Why aren't G&L basses more popular?

[georgestrings]

Originally Posted by joevcool

It is funny how Leo Fender himself has said countless times that G&L's are the best instruments he has ever made,and still some people don't understand that.They are like you said probably the ones whom have never played one before they commented on one.Is it ignorance or cluelessness? The world may never know.

I think it's a bit clueless not to understand that Leo was also a salesman, and that's what he was selling at the time...


- georgestrings

[joevcool]

Originally Posted by theduke1

An MBA?
Well that explains a lot!

[theduke1]

in fairness to Dbassmon while your comments are an opinon bassed on your education and marketing skills used in your area I can aggree that maybe is what you see, but your MBA does not make your point any more valid then anyone else However, maybe just maybe G&L doesn't want to be like everyone else in the marketplace.

[Dbassmon]

Originally Posted by theduke1

in fairness to Dbassmon while your comments are an opinon bassed on your education and marketing skills used in your area I can aggree that maybe is what you see, but your MBA does not make your point any more valid then anyone else However, maybe just maybe G&L doesn't want to be like everyone else in the marketplace.

Well said Duke, I agree 100%

[Chef]

G&L build more than a few basses. They may not want to build more, and thus their lack of marketing.

[DrSpunkwater]

I see a lot of people talking about "dialing in sounds" and such with the L2000. Maybe we should consider that the L2000 is its own unique beast and treat it as such.

[unclejane]

Originally Posted by bassdude51

Sorry, off the tread.

The 3 bolt neck is so great that Musicman, Fender and G&L don't make them anymore. (exception the Fender MIJ 70s J)

Even though G&L's neck pockets were amoung the best, many complained about the 3 bolt and G&L went back to 4 bolt and then fianlly the 6 bolt.

Strange but true: G&L dropped the 3-bolt neck only for marketing reasons - there was no technical problem with it. Their market just wanted 4 or 6 bolt attachments because of the perception that they were more robust. That's why they switched.
The same is likely true of MM and Fender and their move to 4 bolt attachements, etc.

My L2K has the old 3-bolt attachment and it is absolutely impossible to move the neck around in the pocket or observe any play or etc.

Perhaps another reason why G&Ls are not more popular is because of many design changes. Different headstock shapes. Skunk stripe, no skunk stripe, bi-cut neck, no bi cut neck. Three bolt, 4 bolt, 6 bolt. Big hex head magnet poles, slot poles, small hex holes. Some bodies made of ash, others mahogany. Rosewood, maple, ebony fretboards. Ceramic magnets, alnico. Kind of inconsistent!

You may be right, but this is another misconception in the market. This indicates that G&L puts a lot of importance on improvements and fixing problems in their instruments. Also strange but true - frequent updates to a product doesn't necessarily indicate a problem and usually means the opposite. It's actually an indication of good quality control.

Even FMIC has finally started fixing some of the busted stuff on the P and J - today's Fender P's and J's are the best quality basses FMIC has ever made. The new American standards and deluxe's are in a completely different league than the old stuff, especially the yucky 50's,60's and 70's stuff that's now worth as much as a new car or more.

But there's still the perception out there that frequent changes means they're junk. That's why FMIC is as conservative as they can be making improvements to the P and J. G&L, OTOH, goes whole hog and makes significant updates, like to the neck designs, and so forth.

LS

[bassfootballguy]

Dbassmon,
I think you are probably right in what you're saying about the market niche and all, but I wonder something: how big is each brand's share?
It is obvious to me in sheer production volume Fender dominates the bass game and I would say Ibanez is right close behind. But I honestly wonder if G&L lags far behind EBMM, Lakland, MTD and other companies? I don't see a glut of these brands either, yet I never hear observations about their poor marketing practices.
Does anyone have any production totals to shed light on how popular the various brands really are?

[unclejane]

Originally Posted by DrSpunkwater

I see a lot of people talking about "dialing in sounds" and such with the L2000. Maybe we should consider that the L2000 is its own unique beast and treat it as such.

I also admit that this is true. My Carvin bunny for example, I just plug in and it instantly sounds perfect for just about everything. Hasn't had batteries in it since I bought it and it's pretty much plug and play.

My L2K, OTOH, does require a little switch whacking and some adjustment here and there of the bass knob depending on the style. So if I were still gigging or recording, the L2K might make the sound guy frown a little bit when I first plug it in, and we'd have to fiddle with it a little bit to get it to sound the way we want.

That may be less true of newer L2K's; mine's a 90's model with an unusual amount of wool in the tone when running series mode. Parallel mode is also unusually nasally, a little bit like a jazz bass. I had a new L2500 for a while and its tone was much flatter and more solid, so the newer instruments may not be like this.

LS

[Dbassmon]

Originally Posted by bassfootballguy

Dbassmon,
I think you are probably right in what you're saying about the market niche and all, but I wonder something: how big is each brand's share?
It is obvious to me in sheer production volume Fender dominates the bass game and I would say Ibanez is right close behind. But I honestly wonder if G&L lags far behind EBMM, Lakland, MTD and other companies? I don't see a glut of these brands either, yet I never hear observations about their poor marketing practices.
Does anyone have any production totals to shed light on how popular the various brands really are?

