G&L Invader Plus

G&L is not just a company that makes strats and teles. They also make some pretty cool shred machines. This guitar has a swamp ash body, maple neck with maple fretboard, 12'' radius, 22 frets, original floyd rose, HSH configuration, volume, tone, mini toggle to split the bridge humbucker and a five way switch.


UTILIZATION

The guitar is pretty awesome. For one, it has a floyd, and I'm a huge floyd rose fan. The construction of this guitar easily destroys 90% of the Fenders out there, too. However, this guitar is more comparable to an Ibanez or Jackson with the way it's designed. Upper fret access isn't too bad, and the fretwork itself is top notch. I really enjoy the 12'' radius as it works nicely for chording, but you can also achieve low action without worrying about fretting out. With a normal Fender radius, it's harder to get real low action.

SOUNDS

The guitar sounds pretty killer. It has some nice bite in the treble thanks to the body being swamp ash and the pickup being a JB. It does that 80s metal tone in spades. The neck is a Seymour Duncan '59, and it's absolutely perfect for this guitar. It has some decent bite, but it's also fairly warm and smooth. That means it remains clear under solo lines, but it never feels too bright or harsh. I never really messed with the middle pickup as I'm not a huge fan of middle pickups, but it worked nicely in positions 2 and 4 for clean tones. There is also a coil split for the bridge pickup that allows you to get an almost single coil kinda tone.

OVERALL OPINION

These guitars are seriously underrated. Unfortunately, if you're buying new, they cost a good chunk of change. If you can find one used, I recommend buying one. Their resale value isn't the greatest, but these are some great playing guitars and a good alternative to the standard Jackson, ESP, Ibanez, etc.