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G&L Club Part 7

#17,401
TDR1138 said:
Anyone have any thoughts or opinions on the L5500? I was offered one in trade and I’m kinda on the fence, as I’m not a big 5-string player and don’t have enough experience with EMGs to have an opinion on them.
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Have not played one, but have followed them for years due to being a G&L follower. I plan to eventually buy one. General feedback that I have seen...
- Do not expect it to sound like any other G&L; EMG Pickups are not MFDs
- EMGs have little to no noise, but people say they sound sterile
- Pickups/preamp sound is said to improve if the system is hooked up to 18V instead of 9V (factory setup was 9V)
- As with most G&Ls from this time period, they are known for being heavy
 
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#17,402
They need to get agile with Jira, lol. (Joke for IT industry). Seriously a ticket or other order tracking system would really help. Also, actual customer service. My only experience was trying to order a pickguard. I think it took them three weeks to reply to email. Eventually I got my pickguard, but wow. It's 2020.
 
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#17,403
Boitameuh said:
How could you sell that lovely black SB-2 ? The blue fretless looks awesome too!
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GAS, foolishness, "the grass is greener", and looking for "the one" :) Plus at the time there was always another one out there to buy and try. My problem was alternating back and forth between liking SBs (usually SB2s) the best, and liking Ls (L2Ks or L1Ks) the best and swapping them out rather than keeping a couple of each around for when that sound was the favorite. Now I've got a couple of fretted L1Ks, a fretted SB2, and a fretless mongrel SB-1 equivalent. So I'm in a more stable place (I hope).

I went back and counted 46/190 were Tributes. There have been plenty of projects, steals, not-steals, some GC used or MF new that got returned when something wasn't quite right. Back in the day (for me starting about '00) you could buy and sell used G&Ls all day for $400-650, play them for a while, then turn around and sell them for about the same +/- a little and shipping ran $15-20 so even if you were out shipping it was no big deal. Now days I don't see the same number of used G&Ls around, the prices are much higher, and shipping is astronomical. So those "golden years" of being able to swap out a lineup of ~3 SBs for ~3 Ls and it costing +/- $50 seem to be long gone.

That said I'm always looking for the next bargain, just in case it's "the one" that makes me want to sell everything else off ;)
 
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#17,404
On a semi-related note I'm only on day two of waiting for G&L support to get back to me about selling me an intonation screw and spring for the used Tribute L2k I just got. I searched here and I guess lack of spring tension on the E string saddle intonation screw is a thing and they back out? I doubt the seller knew it was gone as the spring was still there. I'm trying to avoid buying a whole set of saddles for $40 plus shipping. I might buy some 8-32 fillister head screws from McMaster Carr if they don't get back to me.
 
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#17,406
Protagonist said:
They need to get agile with Jira, lol. (Joke for IT industry). Seriously a ticket or other order tracking system would really help. Also, actual customer service. My only experience was trying to order a pickguard. I think it took them three weeks to reply to email. Eventually I got my pickguard, but wow. It's 2020.
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Or TFS, or Rally, or ... jeez, even a stinking Excel workbook would help. (45 years in IT...)

...just not Access.... ;)
 
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#17,408
MascisMan said:
I think it is due to understaffing vs. volume of workload.
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You put the right people in place, and staffed and understaffed will matter not.

Ex. Picture 5 techs, maintaining electronic equipment. Three are proficient, two suck. Throughout their shift, various problems emerge... some are solved, some are not... by all.

For the problems which aren't solved, are you going to rely on the proficient techs to solve it, or the ones not so proficient? If each person in the chain isn't pulling their weight, there's gonna be some delays.

From what I've seen, the pros are doing their job, and that of the... others.

I can guarantee you, that scenario doesn't last long... that ball is being dropped somewhere in that process, from order to delivery, and everything in between.

Needs to stop... tell me this is not a fully functional, long term business model.
 
#17,409
Spidey2112 said:
You put the right people in place, and staffed and understaffed will matter not.
... tell me this is not a fully functional, long term business model.
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Maybe, but it seems like BBE has been content with how things are going.
How many instruments do they make a year and do they make much profit?
I am really curious about G&L and how it's run.
"After the death of Leo Fender in 1991, Fender's wife, Phyllis Fender, passed the management of G&L to John C. McLaren of BBE Sound".
His Linkedin profile is pretty interesting and he got started in the industry in 1986 with Fender.
That would have been a good time and place to learn bad habits. Or at least how to make heavy instruments. :)
https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-mclaren-jr-a805a8a3/
 
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#17,411
TDR1138 said:
Anyone have any thoughts or opinions on the L5500?
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I played the L5500 exclusively for years. Looks great, feels great, plays great, balances great (heavy), dead silent, but sounds completely bland.

Over time, I tried a lot to get the sound to bloom. The extra voltage doesn't seem to make a difference. I A/Bd a 9volt vs 24volts and it seems the same. What makes a little difference was raising the pickups and lowering the action a bit more than I'm normally comfortable with as a fingerstyle player. What made a huge difference was the Rusty Box as an always-on preamp. Set it as close to unity gain and tone first, then gently tweak.

A lot of fuss when I could have just gotten an L2500 and been done with it. The Trib L2500 was meant to be backup. It's now my main.
 
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#17,412
RocketMusic said:
Rattle hunting is the worst!! I've had to do it a couple times with my own basses, and both times I would have sworn the rattle was somewhere in the neck like the truss rod was doing it. And both times, it was a loose clover key on one of the tuners. So I would definitely start there even if your ears are telling you otherwise.
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Yes, this exact thing happened with my JB-5 late last year. I hunted all over for the rattle, including pressing on the backs of the tuning machines, all to no avail. I also suspected the truss rod, because it seemed like it could be inside the neck. (My first G&L did have a truss rod rattle years ago, and this seemed similar.) Then my local tech grabbed the D string clover, and it stopped. Ordered a new tuner within an hour, and it's been all good since then.
 
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#17,413
So this happened:

SGnIJUI.jpg


IktrdLV.jpg


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#17,417
Holdsg said:
just curious, I've seen a dual P (standard) config on a Matador (see above), and I seem to remember a "mountain" (standard/reversed) config. Do you get your choice?
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If you're ordering it custom, absolutely! You can choose your pickup orientation as well as whether you want the alnico (LB-100) pickups or the MFD's (SB-1). No charge for either of those choices.
 
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