the masterpiece guitars that just vanished

Added: 2026-06-02

[00:00:00]So, a couple of years ago, I started for the first time doing some research on this one guitar player from the '7s. And it was really interesting because he wasn't really like a lot of the guitar players that I had been used to listening to before. He wasn't a shredder, even in comparison to some of the slower blues guys that I was listening to. He was mainly known for these really steady rock and roll rhythms. and he was from a band that I had almost no history with outside of just maybe knowing a few of their more famous song titles. And his name, in case you hadn't already guessed, was Mr. Keith Richards. Now, in starting this quest down the Keith Richards rabbit hole, there were a lot of individual segments that I wanted to cover. I started listening to tunes, finding out about the history, and I also began getting my first glimpses into the world of his gear. and his gear really started to fascinate me for a number of reasons.

[00:00:58]You see, his rig wasn't like any of the previous that I had had any knowledge in my wheelbarrow. I remember seeing his 5 W Champ and once I had started playing through one, thinking to myself just how completely different this thing is from all of the tones that I had been chasing over the years. But there was one other piece of gear that I was looking into that he was associated with, even more so than that champ. You see, in the early days of my guitar playing journey, I had never really been a telly guy. I thought they were solely for country players, which I was about the furthest thing from ever being. And also, I was just into a bunch of different guitars at the time. But over the years, that would begin to shift as my eyes were opened to this completely new world of two pickup. And the Keith Richards research only amplified this because I began to experience this style of guitar in a way that I hadn't truly done before. You see, I had played non-traditional setups before. In fact, the first tea style that I had ever owned was this Michael Kelly alternative that I had bought way back in 2017.

[00:02:04]along with the fact that this was my first time ever playing a true t-style HS setup. I had played the James Valentine signature before, but I don't think anyone in any world is calling that anything close to this. But here's the deal. Even though I was really excited to do this video and get this guitar in my hands, there was one small change that I wanted to make that was a little bit different from the way that Keith had done it. You see, I had been playing this line of guitars for years called G&L. And I had first discovered them through this Legacy that I bought, this guitar store, and I had gotten acquainted with a number of their guitars, but this was really the first time I was seeing something outside of the S-style models, and it was really fascinating. Fast forward about 2 years, and I start hearing some rumors going around about this guitar. Well, correction. Actually, the entire gear world started hearing some rumors about how G&L might be closing its doors. I think the reason this one hit just a little bit harder and made me a little bit more sad is because for years before any of the videos had done well before Strat players had discovered Ivanz, Silver Sky, or the Shectors, my one and only Strat that I had owned was the G&L Legacy. I had played gigs with it. I had recorded it. I had used it in a lot of the early days on this channel in some of the first True Gear videos that I ever did. And now this company, this company that was the reason that I even took alternatives outside of like sir seriously in the first place was gone.

[00:03:40]And that butterscotch guitar I recently realized is one of the few things I have to remember them by. So today I want to show you that guitar. a guitar that in the words of Khan from Star Trek Into Darkness is kind of a remnant of a time once past. And I want to tell you what it was specifically about the G&L ASAC classic blues boys that made them so special and so unique. Starting with the construction, because from a distance, with the exception of the headstock, this probably just to most people would look like any old Fender. But once you get into the weeds, you start seeing some of the individual things they did that set these things apart because everything you'd expect is there.

[00:04:22]bolt-on neck, 9 and 12 in radius, maple fingerboard, but you also have, like we were talking about before, this headstock, which some people love and some people don't love, and even more into just functionality more than aesthetics.

[00:04:37]Six individual brass saddles, which this guitar was the first time I'd experienced that in that style, right next to these pickups, which are one of the signature things in any of the G&L's that I had seen before. But instead of just telling you why that matters, I think it's better if I showed you. So, how we're going to be doing this today, going to be going guitar straight into Tone King Royalist. And I guess we're just going to see what happened.

[00:06:12]So, like we were talking about before, there are a few really key things tonally that help separate something like this, not just from the mainstream name brands, but from just more traditional T-style guitars in general.

[00:06:24]The first and most obvious being the humucker in the neck. Now, being a guy who's gotten more and more familiar over the years with the telly sound, especially when it comes to neck pickup, because I'm a neck pickup guy, when you begin to play something like this, it almost starts to throw you off a little bit.

[00:07:40]Now, the neck was one thing. It was a whole other thing once it got to the middle position. And it wasn't even just about the middle position being different. But I think in the mental adjustment that my brain was making going from something much darker in the neck to something like this.

[00:08:11]Of course, finally making our way over to the bridge position, which is where some of the real G&Lisms come into play, especially with these being MFD pickups.

[00:08:37]MFD standing for magnetic field design which are ceramic based pickups which according to them yield twice the output per wine and which by reputation are supposed to be higher output and a bit warmer. And it's interesting to experience them both clean.

[00:09:27]And with a little bit of added grit.

[00:09:40]Heat. Heat.

[00:09:49]Heat. Heat.

[00:10:20]But even with the bridge pickup, having the MFD and having that really cool different thing in the bridge, for me, it always really came back to that neck pickup.

[00:11:20]Mhm.

[00:11:34]So, at the end of the day, what's the moral of the story and what did we learn concerning something like this? And I think for me, and probably for a lot of people, G&L was really our gateway into alternatives for like a lot of the mainstream guitar brands. And I think the more that I learn about gear, the more that I understand that what really made something like this brand cool was that it wasn't always just about quality. I mean, the quality was great, but those little innovations like with the MFD pickups or those little things that you don't usually see like construction-wise having the six saddles like they set these guitars apart. They made them special and it's why I played this brand for so long. But I don't think it matters why I played them or what I think. What matters is what you think.

[00:12:26]So, please let me know. What did you think of G&L? What was your favorite G&L guitar? What are you going to miss most about these guys right here? Let me know in the comments. Anyways, thank you so much for watching this video. I really do love these guitars and I have for a long time and it is very sad to see just what happened to this company. But it's also fun to reminisce over just how great I thought they were. But if you want to know anything more about the ASAT Classic Blues Boy, I I honestly I don't know where to tell you to get one. I think you can probably get some like on reverb or something. But if you want to know anything else about any of the other gear that we used in this video, I'll have all the links down below. Make sure to check them out. It's one of the best ways to support the channel if that's something you want to do. Or if you're just curious about something like the camera or the mics, I'll have all those links down there, too. Thank you so much to all of my patrons. There's some extra exclusive content on there if you want to join the community. Like and subscribe if you had a good time. Most importantly, like most important of all, have a fantastic night.