NGD: 1981 F-100E Series II

[art]

I recently had an opportunity to play a pair of F-100s, an F-100E and an F-100. I was mostly curious about the passive one, but as it happened, only the F-100E was still available by the time I was able to lay hands on them.



G006920 is a 1981(?) F-100E, Series II, mahogany body, string-through saddle lock bridge, maple neck w/ 7.5" fretboard radius, 8.6lbs, all the electronics work as designed, and except for some heavily pitted hardware, is in very nice shape.



I can understand why the re-born F-100 has simplified electronics. All that flexibility is dizzying: (humbuckers, split with bass boost, split) x (passive, active, active with treble boost) x three way pickup selector. I've mostly just focused on the full humbuckers in passive mode, and I like what I hear there. Beyond that, I can say that this guitar gets really bright, but that's no surprise.



I was mostly just taken with the feel of the guitar, without even plugging it in, the high production values are evident. And I'm definitely a fan of curvy fretboards.



And what amazes me the most is that Leo-era guitars can be really affordable.

I think I need to take a family photo now.

Cheers!
art

[Danley]

Nice - Is that the one that was at Guitar Center Cerritos? I think I meant to visit that guitar I wager it must be the Active models in particular people tend to call 'bright' - Mine is passive/mahogany and the tone is very smooth and mellow with a TON of bass. Does yours have the treble knob active on the bridge pickup? My '83 is from after they made that switch, so just having the treble pot on the bridge pickup would probably attenuate some treble as well.

I'll have to pick up an Active model someday, the toggles do sound intriguing; I find them pretty straightforward on the Passive- just two way switches: a coil split and a shortcut switch to parallel. Glad your F100 found a good home, these are awesome guitars and I do feel like I might start to hoard them myself

[art]

Nice - Is that the one that was at Guitar Center Cerritos? I think I meant to visit that guitar I wager it must be the Active models in particular people tend to call 'bright' - Mine is passive/mahogany and the tone is very smooth and mellow with a TON of bass. Does yours have the treble knob active on the bridge pickup? My '83 is from after they made that switch, so just having the treble pot on the bridge pickup would probably attenuate some treble as well.

I'll have to pick up an Active model someday, the toggles do sound intriguing; I find them pretty straightforward on the Passive- just two way switches: a coil split and a shortcut switch to parallel. Glad your F100 found a good home, these are awesome guitars and I do feel like I might start to hoard them myself

This is not that guitar, you can still go to Cerritos! So yeah, the treble knob is not active when only the bridge pickup is selected, whatever the active/passive and split/full settings. Anytime you're on just the bridge pickup, you lose that ability to roll off the highs, and I think that's what I was reacting to. I'm curious how the boosted split mode works, it seems to sound different for each of the active/passive settings, and staying on both pickups or the just the neck leaves the treble control active.

Cheers,
art

[john o]

love the hog-burst F-100E series 2, Art!
they are cool and unique gtr's. nice aquisition!

[Assault Bacon]

Nice! Love that color.

[sam]

Hi Art,

Big congrats Love seeing the old G&L's picked up and shown off like the prize they are.

Look forward to more tone reports as ya flip a few more switches.