FACTOIDS & TRIVIA

Here's an example of a mid-2000s ASAT Z-3 just before the switch from Leo Fender's 2-piece bi-cut neck to a 1-piece neck with a separate fingerboard. This guitar has been fitted with a G&L Will Ray Z-coil bridge pickup. Mr. Ray asked G&L to overwind the bridge pickups on his Will Ray Signature model to give it more midrange and output. The result was a Z-coil MFD pickup with 1400 extra windings to raise the DC resistance to 8.4K ohms compared to 5.0K ohms for the stock Z-coil pickup. The bobbin aperature had to be widened to accomodate the extra windings resulting in a pickup that is a few millimeters taller than stock. G&L certainly met Mr. Ray's request and produced a Z-coil pickup that is hotter with tone approaching a P-90 pickup.

 Body: Solid; 2-piece ash

 Finish: Silver Flake, polyurethane

 Neck: 2-piece maple, bolt-on

 Fingerboard: Maple, single bound; black plastc dot markers

 Number of Frets: 22

 Pickguard: Mirror, 1-ply acrylic

 Bridge: G&L Saddle-Lock, chrome

 Nut: Micarta

 Tuners:  Sperzel Trim-Lok, chrome

 Pickups: Three, G&L Magnetic Field Design Z-coil humbucking with adjustable pole pieces

 Controls: Master volume with push-pull "expander" switch, master tone, 5-way pickup selector

 Scale Length: 25 1/2 inches

 Neck Width at Nut: 1 5/8 inches

 Body Width at Lower Bout: 12 5/8 inches

 Body Depth: 1 3/4 inches

 Weight: 8.8 lb