Because it was Saturday, I put on my superhero costume (black Fender logo T-shirt,) stopped off for a small lunch at a fine dining establishment (Angelo’s Pizza at the Shell gas station on 54 by the Veteran’s Expressway,) and headed down to the Guitar Center on Hillsborough Avenue in Tampa. There’s a great Guitar Center in Clearwater, but time and time again I end up in Tampa. The store there gets an amazing amount of really good used gear. I bought both of my Gibson Les Pauls there, used.
Little did I know about the greatness I was about to experience.
I looked at all the stuff like I always do, gave a nod to the sales guy who sold me my most recent guitar, and before I left, took one more lap around the store to see if I missed anything. I did. There was a G&L Legacy Strat I’d missed, used, for $699. These guitars have a great reputation but I’d never played one. I took it down, plonked down in front of a Hod Rod Deluxe, and plugged it in. From the first chord I knew how good that guitar was.
Guitar players who’ve been playing a long time and have played a lot of instruments will tell you they can immediately “feel” when a guitar is great. It’s a hard concept to grasp when you’re a beginner, because it really does take a lot of experience. But this guitar instantly had that feel. More specifically, the neck had that feel. Chords were easier to play, and moving around the neck felt very smooth. I remember thinking “How could anyone get rid of this guitar?” It felt like the best Strats I’ve ever played.
And it depressed me. I’d just bought a new guitar, so there was no way I could buy this one. And it’ll be gone in a few weeks. And I already own two Strats. But this one… wow. I like my main Strat just fine, but this neck felt way better. Maybe I could look for a used G&L Legacy Neck! But no… it uses three screws, not four.
As for the sound, it sounded like a Strat. Hard to evaluate pickups in a noisy store. They sounded great to me.
This isn’t really much of a review – more like a fan letter. Those G&L Strats are great. Even as low as $699 it was out of my Budget Guitarist price range. But what a great playing instrument.
