1985 Invader

[Katefan]

Howdy -

Here's another from the storage vault …















I've heard this colour referred to as Ferrari Red.
Haven't looked under the hood to suss the birth date but judging from the finish & the 1st style Leo Fine Tuner Bridge Assy I'd put it late '85. According to Fred Finisher they were shooting nitro thru the end of 1985. There's weather checking (not visible in photos) so that along with the numerous chips down to the wood makes me think its nitro.
Haven't set it up yet but its pretty good as it sits intonation & action wise…Very comfortable medium to chunky neck profile. Lock tight fasteners aren't tightened down so it goes out a tune a bit when the bridge is pulled up (don't have the arm) but I can't throw it out tune by playing even with doing large bends. Sound-wise its rich, full and clear - awesome clean & distorted tones.
The guitar is extremely resonant even tho strings that are on it are super old - the ones it arrived with when I bought it in 2013 and they were old then. Not sure whether the resonant factor is due to Leo's fine tuner bridge design but think it may be. Haven't owned another G&Lwith this bridge assy. Perhaps other owners of G&L's w/ this bridge type can chime in here. One other unique characteristic of this bridge assy is that unison bends are possible - bending one string doesn't cause other strings to go flat… not sure whether Leo had this in mind when designing it but another added bonus!
This guitar completes the G&L Super Strat line for me and is my fave of all of them. 1st G&L I ever owned was a Rampage. Years later found a beat to sh** Superhawk while living in SD. 3rd times a charm as they say. Hats off to Mr. Hyatt once again!

Cheers,
KF

[Elwood]

What fun!
Someday someone has to pop in both a left and a right whammy bar in one of those twin FTDFV's.

I had a longhorn interceptor with the invader config and FT bridge, it also had a nice ring to it.
If you find the secret sauce recipe...do tell.

[sam]

KF,

Yer killing me Those were truly "super strats", where did you find that one?

There was one just like it years ago at Daddy's Junky Music that I called about buying but went another direction.

Who knows I could get something other than an ASAT one day.

[glvourot]

I'm diggin it ! You have some serious G&L's Katefan . There is some heavy Mojo there. I would love to stumble across one of those.

[FZTNT]

Nice Red Invader. I have the same one with a Kahler Bridge. Never heard of Ferrari Red but it's not quite CAR either.



Here is a 1981 F-100 that might be the CAR of it's day but still not sure.



For comparison between the '81 and '86 colors here they are side by side. I'm not convinced they are the same color but could be and it's just a difference in years and Nitro on the F-100.



And of course I also have the '87 Invader with the fine tuner bridge in YELLOW that I just love. It's on the bench right now getting a complete cleaning and fret board treatment and new strings. I do have a second whammy bar for this one so maybe I will try both at once...



They are all three the best to play, hope you enjoy yours.

Tom

[Copper Coyote]

NICE red Invader!

I have the same model and color as FZTNT's Invader, with the LF Fine tuner. Such a beast of a guitar. Though, I did change my frets out to taller fretwork. Love the stock pickups. I was expecting to swap out the Schaller humbucker the moment I got it. But as soon as I plugged in I fell in love with it. Wish I could find more information on the humbucker, besides what is offered on here, and see what Leo Fender was going for when he sent the specs over to Schaller.

I don't notice the LF fine tuner being much more resonant than other types of bridges. But I have never played a Kahler equipped g&l offering. . .

[Katefan]

Elwood - true! That would indeed be Rad.
Greater resonance from the beefier neck size & from the FTDV is the ticket IMO.

Sam - Got it off eBay. $700 I believe. LEo's FTDV sealed the deal.
Ha - well time will tell…

glvourot - Cheers! I hear ya - there's still plenty out there...

Cheers FZ - your F-100 is stunning…. yes I do. Once you've installed both trem arms, post a pic for us then remove one and post it to me!
Do you notice a diff in resonance/sustain between the Kahler and the DVFT??

CC - Cheers, yeah you basically have the same ax except yours glows
I hear you - don't know whether Leo specified specific specs LOL… all I know is Helmut Schaller was his friend so he went with his pickup… but apparently Leo wasn't thrilled initially with the idea of using someone's pickups…. I hear ya. My rampage had the Kahler bridge. I recall it being fairly resonant but only had my Fenders to compare to... as pref mentioned I think some has to do with the heftier neck size (1 & 3/4 nut width) + body size (compared to Fender sized electrics) Yeah, the pickups do sound Fab.

Cheers!
KF