Gear-Monkey Guitar Community - New Guitar: G&L SC-2!

http://img175.imageshack.us/img175/9314/sc2pic1.jpg

The SC-2 Reissue is an "updated" version of one of Leo Fender's earlier G&L designs (all of the good body shapes were taken). This "new" version has the control postioned differently, and not on a curved contol plate. It also has the Dual Fulcrum tremolo, which didn't arrive on the scene until after the "original" SC-2s had run their course. I like this tremolo bridge. The art deco bridge plate belies the sheer functionality of it: it sits paralell to the body, can raise or lower the strings/pitch, but will not go anywhere until you grab the bar and make it go somewhere. Tuning stability is excellent for vibrato, but obviously the lack of locking tuners makes divebombing a crapshoot at best.

Like it's ancestor, the 21st century SC-2 has Leo's MFD (Magnetic Field Design) pickups, with the bridge pickup being wound extra hot. The "regular" MFDs were designed for more output with less hum. My "main" guitar is an ASAT Special with these pickups, and it sounds like a really ticked-off Telecaster. The SC-2 bridge pickup sounds even angrier, and is great for overdriving my amp into Malcolm Young or Townshend Live at Leeds riffing. Adding the OCD pedal with the gain halfway up gets me into early Sabbath territory (Iommi's original SG had P-90s, I believe).
The neck is a 60's "C" carve, with a 12" radius and what look to be medium jumbo frets. The neck is what got me really excited about this guitar: it plays beautifully, and feels like it was carved for my hand. Combined with the tone of this instrument, it didn't take long for me to become obsessed (despite the "unusual" body shape...which has really grown on me). This is "my" guitar.

The deal: I went into my local G&L dealer during their "Leo's 100th birthday" sale. All the US made G&Ls were $100 off (the Tributes were marked down by $50). So I asked about the "I come in here all the time and have dropped a lot of money in this store on top of being a cool guy" discount, and the salesguy called the owner. So they knocked it down by another $50 with a deluxe G&L gigbag (these guitars do not come with a hardshell case, nor do they fit in a molded G&L case). I got a generic tweed case for $75. All in all, I feel like they took good care of me at my favorite guitar store.