G&L
| G&L Musical Instruments
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|---|---|
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| legal form | |
| founding | 1979 by Leo Fender and George Fullerton |
| Seat | Fullerton , California |
| Branch | Musical instrument manufacturer |
| Website | GLGuitars.com |
G&L Musical Instruments is an American manufacturer of electric guitars and basses . The company is based in Fullerton , California .
Company history
Leo Fender and George Fullerton founded the new company called G&L in 1980, which emerged from the company called "CLF Research" (CLF = Clarence Leo Fender), which had existed since 1966. Until then, "CLF-Research" had been producing guitars and basses for the Music Man company , which Leo Fender was also involved in founding. After the falling out with the management of "Music Man", production began under a new name in the existing plant on "Fender Avenue", that is, in the same street where the first Fender plant was located.
The name of the company is composed of the first letters of the first names of the company founders. According to George Fullerton, the abbreviation G&L was never changed from "George & Leo" to "Guitars by Leo", but it was just a rumor that was spread by uninformed journalists.
In 1991 , about six months after Leo Fender's death, his wife, Phyllis Fender, sold the company to "BBE Sound Inc.", led by John C. McLaren Sr., who promised to keep the company and production site. George Fullerton remained as an external advisor until his death on July 9, 2009. Phyllis Fender is still honorary president.
Instruments
The instruments are similar to the classic Fender instruments, but have modern improvements. In particular, the "Magnetic Field Design" pickups (MFD), the "Dual Fulcrum" vibrato and the massive bridge known as the "Saddle Lock Bridge". Until the end of the 90s, the necks of guitars and basses were made with the 3-point screw connection developed by George Fullerton in the 1960s and with a neck-body angle that was adjustable by screw. This type of neck-body connection has a bad reputation today, as many Fender guitars from the 1970s, which were also built, have problems with the strength of this connection due to the poor design of the neck pockets, so that one then for marketing reasons but has switched to the traditional 4-point screw connection. Another modern innovation, patented by G&L, was the so-called "bi-cut neck". With this neck, when it was designed with a maple fingerboard, the neck was sawn apart lengthways at a right angle to the fingerboard, the truss rod was inserted into a cutout and the neck was then glued back together. Since 2007, however, the fretboard has been sawn off from the neck, the truss rod installed and the sawn off piece glued on again.
Product lines
- Made in USA : In the main factory, which is located near the old Fender factory, high-quality instruments were initially produced largely by hand. Today, however, CNC tools are also used here , as well as a machine developed in Germany for dressing the frets, the so-called "PLEK".
- Tribute Line : In order to have a more solid footing on the market, G&L had the inexpensive "Tribute Line" first produced in Japan, then from 2003 in South Korea by Cort Guitars . These instruments have been manufactured in a Cort subsidiary in Indonesia since around 2007. The pickups for these guitars are produced in the main factory and, if they are single-coil pickups, do not differ from those that are built into the USA models. In the G&L guitars equipped with humbuckers, different humbuckers are installed in the Tribute series than on the US models. These are pickups developed by Paul Gagon. Since 2009 some tribute models ("Rampage", "Legacy HB" and "ASAT HB") have been produced in China. The serial numbers of the instruments made in China start with "L".
Main models
Electric guitar
| designation | Production time |
|---|---|
| F-100 | 1980-1986 |
| S-500 | 1982 - today |
| Skyhawk | 1984-1991 |
| ASAT | 1985 - today |
| Comanche | 1988 - today |
| Legacy | 1992 - today |
| Blues boy | 1993 - today |
| Invader | 1998 - today |
| SC-2 | 1982 - 1983 & August 2008 - today |
| Rampage | 1984 - 1991 & February 2010 - today |
Electric bass
| designation | Production time |
|---|---|
| L-1000 | 1980-1992 |
| L-2000 | 1980 - today |
| M-2000 | 2003 - today |
| SB-1 | 1982-2000 |
| SB-2 | 1982 - today |
| ASAT bass | 1989 - today |
| L-2500 | 1997 - today |
| M-2500 | 2003 - today |
| LB-1500 | 1997 - today |
| JB-2 | 2001 - today |
Famous artist
- Benjamin "Ben" Gibbard ( Death Cab for Cutie ): Bluesboy Sunburst, Bluesboy TL Honey Sunburst, Bluesboy TL Black
- Rainer Apel ( Thomas D )
- Bernd Aufermann ( Running Wild ): Legacy Special, S-500, ASAT Deluxe
- Frank Diez ( Peter Maffay (1976-2004))
- Peter Frampton : ASAT Classic
- Tom Hamilton ( Aerosmith ): ASAT Bass, L2000 Bass
- John Jorgenson (Hellecasters): ASAT John Jorgenson Signature model, Comanche
- Kirk Pengilly ( INXS ): ASAT Specialm, S-500
- Ricky King : Custom-made: "Silver Fleck"
- Carl Perkins : G&L Broadcaster ( called ASAT Special since 1985 )
- Mike Porcaro ( Toto ): L-2500
- Will Ray (Hellecasters): Will Ray G&L Signature Series, ASAT, Comanche
- Henning Rumenapp ( Guano Apes )
- Jerry Cantrell ( Alice in Chains )
- Bill Perry: ASAT Special
Web links and references
bibliography
- George Fullerton: Guitar Legends, The evolution of the Guitar from Fender to G&L . CENTERSTREAM Publishing, Fullerton 1993, ISBN 0-931759-69-2 .
- George Fullerton: George & Leo, How Leo Fender and I Built G&L Guitars . Hal Leonard, Milwaukee 2005, ISBN 0-634-06922-5 .
- Richard R. Smith: Fender, The Sound Heard 'Round The World . Hal Leonard, Milwaukee 2003-2009, ISBN 978-1-4234-6279-8 .