Ash weight?

I finally pulled the trigger and ordered a Lecacy in Ash. What can I expect in terms of how heavy it will be? I thought I remembered someone using the phrase "boat anchor"?

Probably me. My new ash ASAT is a feather. The one I played in the store to confirm my custom order was a boat anchor. Ash has a highly variant density. Cross your fingers Mine is almost too light though, has slight neck dive to it.

Expect a guitar between 6 and 10lbs. Weight really does vary hugely. Personally I could care less - I have heavy and featherweight examples, they all sound good. The heavier ones have a little more punch, to my ear anyway.

Got a boat anchor ASAT Special here.

Never been lucky enough to try a light swamp ash ASAT either.... all the one's I've ever picked up have been Les Paul heavy.

I asked for a "lightweight" ash body when I custom ordered my butterscotch blond S-500, and got just that. It's VERY resonant, but a lot lighter than my alder ASAT Special and alder Legacy. Ask and you might receive.

I asked for a "lightweight" ash body when I custom ordered my butterscotch blond S-500, and got just that. It's VERY resonant, but a lot lighter than my alder ASAT Special and alder Legacy. Ask and you might receive.

The guy at the shop I'm ordering from says they won't do that. I specifically asked for "lightweight ash" and he said G&L doesn't/won't do that for me.

I asked for a "lightweight" ash body when I custom ordered my butterscotch blond S-500, and got just that. It's VERY resonant, but a lot lighter than my alder ASAT Special and alder Legacy. Ask and you might receive.

The guy at the shop I'm ordering from says they won't do that. I specifically asked for "lightweight ash" and he said G&L doesn't/won't do that for me.

Find another dealer and ask them if they could specify a lightweight ash body for an order.
G&L has done body weight special requests in the past. (and not just for GDub )
It's really not an unreasonable request.

just my $0.02

Actually, In general:
heavy = slowly grown = better quality wood.

Cheers
L-zr

For what it's worth I have a late 90s Legacy Special in ash and a Legacy in alder from a couple of years ago. Both weigh exactly the same, 8.4 lbs.

I have two ash G&L's (A Legacy & a George Fullerton Signature)... the legacy weighs 9.2 pounds & the Fullerton weighs 7.4. There's a difference to the sound... the lighter one definitely rings & resonates more, but I find myself playing the heavy one more these days... tighter, punchier, brighter, but with nice firm lows (chimes nicely with my Vox). Both are great, and both are keepers!

Don't those guitars have different pickups in the offplanet? Makes the comparison kind of moot then.

I've had real heavy ash guitars, and a real light "swamp ash" guitar (not G&L's).

My present G&L (S500) seems fairly heavy to me (but it's alder). Not extreme. Just tending towards the weighty end of things I guess. I'm OK with that. It's within a range that works with me.

I always thought where ash was grown, how much water etc., determined how "dense" (therefore heavy) it wound up being after processing.

Fashion has run the gamut (with me too) from everybody being after sustain in the seventies (remember "brassing out" your guitar?), therefore heavy was in, as it was thought at the time that the less the guitar's structure absorbed in frequencies - the more sustain there would be: to a few years ago light bodies were all the rage because people thought there was more chime and upper harmonics available.

I think you can steer a guitar's sound to tend in a certain direction, but nothing's guaranteed obviously.

Nowadays I'm OK with about anything except extremes (in body weight: either way). I've realized that a versatile, good-sounding guitar (in the middle-of-the-road, weight-wise) gives me the most lattitude for varying strings, amps, technique, etc., to cover the various sounds and styles I want to explore.

G&L Legacy's and the George Fullerton Signature models have identical pickups. Slightly different circuit, that's all. (Fullerton has the vintage strat circuit.) It's still a relevant bodywood tone comparison.

I've had real heavy ash guitars, and a real light "swamp ash" guitar (not G&L's).

I always thought where ash was grown, how much water etc., determined how "dense" (therefore heavy) it wound up being after processing.

Fashion has run the gamut (with me too) from everybody being after sustain in the seventies (remember "brassing out" your guitar?), therefore heavy was in, as it was thought at the time that the less the guitar's structure absorbed in frequencies - the more sustain there would be: to a few years ago light bodies were all the rage because people thought there was more chime and upper harmonics available.

I think you can steer a guitar's sound to tend in a certain direction, but nothing's guaranteed obviously.

I agree with this.

Wood varies, and there are great examples of light, medium, and heavy-weight guitars.

It seems to me that you bond with some more than others. Weight certainly plays a factor, though, especially at the end of the 3rd set!

IMO YMMV

...you bond with some more than others. Weight certainly plays a factor, though, especially at the end of the 3rd set!...

Exactly!

Nowadays I sit on gigs. But I once had a Les Paul Recording model that was ungiggable from a weight standpoint! Sheesh!

Mine is les paul heavy but I can't help but love it..like its got substance, or for lack of a better term 'balls.' It's never become a bother as in my back hurting or anything like that and it sits real well on the strap. ASAT btw not a Legacy
Mike

My left shoulder has been bugging me lately so I was hoping for something lighter than my current Strat. I had heard that sometimes G&L's came with lightweight ash. I guess I'm rolling the dice on this one.

