G&L in trouble...?

[Misdee]

4 hours ago, HeadlessBassist said:

 

I see what you're saying here, and yes, in some ways you're absolutely right. A lot of the premium 'Super Fenders' by the likes of Sadowsky and Mike Lull, and even the German and newer Polish contenders can seem a little sterile for their comparatively huge price tags. Most don't even sound like a good example of a Fender. The answer continues to be, if you want a really good Fender sound, go out and play Fenders until you find a good one.

 

I've only played one Sadowsky I ever loved the sound of, and that was a Japanese 2 band Will Lee Signature. The rest sound bland and sterile to my ears. I tend to like the Mike Lull instruments better, but they still don't have 'that' Fender sound. For me, Bernie Goodfellow got it absolutely right with the Spitfire. It has the Jazz ergonomics and playability, but plays and sounds like a totally different kind of bass, much more premium and hand crafted and it doesn't try to sound like a Fender. It's truly a bass from the top tier of makers that can out punch a Stingray with it's metallic anvil-like attack, and has a sweet tone to boot.

 

I've been sorry to hear what's happened with G&L, but at the end of the day, they seemed to stop innovating in terms of the bass range some years ago. They certainly have their fans and I know @Mike Brooks really likes his newly acquired American L2000 CLF. Maybe they will re-emerge as a Fender sub-brand (particularly the excellent value Tribute models)?

It's not so much the active basses you mention (I've recently bought a couple of German-made Sadowsky Will Lee basses and they are superb instruments) as the passive super-Fenders (or so they would have you believe) that are the subject of my ire. Don't get me wrong, a well-made passive boutique FSO  can be a  very worthwhile purchase, I have one or two of my own. However, when a certain amount of magical realism is included in the retail price I am more than sceptical, let me put it to you that way.

Edited Friday at 15:05 by Misdee

[Bass Direct]

1 hour ago, Russ said:

There’s still graphite in there, but only in the same way as many other makers now - stiffening rods in the neck. They did this before back in the 90s before going back to the full graphite necks. Apparently the newer Statii with the wood necks are very good and sound very similar to the all-graphite ones (the phenolic fingerboards and Hyperactive pickups are responsible for much of the sound) but Status’ USP was always the graphite neck. 

 

Mike Walsh at Zoot was supposed to be tooling up to produce graphite necks - I’m wondering how far he’s got with that. He could be one to watch, since he now makes his own pickups, circuits, etc too. 

 

Back on topic, sort of - I played an L2000 with a Status graphite neck back in the mid-2000s. That was a good bass - extremely bright sound, but thick. Total slap machine. 

 

If Fender are going to keep the Tribute series going, that’s a good thing. Fender’s factories in the Far East are very good, with great QC. I just hope they don’t just keep them in a holding pattern, with the exact same products, colours, etc. It needs to be differentiated from the BBE era somehow. 

So glad I still have a Kingbass and a 1985 Series 2000 for company

 

G&L - lets hope if/who takes it over do a great job at some marketing, get some great artists on board and push it, also getting into the hands of passionate retailers helps

[dub_junkie]

7 hours ago, LeftyJ said:

Latest rumour (as quoted from an unnamed source on The Gear Page and the GLGuitars subreddit) is Fender did indeed buy the company, will keep the Tribute line alive and possibly even amp it up, but is going to shut down regular USA production. There will only be small batches of premium US "Collectors" models from time to time, at premium prices. 

If they offer a Tribute Asat bass and a Tribute Kiloton 5 all will be forgiven. 

[Silky999]

I believe the tributes were the real money makers for them so I’m not surprised that Fender will keep those going. The L2000s and L1000s gives them a good foothold into Musicman territory especially compared to the Stirling by Musicman range. 

[Supernaut]

Some of the best instruments I've played were US G&Ls. Sad day if Fender are closing US production. 

[funkgod]

sorry im late to the party.

i only found out yesterday,

but it was no surprise when my mate clarky ( i.clarke on here) called me yesterday and told me about it.

As much as i love G&L basses ( and have 4 of them)  i could see this day coming for a long time from my own experiences dealing with them.

A sad time indeed,

and a sad end to leo's legacy.

 

[snorkie635]

10 hours ago, funkgod said:

sorry im late to the party.

i only found out yesterday,

but it was no surprise when my mate clarky ( i.clarke on here) called me yesterday and told me about it.

As much as i love G&L basses ( and have 4 of them)  i could see this day coming for a long time from my own experiences dealing with them.

A sad time indeed,

and a sad end to leo's legacy.

 

I have three and agree with your comment about 'experiences dealing with them'. I know others have found their customer service to be good, but my attempts to extract answers and order things have resulted in appalling service or nil response at all. It took, for example, nine months to be sent a replacement pre-amp for an L2000, when it was meant to take three weeks. Zero apology for the delay. It's this kind of service which causes possible (and actual) customers to walk. Still sad to see them go, as their basses were great, but I can't help feeling they could have tried a bit more on customer relations.

