Camera PV 2007 » Digital Camera » G&L L2000 $200 Woohoo! (long)
G&L L2000 $200 Woohoo! (long)
Question:
> To make a long story even longer (if anyone is still reading this) > I checked the serial number and indeed it is a 1996 number! I put > on a new set of strings and they were very easy to intonate > exactly. My dillema is the neck. I know G & L will make a neck > for me but it will cost $250 and take 6 to 9 weeks. It looks bad > (I will try to get a digital camera and link some pictures) the > tuning keys are now black,
If you can get the truss rod adjustment to work and you get the neck set up right, I’d be inclined to leave the burnt part alone, if it’s scructurally sound. The scortches will make a great conversation starter! I love beat-up, funky old guitars that have lived a hard life.
Response:
This is my story. In 1969 I traded my cherry red Gibson EB-O straight up for a Fender Precision. It came in a beat up yellow tweed case with bright red interior, and the finish (two tone sunburst) had lots of dings. It had a maple neck with everything original intact (the bridge cover with the rubber damper pads, the pick up cover, and the thumb rest attached to the anodized aluminum pick guard.) At the time, I thought I was getting a great deal because the Precision had a wonderful sound. ( I promise, I’m getting to the woohoo) Being young and naive, two years later, in 1971, (I wrote the date in the bass when I took it apart) I decided to refinish the Precision. I had waited over a year to get my Precision Fretless Maple neck that I had special ordered in 1970. It was gorgeous, so I figured I needed to rub off that ugly brown and yellow two tone sunburst and turn my Precision into a "natural". As you might have guessed by now, the date penciled on the end of the neck and in the pickup cutout when I took it apart was 9/57! This was one of those moments in your life that you wish you could go back and re-take. (Just put it all back together and stick it in the closet for 20 years!) Of course, at the time it seemed cool that the bass was relatively old, but the date had no significance and I proceeded to alter the original state of the instrument. I missed the booming bass of my EB-O so I brought my now "natural" Precision to a local music store and had them install a Gibson humbucker in the neck position and move the original pickup way back toward the bridge. To top it all off I had a really nice dark rosewood pickguard cut and this bass was looking radical! Fast forward to two days ago. I had brought my Precision to my local music store to be altered once again. (I now knew of the vintage value but I also knew that the alterations had devalued the instrument.) My plan was to install Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounder in original position with all new wiring and pots and new white pearloid pickguard. I needed a bass for this weekend, and I was hoping my Precision was ready. When I found out it wasn’t, the store manager said he would give me a lender for the weekend. Then I saw something out of the corner of my eye. I could tell by the shape it was the headstock of a G&L but it looked strange. Now I could see that it was charred. The store manager said he had just put it on the floor. It was an L2000 that was new when it was caught in a store fire in 1996. It had sat in a warehouse and couldn’t be sold. He said it had something to do with insurance. The body was a beautiful transparent cherry red and in very good condition. The headstock was split at the seam (G&L cut their necks in half then put in the truss rod and glue them back together) down to the first string post from the intense heat. But everything else was still intact so I asked him how much. When he said $200 I tried to remain nonchalant and asked him calmly if I could try it. As soon as I sat down to play it another customer walked up and said he wanted it if I didn’t. I had made up my mind as soon as the price had come out of the store managers mouth, and now that I knew that all the electronics worked and it sounded better than I could ever imagine, I got it! To make a long story even longer (if anyone is still reading this) I checked the serial number and indeed it is a 1996 number! I put on a new set of strings and they were very easy to intonate exactly. My dillema is the neck. I know G & L will make a neck for me but it will cost $250 and take 6 to 9 weeks. It looks bad (I will try to get a digital camera and link some pictures) the tuning keys are now black, and I need to tighten the truss rod to take some bow out of the neck, but I hesitate to do that because it feels kind of stiff and hard to turn. (Probably from sitting so long in the warehouse) Should the truss rod on an L2000 be tight or relatively easy to adjust? Anyway, I really enjoy this list and any insight or comment would be welcome.