G&L Club Part 7

[TonyP-]

So we can calibrate this unctuous acclaim, please can you tell us:
1. How many of their basses you have
2. How much you paid for them
3. How long you waited for them
4. How many of them came incorrectly specced
5. How many of them had subpar necks

From my perspective, one that involved a lot of money, and even more time, they're a bunch of shysters whose behaviour upwards is very different to their behaviour downwards. I deeply regret being so foolish as to let my head be turned by them five years ago. Nice paint, though.

LOL Oh My...

I would normally would not address anything like this, but I will answer a couple.
So here it is...

I have a handful of G&Ls in my stable and they all kill.

 

[BruceG68]

When I asked them about the MFD Jazz style pickups they got back to me in 2 days and I asked them on a Saturday

 

[TonyP-]

Sharing Stoke

 

[atquinn]

Sharing Stoke

View attachment 7199814

I'm sure it was mentioned earlier, but I'm too lazy to search. Are those going to have the 750 spacing?

 

[Iridescentone]

I'm not buying any excuses for G&L mishandling customer-related communications. They're hit or miss with it and that's just not good enough. If they don't have the staff to communicate properly....then staff up. There are many small builders who have no problem answering "frivolous" (how condescending is that) concerns from their customers. Key word, "customers". It seems that "someone" has lost track of exactly who works for whom in business.

Instead, G&L (and any business) should welcome any and all questions or communications from customers (and potential customers), no matter how frivolous, and view them as "opportunities" to sell more products. That stuff is pure gold that can't be bought with advertising. It's how you grow repeat customers and cultivate new ones. Duh.

 

[Hawk620]

I'm not buying any excuses for G&L mishandling customer-related communications. They're hit or miss with it and that's just not good enough. If they don't have the staff to communicate properly....then staff up. There are many small builders who have no problem answering "frivolous" (how condescending is that) concerns from their customers. Key word, "customers". It seems that "someone" has lost track of exactly who works for whom in business.

Instead, G&L (and any business) should welcome any and all questions or communications from customers (and potential customers), no matter how frivolous, and view them as "opportunities" to sell more products. That stuff is pure gold that can't be bought with advertising. It's how you grow repeat customers and cultivate new ones. Duh.

 

[bullitproof]

Maybe someone already posted this here and I missed but this JB looks killer!
Are their custom shop basses now coming in gig bags?

 

[Mister_GothFrak]

On communicating with G&L

I can see some people are going to roll their eyes with this statement, but oh well.

These guys are in business to sell instruments, they are not a parts company per say. The don't have a support staff answering emails random and perhaps some would deem "frivolous" in nature.

Imagine if you were supporting your family in this economy, trying to make your mortgage on the next PO on selling a commodity item....
As Ozzyman would sah....:"Yeahhh Nahhhh..."

I'm being dead serious, give some thought to that. I'm not writing to this to piss anyone off, but I know these people and they have their priorities in line.
I come in peace...

I mean, a sale is a sale. It's all profit. They are undoubtedly making plenty selling pickups. Plus, it would potentionally lead to more sales and promotion.

Imagine me playing shows, sharing photos and videos, where every single bass I have has the same G&L pickups. What a testament to their quality, tone, and functionality!

Mind you, all my basses are wildly different. Regular fretted, fretless, and multi-course. One of each but, several of each kind for different tunings. The idea is to homogenize the base bass sound. They ought to feel honored!

 

[FearNoEvil65]

I was told all instruments now come with gig bags, they no longer gte the hard cases from G&G like they used to.
I guess you'd have to speak with a dealer to confirm that though.
I generally don't love road worn basses but that JB is sweet!

Maybe someone already posted this here and I missed but this JB looks killer!
Are their custom shop basses now coming in gig bags?

 

[TonyP-]

I'm sure it was mentioned earlier, but I'm too lazy to search. Are those going to have the 750 spacing?

I think so, but I'm not a %100.

 

[TonyP-]

I was told all instruments now come with gig bags, they no longer gte the hard cases from G&G like they used

That is correct that don't.

 

[TonyP-]

I mean, a sale is a sale. It's all profit. They are undoubtedly making plenty selling pickups. Plus, it would potentionally lead to more sales and promotion.

Imagine me playing shows, sharing photos and videos, where every single bass I have has the same G&L pickups. What a testament to their quality, tone, and functionality!

