Description
Widely regarded as Leo Fender’s own favorite design, the ASAT Special traces back to 1985 when it launched as the G&L Broadcaster — a name Gretsch had already claimed once before, forcing a second rename in G&L history. The result was ASAT, military shorthand for “Anti-Satellite,” and the guitar that many consider the definitive G&L single-cutaway.
This 2021 Fullerton Deluxe edition pulls together some of the most requested combinations from G&L’s Option Order menu, pairing each body finish with a complementary pickguard and finishing the neck in G&L’s Clear Tint Satin. Every version features a rear-contoured body in alder or swamp ash.
- Jet Black over Alder, 3-ply parchment pickguard, maple or Caribbean rosewood fingerboard
- Blueburst over Swamp Ash, 3-ply pearl pickguard, Caribbean rosewood fingerboard
- Purpleburst over Swamp Ash, 3-ply pearl pickguard, maple fingerboard
- Left-Handed 3-Tone Sunburst over Alder, 3-ply parchment pickguard, Caribbean rosewood fingerboard
Tonally, the ASAT Special is built around jumbo Magnetic Field Design (MFD) single-coil pickups. Their shallow-yet-wide bobbin aperture puts them in the same family as a P-90 or Jazzmaster pickup, but the MFD design adds punch down low and sparkling harmonic detail up top. Leo also fitted the guitar with his Saddle-Lock bridge, which drives string vibration straight into the body’s end grain for exceptional sustain and resonance. Together they give this guitar remarkable range — twangy and aggressive one moment, warm and jazzy the next.
G&L has built these instruments since 1980 at the historic Fullerton, California facility on Fender Avenue, a location known as the Birthplace of Bolt-on construction.
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