I asked for a "lightweight" ash body when I custom ordered my butterscotch blond S-500, and got just that. It's VERY resonant, but a lot lighter than my alder ASAT Special and alder Legacy. Ask and you might receive.

The guy at the shop I'm ordering from says they won't do that. I specifically asked for "lightweight ash" and he said G&L doesn't/won't do that for me.

Give Buffalo Bros. a call. I ordered my S-500 through them and got what I wanted.

--GDub

I mentioned this post to my shop and they revised the order. Thanks guys!

You inspired me to e-mail my dealer last night to see if I could make a similar specification on mine. It's been over 2 weeks since I place my order, but I thought I'd check anyway. He e-mailed back that he would contact his G&L rep and see.

You inspired me to e-mail my dealer last night to see if I could make a similar specification on mine. It's been over 2 weeks since I place my order, but I thought I'd check anyway. He e-mailed back that he would contact his G&L rep and see.

Cool! But I'm so impatient I'd almost rather have the wrong color than have to wait another two weeks!

I've read that for Ash to be good, it needs to be lighter than Alder, which is hard to come by.

Howdy:
There are a few small luthiers who hand pick their
wood, however that usually raises the price considerably .
Regards,
Tim

True, and I say pay the price or forget it.

I've read that for Ash to be good, it needs to be lighter than Alder, which is hard to come by.

Where did you read that? I have not heard anyone complain about or describe G&L's Swamp Ash bodies as being no good.
Only occasionally do you hear someone say they have one which is on the heavy side.

I've read that for Ash to be good, it needs to be lighter than Alder, which is hard to come by.

Where did you read that? I have not heard anyone complain about or describe G&L's Swamp Ash bodies as being no good.
Only occasionally do you hear someone say they have one which is on the heavy side.

Don't remember the place. The story was that Fender switched to alder as their first choice of timber because good ash became hard to come by decades ago. Part of what makes those 50's stratocasters so valuable.

Probably a local/era issue if anything real. People find a million reason to make those old guitars that were far from optimal into holy grails.

True, and I say pay the price or forget it.

What does that mean? You "...read it somewhere" and that's sufficient to stomp on G&L's reputation. Are you an arborist? I think disclosure of your full bibliography is required. Otherwise, have a wonderful day!

Here's the reply I got from my dealer...seems I made my request just in time! And the answer sounds reasonable to me...the weight isn't a "make or break" deal AFAIC. It was also kind of cool to find out they are just ready to start working on it!

Just spoke with my rep after he had talked to the G&L guys. He said they were just getting ready to start on the guitar so it wasn't too late to make the request.

The answer he got from G&L is that they don't make a black & white distinction between light weight versus regular weight in the ash bodies. However, if requested they will make the effort to pick one of the lighter weight bodies of the ones they have available. There's no extra charge but no guarantee of getting a specific weight. We've made the request so hopefully it will come in at least a bit lighter than it would have if we had not made the request.

Here's the reply I got from my dealer...seems I made my request just in time! And the answer sounds reasonable to me...the weight isn't a "make or break" deal AFAIC. It was also kind of cool to find out they are just ready to start working on it!

Just spoke with my rep after he had talked to the G&L guys. He said they were just getting ready to start on the guitar so it wasn't too late to make the request.

The answer he got from G&L is that they don't make a black & white distinction between light weight versus regular weight in the ash bodies. However, if requested they will make the effort to pick one of the lighter weight bodies of the ones they have available. There's no extra charge but no guarantee of getting a specific weight. We've made the request so hopefully it will come in at least a bit lighter than it would have if we had not made the request.

Neat, Mine weighs in at 7 lbs I think, imo a light guitar. My hog and maple super strat with a floyd weighs between 8.5 and 9 lbs. I like that one a lot. Not too heavy for a bassist, that is certain.

For the record.......My '96 S-500 has a swamp ash body and weighs 9.0 lbs. and the sustain and tone are superb. And my '08 JB2 bass has an alder body with a flame maple cap and it weighs 8.4 lbs and also has superb sustain and tone. Considering the extensive routing on the S-500 for the pickups, control cavity, and the vibrato system, and the massive bridge (and the heavy bass strings) on the JB2, I was a little shocked to find the guitar actually weighs more than the bass by over half a pound.

Being a former G&L dealer, I had always noticed the weight had less to do with a great sounding and sustaining guitar than the quality of the build, the hardware and the electronics did.

Stephen.....Up in the frozen Tundra of Minnesota

Thanks for that insight into the factory, Tim...good info!

And the perspective is good to have, as well.

And from a guy who's never picked up a banjo, I have to say I'm floored to hear they weigh 14 lbs!!! I would have guessed they'd be along the lines of an acoustic guitar! What makes them so heavy?

Thanks for that insight into the factory, Tim...good info!

And the perspective is good to have, as well.

And from a guy who's never picked up a banjo, I have to say I'm floored to hear they weigh 14 lbs!!! I would have guessed they'd be along the lines of an acoustic guitar! What makes them so heavy?

The black wooden bit is pretty thick and dense, not to mention the metal on the drum part. I was shocked the first time I picked one up too.