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Fender vs. Musicman vs.G&L

#121
graphics1988 said:
i have a fender 70 P bass - had two MM Stingrays - and a G&L lb100. Wasnt crazy about the MM's, sold one and thought maybe i was missin something - so i grabbed another one - nope. Didnt care for the tones across the board - found their necks and round lower shape uncomfortable. Thats just me - i know there are TONS of fanboys (and girls) ..i do think they look amazing though!
The 1970 is just an all round killer tone, amazing neck, simple no brainer controls, flat out does everything - that I want it too do. The new-ish G&L LB100 i have - has all the love as my 70 does, bigger "shoulders" on the neck though...and i added a stellartone tonestyler JUST to have a different flavor than the others - and it sounds INCREDIBLE. Fit n finish would be the G&L, but in fairness to my 1970 p, after 48 years, i will have to let ya'll know if it'll held up. oh...wait....i will be 96 and only caring if i got poop IN the toilet or in my underwear....nahh..at 96 i prob wont even care about THAT.
I like them all - play and enjoy guys! :)
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Stellar tone (vari-tone version) in a box ;)
Vari tone.jpg
 
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#123
For me, it's Music Man. I love the sound, the feel and the look. I've owned several Fender J and P basses over the years but never really bonded with them. I haven't owned a G&L but have played a few. Very nice but, again, no magic for me, like there is with a Stingray. But hey, I like pepperoni pizza while my best friend likes sausage and mushroom. Different strokes.

But man, wasn't Leo a genius? The basses he designed early on are still the standard, but he also continued to experiment and innovate.
 
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#124
Antisyzygy said:
I think a dealer made that one because G&L didn't have one of their own!

I also have an SB-1, one of the best P basses ever made.
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Indeed! My SB-1 is not only a fantastic player, but the date stamps are, on the neck: June 27th. On the body: June 25th, 1997. MY birthday is June 26th! And that is why this bass' name is DESTINY !
Carlos_G_L_Rave-491x319.jpg
 
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#126
I have a couple of Fenders creations.. '63 P and a '79 Stingray. What has always baffled me is how the MM was a step back in a few ways. The 3 screw neck, the heavy weight, and the non cutaway body for your wrist to rest on. What happened? I would have thought Leo should have known at that point how important ergonomics are to real players...

Anyway, I love them both and the sounds are so unique to themselves. I have MIM Jazz bass, EBMM Stingrays, and have played countless other P's but none of them sound quite like my two original Leo creations. It just bugs me that the '79 could have been as nice to play as my '63 P if Leo had stuck to what he knew worked ergonomically.

I only tried G&L's in the 90's at one local shop. They had the look and feel but somehow I wasn't impressed with the sound of those dual humbuckers. I don't know what models they were stocking at that time...
 
#127
Danny O Danny said:
For me, it's Music Man. I love the sound, the feel and the look. I've owned several Fender J and P basses over the years but never really bonded with them. I haven't owned a G&L but have played a few. Very nice but, again, no magic for me, like there is with a Stingray. But hey, I like pepperoni pizza while my best friend likes sausage and mushroom. Different strokes.

But man, wasn't Leo a genius? The basses he designed early on are still the standard, but he also continued to experiment and innovate.
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Yep - i mentioned this on a different thread before - hard to say "hate" to ANY of the creations made from the same consistently amazing brain - yes maybe its not your "flavor", but they're all the benchmark that all basses, boutiques or not, are compared too. Kind of an important and amazing quality. Thanks Leo.
 
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#128
micguy said:
There's a Marketing term for the primary thing we're talking about here - "first mover advantage" - the first person company that gets something about right has, assuming they don't screw up too badly, an advantage that can be ridiculously long lasting, even defying logic. Fender/Musicman/G&L is a perfect example of this - it's not like G&L's innovator was any less talented than Fender's, and yet, decades later...the first mover company is dominant. Even within Fender, the early designs still win - they've tried lots of things that they probably thought were better, but P's and J's just can't be unseated from the throne.
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This is the same reason why the Android operating system for smart phones is so dominant. Google were the first movers to counter the expensive iPhone. By the time the far superior Windows Phone came out, the market was already largely cornered by Google.

There have been those who have come after Fender and have served to unseat Leo's original company in some market niches, but none have dethroned. I can only hope that it is not the same in the smart phone world. I have seen images of the MS Surface Phone prototype, and have read that it will run Win10 desktop apps. That's possibly a big game-changer.
 
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#129
two fingers said:
A 2018 Toyota Camry is a 40X better car than a 63 1/2 Mustang. But baby boomers drive most markets still to this day. And the word Fender was on most basses when they got a drivers license.

End of story.

