A Guitar And Gear Support Forum

Just opinions...

That bridge looks more like a bucktooth frog holding a hockey stick than a rodeo belt buckle.

Having played these I'm not terribly fond of the MFDs nor the Dual Fulcrum bridge. Neither are objectively bad. The MFDs in this model sound terrible to me in parallel. They're okay in other modes but have a lot more output than a traditional single. The DF bridge adds to the weight of the guitars but does work fairly well otherwise.

It is widely known that Leo Fender's tone chase was HiFi (low distortion, wide frequency range), which got tempered by professional guitar players feedback. It is also known that both he and George Fullertone were going deaf, especially in the high frequency ranges, by the late 60's.

Accordingly, their products became more sterile and brittle with the passing of time. The feel of the neck and vibratos were good (float well). For some reason, G&L's never appealed to me.

I had a G&L Comanche with the MFD Z-coil pickups a while back. I think that part of the problem that people have with them is that they're accustomed to turning all of the controls on a guitar up to 10 and adjusting down from there if need be, and the Z-coils do NOT reward that behavior. Much better to start with the controls at 5, or even at zero, and adjust from there.

There is a huge amount of adjustability there, which is a double-edged sword - there are a lot of possible sounds, but it's also possible to make a lot of sounds that you don't want.

glasshand wrote: ↑Mon Jun 24, 2024 11:53 am I had a G&L Comanche with the MFD Z-coil pickups a while back. I think that part of the problem that people have with them is that they're accustomed to turning all of the controls on a guitar up to 10 and adjusting down from there if need be, and the Z-coils do NOT reward that behavior. Much better to start with the controls at 5, or even at zero, and adjust from there.

There is a huge amount of adjustability there, which is a double-edged sword - there are a lot of possible sounds, but it's also possible to make a lot of sounds that you don't want.

Indeed I found the Commanches I had almost unusable with tone on 10 unless you're playing through a dark amp or pedal. ASAT Special I'd sometimes use on 10. I've had a more traditional ASAT with MFDs where you can almost use it anyway you'd use a Tele but it's still a brighter and beefier pickup. The tricky part is MFD is more like a class of pickups than a single pickup. All the MFDs, to my knowledge, are ceramic and have a rather unusual looking polepiece.

Z coils are probably the closest thing to a WRHB I've tried. But I like the high end better in a WHRB.