Incoming NGD: '86 G&L SC-3

Discussion of vintage Jazzmasters, Jaguars, Bass VIs, Electric XIIs and any other offset-waist instruments.
User avatar
Embenny
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 10363
Joined: Tue May 24, 2016 5:07 am

Re: Incoming NGD: '86 G&L SC-3

Post by Embenny » Tue May 22, 2018 8:08 am

BoringPostcards wrote:
Tue May 22, 2018 7:56 am
Nice! You in BC? We'd never pull that off here. Weather is too unpredictable and the summers aren't consistent.
Nope, eastern Ontario! I discovered over the past several years just how many interesting things can grow in Zone 4. Persimmons, paw paws, Asian pears, red-fleshed apples, apricots, peaches, plumcots, akebia, kiwis...I could go on, but I found a guy who's been cultivating hardy varieties of things near Montreal for decades, stuff you wouldn't think could survive outside Niagara or the Okanagan. He's got pears and plums that'll grow in Thunder Bay.

Permaculture and genetic variety in food crops are passions of mine, so I decided to put my money (or time and energy) where my mouth was, and started collecting growing these things myself. But the real question is, how do MFDs fare without the classic PTB circuit??
The artist formerly known as mbene085.

User avatar
Embenny
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 10363
Joined: Tue May 24, 2016 5:07 am

Re: Incoming NGD: '86 G&L SC-3

Post by Embenny » Tue May 22, 2018 5:19 pm

Ok, so it arrived, and I got to unbox it and put it through its paces.

Initial observations: it feels amazing and plays great. The frets are low and wide, as earl yG&L's are known for. It feels way more natural than I was expecting. I still like my low and narrow vintage fret wire on my mustangs, but I can see myself getting used to this.

The DFV reminded me that I really don't like floating trems. Tuning it up was such an unnecessary hassle, but that's easy enough to lock down to dive-only, which has always been my preference on strats.

The finish feels how a 31 year-old nitro finish should. The solid red on the neck throws me for a bit of a loop, because it looks like it "shouldn't" feel natural, but it just feels like old nitro, which is fantastic.

And now for the pickups. Man oh man. My only strat to compare it to is the '86 MIJ '62 RI i impulse-bought when I turned 30. Same year, same price on Reverb. No effing contest. The SC-3 has more highs, more lows, more output, more snap, more bite, more balls. Clean, it's like a hi-fi strat. All the frequencies come across clearer. And with gain, it gets bigger sounding on the bridge pickup instead of shrinking away to nothing like the strat.

The middle pickup is the most usable of any strat-like guitar I've ever tried. I could live on that position and get everything I need out of a guitar.

Oh yeah. It's a keeper.

The *only* thing I can say is that I wish it had PTB, as that neck pickup's bass response is overwhelming on amp settings that my Fenders would use. But the nice thing about having gone digital is that I can just set up patches specific to this guitar on my Kemper or AX8, and once the bass is reigned in, every manner of classic Fender tone can be copped as well. If I didn't have access to digital EQ options, I'd probably buy an EQ pedal set up for high-pass so that it could play nice with the same amp and pedal settings as my Fenders. Cut the bass and you've got classic Strat tones. Roll the treble back and you're basically in humbucker/P90 territory in terms of bass and mid content. The bridge pickup with the tone wide open is just so full, either clean or with dirt.

The body feels like a heavier version of my Mustangs, and although I like 24" scales on my offsets, the body shape moves the neck much farther to the right than a Jag or JM, so it "feels" smaller. It's tough to put down! Unbelievable that these guitars are the prices they are.
The artist formerly known as mbene085.

User avatar
Kinx
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 389
Joined: Wed Aug 30, 2017 6:27 am
Location: Czech Republic

Re: Incoming NGD: '86 G&L SC-3

Post by Kinx » Wed May 23, 2018 4:49 am

great review ! I wish I could get one in Europe, however they are super rare over here. I'll have to wait till my next trip over the pond :)
Check out my band, The Atavists ! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eG-HZtrljMg

User avatar
Embenny
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 10363
Joined: Tue May 24, 2016 5:07 am

Re: Incoming NGD: '86 G&L SC-3

Post by Embenny » Fri Jun 01, 2018 4:15 pm

It's kind of ridiculous how I overlooked these guitars all these years. It's a 32 year-old nitro-finished Fender-designed, Fender-made guitar going for the price of a Classic Player.

I may have caught the G&L bug...and there may be another NGD post in the works...
The artist formerly known as mbene085.

User avatar
46346
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 2826
Joined: Sun Feb 27, 2011 1:39 am
Location: echo ECHO park PARK
Contact:

Re: Incoming NGD: '86 G&L SC-3

Post by 46346 » Mon Jun 04, 2018 10:14 am

what a cool guitar. it's great to see Leo's work is finally getting it's due. two of the most furthering guitars of my early career were G&L's of fantastic quality that i was able to afford - they were super-cheap on the used market because, like you mentioned, they were misunderstood. 20 years later, i'm back to G&L with a brand new Doheny. i'm happy to pay full price!

congrats, man - that's real special!
Cat Museum, ACME, Malcolm Mooney, Dream Apes, The Cooling Time, Kind Hearts and Coronets, Quarks

User avatar
Embenny
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 10363
Joined: Tue May 24, 2016 5:07 am

Re: Incoming NGD: '86 G&L SC-3

Post by Embenny » Mon Jun 04, 2018 12:24 pm

46346 wrote:
Mon Jun 04, 2018 10:14 am
what a cool guitar. it's great to see Leo's work is finally getting it's due. two of the most furthering guitars of my early career were G&L's of fantastic quality that i was able to afford - they were super-cheap on the used market because, like you mentioned, they were misunderstood. 20 years later, i'm back to G&L with a brand new Doheny. i'm happy to pay full price!

congrats, man - that's real special!
Thanks! I'm totally into these early CLF Research/G&L guitars right now. He did some truly cool stuff design-wise, and the QC was light years ahead of contemporaneous Fenders.

It's amazing to me that the name Fender can command over $2k for an 11lb late 70's strat, but the S-500/Skylark/SC-3, which are all vastly superior strat-style guitars from just a couple of years later, designed by the man himself, go for a third as much.

I'm not complaining though. I feel like I'm gonna be looking back on this some day telling people "you could get a first-year G&L for $700!" the way people say that about '59 JMs now.

Modern G&Ls definitely interest me too. I got a set of Z-coils on clearance from their web site and stuck them in a Bullet Mustang, and it's now one of the best-sounding guitars I own.
The artist formerly known as mbene085.

Post Reply