(By the way, I own and love three P basses and have owned a dozen Fender basses over the years. I am not anti Fender.)
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Not too mention that Fender electric basses pretty much owned the tonal lower range of popular recordings since they were introduced in modern recordings. One heckuva advantage. All the marketing in the world couldn’t do what timing & opportunity did for Fender.
 
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#130
graphics1988 said:
Yep - i mentioned this on a different thread before - hard to say "hate" to ANY of the creations made from the same consistently amazing brain - yes maybe its not your "flavor", but they're all the benchmark that all basses, boutiques or not, are compared too. Kind of an important and amazing quality. Thanks Leo.
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Yeah, that's how I view it as well. Some people have the "ancient-wisdom" fallacious thinking, and assume we're getting worse at everything, when in reality most things improve over time.

When Leo and crew were making those G&Ls they were taking their decades of experience and producing what they thought the next level was. Not all good or well-intentioned ideas are successful but I personally think G&L improved most Fender designs one way or another.

Sure, a SB-1 doesn't sound like a Fender Precision bass, but they're at different stages in design. The SB has the brighter, more modern sound. I absolutely appreciate the desire to have the older, tried-and-true sound or sticking to what one is used to.
 
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#134
I had G&L basses for more than 20 years and bought my two G&L basses - a new L2000 in 1994 and a Lynx used a year later - before I ever bought a Fender. 4 years later, I bought my first Fender.
And I told everybody that G&Ls are the best basses ever. The peak of Leo Fender's work. A J, a P, a Stingray and more in one package.

Now I have 8 Fender basses, 4 x J and 4 x P, one Musicman. I sold my G&L basses some years ago. Don't miss them at all. The workmanship is very good, the butterscotch finish on my L2000 boatanchor was far more beautifull than on any Fender I've seen, but I don't like the electronics and pickups of the traditional G&L designs. And for me they are the least iconic instruments Leo Fender created. The J and the P and the Stingray look so unique. The Stingray is a fantastic bass in every aspect but a bit limited soundwise. It's much more a one trick pony than a J and a P. I know the guy from Sade and what you can do with a Stingray and I keep my Classic, but...
J's are my favourite. Maybe I would buy one of the G&L Jazz Bass clones, if the bridge wouldn't be so ugly:-)
 
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#135
As a newbie to the bass world, G&L’s product names/numbers make their product line difficult to understand and get excited about. I like my basses to be named after old General Motors cars :cool:. I honestly think if they had just a few marketing tweaks they could be dangerous. All this being said, I would like to have an LB100 with a tinted neck built some day.
 
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#137
Architeuthisrex said:
Hello,

I've been looking at g&l basses for a while. Specifically the l-2500 and I have yet to find one that functions correctly

Is it me, or are there qa issues?
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I wonder what you mean by "functions correctly"? They can have electronic issues and the controls are quite different from other basses and can take some time to get your head around them, but I know of no QA issues except perhaps in the electronics department. I've got 3 (2 USA one Tribute) L2500 and to me I agree with DirkP before he "sold out" :) " that G&Ls are the best basses ever. The peak of Leo Fender's work. A J, a P, a Stingray and more in one package."

And Yeah I do own some Fender basses, and they also have a certain tone and vibe, but I don't play them much unless I really need a Fender shaped headstock for appearances sake, although sometimes the more pure tone of a Jazz is nice. And Yeah my avatar is a Jazz but it's not a Fender. It's a Chinese SX 6 string bass modded by me to be fretless. Sorry, but Fender does't sell fretless 6ers anymore. Cripes they don't even sell a PJ 5 string. I think new ideas at Fender went out the door with Leo.
 
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#138
maplenecked said:
As a newbie to the bass world, G&L’s product names/numbers make their product line difficult to understand and get excited about. I like my basses to be named after old General Motors cars :cool:. I honestly think if they had just a few marketing tweaks they could be dangerous. All this being said, I would like to have an LB100 with a tinted neck built some day.
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Well just wait a bit and I'm sure Fender will be selling J and P basses with ball team colors and logos on them. No doubt that will give you the tone and playability you've been looking for. :)
 
#140
Frank77 said:
My experience is similar. I bought my L-2500 in '99 in a store here in Montreal - this store no longer exists. The only other store in Montreal that carried G&L (and from where I ordered my custom LB-100) has gone to only selling drums just a month after I received my bass...so in the second largest city in Canada, G&L is nowhere to be found. If they are sold elsewhere in the province, it probably won't last much longer : They can't possibly move enough guitars / basses in small town stores to continue carrying the brand AND small independent music stores in Canada are all being bought by the Long & MacQuade chain anyway (and they don't carry G&L).
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I remember playing my first G&L at a shop in Ottawa....but I can't recall which it was, other than that I knew one dealer for a while in Hamilton, Ont - I would like to spec a G&L build someday...11 radius, 1.65 nut P (Lb100?) with matching headstock. Not sure where else I could get that combo.
 
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