I don't have the production numbers but here are some quick observations; Take MTD out of the equation, hand made boutiques makes very limited number of basses. Lakland, EBMM have superstars playing their instruments, Darrel Jones, Tony Levin, Bernard Edwards (rip),John Myung, Robert Trujillo, Duck Dunn etc. My guess is that they sell a lot of instruments for that reason alone and have an ongoing marketing effort to get high visibility and are creating demand that way.
They are all dwarfed by Fender.

[guymanndude1]

This is about the earlier comment about G&L not using aftermarket pickups. Seems like I remember them using EMG's on one of the five string models. Like 5500 model, or something like that.

[ugly_bassplayer]

My G&L JB-2 is one of the best jazz bass' I've ever played. And believe me I have played quite a few form boutique to real vintage 60's and 70's fenders.
Mine is form the first year they came into production and has a ebony board.

[Prezel]

I know this is very subjective: But G&L basses got sorted out by my first filter/impression almost two decades ago. Jazz Bass and Precision are metaphorical and literally iconic role models and are available in almost all thinkable varieties: From 60s stacked knob to active 5-string. Music Man bassses are very distinctive with their 3+1 headstock, single humbucker and build quality (birdseye maple neck and such). I just never really got the point to such an extent, to go out and search for a G&L bass. Yes, this may be a mistake. Yes, they might be of high build quality and have tricked out pickups/electronics. Yes, they may be Leo Fenders true legacy... their just not very... sexy?! As subjective this is, it could be a possible answer that is true for a lot of other bassists?

[smcd]

Originally Posted by Dbassmon

Probably most - the question is; why is this brand unable to attract any serious attention from the bass community?

The actual question is why aren't they more popular than they are. G&L has plenty of "serious attention" from the bass community. People wonder, as I sometimes do, why doesn't G&L have a much bigger presence in the market, considering that they offer a superior product to what Fender markets at the same price point.

[bassfootballguy]

Dbassmon,

I included MTD because they are small in US production like G&L and have very few pro endorsers and, like G&L they have a line of highly regarded foreign made line.
True, they are all dwarfed by FMIC, but I think the line of reasoning that G&L I somehow lightly regarded doesn't really hold water.
They have a large stable of pro users o both guitars and basses and have managed to be a brand significant enough to be in business for 32 years am be distributed by every significant volume sales instrument dealer.
They might not be "sexy" on some eyes, but they are clearly in no sense a failed brand or they'd have been closed years ago, wouldn't they?

[evanoverdrive]

I honestly did not know a thing about G&L..I had never actually seen one being played in reallife untill about two months ago . Just totally under my radar.,Then one of the bands we were playing with needed to use my rig and plugged into it with his g&l l2000 and kept my amp settings the same and it sounded so good ,that i didnt even want to put my own bass back through it.I went looking for info online and bought one two weeks later.

[Mastermold]

Originally Posted by theduke1

+1
I am glad someone else saw that post I don't agree with MM at all!
I got my first L1000 in 1985 and have always loved the look, feel, and quality!

Yeah I'd be really surprised to find a G&L with poor QC. My experience with this is they're some of the best made basses out there.

[joevcool]

Originally Posted by bassfootballguy

Dbassmon,

I included MTD because they are small in US production like G&L and have very few pro endorsers and, like G&L they have a line of highly regarded foreign made line.
True, they are all dwarfed by FMIC, but I think the line of reasoning that G&L I somehow lightly regarded doesn't really hold water.
They have a large stable of pro users o both guitars and basses and have managed to be a brand significant enough to be in business for 32 years am be distributed by every significant volume sales instrument dealer.
They might not be "sexy" on some eyes, but they are clearly in no sense a failed brand or they'd have been closed years ago, wouldn't they?

James this is so true.I mean from a looks standpoint,I personally find G&L's beautiful,and Musicman's,especially Stingrays and Bongos ugly as hell.But both are brand successful.

[SJan3]

Originally Posted by bassfootballguy

Poorly finished slabs with sloppy neck joints and such? Really?
I have owned 12 of them from the 1st year of production up to the 2010 run and closely examined and played probably 40 that cover that same span and never seen anything remotely close to some of the things described here.
All I can say is I am not sure if we are talking about G&Ls or First Acts in this thread.
I would love to see pics of these rough cobbled 3 piece necks and contour-less primitive pieces of work you are all talking about because I have to see all these for the first time before I saw mine into firewood and go buy a real bass. ?de04

Agreed! I've owned and played many G&L's and NEVER saw the complaints mentioned here. By contrast, I consider them to be fine basses and really a value at their price point.

[Freddels]

G&L is slow to respond to the market but sometimes they eventually get around to it. What's nice about ordering a G&L bass is that you can get options on the neck (radius, width at the nut, gloss or satin, etc.).

They also started offering the single coil mod (series/single coil/parallel) switch from the factory. This was usually an after market mod done to the L2K.

Now, if they'd just offer the tone pot mod to the SB-2 at the factory.