G&L Club Part 7

[ADHD librarian]

I must say that all these comments about G&L surprise me. I thought G&L was loved and it is sad to read all of these comments.

My G&L is loved, and has been flawless since the day it arrived. The problem (as I see it) is that G&L is in an awkward spot between being a boutique builder and a large manufacturer. This means they are just big enough to need more staff than they can afford and until they get (very slightly) bigger there will be a few issues that they don't have the processes to handle to customer satisfaction.
When you've spent the $$ on BTO or custom shop, that leads to (justified) frustration when things go wrong and aren't fixed quickly.

As lowfreqgeek said, those with bad experiences are more likely to be vocal about it, but if you were to go back over the 37000 posts in G&L club threads you'll find much MUCH more love than frustration. (and plenty of members still planning their next G&L build)

 

[Mister_GothFrak]

The problem (as I see it) is that G&L is in an awkward spot between being a boutique builder and a large manufacturer. This means they are just big enough to need more staff than they can afford and until they get (very slightly) bigger there will be a few issues that they don't have the processes to handle to customer satisfaction.

I do think this is the situation. I think there's a few companies at this awkward level. They need just a couple more people. California labor and rent/taxes, though....

Also why I like to support them. Is anyone else a little bitter that G&L is a later evolution with better stuff all around but, Fender is the company that's on every street corner?

 

[gtirard]

I agree they deserve more fame but I don't really mind - I don't want to play on everybody's instrument.

 

[Mister_GothFrak]

Me either. Eventually, I plan on re-doing the finish on all of my instruments. Being on this forum made my fears come true. lol.

Also, I thought I knew you for a moment @gtirard. I'm pretty sure the guys I know are from a different InRed.

 

[gtirard]

Lol, yeah I'm from France and my band is really confidential, although it deserves more fame just like G&L I know there's a more famous InRed

 

[jfh2424]

Hiya.

I'm the guy who wrote the first post about G&Ls way of dealing with replacement bodies and necks and so forth, a few pages back.

I didnt do this out of extreme frustration or wanting to slam the company. I'm also not telling people not to deal with them.

I saw some people going down that replacement route and shared my experience.

As I said, this isn't my first rodeo with them, I personally wasn't surprised. I'm sure at some point they'll send the bass back, I'll let you guys know when they do.

 

[MrB64]

Our of curiosity, is the JB based on the design of the first jazz basses from back in the 60s?

 

[Ricky Rioli]

G&L is in an awkward spot between being a boutique builder and a large manufacturer. This means they are just big enough to need more staff than they can afford and until they get (very slightly) bigger there will be a few issues that they don't have the processes to handle to customer satisfaction.

This makes it sound like G&L are victims of fate. Poor G&L, so delightfully tempting that too many people want to enjoy their handcrafted delights.

This is simply not true. G&L chose to make as much money as possible by prioritising their relationship with high volume selling above all else. The reason that the BTO orders have been erratically specced for *half a decade*, the reason that warranty repairs take *half a year*, and the reason that they replace a lemon with a lemon are all the same: because they figure that the profit from churning out CLF Reseach and Fullerton Deluxe models is more important than the experiences of individual customers.

Every company gets to make decisions about how they wish to behave. The current owners of the G&L rights have turned their backs on what created their reputation, and have gone for the money. They are not victims of circumstance, they are enjoying the fruits of their soberly-made choices.

 

[jglunt]

Speaking of G&L, be it management or the actual craftsmen, what ever happened to that guy they hired specifically to improve both the efficiency and the quality of the workmanship on G&L instruments? It seems like that was about a year ago, but I haven't heard anything about him since. Judging by these recent comments, he has either had very little effect or he got frustrated and quit.

 

[TDR1138]

This makes it sound like G&L are victims of fate. Poor G&L, so delightfully tempting that too many people want to enjoy their handcrafted delights.

