Why aren't G&L basses more popular?

[bassdude51]

Originally Posted by willsellout

Ironic coming from the company that reverse engineered a Wal pickup to sell as their own.

OMG! ha ha ha!

Some Talk Bass threads and posts are more entertaining than Soap Operas!

And this G&L thread has been a doooooozy! But fun.

[bassdude51]

Originally Posted by smcd

Those are guys whose careers were at their peak 30+ years ago - when there were very few high quality choices other than Fender.

I'm sorry again. Off thread. Just saw Pino on the 12-12-12 Madison Sq Garden Benefit for Sandy victims playing a MIJ Fender Jaguar Bass for The Who.

Of all the "fancy" and "top end" basses he can play, a $600 Fender Jag Bass?

It don't matter what we play!

Grab a Fender or G&L or boutique bass or $100 cheapie and play bass and make music!

[sratas]

my G&L Jb is a wonderful bass.
Having said that, the company simply does not seem, to me, so much interested in spreading their products and promoting them.
For example, on the website there is NOT an email address...we are in 2012, no mail contact available...only the old, albeit valid, phone call...very simple for an american, a little bit more complex for foreign people, like me, who does attempt to write but not so able when speaking.
More, they seem to not put the right importance in keeping lively contacts and contracts with importers worldwide...in Italy there are sparingly some L series, impossible to buy a Jb, for example, not imported, so is in the vast majority of european countries.
If you crave a G&L, it's better if you are an american...

[Mastermold]

Originally Posted by ksandvik

http://www.zzounds.com/item--GNLTSB2

Sorry I don't follow this thread but going back to my point that non American made G&L prices are a hard sell:

SB-2 non-MIA G&L , $600. A similar Indonesian made Squier is half this price. I tried one of those Indonesian made SB-2, they are nice, I didn't like the thin neck but anyway having a $300 difference did not make sense if you compare it with a let's say a Squire VM.

PS: The trick with gaining market share is to have a staggering price range from very cheap up to high end bass guitars to establish a brand. G&L does not have that. Fender has one, same with EBMM, Yamaha, Washburn. ESP, ....

Not a hard sell at all, the Tribute G&Ls are much better basses than the Squiers.

[Youngspanion]

Originally Posted by Mastermold

Not a hard sell at all, the Tribute G&Ls are much better basses than the Squiers.

Y'know that is really a matter of opinion. Unless you can point to exactly what makes the Tribute instrument better then the Squire, I don't think that is fact. Is the wood better? The craftsmanship better? The QC? I got news for you, I think G&L's QC is abysmal. And that is for MIA instruments. I'd shudder to think what QC is in Indonesia.

[Mastermold]

Originally Posted by Youngspanion

Y'know that is really a matter of opinion. Unless you can point to exactly what makes the Tribute instrument better then the Squire, I don't think that is fact. Is the wood better? The craftsmanship better? The QC? I got news for you, I think G&L's QC is abysmal. And that is for MIA instruments. I'd shudder to think what QC is in Indonesia.

What's abysmal about it?

[Youngspanion]

When I received my 30th Anniversary bass last yr., It had a few problems. Stiff neck, shoddy electronics. Took it to the repair shop, uh, a couple of times. Finally, the dealer I bought it from, Jims Music, got G&L to take it back and get me a new one. That one came and it was A) dirty. Grease or something on the white pickup covers. B) Saddle lock screw was out!!!. C) the Neck pocket was wide enough to fit 2 business cards in..
Finally, when I decided to change the strings from stock to new ones, the G String slot was cut so narrow that the nut cracked.

Thats what I mean. 2 basses and both had numerous problems. You'd think that the second bass would have been inspected more but in fact it seemed to be inspected by no one.

[Mastermold]

Originally Posted by Youngspanion

When I received my 30th Anniversary bass last yr., It had a few problems. Stiff neck, shoddy electronics. Took it to the repair shop, uh, a couple of times. Finally, the dealer I bought it from, Jims Music, got G&L to take it back and get me a new one. That one came and it was A) dirty. Grease or something on the white pickup covers. B) Saddle lock screw was out!!!. C) the Neck pocket was wide enough to fit 2 business cards in..
Finally, when I decided to change the strings from stock to new ones, the G String slot was cut so narrow that the nut cracked.

Thats what I mean. 2 basses and both had numerous problems. You'd think that the second bass would have been inspected more but in fact it seemed to be inspected by no one.

That experience would sour me to the brand too. I have a Fender CS P-bass that came with a stuck truss rod. It took a while to get Fender to make good on the warranty but they eventually rebuilt the neck for me and (9 months later) sent me a fully working P-bass. I still like Fenders despite this, but if it happened twice, I suspect I'd have similar feelings like you have towards G&L, which in my experience has always been top quality stuff. My only G&L is a 2009 L2K with a jazz neck and matching headstock, no flaws and wonderful tone and playability.

