$350 ASAT Classic Stupid Deal

For guitars of the straight waisted variety (or reverse offset).
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Larry Mal
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$350 ASAT Classic Stupid Deal

Post by Larry Mal » Wed Dec 16, 2020 6:38 am

Back in those days, everyone knew that if you were talking about Destiny's Child, you were talking about Beyonce, LaTavia, LeToya, and Larry.

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Larry Mal
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Re: $350 ASAT Classic Stupid Deal

Post by Larry Mal » Wed Dec 16, 2020 7:39 am

I actually bought one for my father in law.
Back in those days, everyone knew that if you were talking about Destiny's Child, you were talking about Beyonce, LaTavia, LeToya, and Larry.

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Re: $350 ASAT Classic Stupid Deal

Post by Pepe Silvia » Wed Dec 16, 2020 7:59 am

This guitar was Stupid Deal of the Day in 2017 and I bought one for $300. I think a few weeks later they did it again but in a more desirable color (to me). My friend also got a similar deal on a blue one with a humbucker in the neck.

It was a nice guitar but impossible to sell when I downsized.

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Re: $350 ASAT Classic Stupid Deal

Post by Embenny » Wed Dec 16, 2020 8:05 am

G&L Tributes are a real cut above Squiers in my experience. Great deal. It's basically like if a Squier Classic Vibe came with hardware and pickups from Fender's American Professional line or something.

If it weren't for fact that the strat-bridged Doheny is their only offset, I'd probably be knee-deep in G&Ls.
Pepe Silvia wrote:
Wed Dec 16, 2020 7:59 am
It was a nice guitar but impossible to sell when I downsized.
This is the perpetual issue with the G&L ownership experience. It's a crime that such high quality guitars have such terrible resale value.

You can still buy a vintage G&L for like $800. These were guitars designed by Leo Fender, built by hand in Fullerton, California, finished in nitro, with QC, pickups and vibratos so far beyond CBS-era Fender it isn't even funny, and you can get a 40 year-old specimen in good condition for $800.
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Pepe Silvia
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Re: $350 ASAT Classic Stupid Deal

Post by Pepe Silvia » Wed Dec 16, 2020 8:27 am

I've tried a few time store buy a Leo era ASAT, they sell for $1200, with the early ones going for $2500ish (or at least they did a few years ago). You can still get a Leo era SC for under $1000 though.

I bought a lightly used G&L ASAT Special Semi-hollow for around $1k, a decent chunk off the new price but I was able to recoup that money when I sold it.

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Re: $350 ASAT Classic Stupid Deal

Post by Embenny » Wed Dec 16, 2020 10:38 am

Yeah, ASATs are the most expensive guitars from that era.

I had an SC-3 and an F-100. The F-100s are the real stars of that era, in my opinion. You can find them cheap, and they have the best pickups and electronics. The MFD humbuckers sound amazing and the coil split on them has a low pass cap on the shunted coil, so the split tone has extra bass and works with the same amo settings as the full humbucker. Plus, the whole PTB circuit on top of that.

Fantastic guitars.
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Re: $350 ASAT Classic Stupid Deal

Post by Veitchy » Wed Dec 16, 2020 2:12 pm

Kind of a shame the deal is the classic, rather than a special. In between the bridge and the pickups I think Leo got everything right with those guitars.

Personally, I think the Jumbo MFDs are the natural next step to what Leo was trying to achieve with the Jazzmaster pickup, being an articulate, reasonably wide frequency pickup that 'sees' a lot of string. Rather than going for a super-wide coil to increase the area of the magnetic field, he used a bar magnet, thus turning the north-south orientation of the mag 90 deg, and creating a wider field that way. They don't sound the same, but I think he was chasing a similar goal with both.

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Re: $350 ASAT Classic Stupid Deal

Post by Maggieo » Wed Dec 16, 2020 2:20 pm

Veitchy wrote:
Wed Dec 16, 2020 2:12 pm
Kind of a shame the deal is the classic, rather than a special. In between the bridge and the pickups I think Leo got everything right with those guitars.

