loading
reading
writing
saving
searching
Yamaha Frank Gambale model - $1,500 (Burbank)
make / manufacturer:
Yamaha
model name / number:
AES-FG
QR Code Link to This Post
I loooooooove this instrument very much but alas I am unable to dedicate any time to it anymore and it deserves a real player to make it their main axe. I am ready to set it free unto a super badass mofo to unleash its maximum potential!
From Frank: “But it wasn’t until I got this deal that I really got to design a guitar, and Yamaha gave me carte blanche. I designed it with a guy named Dave Cervantes, who now works for Fender. I feel really connected to this guitar, it’s our own concept.
You know, it’s harder than you think to sit down and make a guitar; you can’t reinvent the wheel. Most shapes have been done. I just set out to make a great guitar, I didn’t expect it to be earth-shatteringly new in any way. But it’s funny that when we started out with just the expectations of making a great guitar, we actually found some things that make it unique, and that’s hard to do.
One of the things was the construction. I wanted to have the whole neck, with all the frets, free and clear from the body. And I always wanted pickups mounted from the rear. I always liked the way that looks, without all the hardware around the pickups [visible] from the face of the guitar. The pickups just look like they’re part of the body, you can’t even tell they’re there.
How did you attach the neck?
Well, when you have pickups mounted from the rear, attaching the neck becomes a bit awkward. So when we attached the neck, getting the rigidity we needed was quite a labor. We really went to the absolute extreme with the way this neck joins the body. The neck goes about half-way down the body, and that’s no big deal, really. Except that when we went to put the bridge on – you know, with a tremolo you’ve got the block and springs under that, and the springs are attached like a claw, like on a Stratocaster, and that usually goes straight into the body. But we didn’t have any body left, really. So the only place to put it was on the end of the neck. So as far as we know, in about 50 years of electric guitar design, that’s never been done, where the tremolo-arm assembly returns straight to the neck.
We didn’t really think much of it, because it was sort of our only option. But the result surprised us once we plugged the guitar in. The sustain and brightness are uncanny. Something happened when we returned the bridge to the neck, it sort of created a string loop. So when you play the guitar, you immediately notice something bizarre is going on.
What types of woods did you use?
I’m kind of traditional in that all of my guitars have had mahogany bodies, and this is no exception. There’s something about mahogany that I just love, it’s a very warm tone. The neck is maple with an ebony board. So it’s basically a Les Paul in terms of materials, but it has a Strat scale. So I’ve tried to combine the best of both camps. I wanted to end up with a guitar that was somewhat in the middle, and I think we achieved that. Whoever plays the guitar, whether you like it or not, couldn’t dispute the fact that it’s a high-quality instrument. And that’s important to me.”
Cash only no trades.