what I cant remember ..then I probably traded that too ! I got mine for the same reason , I had to hear those strange/cool looking pickups ! Thanks !
the three pups together really are superb sounding in that G&L
I own six guitars and the Comanche is my favorite for most things. The middle pickup does the Jerry Garcia sound so well I wish they'd make a "Comanche-Wolf" guitar with the stratoblaster, a 24 fret neck, and the OBEL.
I got a G&L Comanche recently. I haven’t touched my strat since! Amazing guitar.
Backing off the volume a bit and messing with the bass and treble will get you closer to a strat sound, but not all the way there. If you want a Strat, get the Legacy.
That would make a great studio guitar!
I've got that exact looking Comanche here at home.
Bought it second hand in 2007.
It's the oldest guitar in my collection.
Every time I play it, I remember why I'll never sell it.
I like that the g&l sounded a lot punchier but bot necessarily brighter. Like it had the same ki d of tone feel but more clarity.
I like it! Reminds me of the difference between the original P-Bass with the single coil pickup to the one with the split-coil, just now on a guitar and not just the P-style bass. I'd also say that I kinda prefer it to other noiseless single coil options I've heard. Would also be nice to hear them in a mix
Leo Fender put a split coil on the redesign of the P bass 1957. And a guitar version of them on the Electric XII on his way out the door in 1965. Vox and several Japanese brands had split coils on guitars in the 1960's as well. There's nothing new or unusual about them. If anything they're retro.
Cool guitar. I've always been curious about those, but never tried a G&L before. The pickups sound like a cross between a Strat pickup and a humbucker, kinda like the Firebird style mini humbuckers. Neck and bridge together reminds me of the middle position on a Tele. Definitely will consider one of these if I'm ever in the market for a Strat.