Personally, I think the Jumbo MFDs are the natural next step to what Leo was trying to achieve with the Jazzmaster pickup, being an articulate, reasonably wide frequency pickup that 'sees' a lot of string. Rather than going for a super-wide coil to increase the area of the magnetic field, he used a bar magnet, thus turning the north-south orientation of the mag 90 deg, and creating a wider field that way. They don't sound the same, but I think he was chasing a similar goal with both.
I concur, 100%. I'm still looking for one that ticks all the boxes. Because I have a problem.
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Re: $350 ASAT Classic Stupid Deal

Post by Larry Mal » Wed Dec 16, 2020 2:47 pm

I think my father in law might like it... he doesn't have a Telecaster of any kind, so it'll be fun for him.
Back in those days, everyone knew that if you were talking about Destiny's Child, you were talking about Beyonce, LaTavia, LeToya, and Larry.

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Re: $350 ASAT Classic Stupid Deal

Post by schoolie » Wed Dec 16, 2020 2:58 pm

The neck on mine is extremely skinny. Too thin for me.

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Re: $350 ASAT Classic Stupid Deal

Post by BoringPostcards » Wed Dec 16, 2020 4:45 pm

These are the ASAT classic alnico models. Too bad, they are not the standard classic with MFDs. Those are awesome. The specials with full size MFDs are the top tier, but the MFD classics sound great too, and have nice brass saddles.

ASAT is an acronym for anti-satellite weapons systems. Leo loved naming things after military stuff. He must have been a history buff.
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Re: $350 ASAT Classic Stupid Deal

Post by Embenny » Wed Dec 16, 2020 4:48 pm

BoringPostcards wrote:
Wed Dec 16, 2020 4:45 pm
ASAT is an acronym for anti-satellite weapons systems. Leo loved naming things after military stuff. He must have been a history buff.
I've heard many hypotheses that he named G&L after military hardware, but the official story is that ASAT stood for "After Strat, After Tele" to signify that it was the evolution of his design work.
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Re: $350 ASAT Classic Stupid Deal

Post by HarlowTheFish » Wed Dec 16, 2020 4:51 pm

mbene085 wrote:
Wed Dec 16, 2020 4:48 pm
BoringPostcards wrote:
Wed Dec 16, 2020 4:45 pm
ASAT is an acronym for anti-satellite weapons systems. Leo loved naming things after military stuff. He must have been a history buff.
I've heard many hypotheses that he named G&L after military hardware, but the official story is that ASAT stood for "After Strat, After Tele" to signify that it was the evolution of his design work.
Have also heard "A Strat, A Tele" because Leo loved making new, better things, and didn't get that people got attached to specific models -- this was his "F y'all this does all those tones but more and more better ya dinguses". Having played a few ASAT specials and a 3-pickup Z-Coil one, I really gotta agree: they can cop every good Fender tone in the book and then some.

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Re: $350 ASAT Classic Stupid Deal

Post by BoringPostcards » Wed Dec 16, 2020 4:59 pm

mbene085 wrote:
Wed Dec 16, 2020 4:48 pm
BoringPostcards wrote:
Wed Dec 16, 2020 4:45 pm
ASAT is an acronym for anti-satellite weapons systems. Leo loved naming things after military stuff. He must have been a history buff.
I've heard many hypotheses that he named G&L after military hardware, but the official story is that ASAT stood for "After Strat, After Tele" to signify that it was the evolution of his design work.
Nope. Go on their actual CLF research site and read what they posted themselves. The After Strat, After Tele is an old faux-cronym made up by God knows who, and they use many different faux-cronyms in the factory, because they forget the actual meaning of ASAT.
The F86 Sabre, F100 Super Sabre, Invader, Comanche, Skyhawk, Nighthawk and ASAT were ALL actual names of late 70s/early 80s military tech, being mostly aircraft or ordinance, so how could that be a coincidence?
Not only that, but he had photos of Air Force jets in his office, so there must be something to it.
Note these weren't attack jets, but cutting edge electronic warfare capable airframes.


Edit: added details.
Here's an F100 Super Sabre: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_A ... uper_Sabre
Last edited by BoringPostcards on Wed Dec 16, 2020 5:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: $350 ASAT Classic Stupid Deal

Post by Pepe Silvia » Wed Dec 16, 2020 5:05 pm

I put the MFD pickups from a ASAT Special into an early AVRI Jaguar, it was pretty cool, but in really enjoyed how they sounded in the real ASAT Special I had. My only issue was it was heavy, you couldn't tell it was semi hollow and it wasn't resonant. I want to try again though.

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