This is simply not true. G&L chose to make as much money as possible by prioritising their relationship with high volume selling above all else. The reason that the BTO orders have been erratically specced for *half a decade*, the reason that warranty repairs take *half a year*, and the reason that they replace a lemon with a lemon are all the same: because they figure that the profit from churning out CLF Reseach and Fullerton Deluxe models is more important than the experiences of individual customers.

Every company gets to make decisions about how they wish to behave. The current owners of the G&L rights have turned their backs on what created their reputation, and have gone for the money. They are not victims of circumstance, they are enjoying the fruits of their soberly-made choices.

Let's not forget that G&L was not started as a "BTO" operation. The instruments that they churned out in the Leo years were solid production instruments. The BTO and myriad of options and colors came along after BBE took it over. Frankly, I think that's what got them into a little too deep of water. I mean, they can make some beautiful instruments, but from a manufacturing standpoint, they were set up to make consistent products efficiently, which is what the Fullerton Deluxe models offer. It's almost getting them back to their roots.

On top of that, the recent "parts failure" complaints are not necessarily their fault. I mean, they don't have a guy in back making the truss rods that fail. I do think it's a poor design and they should move away from it, back to a more traditional and reputable design, but if the nut weld breaks off, it's not because someone at G&L did their job poorly. Same thing with the tuner rattle issue people complain about. Poor choice in part selection, but it's not G&L's manufacturing failure. But these things do take G&L's time and expense in rectifying.

Now, messing up specs on a BTO, that is all G&L…

 

[jfh2424]

I will say this: I've been waiting almost a year between placing my BTO and receiving my bass. During this time, they sent me the initial bass, received it back, supposedly fixed the problem, sent it to me, received it back again and are now "fixing" it a second time.

If a customer handed me $2000 for a product and I screwed it up for over a year the way they have done it in my case, my business would not survive. In my business, when there's a mistake, you apologize. And then you rectify it immediately. And then you send it back to the customer promptly. And then you check to make sure it's ok. G&L really did none of this when they got my money. No apology, no rectification, no checking to make sure it's ok, no resolving it at all almost a year later. I'm not alone in being treated this way and yet, they survive.

I love their products. I really distain the company. If there's one thing that they are good at, it's surviving through the business model that they put forward. I say again, the vast majority of businesses would go under if they treated their customers that way. And yet here they are. You really have to hand it to them for that. This is working for them. In a sense…why change it? I kinda see their point.

 

[Mister_GothFrak]

No apology, no rectification, no checking to make sure it's ok, no resolving it at all almost a year later. I'm not alone in being treated this way and yet, they survive.

Sadly, this seems to be the status quo now-a-days for any company that's large enough.
It's so refreshing dealing with smaller companies that respond to everyone quickly and thoroughly. Like @Jeff-genzler, @DR-Strings, AttakPik, Alexander Pedals, Native Audio. That said, I've reached out to others with questions and never got a response. Could've just been a matter of it being a 1-5 person operation and E-mailed gets sacrificed or mine was too long

But, zooming out. Post lockdowns, companies and employers are treating customers and employees at an all time low. They just don't care anymore. Why should they? We've already proven that most are nonessential and people will continue to buy utter garbage accepting that it'll have to be replaced in a year. People will continue supporting companies that pay wages that are too low for anyone to survive off of or otherwise have terrible working conditions. They're now used to companies being shorthanded and slow.

This is one of the reasons I buy second hand stuff as much as possible. If I were to have custom equipment built, it'd probably be with a small operation that doesn't seem like it's going to take my money and run.

Matter of fact, at this point, I've daydreamed about just rounding up a handful of people and starting my own business. Strumming NDN Instruments, or whatever. lol. I've got too many to replace my entire collection with customs. May as well do my own thing and take the prototypes and try to do better than all the shortcomings that people have mentioned.

 

[Mister_GothFrak]

Anyway....

