Behold! The magnificent G&L F-100 model solid body guitar. This one was produced in 1981 at the original G&L factory in Fullerton, California U.S.A. The F-100 is a vintage guitar that was built with the utmost quality for professional musicians. They are often overlooked and not nearly as well-known as the contemporary Gibson and Fender guitars of the early 1980's. This one is 100% original and is a super-rare example in a Custom Color: Transparent Ocean Turquoise. It also has an incredible, super-flat 12" radius fingerboard that provides a killer playing experience. This guitar has been professionally set up and prepped, it is ready to go and needs nothing. Let us explore this unique piece...
The original finish is a dark turquoise that appears almost black at certain angles-very 1980's. There is line checking on the body and headstock. It looks really cool and super-vintage. There is handling evidence here and there with some chips in the finish. There is also some wear on the bottom side. It is all honest wear and the guitar appears nice and broken-in. The body is contoured like a Stratocaster for a comfortable fit. The strings mount through the backside of the body-providing excellent sustain and resonance. The neck pocket is an excellent fitment. The production ink stamp in the neck slot on the body is October 22nd 1981 and that correlates with the ink stamp on the bottom of the neck: November 16th 1981. The final production assembly date is in pencil in the neck slot area: 12-24-81 This guitar was made on Christmas Eve!
Here is some exciting commentary on the finish:
G&L charged extra on the optional custom colors at the time, anything other than sunburst or natural was $70 with the metallic colors adding $140 to the standard price: $649. Here is the skinny on this guitar's finish. Both transparent blue and transparent green were offered by G&L at the time. The Transparent Blue finish was a bright blue and the Transparent Green finish was very much a bright Kelly Green. The paint used by G&L at the time is a true nitrocellulose lacquer with clear coat. This is the same finish used on vintage Fender guitars from the 50's and 60's. After Leo Fender sold the company to CBS in 1965 he was kept on as a consultant. CBS immediately began to modify production techniques and altering what many consider designs that needed no improvement...Consequently, most of these production changes resulted in features that many find unwanted. One such change was CBS's interest in discontinuing the nitrocellulose lacquer and switching to a poly finish-which they began by the late 1960's. The new poly finish took a few years to be 'perfected' and the nitrocellulose was partially discontinued in 1970 and completely phased out by 1974. This is also about the time that Leo ceased working with CBS and began exploring the idea of building his own guitars once more. Leo recognized the superiority of the nitrocellulose finish and that is what he used on these G&L guitars. I recognize that nitrocellulose can 'yellow' (that's the clear coat typically) and some may think the this guitar is a transparent blue that has 'yellowed' into what you see here. One look in the neck slot and you can see that this guitar was indeed a turquoise hue-neither blue or green. It is unique and clearly the original finish. It is pretty dark and appears almost black in certain low-light conditions. G&L typically used ash on the standard finishes with a few mahogany bodies also known to exist, and they used poplar on the custom colors. This one certainly appears to be poplar, which makes sense-as it has the congruent nice light-weight.
The neck is maple and has a flame figuring on the back of the treble side. The neck is nice and straight and has a slim-U profile. The truss rod functions smoothly. The nut measures 1.62" wide and the neck depth measures .777" at the 1st fret and .900" at the 12th fret. The radius is 12" which provides an excellent modern/flat shape and feels amazing. The clear finish on the backside of the neck has toned to the familiar vintage butterscotch hue-and the appearance screams vintage 1960's Fender! The feel is the same-totally smooth and drag-free. The tuners are the original Schaller-made units and function nicely. The guitar starts in tune excellent. The headstock and logo display excellent with just a touch of patina and slight checking in the clear coat-looks awesome.
The fingerboard options in 1981 were ebony or maple. This one is ebony. It is super smooth and clean. The frets are the original 'jumbo' sized and they appear super clean and nice. The frets have been professionally leveled, round-crowned and polished. They appear near-new condition-see photos. The action is nice and low for an easy playing experience. The string height is currently .010" at the 1st fret and .050" at the 12th fret. As previously mentioned-the neck radius is 12"-providing an excellent surface for easy and technical playing levels. The guitar plays killer up and down the fingerboard with no dead spots. It welcomes all levels of expertise from strumming chords to full-on solo shredding. The guitar supports crazy bends at will.
The pickups both have an excellent signal. They have a 12-adjustable pole piece design. The wiring is original and features master volume, high & low tone controls, 3-position pickup selector, phasing and coil tap options. The guitar offers a wide selection of tone for sure. The potentiometers date to September of 1981, which aligns correctly with the other dates in the neck slot. The bridge and saddles all function as designed. The strings are anchored through the body for maximum sustain and resonance.
The guitar has a good weight: 8.59 lbs.
It is super comfortable to play and feels just right on a strap or in your lap. It is a lot of fun-hard to put back down once you pick it up.
Comes with a newer gator hardcase.
