I'm not sure if this
detail of the back helps since it's kind of blurry, but in person it seems like there's a faint line going right down the middle the body, so i think this is simply a factory Kahler on a two-piece body. No evidence of filled-in body routes.
Sam, in answer to your question about where I got it: the Amigo Guitar show in Marin on Saturday.
A friend of mine is a guitar dealer and he put the G&L bug in me. He has a particular obsession with the SC-1s and SC-2s. In the last four or five years I've been buying and selling G&Ls here and there as finances and fancy allows, including several SC-1, SC-2, SC-3 of various styles, a few ASATs, an early F-100, an early S-500, and an early L-1000 bass. So at this point I've seen a handful of old G&Ls and have registered most of them here on the forum. I'd even read about the Interceptor, so I was familiar with it. Never seen one in person.
There was a booth at the show that had a lot of cheap Japanese and no-name guitars, another interest of mine. I like old '70s and '80s Aria Pro IIs, and I was looking at a well-kept Wildcat on a stand that was being offered at a practically free (for a guitar) price. Was reaching for it, then saw this Interceptor lying on the table next to it. A piece of masking tape had "400" written on it. I thought maybe there was a digit missing on one side or the other. I took it to the fellow who ran the booth and asked him what he knew about the guitar. He said he had it for a while, thought it was kind of rare, but at this point he was trying to clear out a whole bunch of stuff that hadn't been selling. I asked if I could plug it in.
While I waited for him to find a cable, I looked over the guitar and tried to think of everything I knew about G&Ls: what the knobs and tuners would look like, where the serial number might be and so on. Since I couldn't find the serial number I thought maybe the Kahler was a later addition (it may well be -- still a little unclear). Then the thought crossed my mind that "maybe it's a counterfeit." I mean, these are rare, right? It couldn't possibly be $400. Then I thought, that's silly. Who would bother to counterfeit a G&L, admittedly a rare guitar, but really only known by a relatively small group of people? And then sell it for that cheap. No, I felt certain it was authentic.
I plugged it in. No sound. Played with the knobs, flipped the switch, double-checked the amp and the cable. Something was clearly wrong with the electronics. The fellow at the booth frowned. "That's funny," he said, "it worked the last time I tried it. But that was a few years ago. It's been sitting for a while. Tell you what -- I'll knock off $50."
"Ok," I said, "that seems fair."
I didn't have the cash in hand; I had to find an ATM. The closest one was in the Embassy Suites across the parking lot and a small creek from the Marin Center. I asked the guy to set the guitar aside for me. I walked quickly to the exit, then ran across the bridge. I was sweating. Not from running, just anticipation. The ATM would only let me take out $200 at a time. I tried taking out a second $200. DENIED. Gah! Noooooooo. Luckily it was my bank looking out for me. Suspicious activity pulling out money from an ATM next to a guitar show. Maybe my wife called the bank, knowing I'd be at the guitar show. Ha. Cleared it up via text messages, pulled a second $200 out, then ran. Then walked swiftly and purposefully back to the booth, trying to suppress my excitement. I got the guitar and a receipt.
Since this collecting game is all about impressing other people (ha. that's sarcasm if it's coming from me) I showed my guitar dealer friend and he made some very satisfactory "ooo" and "ahh" sounds and asked me how much. When I told him, the look alone was worth the price of the guitar. He's had a couple go through his shop so he was familiar with them.
I went to the show with two other friends. All three of us walked away with a prize we were happy with, so we went to celebrate with enchiladas and beer at Juan's Place, a Berkeley institution.
The hunt is really fun. But I like playing this guitar, too. It's pretty much working and set up now. I'm probably going to restore the knobs to a single volume and two tone controls, and maybe add a switch for series/parallel for the middle position since the hole is already there, then do something to fill the hole someone made for that fourth pot. I love the pickups: bright and articulate. The Interceptor is surprisingly comfortable to play.
Can't wait to play this thing out with my country/pub rock band. (not sarcasm this time
