G&L - Rumors that they are closing, being bought by Fender, or both.

[tbonesullivan]

I will say, G&L really embraced some lighter tone woods such as empress wood, which really helped get guitar weights down.

[UncleGreg]

When I had my shop, I had a long and fruitful relationship with those guys. I helped them set up their custom shop.

They even let me shoot video of Leo's office…

 

[stratacus]

G&L reportedly shutting down – with Fender acquiring its intellectual property - not tools or inventory

[bubs_42]

It’s done, and over. Felt a lot like Hamer. Large dumpster full of parts, guitars, files you name it. Sounds like they were just after Leo’s Name and Likeness. Can’t blame them, but a shame. 

[RobB]

Business cycles. G&L goes under and Robin gets a second chance. What a world…

[The Shark]

I have a G&L Legacy in sea foam green.  It's an early one.  Sold it at the Orlando show in the mid-nineties.  About ten years ago, one just like it popped up on eBay in Orlando.  It was my guitar.  Paid $700 for it.  Just a gem.

[crunchee]

On 10/7/2025 at 11:31 AM, tbonesullivan said:

I will say, G&L really embraced some lighter tone woods such as empress wood, which really helped get guitar weights down.

Light?  Perhaps.  Soft?  Yes, about the same Janka hardness rating as basswood and okoume.  G&L may have done some things better than most, but making guitars out of that wood wasn't one of their best moves IMO, except for maybe the Japanese guitar market.

https://www.wood-database.com/paulownia/

[LucSulla]

16 minutes ago, crunchee said:

Light?  Perhaps.  Soft?  Yes, about the same Janka hardness rating as basswood and okoume.  G&L may have done some things better than most, but making guitars out of that wood wasn't one of their best moves IMO, except for maybe the Japanese guitar market.

https://www.wood-database.com/paulownia/

Yeah, I had a paulownia wood ASAT. All you had to do was look at it funny to strip a wood screw. I did two pickup swaps on it (SDs when I had it and the originals back in when I sold it) and had to add material to damn near every screwhole to get it back together. That was just from unscrewing things twice, and I don't torque screws on guitars down hard. 

[Jakeboy]

My current “Strat” is a 2013 Legacy in sonic blue with an ebony board I bought here back in what, 2021. It is a really nice guitar.

[Travis]

I played a G&L ASAT a couple of weeks ago.  It was the “last” custom shop guitar they ever made. It was purple sparkle with a full rosewood neck. That thing was tits. Had one thing been slightly different, I might’ve walked home with it that day. 

[RobB]

18 minutes ago, Travis said:

That thing was tits. Had one thing been slightly different, I might’ve walked home with it that day. 

Was it left-handed?

[cmatthes]

10 hours ago, Travis said:

I played a G&L ASAT a couple of weeks ago.  It was the “last” custom shop guitar they ever made. It was purple sparkle with a full rosewood neck. That thing was tits. Had one thing been slightly different, I might’ve walked home with it that day. 

Admit it...it was the ugly headstock!

[Travis]

10 hours ago, RobB said:

Was it left-handed?

 

25 minutes ago, cmatthes said:

Admit it...it was the ugly headstock!

Actually, neither. It was right handed and I don’t mind the G&L headstock. 

I’m sure it’ll sound silly to most. But, I was never a fan of the traditional Tele control layout. The switch is clunky and it’s annoying to ride the volume knob when the switch is all the way back. If I’m going to spend custom shop prices then I want the controls to be effortless to reach and to use. I’ll take a standard Tele control layout on a $1,000 guitar all day long. But for 4-5x the price, I’m going to be very picky and it will be exactly what I want and where I want. 

That rosewood neck, tho… 🍆

[velorush]

24 minutes ago, Travis said:

I’m sure it’ll sound silly to most. But, I was never a fan of the traditional Tele control layout. The switch is clunky and it’s annoying to ride the volume knob when the switch is all the way back.

Dude, flip the script!

[django49]

When I was in SoCal, I did some guitar trading and took some lessons from a guy who was a well known Tele player. (At the time, he was leading the band for Candye Kane, but that is another couple funny stories). He had many stories re Leo....

One night, at a gig, George and Leo came in carrying a guitar case. At the break, Leo sheepishly pushed a guitar toward him and asked him to try it. It was an early S type G&L with 3 pickups (Z coil?), the T and B side of each controlled by separate mini switches for umpteen pickup combinations. Jeff plugged it in for the next set and gave it a shot. After the set, Leo anxiously asked how he liked it....."Well Mr Fender, I am just a simple guitar player. All those switches get me confused. Us guys just want a guitar we can play without having to think too much about it". 

From appearances, the product line pretty much settled in with a simpler and more traditional sorts of controls after such product testing. The ones I have played were very nice and compared favorably to the typical Fender line at that time, when "SuperStrats" seemed to be more favored.

To add.....Re rosewood necks.....I had a "Tele" (non G&L) that was solid Brazilian, body and neck. Biggest sounding T type I ever plugged in. Dang thing weighed about 13 pounds! Not everyone loves rosewood necks, but I sure do love the feel and tone.

ETA:

https://www.truetonemusic.com/products/pre-owned-g-l-1990-1991-comanche-vi-with-ohsc#:~:text=We just scored a rare,techs in our repair shop.&text=For those that know the,it know before it's gone.

ETA 2....

