Leo got it right the ____ time

[Torn Bassist]

I believe he got it right with each design and all three companies are still making basses plus look at all of the other companies pulling from Leo's talents.....long live the king of electric instruments and every design he was involved with!

 

[Yango]

Leo got it right EVERY time.

 

[jmattbassplaya]

The Jazz is my favorite, and I've had a lifelong affair with the Ray, but you can't deny what he accomplished with the Precision.

 

[Geri O]

Every time.

^^^ This ^^^

Each and every time.

 

[George1962]

Hope this does not stray too far from the subject but should a small hand player use a smaller scaled bass like a mustang or hofner or get a standard full size jazz and force their hands to stretch?

 

[PortlandBass77]

The 666 time when he discovered the best bass for metal \m/

 

[PortlandBass77]

In all seriousness though, I'm assuming this thread is asking what we think Leo Fender's best bass invention is? Three of those basses listed are in the top 5 most commonly played, so I don't think you could say he got it wrong with a straight face.

For best? That's also a tough one: I've never played a G&L (though I do want to) do to the lack of local stock, so I'd have to say a tie between the Jazzzz and Stingray.

 

[FatStringer52]

I'll have to echo what everyone has already stated, each and every time. And every step of the way was improvement over improvement, over improvement, etc. I believe Leo's innovations laid the foundation for the wonderful selection of instruments available to us today. He inspired a lot of folks . . .

 

[Kubicki Fan]

One thing we can hopefully agree on is that the Name G&L does not carry the weight of the names Fender and Musicman. I pretty much doubt that in twenty years the G&L's are, from a collector's view, as sought after and highly priced as vintage Fenders and Musicmans.

You may be right, but who cares.
What does being popular with collectors 20 years from now matter when you need a great sounding, easy to play, reliable, durable, affordable, instrument now. If G&L is still under the radar 20 years form now, Good! at least my grand kids will be able to afford it.

 

[Kubicki Fan]

SB-2

Where's my insulin.

 

[faceless_master]

Hope this does not stray too far from the subject but should a small hand player use a smaller scaled bass like a mustang or hofner or get a standard full size jazz and force their hands to stretch?

It's all a matter of preference. A short scale would most likely be more comfortable, but unless your hands are unusually small, stretching shouldn't be a problem on a full scale instrument. Your best bet is to go to a guitar shop and try different things to see what fits.

Also, in the future, any questions you may have will definitely get more attention if you start a new thread for them.

 

[el_Bajo_Verde]

Hope this does not stray too far from the subject but should a small hand player use a smaller scaled bass like a mustang or hofner or get a standard full size jazz and force their hands to stretch?

Unless you have the hands of a toddler, you'll be fine on any scale bass

 

[Willicious]

We often hear the phrase "Leo got it right the first time." Maybe so, but the Precision is just one of several significant basses he invented. So here's a chance to weigh in on what you think Leo's greatest creation was. (I've kept the poll simple, but you can elaborate on various specific models below. And for the indecisive, you can have two votes!)

I voted Precision Bass, though the other options are all valid, for sure. Besides creating an excellent electric bass, initially, what Leo, Freddie, George, Forrest, etc. were amazing at was evolving the P bass. With the release and acceptance of the original slab-bodied P, they probably could've rested on their laurels far longer than a few years, but they kept right on tweaking and refining, and massaged a great bass into an excellent one that, in my opinion, nobody has managed to measurably improve upon. What amazes me most is, there wasn't a single designer in that group. They were a rag-tag collection of engineers, musicians, and business minds, but they still managed to come up with a gorgeous, timeless design — especially that late-50s P headstock!

 

[MojoPenguin]

Or the Telecaster, the Stingray, the Fender amps, etc.. The guy was a genius to be honest and guitarists and bassists owe him a lot IMHO.

 

[Mantis Tobaggan]

Definitely with the Precision bass. Nothing is better.

 

[Honch]

Why isn't the choice "he never ever got it right" available as an option? Is this a "in praise of" or "fanboi" thread?

 

[merlin252]

One thing we can hopefully agree on is that the Name G&L does not carry the weight of the names Fender and Musicman. I pretty much doubt that in twenty years the G&L's are, from a collector's view, as sought after and highly priced as vintage Fenders and Musicmans.

I can only hope so, because in the UK they're holding their used value just fine, which is why I can't afford one!

 

[TinIndian]

I've played a lot of different basses over the years and I always come back to Leo's stuff. I own a P, a Stingray and an L2KE and L2500. I don't think there is a bad answer to that question up there. In fact a while back I decided I am pretty much staying with his stuff going forward. Doesn't matter if it's Fender, MusicMan or G&L. They are all great.

 

[kinopah]

Well, my favorite of those is the StingRay, but I think I'd say he got it right with the Jazz bass. NOTHING wrong with the P, itself, but in designing the J I think he established a kind of point/counterpoint which has dominated bass playing for 60+ years. It set up this yin & yang relationship in which so many players and manufacturers have been operating ever since. With the sounds and playability that you can get from one or the other of those models, it's pretty hard to imagine a facet of electric bass playing that one couldn't explore.

 

[dabbler]

Cool thread, but as has been mentioned, Leo didn't even play bass. So how did he get ANYthing right about them? I'm GLAD you asked!

Leo was an inventor, practicalist, great tech and he LISTENED to feedback from the users of his equipment! Same with his guitars. So what he produced was what the players he got feedback from said they wanted AT THE TIME!

ALL of them were "right" for the people he got input from, and each is still a preference for groups of players.

I don't mind threads like this, but it kinda bugs me that so few will recognize and admit that not everybody likes/wants/needs the same thing in a bass.

There's a reason I keep saying "Different strokes for different folks."