G&l is done?

[timbuck3]

G&L closes down

I’m kind of surprised this hasn’t been discussed before, but the guitar manufacturer G&L has, as of yesterday, gone out of business. For those that don’t know, G&L was a company founded by Leo Fender in the late 1970s after leaving Music Man, having previously sold the Fender company that bore...

community.justinguitar.com

 

[Blix]

 

[Chocol8]

Old news that almost no one cares about, which is probably why they shut down.

 

[SillyOctpuss]

I've always wanted one of these.

A friend of mine has one and it sounds massive. I'd even deal with the fugly headstock.

 

[greatmutah]

I’ve got a Fullerton made Fallout. It’s a great guitar. Headstock never bothered d me. Still better than a Tyler. I’d still like to own a Legacy or Skyhawk. G&L’s had financial troubles for a while, and it’s assumed Fender is the buyer of the name/rights. Which makes sense, they want Leo’s likeness for marketing purposes. Hopefully they don’t toss all his stuff by the wayside because the MFD pickups and both bridges (saddle lock and dual fulcrum) are pretty innovative (I’m a big fan of the dual fulcrum vibrato). Plus I’d hope that if Fender is the buyer and they don’t keep the models that are most Fender adjacent, they’d keep ones like the Fallout, Skyhawk, Rampage and Comanche. Do the Pre-BBE body styles on the Comanche.

 

[JerEvil]

I guess the “influencer” campaign didn’t bolster well?

 

[QQQ]

Sad to see. I’ve had a few over the years, and they were noticeably better than their Fender counterparts. Wonder what will happen to Leo’s office?

 

[OrganicZed]

I've played a few and thought that they were quite good for the price. I think the brand mostly suffered from their lack of aesthetic appeal.

 

[laxu]

Sad, but not surprising. G&L basically didn't evolve their designs despite the market being flooded by Strats and Teles at various price points and by a horde of manufacturers.

I have a gold 1996 3-bolt neck G&L Legacy and it's a great Strat.

 

[Chocol8]

I thought they were pretty expensive for what they were and that they seemed to have peaked in the 90’s and were just coasting since then.

 

[ChordInversion]

I have two Tributes: a Legacy and a Comanche. I love the pickups on both (which are the same as their USA models), and the necks are really good for the price range. I also like their PTB tone controls.

 

[sashimi]

I prefer G&L’s trem over any Fender I have tried. Smooth and excellent tuning stability. They made great guitars.

 

[Seanhanlonguitar]

This one saddens me… I really like this he guitars they made. I remember finding out about them when I went to school in Fullerton. I considered them “true” Fenders, but I guess they couldn’t overcome the name recognition

 

[EOengineer]

For about six years I lived 2 blocks from a G&L dealer and have to give them credit - every US made model I touched in that store had the slinky balanced thing I have to run racks of Fenders to find.

I feel for the folks losing their jobs, and hope everyone lands on their feet. At the very least some other US companies will pick up some solid luthiers.