Finally joining up here. I've owned a G&L ASAT Tribute from the run built in Japan for the last decade or so. It out Tele'd all the other Teles I tried on that particular day in Sydney while costing about half as much
Welcome, Andy. I scored an SC-3 just like yours last year. It dated to late 1987; they were only made for a brief time with body contours but without pickguards. Having played most of the Leo-era SC models, IMO my '87 SC-3 is one of the most comfortable and best sounding of the lot.
Ken, interesting to know about the contours and transitions between models, I don't think it'd be as comfortable without them. I'm also pleased with the very light weight of this one.
And wow isn't the dual fulcrum vibrato an incredible piece of engineering? Perfect tuning stability and feels great. Most of my playing over the last decade has been on Jaguars and Jazzmasters and the vibrato on the SC-3 feels like 'home' straight away, along with the balance and how the guitar sits on the strap.
I hope to have it all back together in the next couple of weeks; I wrote to Sperzel about replacement locking pins (two went missing while in the possession of previous owners) and got a prompt reply offering to send out replacement parts... On seeing the pictures I sent through which showed the 'star' locking buttons Ron added "You have a very special set of tuners, these were some of the first run Bob Sperzel himself made".
^^ That's probably already well known info but I thought it was quite cool (and definitely incentive to keep the original parts on there...)
andy_tchp wrote:
Ken, interesting to know about the contours and transitions between models, I don't think it'd be as comfortable without them. I'm also pleased with the very light weight of this one.
I also own an SC-2 with this body shape but no contours. It's another one of my favorites, but not quite as comfortable as the SC-3. The light weight is due to these having maple bodies. The stock they were using at that point tended to be very light weight and resonant.
andy_tchp wrote:
I hope to have it all back together in the next couple of weeks; I wrote to Sperzel about replacement locking pins (two went missing while in the possession of previous owners) and got a prompt reply offering to send out replacement parts... On seeing the pictures I sent through which showed the 'star' locking buttons Ron added "You have a very special set of tuners, these were some of the first run Bob Sperzel himself made".
^^ That's probably already well known info but I thought it was quite cool (and definitely incentive to keep the original parts on there...)
Cheers!
That's very interesting. My '87 SC-3 has the only set of Sperzels I've ever owned, so I am not familiar with those tuners. Mine don't have the large screw on the back that I've seen in photos. Instead, they have a black plastic-looking insert. Any chance of seeing a photo of yours?
KenC wrote:I also own an SC-2 with this body shape but no contours. It's another one of my favorites, but not quite as comfortable as the SC-3. The light weight is due to these having maple bodies. The stock they were using at that point tended to be very light weight and resonant.
I'd love to pick up an SC-2 at some point, and I see there are new SC-2s being made (Belair Green on the web page looks stellar!)
KenC wrote:That's very interesting. My '87 SC-3 has the only set of Sperzels I've ever owned, so I am not familiar with those tuners. Mine don't have the large screw on the back that I've seen in photos. Instead, they have a black plastic-looking insert. Any chance of seeing a photo of yours?
Ken
Sure thing:
Are yours locking tuners too? Let me know if you're after any more close up photos or different angles, I still have that tuner off the guitar and the locking knobs off the other 5.
Cheers!
Last edited by andy_tchp on Wed Jun 15, 2016 11:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.
I believed them to all be polyester/polyurethane but mine has a crazy amount of finish checking on the headstock as well as some large 'melt' marks on the bottom of the body where it's obviously been left on a guitar stand. I've only seen the finish melt like this on nitro instruments like my old Jaguar.
Finally joining up here. I've owned a G&L ASAT Tribute from the run built in Japan for the last decade or so. It out Tele'd all the other Teles I tried on that particular day in Sydney while costing about half as much
Also just picked up an SC-3 that needs some TLC.
Cheers,
A.
Welcome!
Nice score on the SC-3.
Please do post a photo of your Made In Japan Tribute ASAT, too.
andy_tchp wrote:BTW, were any of these finished in nitro lacquer?
I believed them to all be polyester/polyurethane but mine has a crazy amount of finish checking on the headstock as well as some large 'melt' marks on the bottom of the body where it's obviously been left on a guitar stand. I've only seen the finish melt like this on nitro instruments like my old Jaguar.
Nitro lacquer was phased out around '83, IIRC, but the factory tended to use up old materials rather than throwing anything away. My '87 SC-3 doesn't have any finish checking, but it did have the headstock finish melt where it contacted the previous owner's wall hanger. The Blue SC-3 in my avatar, which is from '82 or '92, had some body finish marking where it contacted a previous owner's stand. I also have an '84 or '85 SC-2 with fine checking across the back. I have an '83 SB-2 with a very highly figured neck, which is clearly a nitro finish and has quite a bit of checking.
The SC models were not money-makers for G&L, so they did not have as much labor put into the finishes as the other models did at the time. If there was a small amount of nitro the factory wanted to use up, I wouldn't be surprised if it went onto the SC-3s instead of the higher-end models. After all, it would have probably been viewed as an obsolete material.
Ken, interesting to know about the contours and transitions between models, I don't think it'd be as comfortable without them. I'm also pleased with the very light weight of this one.
And wow isn't the dual fulcrum vibrato an incredible piece of engineering? Perfect tuning stability and feels great. Most of my playing over the last decade has been on Jaguars and Jazzmasters and the vibrato on the SC-3 feels like 'home' straight away, along with the balance and how the guitar sits on the strap.
I hope to have it all back together in the next couple of weeks; I wrote to Sperzel about replacement locking pins (two went missing while in the possession of previous owners) and got a prompt reply offering to send out replacement parts... On seeing the pictures I sent through which showed the 'star' locking buttons Ron added "You have a very special set of tuners, these were some of the first run Bob Sperzel himself made".
^^ That's probably already well known info but I thought it was quite cool (and definitely incentive to keep the original parts on there...)
Cheers!
Welcome Andy! Love the color of your SC-3. I agree re: the DFV on my SC-2 is remarkably smooth and does not impair the tuning either way. The older one ('83) works better than 2 newer examples I have tried.
