Description
The Espada shape sat dormant at CLF Research for decades before G&L brought it back to life as a double-humbucker platform. The Active variant builds on the standard Espada HH by adding a G&L Micro-Preamp, giving players a passive/active/active-bright 3-way mini-toggle in place of the standard model’s kill-switch.
Pickups are G&L’s alnico humbucker pair — smoother and rounder at the neck, hotter at the bridge — shared with other well-regarded G&L HH instruments. The control layout keeps things intuitive despite the added electronics: volume, treble, and bass knobs (chrome CLF Research caps) alongside a coil-split mini-toggle that works both pickups.
What the preamp actually does is worth dwelling on. With it switched off, the guitar behaves like a standard passive instrument. Flip it on and the buffer circuit — Leo Fender’s own fix for cable loading — lets the pickups’ harmonic detail come through more clearly, whether you’re running split single-coil tones or full humbucker overdrive. It’s less about adding gain and more about removing the loss that a long cable run usually imposes.
Anchoring the build is the Saddle Lock hardtail bridge, a design G&L traces back to 1979, prized for sustain and comfortable string spacing.
Available configurations:
- Jet Black — Alder body, Caribbean Rosewood fretboard, 3-ply Black pickguard, Vintage Tint Gloss neck
- Vintage White — Alder body, Caribbean Rosewood fretboard, 3-ply Black pickguard, Vintage Tint Gloss neck
- Honeyburst — Ash body, Caribbean Rosewood fretboard, 3-ply Parchment pickguard, Vintage Tint Gloss neck
- Cherryburst — Ash body, Caribbean Rosewood fretboard, 3-ply Parchment pickguard, Vintage Tint Gloss neck
G&L is a separate company from Fender Musical Instruments Corporation; use of the Leo Fender name is licensed and restricted.
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