Leo Fender's opinion on "vintage"?

There's a G&L ad where Leo Fender says "G&L basses are the best I ever made".

Of course, it was more of a publicity thing than anything else.

 

I decided to put the Link up to the questions that were answered by Mr.George Fullerton.

www.guitarsbyleo.com

Go to FAQ and scroll down in the general questions section until you get to Question #20
(most of you have already read it)

 

Wow...that interview is a view into history.

*saLUEtes*

 

In his book about G&L, "Guitars From George & Leo: How Leo Fender and I Built G&L Guitars", Fullerton said that Leo never understood why the pre-CBS Fenders were so popular. He considered them inferior, and believed every new design was an improvement over the old design. Once he moved on he forgot about the old ones. The original G&L Strat and Tele style guitars had new MFD pickups that were different than the ones on Fenders. When sales of those weren't as high as they hoped Leo had to be talked into making versions with the original style pickups. He just didn't understand why musicians would want to play 30 year old (at the time) designs when he had better ones available.


I don't know how that squares with Fullerton's comment that the Strat was Leo's favorite guitar design from the interview above. That seems to contradict what he said in the book.

 

Jauqo . .thenks for taking the timeto post that interview .. as a Fender/Stingray/G&L player I found it wonderful reading.

 

You are more than welcome.

 

I think that the Strat was his favorite because it turned into the most popular guitar of all time. Sure he was making a better product, but he didn't play guitar, so he probably just never personally understand what it's about to know how a guitar feels and plays best.

 

Definitely a great read. Naturally, much thanks to George Fullerton, too.

 

Electronically he felt the newer design pickups to be superior, but that the body shape, balance, bridge design etc. were unequaled and had he retained Fender he would have fine tuned the Strat electronically etc, without changing the basic design of the guitar.

Most bass/guitar makers agree with him at least on a few points in that the majority of all electric basses and guitars emulate his balance and body shaping ideals, not simply because of visual taste, but because of the well conceived ergonomics.

“Leo’s.... love was designing pickups."

It's the love for the old pickup designs he couldn't understand.

 

Awesome Jauqo. Thank you.

 

Man, that is one fine bit of reading! Thanks for posting it.

 

Thanks for the article. Great information. What a creative man. And he did not know how to tune or play the instrument. Amazing.

 

Man that was a great read....I wish he would said more about the Tribute line if Leo would of liked it or not. It seems like one of those answers where you don't want to hurt someones feelings.

Anyway thanks for posting....I really want to get that book now.

 

Great story.....



Umm


Now I want a G and L 2000.

MAAAAAA!!!!!!

 

Mmmm L2000.

 

You sure do have a lot of G and L basses. Is your L2000 the most unique?

 

Right now, I've been using the SB-2 for gigs. All G&L's seem to have hot pups and cut through very well. The L2000 is very versatile, but sometimes I just like a basic setup (limited knobs).

When we play on stage, we get comments from other bands that we had the best mix of the night. I think it's because both the guitarist and myself use G&L...