It appears Jeff went on to use a G&L when he was performing as one of the Hellecasters. Seems they alternated when one was committed elsewhere. A group that came together out of the Palomino, IIRC. Last I saw Jeff, he was getting into gypsy jazz.....Playing things way above my head. 

Edited November 6, 2025 by django49

[Travis]

55 minutes ago, velorush said:

Dude, flip the script!

I have definitely considered that 

[Travis]

27 minutes ago, django49 said:

When I was in SoCal, I did some guitar trading and took some lessons from a guy who was a well known Tele player. (At the time, he was leading the band for Candye Kane, but that is another couple funny stories). He had many stories re Leo....

One night, at a gig, George and Leo came in carrying a guitar case. At the break, Leo sheepishly pushed a guitar toward him and asked him to try it. It was an early S type G&L with 3 pickups (Z coil?), the T and B side of each controlled by separate mini switches for umpteen pickup combinations. Jeff plugged it in for the next set and gave it a shot. After the set, Leo anxiously asked how he liked it....."Well Mr Fender, I am just a simple guitar player. All those switches get me confused. Us guys just want a guitar we can play without having to think too much about it". 

From appearances, the product line pretty much settled in with a simpler and more traditional sorts of controls after such product testing. The ones I have played were very nice and compared favorably to the typical Fender line at that time, when "SuperStrats" seemed to be more favored.

To add.....Re rosewood necks.....I had a "Tele" (non G&L) that was solid Brazilian, body and neck. Biggest sounding T type I ever plugged in. Dang thing weighed about 13 pounds! Not everyone loves rosewood necks, but I sure do love the feel and tone.

ETA:

https://www.truetonemusic.com/products/pre-owned-g-l-1990-1991-comanche-vi-with-ohsc#:~:text=We just scored a rare,techs in our repair shop.&text=For those that know the,it know before it's gone.

WAY too many switches for me…. 😬

[Tortious]

On 11/3/2025 at 7:23 PM, bubs_42 said:

It’s done, and over. Felt a lot like Hamer. Large dumpster full of parts, guitars, files you name it. Sounds like they were just after Leo’s Name and Likeness. Can’t blame them, but a shame. 

Surprised that they threw all Leo's stuff in the dumpster. They've always reminded everyone how they kept his office intact. I'm pretty sure someone would have loved to recreate that somewhere with all his things.

[bubs_42]

1 hour ago, Tortious said:

Surprised that they threw all Leo's stuff in the dumpster. They've always reminded everyone how they kept his office intact. I'm pretty sure someone would have loved to recreate that somewhere with all his things.

No word if that happened, but it wouldn’t surprise me. 

[Tortious]

6 minutes ago, bubs_42 said:

No word if that happened, but it wouldn’t surprise me. 

From the article stratacus linked on Monday:

There’s also no word on what’s happened to prototypes, templates, or the surviving contents of Leo Fender’s lab – though recent photos show what appears to be Leo’s original filing cabinet discarded in a dumpster behind the G&L facility, alongside other pieces of his old office furniture.

 

If FMIC was buying what they did just for the Leo connection, they could have recreated that, too.

 

[DaveH]

10 hours ago, Travis said:

WAY too many switches for me…. 😬

All those fucking switches, and they STILL misplaced the damn volume pot! Un-believable. 😂

[RobB]

28 minutes ago, Tortious said:

There’s also no word on what’s happened to prototypes, templates, or the surviving contents of Leo Fender’s lab – though recent photos show what appears to be Leo’s original filing cabinet discarded in a dumpster behind the G&L facility, alongside other pieces of his old office furniture.

If FMIC was buying what they did just for the Leo connection, they could have recreated that, too.

This leaves me a bit queasy. It is disrespectful, bordering on criminal. I’d bet the RRHOF (or FMIC) could have cobbled together a cool display with the office items. Incredibly sad that we can (literally) shit-can our cultural heritage so readily. 

[tbonesullivan]

I've now seen pictures and videos of lots of parts from the G&L factory in the dumpster, including pretty much brand new in the box sets of Schaller tuners and other things like sustain block bridge plates, etc. As best I can tell, they just tossed the parts inventory. I have heard that guitars / parts that could be finished were sent off to Musical Instrument Reclamation Corporation (MIRC) to be finished, as well as any warranty work and repairs currently in process.

Hearing about the possibility of Leo Fender's office being pretty much tossed is something I hope is not true, but I would guess FMIC has little to no interest in ANYTHING Leo Fender accomplished after he sold Fender in 1965. He will probably be reduced to a tagline for FMIC, with all of the work he and George Fullerton did on the MFD pickups, Dual Fulcrum Bridge, Saddle Lock bridge, PTB electronics being pretty much forgotten / tossed by FMIC. They probably have no interest in anything that is an improvement over their current hardware.

[Dave Scepter]

Wow, Can you imagine being a local dumpster diver finding this treasure? 😳 

[bubs_42]

22 hours ago, Tortious said:

From the article stratacus linked on Monday:

There’s also no word on what’s happened to prototypes, templates, or the surviving contents of Leo Fender’s lab – though recent photos show what appears to be Leo’s original filing cabinet discarded in a dumpster behind the G&L facility, alongside other pieces of his old office furniture.

 

If FMIC was buying what they did just for the Leo connection, they could have recreated that, too.

 

They wanted to own Leo’s name and Likeness, which are the two items G&L owned. Just like Gibson not being able to use Ted McCarty’s name, they don’t have the rights. 

Edited November 6, 2025 by bubs_42