[JottoSW1]

On 03/10/2025 at 15:50, dub_junkie said:

If they offer a Tribute Asat bass and a Tribute Kiloton 5 all will be forgiven. 

Seconded,  but some occasional lefties please 

[JottoSW1]

Recall a conversation with a fellow lefty regarding the Tribute L2000s that Guitar Guitar were selling.  We both had some QC problems that perturbed us. My used Tribute Fallout was flawless apart from a little glitch in the finish. 

G&L seem to be the victims of some flakey management. Sad 

[The fasting showman]

On 03/10/2025 at 12:25, Russ said:

 

 

If Fender are going to keep the Tribute series going, that’s a good thing. Fender’s factories in the Far East are very good, with great QC. I just hope they don’t just keep them in a holding pattern, with the exact same products, colours, etc. It needs to be differentiated from the BBE era somehow. 

My main bass now is a Tribute Fallout, so much of the basic wood working seems identical, along with the paint job ( colour notwithstanding, blue versus red metallic), to my Son's Squier Bullet Mustang guitar. Both made in Indonesia...I'm guessing the Cort factory? 

 

Fender can carry on the Tribute line as it was at the stroke of a pen if that's the case. 

[Misdee]

For me, for G&L to continue as a brand they have to keep making premium quality guitars and basses in the USA. I know the Tribute range has its fans, but without the USA range and it's heritage they have nothing to be a tribute to. What I want is top quality American-made instruments.

 

It's so depressing when prestige brands become a hollowed-out shell of themselves churning out budget fare which bears little or no relation to what garnered their reputation in the first place except the name . It's happened too many times already. If G&L go the same way then it's another brand might as well have  gone  completely as far as I'm concerned.L

Edited 2 hours ago by Misdee

[The fasting showman]

5 minutes ago, Misdee said:

For me, for G&L to continue as a brand they have to keep making premium quality guitars and basses in the USA. I know the Tribute range has its fans, but without the USA range and it's heritage they have nothing to be a tribute to. What I want is top quality American-made instruments.

 

It's so depressing when prestige brands become a hollowed-out shell of themselves churning out budget fare which bears little or no relation to what garnered their reputation in the first place except the name . It's happened too many times already. If G&L go the same way then it's another brand might as well have  gone  completely as far as I'm concerned.L

I know what you mean. 

 

It's just funny that I've ended up with the Fallout ( wish I still had my USA one) being such a useful bass to me. A great mid way point sonically between Fender's greatest hit designs, it covers a lot of that ground, but being short scale it's good for my dodgy left arm and shoulder.  Incredible note balance too.

If those G&L designs work for you, they do really offer something. 

 

[Misdee]

5 minutes ago, The fasting showman said:

I know what you mean. 

 

It's just funny that I've ended up with the Fallout ( wish I still had my USA one) being such a useful bass to me. A great mid way point sonically between Fender's greatest hit designs, it covers a lot of that ground, but being short scale it's good for my dodgy left arm and shoulder.  Incredible note balance too.

If those G&L designs work for you, they do really offer something. 

 

A good bass is a good bass, expensive or not so expensive. It's just that if a brand loses it's aspirational dimension then it has no direction. It becomes like trying to sell replica kits for a mid-table Sunday League football team. Why would people want them?

 

G&L is such a loss to the market because they have unique features and sounds that no one else has to  offer. The L1000 and L2000 are inimitable, nothing else sounds like them. 

[The fasting showman]

5 minutes ago, Misdee said:

A good bass is a good bass, expensive or not so expensive. It's just that if a brand loses it's aspirational dimension then it has no direction. It becomes like trying to sell replica kits for a mid-table Sunday League football team. Why would people want them?

 

G&L is such a loss to the market because they have unique features and sounds that no one else has to  offer. The L1000 and L2000 are inimitable, nothing else sounds like them. 

The authority of that OMG setting on a fallout / L1000 is incredible, like the best active circuit ( that's passive) I'd want. A really hi-fi humbucker without phase cancellation in that setting. 

 

The P bass I was using was lovely but in the band mix the Fallout has all the clarity but seems to have an extra octave of depth. Subjective and hard to explain. 

[Russ]

One thing I have noticed about G&L's recent strategy is that they reserved a lot of the really good stuff for one retailer - Sweetwater. There were lots of limited edition Tributes (including some lovely black'n'maple L2000/L2500s with blocks) and various nice custom shop one-offs with lovely finishes and interesting pickup combinations - there's a stunning P/MFD L2000 with a blackburst finish up there right now. 

 

 

By effectively only having one retail outlet for all their good stuff, they were massively shooting themselves in the foot. 

[LeftyJ]

To be fair, any store could have ordered those. Just take a look at their Facebook page, all the lovely custom shop instruments pictured there are ordered by (or through) dealers, that are named in the posts. It's true they had a number of "premier dealers" though, of which Sweetwater is one. And I always used to see UpFront Guitars mentioned a lot in posts with tasteful custom orders!