Just imagine the look on the
face of Steve Grom, G&L’s Director of Manufacturing,
when, while poking through old
documents in Leo Fender’s old laboratory
two years ago, the drawing of a previously
undiscovered G&L prototype fell out in front
of him. The blueprint, for a guitar conceived
by G&L founder Leo Fender in 1980 and
drawn up by co-founder George Fullerton,
outlines a model to be called the G-100, a
dual-humbucker rocker with a 24¾" scale
and a three-a-side headstock. In short, the
kind of guitar G&L has never offered, until
now. G&L’s current Executive Vice President,
David McLaren, and VP of Engineering,
Paul Gagon, decided to run with it, and
with design collaboration from Grover Jackson
of Jackson Guitars, the results are two
new members of the G&L Tribute series:
the Ascari GTS and Fiorano GTS.
Ascari GTS
Not only is the Ascari GTS one of G&Ls
first two set-neck guitars, it’s also the
company’s first—and so far, only—model
with a 24¾" scale. Add to these specs its
mahogany neck and body with carved
maple top, a brace of humbucking pickups,
the rosewood ’board’s 22 medium-jumbo
frets and trapezoid inlays, and a locking
TonePros Tune-o-matic bridge with stopbar
tailpiece, and you have to concede a
nod toward Kalamazoo—although the narrow-
horned asymmetrical double-cutaway
design throws the ball back into Fender
and Fullerton’s court. There are plenty
of elegant details here, from the neatly
applied trans red polyurethane finish on
the beautifully flamed top, to the bound
body and fretboard, to the abalone “G&L”
and fan inlays on the headstock.
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| Fiorano GTS |
The Ascari GTS’s humbuckers, which
were designed by Paul Gagon, measure
8.22kΩ in the neck and a hefty 13.24kΩ
in the bridge, with coil splitting courtesy
of a push-pull switch on the lone Tone
control. The intentions of this heat are
backed up by the neck’s slim-C profile, all
of which nudges the Ascari more toward
speedy modern rock than chunky, classic
grind. I needed to adjust the trussrod a
quarter turn (necessitated by the test guitar’s
travels, perhaps) to take some relief
out of the neck and get the action down
into the low zone, but once dialed in, the
Ascari was a smooth, easy player.
Plugged in to a variety of amps, the
Ascari GTS dished out a range of gutsy to
fiery tones. The bridge ’bucker puts some
bite into even an amp set for clean tones,
but you can dial that down effectively at
the guitar, or pop up the tone control to
twang it up further. As with most splittable
humbuckers, neither pickup sounds
exactly like a genuine single-coil when split,
but the facility yields useful tonal variety.
Through either a Blackout Musket fuzz or
a TopHat Emplexador’s Overdrive channel,
the bridge position achieves easy grind and
singing lead tones, while the neck ’bucker
is smoother and bluesier, with easy sustain
from either. Through all settings the
Ascari GTS easily gets you where a guitarist
seeking a contemporary yet classic-leaning
hot-rod of the breed is likely to want
to go, and it looks great and plays effortlessly
while doing so.
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| Ascari GTS |
Fiorano GTS
Another set-neck design, the Fiorano GTS
takes the rediscovered George and Leo prototype
in a slightly different direction by
molding it into a 25½"-scale shred machine.
Also, while they are clearly siblings, this
model’s body lines lean more toward the
super-Strat camp populated by many similar
offerings from Ibanez, Kramer, Charvel,
Yamaha, and Jackson. The extra scale
length affords the opportunity of making
this a 24-fretter, although the neck profile
and the guitar’s overall feel are otherwise
extremely similar, aside from the hair of
added string tension the longer scale creates.
Other than these specs, the abalone
dot position markers, black graphite nut,
and uncovered black coils of the humbuckers,
the Fiorano’s woods, construction, and
components are identical to the Ascari’s.
The variability of wood stocks, however,
makes this one a heavier guitar, and it is
dressed in a sleek trans black finish, the
second of the standard options available
on both models.
Given the similarities, the Fiorano GTS
affords a great lesson in the effects of scale
length on playing feel and tone when compared
to the Ascari GTS. Although their
core voices are allied, the Fiorano has a
slightly tauter low end, and a tad more clarity
amid heavy distortion versus the Ascari’s
warm, airy vibe. Though a subtle twist,
it makes for a significant difference where
eviscerating cutting power and thumping
dropped-D tunings are desired, and gives
the Fiorano GTS more of its own soul than
the guitars’ similarities might first imply.
All in all, the Fiorano is a fun and affordable
option for the scorched-earth brigade,
or any “Fender scale” player seeking big
double-bucker power.
Specifications
CONTACT G&L Guitars, (714) 895-6728;
glguitars.com
Ascari GTS
PRICE $499 street
NUT WIDTH 111/16"
NECK Mahogany, slim C profile
FRETBOARD Rosewood, 243/4" scale, 12"
radius
FRETS 22 medium-jumbo
TUNERS Enclosed die-cast, chrome
BODY Mahogany with carved flamemaple
top
BRIDGE Tone Pros Tune-o-matic style
with stopbar tailpiece
PICKUPS G&L AS4255C neck and
AW4368C bridge humbuckers
with chrome covers
CONTROLS Single Volume and Tone, 3-way
selector, push-pull coil-split
switch on Tone pot
FACTORY STRINGS D’Addario XL110, .010-.046
WEIGHT 7.6 lbs
BUILT Indonesia
KUDOS Versatile contemporary rock
tones in an affordable and
well-crafted guitar.
CONCERNS None.
Fiorano GTS
PRICE $499 street
NUT WIDTH 111/16"
NECK Mahogany, slim C profile
FRETBOARD Rosewood, 251/12" scale, 12"
radius
FRETS 24 medium-jumbo
TUNERS Enclosed die-cast, chrome
BODY Mahogany with carved flamemaple
top
BRIDGE Tone Pros Tune-o-matic style
with stopbar tailpiece
PICKUPS G&L AS4255B neck and
AW4368B bridge humbuckers,
uncovered
CONTROLS Single Volume and Tone, 3-way
selector, push-pull coil-split
switch on Tone pot
FACTORY STRINGS D’Addario XL110, .010-.046
WEIGHT 8.4 lbs
BUILT Indonesia
KUDOS Good power, articulation and
playability for the shredmeister.
Impressive build quality
for the price.
CONCERNS None.