[Youngspanion]

That was the thing too. I had a few G&L basses prior to this and all of them were impeccable. In fact it was the quality of the instrument that hooked me really. The tone was unique also but really it was the quality of the brand that made me keep coming back for more. As for now, I trust no brand to make a "Holy Grail" but I would suspect that If I sent a ton of money to a Sadowsky or Fedora or even an Alembic, I would have to think that I was going to receive perfection.

Getting a CS Fender with a stuck truss rod nut would make me cringe also. That is some B.S.

[willsellout]

Originally Posted by Youngspanion

Finally, when I decided to change the strings from stock to new ones, the G String slot was cut so narrow that the nut cracked.

I'd have issues with most of what you posted as well, but this is your fault, not G&L's.

[willsellout]

Originally Posted by Youngspanion

That was the thing too. I had a few G&L basses prior to this and all of them were impeccable. In fact it was the quality of the instrument that hooked me really. The tone was unique also but really it was the quality of the brand that made me keep coming back for more. As for now, I trust no brand to make a "Holy Grail" but I would suspect that If I sent a ton of money to a Sadowsky or Fedora or even an Alembic, I would have to think that I was going to receive perfection.

Getting a CS Fender with a stuck truss rod nut would make me cringe also. That is some B.S.

G&L's are great and they have a very high level of QC and my customer service experiences were great with them. That being said, their wiring is atrocious. Most notably on the L2K's and L2500's. That's really the only area where they need to improve, IMO.

[sugarsand]

I have a ASAT from 1991, I finally learned that if you take the battery out, it takes the battery load off the pickups. The pickups with the battery in, and in passive was still too hot for me, and I couldn't get the right tone. Now I can easily get the gnarly growl very easily. Plus I backed the pick ups as far away from the strings as I could get them, until the bottomed out against the body. Then you can actually use the eq more like a stage player, it sounds better all the way open, then backed off a little.
Later I bought a an 1980 fretless no lines, very skinny at the nut, G&L neck that fits perfectly. G&L are very good basses, somehow different from all the others.

there's a sound file here ( also in picture playing a fretless thunderbird, but the recording was a live take with G&L at band practice, solid state amp, no master volume, raw bass sound no effects) later I think they added an over dubbed guitar. ( you can here my playing is not spot on pitch wise,hey it was practice!)
http://www.missguidedmusic.com/Miss_...c/Welcome.html

[PluckyThump]

Originally Posted by Youngspanion

Y'know that is really a matter of opinion. Unless you can point to exactly what makes the Tribute instrument better then the Squire, I don't think that is fact.

Your experience with the 30th Anny was not good, I would certianly expect better from a limited production USA bass.

As for Tribute vs. Squier, I can only relay my personal experience with them. I own two Tributes, both are excellent quality for the price point. Tight neck joints, quality finish, nice woodgrain, straight necks, excellent fretwork. The pots could be better but you have to give up something I guess.

The Squier VM P-Bass that I own is also excellent for the price, the price being about half. For half the money I had to sample three different Squiers in three different music stores. The first one had a poor glue joint in the body, poor finish and a gap in the neck joint on the treble side. The second one had a crack in the finish and gaps in the neck joint on both sides. The third one, which I walked out with, has a proper neck joint, a good glue joint in the 2-peice body and a neat finish without any flaws. However the fret ends are a little rough and there was excess fret glue in a couple spots which I later removed. Worst of all I found out after bringing it to practice that the bass buzzed horribly; I traced that to a bridge ground wire that was not contacting the bridge at all. I removed the bridge and fixed the wire and when I re-installed the bridge two of the screws were stripped and I had to repair them with the toothpick-and-glue method. It is now a solid bass but it took a lot of work to make it that way.

The Tributes cost more but you get what you pay for in my experience. They are a bargain compared to the Lakland Skyline prices.

[Mastermold]

Originally Posted by PluckyThump

...

The Tributes cost more but you get what you pay for in my experience. They are a bargain compared to the Lakland Skyline prices.

+1

The thing I notice most between US and imported G&Ls is the necks are finished better on the US whereas the G&Ls are that dull satin like most imported necks, including Skylines.

[sunbeast]

I've owned two Squiers- a VM fretted Jazz and a VM fretless Jazz. For the money they were both pretty killer, but to bring them up to the level of a G&L Tribute I'd have to replace the pickups and bridge (which I did on both), as well as root through a pile of them to find one that had a stable and/or straight neck and reasonably matched body wood (which I also had to do on both). Anytime I've gone into my local G&L dealer I always pick up the nearest Tribute to mess around with amps and effects, and I've yet to pick up a lemon or even one with a bad setup- and the sound I love from my US G&Ls has been there. Without a doubt I prefer the feel of the neck on my US G&L quite a bit, but that is all subjective (I guess most of this is).