Mind you, all my basses are wildly different. Regular fretted, fretless, and multi-course. One of each but, several of each kind for different tunings. The idea is to homogenize the base bass sound. They ought to feel honored!

Text can be taken out of context easily, so I'm saying this with all sincerity and this not be being facetious.

If that is the case tell then who you are and explain that to them, if you feel you didn't receive the appropriate response or one at all.

 

[Hawk620]

I mean, a sale is a sale. It's all profit. They are undoubtedly making plenty selling pickups. Plus, it would potentionally lead to more sales and promotion.

Imagine me playing shows, sharing photos and videos, where every single bass I have has the same G&L pickups. What a testament to their quality, tone, and functionality!

Mind you, all my basses are wildly different. Regular fretted, fretless, and multi-course. One of each but, several of each kind for different tunings. The idea is to homogenize the base bass sound. They ought to feel honored!

What makes little sense to me is that G&L does sell it's pickups online in The Store......but not "these" pickups.

I'm admittedly a G&L fan but their quirks and eccentricities could fill an entire chapter in a book on guitar and bass builders. I've long since quit trying to make any logical sense of some of the things they've done. And it's not that they don't have the ability to create a more responsive customer service department as much as they seem to have no desire to do it. It's like they have Memo to do all of it.....and that's it.

Maybe Dave McClaren could fill some of his days doing CS and produce fewer videos. How much more impressive would it be for the President of the company to be available to speak with his customers and potential customers from time to time and hear what they have to say about his products first hand.

 

[ahbass2500]

What makes little sense to me is that G&L does sell it's pickups online in The Store.

^Fixed it for you

Honestly I am surprised they sell their pickups in the store. Try asking Ernie Ball for Stingray pickups and preamp. You might get one... if you have a busted set that you can send back to them.

I get it though. Some things are available and some not is an odd strategy. For the J MFD, I think it has to do with the pickups needing a deeper pickup route. They might get a bunch of customers followed by a bunch of angry customers (since they do not fit without modification).

I suppose it is also possible the reason is that they have not started building the MFD J pickups in enough scale to make them available.

Either of my possible explanations is reasonable. They are also both me making guesses. I have no info on the true reason.

 

[TonyP-]

Ok, I spoke to G&L this morning and "eventually" they J MFDs will be available for purchase. Also they are a little deeper in depth.

As far as timeline, nobody knows when.

Cheers

 

[KPJ]

I bought all these used, if it matters lol. 2007, 2022 and 2006.

 

[TomB]

Ok, I spoke to G&L this morning and "eventually" they J MFDs will be available for purchase. Also they are a little deeper in depth.

As far as timeline, nobody knows when.

Cheers

Hmm… "a little" may or may not require routing. …intriguing. Anyone who's installed Model J's knows that deepening can be a crap shoot. Who here has poked a pickup screw through back of the bass? Go on, Raise your hand… LOL!

 

[lowfreqgeek]

Hmm… "a little" may or may not require routing. …intriguing. Anyone who's installed Model J's knows that deepening can be a crap shoot. Who here has poked a pickup screw through back of the bass? Go on, Raise your hand… LOL!

I've not poked a pickup screw through, but I have drilled through the back in the process of drilling a hole from the pickup cavity to the control cavity...

 

[Hawk620]

^Fixed it for you

Honestly I am surprised they sell their pickups in the store. Try asking Ernie Ball for Stingray pickups and preamp. You might get one... if you have a busted set that you can send back to them.

I get it though. Some things are available and some not is an odd strategy. For the J MFD, I think it has to do with the pickups needing a deeper pickup route. They might get a bunch of customers followed by a bunch of angry customers (since they do not fit without modification).

I suppose it is also possible the reason is that they have not started building the MFD J pickups in enough scale to make them available.

Either of my possible explanations is reasonable. They are also both me making guesses. I have no info on the true reason.

Providing their dimensions along with a note of caution takes care of that.

What kind of an effort does it take to do that especially if they were to offer them as an option in other basses? This is what I mean by how quirky and seemingly illogical G&L can be at times. But it's always been that way so it's not as if I expect things to change.

 

[lowfreqgeek]

Providing their dimensions along with a note of caution takes care of that.

What kind of an effort does it take to do that especially if they were to offer them as an option in other basses? This is what I mean by how quirky and seemingly illogical G&L can be at times. But it's always been that way so it's not as if I expect things to change.

It's hard enough to get complete dimensions out of some actual pickup companies, let alone instrument companies that also sell their proprietary pickups through their own website.