On the topic of pickups. When running the MFD, that's found in the Fallout and I think the L-series, in parallel , is it possible to run two separate preamps? I am curious about using a dual filter type.

 

[TDR1138]

Anyway....

On the topic of pickups. When running the MFD, that's found in the Fallout and I think the L-series, in parallel , is it possible to run two separate preamps? I am curious about using a dual filter type.

The L-series (and Fallout) MFDs are just dual coil, 4-wire pickups (2 wires per coil), so you could treat them as two single coils in parallel and run each coil to a separate preamp. You would, of course, run into potential single coil hum if you were to boost/cut one coil more than the other, though.

 

[jglunt]

Anyway....

On the topic of pickups. When running the MFD, that's found in the Fallout and I think the L-series, in parallel , is it possible to run two separate preamps? I am curious about using a dual filter type.

As @TDR1138 has pointed out, you could run two preamps. One thing to consider is that two preamps are going to take up twice as much room as one. In other words, be prepared to get your router out.

 

[Mister_GothFrak]

As @TDR1138 has pointed out, you could run two preamps. One thing to consider is that two preamps are going to take up twice as much room as one. In other words, be prepared to get your router out.

Oh yeah. This bass is in for it when I get the money for it. That pickguard is being replaced by whatever wood I can get my hands on that looks nice. Changing the bridge, and I've got a bunch of other ideas.

 

[ahbass2500]

Anyone try Dogal Hellborg Rounds on a G&L yet? I have a set sitting here and am seriously considering putting them on my Tribute L2500. Currently strung with D'addario rounds. I typically prefer flats, but I already have TI Jazz flats on my US L2500.

The strings I am referring to... Link Removed

 

[ahbass2500]

Anyone try Dogal Hellborg Rounds on a G&L yet? I have a set sitting here and am seriously considering putting them on my Tribute L2500. Currently strung with D'addario rounds. I typically prefer flats, but I already have TI Jazz flats on my US L2500.

The strings I am referring to... Link Removed

Hearing a no on this one. Will be dropping off tomorrow to have them put on. Report back in a few weeks when setup is complete.

 

[OldBlue61]

Happy N(U)BD to me!

Just received my L-2000 Tribute today. It was stuck in my local GC for 5 days after our area got hit w/ 4 (or 5, depending on who you listen to) tornadoes. They didn't have power restored until today, so I finally got to pick it up. After a quick going over, checking out the setup, truss rod nut, etc, it appears at a quick first glance to be in pretty decent condition. Very little wear on the neck or body, so that makes me happy. I played a few tunes and then snapped a few pics of my G&L family.

And then a quick pic of the whole family. Left to right - L-2000 Tribute, JB-2, and my Fender Player Precision.

 

[ahbass2500]

Anyone try Dogal Hellborg Rounds on a G&L yet? I have a set sitting here and am seriously considering putting them on my Tribute L2500. Currently strung with D'addario rounds. I typically prefer flats, but I already have TI Jazz flats on my US L2500.

The strings I am referring to... Link Removed

Got the bass back from setup today. First impression is that these may be my new favorite round wounds. I am not going to pretend they are for everybody though. The strings have a unique feel and sound to them. Initial highlights...
- Flexible; in general they have an interesting feel that I like
- Punchy mid-focused sound; a little less low end to my ear (not a bad thing on a G&L; you already have enough you can roll the bass down)
- Solid level of brightness and clarity; not overly bright, but not lacking in high end; bright without being harsh

On the note of Flexible/interesting feel... They have a woven core with a single layer of nickel wrap wire. Due to how they are made the gaps between the peaks of the wrap wire winds are different than typical round wounds. I think that is what I am calling interesting feel. It is not bad (in fact I like it), they just feel different is all.

Pics for attention...

I doubt you see these used very often due to the price tag. Will be easy to ID them when you do. I am not aware of any other Purple/Blue silk mix on bass strings. Now I need to try the flatwound version. Never ran flats on my JB5... maybe that is the move.