I have also messed around with a large handful of their newer US models over the last few years in the same dealer and never noticed a single glaring deficiency with any of them. Granted I would probably be looking at them with a much more critical eye if I had just dropped over a grand on buying one, but honestly I am not the sort to buy a custom instrument anyway and would much rather play and critique an instrument first before dropping that kind of dough on it. You read of the same issues with newer Fenders, Rickenbackers, Gibsons, and most other mass produced instruments. That is why true custom operations are so expensive!

[SGD Lutherie]

Originally Posted by willsellout

Ironic coming from the company that reverse engineered a Wal pickup to sell as their own.

And every company that copies Fender pickups.. that's OK?

Also my multicoil pickup will not be an exact copy of the Wal, unlike quite a few of the companies that make J and P pickups. They make exact copies of someone else's design. I made a lot of changes to the design.

My other pickups are all new designs. And what have you designed?

[SGD Lutherie]

Originally Posted by GregC

This is an absurd, demeaning generalization. There are so many ways to get one's own sound beyond the bass itself.

It's none of those things. Go back and read the post I was referring too. If someone is saying that if a bass doesn't sound like a Fender it's nondescript, that implies they want every bass to sound like a Fender. Therefore my comment is accurate.

The poster mentioned Fenders being "the measure by which all else are judged"

Judged by whom? Only people who want a bass that sounds like a Fender. We can then surmise that the Fender bass sound is generic.

Then he said: "radical departure from everything sonically, new sound, another design triumph for Leo."

Meanwhile the G&L pickups are very similar to the Musicman pickups, but don't requirer the preamp. The MFD pickup design was unique enough to get granted a patent.

The fact is that Leo was going deaf. Each of his pickup designs got brighter and brighter. Some people didn't like the G&L Sabre guitars because they were too bright, and had a treble boost circuit!

But if you like a bright sounding bass, you can get some great tones from a G&L.

While I agree with you that you can get your own tone with any bass, that wasn't what was said. And why would you need to start off with a Fender or MM as a platform for your own tone? That's still two very distinct sounding basses.

[smcd]

Originally Posted by Youngspanion

Y'know that is really a matter of opinion. Unless you can point to exactly what makes the Tribute instrument better then the Squire, I don't think that is fact. Is the wood better? The craftsmanship better? The QC? I got news for you, I think G&L's QC is abysmal. And that is for MIA instruments. I'd shudder to think what QC is in Indonesia.

The hardware, pickups and electronics in the G&L Tributes are much better than what you'll find on a Squier.

I've owned 9 G&L's. I still have 7. Every one was flawless. Although I'll admit - the wiring could be neater.

[SGD Lutherie]

Originally Posted by Dbassmon

Jaco, John Paul Jones, Pino Paladino, Marcus Miller, Tony Franklin, Rodger Waters, Duck Dunn, Robbie Shakespeare, James Jamerson, Tim Bogart, or Barry Oakly, Monk Montgomery, Chuck Rainey, Verdine White, Reggie Hamilton, Victor Baily, John Deacon, Rocco Prestia, Geddy Lee, Larry Graham ... this is scratching the surface, this list is 500 miles long.

These are the guys without imagination?

No, THOSE guys had imagination.

Also, I don't know how old you are, but what other basses where there to use at the time?

And what do they use now? Some have moved on from Fenders....

And let's go down your list...

Jaco also played a Guild Pilot later in his career.

JPJ started on a Gibson, and later went to the Becvar and Alembics. What's he play now?



Pino got famous playing a Musicman fretless.



Marcus uses a lot of different basses.



Roger played a Rick too.



Duck Dunn... what did he play later on?

Robbie Shakespeare?



What's Tim Bogart play now?



What's Chuck Rainey play now?



Verdine White (and he also had a signature Ibanez bass)



Geddy Lee? You forgot the Rick, Steinberger and Wal, huh?



What's Rocco playing now?



Larry Graham doesn't play a Fender any more.

I'll take that list and throw in some very innovative players:

I wont even bother listing their names...

















I could go on too.

Play what you like, just like all these players do. But no one brand of bass is better than the rest. It's an instrument, not a religion.

[ethanbowen666]

I have an 1981 L-1000
Best bass I've ever owned.

I have a 2011 custom ordered L-2500
One of the biggest wastes of money I've ever wasted.
Frets suck, absolutly no resonance on the E an B string. I'm sending it back to G&L