This G&L USA Legacy HB2 features:

• Swamp Ash Body with Blueburst finish, 8.4 pounds
• G&l #1b Heritage "C" Hard-rock maple neck, 12" radius, medium jumbo frets
• .790" depth at first fret, .910 depth at the 12th fret
• Light tint satin finish neck
• Ebony fingerboard
• G&L Dual Fulcrum Vibrato
• Seymour Duncan '59 Neck Pickup
• Seymour Duncan JB Bridge Pickup
• Three position pickup switch
• Global, volume, treble and bass controls
• Push/pull volume splits for both pickups
• Black Pearl pickguard
• Plek® Laser guided fret finishing
• G&L deluxe tolex hardshell case
• List price: $2650

The shape and feel of this guitar will be instantly familiar to any Legacy or Strat player. The playing experience is typical G&L, but we've employed a few upgrades that really make this guitar rock-ready. It has a nicely proportioned "C" neck with a slimmer Heritage profile and smoothly finished medium jumbo frets. The fairly flat 12" radius fingerboard is ebony, which is built for speed and attack due to its high density and plentiful amount of natural oils. It is more responsive and snappy than maple or rosewood and its opaque coloration adds to the sophisticated look of the Blueburst finish. Combined with the Dual Fulcrum vibrato bridge, it has great resonance and sustain.

Employing the very popular Seymour Duncan '59 and JB pickups into this guitar creates a playing experience remarkably different from the mahogany and set neck environment in which these pickups typically reside. While certainly fatter sounding than a typical Legacy, it's nothing like the midrange-heavy and wooly sounds typical of a single-cut mahogany guitar. The bolt-on neck and 25.5" scale creates the same articulate, snappy response that you'd expect from a Legacy, and we specifically chose Swamp Ash as the body wood to balance out the prominent midrange of the humbucking pickups. The longer scale also adds a little more string tension, and spreads out the harmonics a bit more for clean chime and overdrive sounds that sparkle.

The sonic result is bigger, fatter tones that do not sound like a Legacy, but have more definition, attack and clarity than most humbuckers. It's more evenly balanced than a P90, and less stuffy and nasal than a hot humbucker. The bridge pickup sings with great harmonic content and manages strong output without the upper midrange bump that can sometimes sound honky and fatiguing. Both pickups can also be split with the mini-toggle switch, resulting in a leaner tone that is a little cleaner, leaner, but with plenty of punch. Again, the sound is fatter and rounder than a Legacy; almost more like an ASAT, and is great for rhythm, picking, or more detailed overdrive work.

People who are not "Les Paul" people will love this guitar: It provides the sonic benefits of dual-coil pickups but with the clarity, dynamics and playing feel that fans of the great Leo Fender designs refuse to compromise on. Actually, shredders have been playing bolt-on Strat-inspired guitars for years, reaping the harmonic detail and dynamics inherent in this design. The Legacy HB-2 offers those same benefits in a more "mature" format that works great for blues, classic rock or hard rock.

We are an authorized G&L dealer and this is a brand new guitar with full warranty, tools, tags and certificate of authenticity. We have over 40 G&L guitars in stock at all times, and are also happy to custom order any G&L.