NBD - G&L, and short rant

[aero58]

Placed a G&L Build-To-Order Jazz Bass about the end of January and got it just this past week. My local dealer said that the folks at G&L are cranking the BTOs out a pretty good clip right now. I ordered the jazz bass in turquoise.

The good:
- Paint job is PERFECT! Love it.
- Sound is excellent...now (see below)

The not so good:
- Arrived with a bad pot - can you believe that! Plugged it in and the neck pickup had a scratchy static noise. Thought it might be the amp, so tried a different one; same thing. Tech checked it out and sure enough bad pot. They called G&L to inquire what they wanted to do to remedy the situation. G&L said for now, if I was OK with it, to replace the pot with one the dealer had on hand and G&L would send them a new one. I said that was fine. When the new pot arrives, the dealer said he'd replace it for me if I wanted, or I could just hang on to it (I'll just hang on to it - don't want to mess up a good sound right now).
- Ordered a hard case; arrived in a gig bag. G&L quickly sent the case and said to keep the gig bag (cool - the gig bag is nice)
- Fret edges will need a little smoothing out on the G string side. Kind of a bummer to be honest, but easily fixed.

I'm a little underwhelmed with G&L's QC. Last year I got a G&L Fullerton Deluxe jazz Bass (stock - the macha green one, with Caribbean Rosewood fingerboard) and when I changed out the stock roundwound strings with flats, couldn't get proper intonation due to the saddle screws being too short. Luckily I got longer replacement ones and it's fine; and I still have this bass.

So, two basses, American made, with "issues" right out of the gate. Nothing that isn't/wasn't easily remedied, but still - c'mon G&L!

One last thing...this new BTO has an alder body, whereas the Fullerton Deluxe JB has a pine body - the BTO w/alder is definitely heavier. That's not a quibble, just an observation - they both sound the same to me.

 

[skycruiser]

Looks awesome. No bass builder makes pots from scratch. Could it have failed in shipping? You'll never know. Too bad about the case but turned out in your favor.

Fix the pot, clean up the frets and rock that bad boy.

 

[aero58]

Looks awesome. No bass builder makes pots from scratch. Could it have failed in shipping? You'll never know. Too bad about the case but turned out in your favor.

Fix the pot, clean up the frets and rock that bad boy.

Thanks! And it’s highly possible that the pot was damaged in shipping. It’s all good now.

 

[MrAB4003]

Placed a G&L Build-To-Order Jazz Bass about the end of January and got it just this past week. My local dealer said that the folks at G&L are cranking the BTOs out a pretty good clip right now. I ordered the jazz bass in turquoise.

The good:
- Paint job is PERFECT! Love it.
- Sound is excellent...now (see below)

The not so good:
- Arrived with a bad pot - can you believe that! Plugged it in and the neck pickup had a scratchy static noise. Thought it might be the amp, so tried a different one; same thing. Tech checked it out and sure enough bad pot. They called G&L to inquire what they wanted to do to remedy the situation. G&L said for now, if I was OK with it, to replace the pot with one the dealer had on hand and G&L would send them a new one. I said that was fine. When the new pot arrives, the dealer said he'd replace it for me if I wanted, or I could just hang on to it (I'll just hang on to it - don't want to mess up a good sound right now).
- Ordered a hard case; arrived in a gig bag. G&L quickly sent the case and said to keep the gig bag (cool - the gig bag is nice)
- Fret edges will need a little smoothing out on the G string side. Kind of a bummer to be honest, but easily fixed.

I'm a little underwhelmed with G&L's QC. Last year I got a G&L Fullerton Deluxe jazz Bass (stock - the macha green one, with Caribbean Rosewood fingerboard) and when I changed out the stock roundwound strings with flats, couldn't get proper intonation due to the saddle screws being too short. Luckily I got longer replacement ones and it's fine; and I still have this bass.

So, two basses, American made, with "issues" right out of the gate. Nothing that isn't/wasn't easily remedied, but still - c'mon G&L!

One last thing...this new BTO has an alder body, whereas the Fullerton Deluxe JB has a pine body - the BTO w/alder is definitely heavier. That's not a quibble, just an observation - they both sound the same to me.

View attachment 5381653

Congrats on your beautiful new G&L JB! I love the turquoise with the matching headstock and maple fretboard.

I agree that for as much as you paid for your bass, it should be absolutely perfect upon delivery. G&L has been known for QC issues in the past, but at least they're heads and tails above the QC of MIM Fenders!

 

[StayLow]

Nice bass.

I’ve been wondering, so seems a good place to ask… do pics exist of someone playing a maple board turquoise bass (or other bright-ish color) w/ matching headstock?

Maybe someone prolific plays one that I’m unaware of. Am curious how it looks IRL. Thanks.

 

[sawzalot]

Bad pot is a really easy fix. Sounds like you’re experiencing fret sprout, which is very common especially on maple fretboards especially in winter. And you got a nice gig bag out of the deal. Play that thing and love it!

 

[JeezyMcNuggles]

Placed a G&L Build-To-Order Jazz Bass about the end of January and got it just this past week. My local dealer said that the folks at G&L are cranking the BTOs out a pretty good clip right now. I ordered the jazz bass in turquoise.

The good:
- Paint job is PERFECT! Love it.
- Sound is excellent...now (see below)

The not so good:
- Arrived with a bad pot - can you believe that! Plugged it in and the neck pickup had a scratchy static noise. Thought it might be the amp, so tried a different one; same thing. Tech checked it out and sure enough bad pot. They called G&L to inquire what they wanted to do to remedy the situation. G&L said for now, if I was OK with it, to replace the pot with one the dealer had on hand and G&L would send them a new one. I said that was fine. When the new pot arrives, the dealer said he'd replace it for me if I wanted, or I could just hang on to it (I'll just hang on to it - don't want to mess up a good sound right now).
- Ordered a hard case; arrived in a gig bag. G&L quickly sent the case and said to keep the gig bag (cool - the gig bag is nice)
- Fret edges will need a little smoothing out on the G string side. Kind of a bummer to be honest, but easily fixed.

I'm a little underwhelmed with G&L's QC. Last year I got a G&L Fullerton Deluxe jazz Bass (stock - the macha green one, with Caribbean Rosewood fingerboard) and when I changed out the stock roundwound strings with flats, couldn't get proper intonation due to the saddle screws being too short. Luckily I got longer replacement ones and it's fine; and I still have this bass.

So, two basses, American made, with "issues" right out of the gate. Nothing that isn't/wasn't easily remedied, but still - c'mon G&L!

One last thing...this new BTO has an alder body, whereas the Fullerton Deluxe JB has a pine body - the BTO w/alder is definitely heavier. That's not a quibble, just an observation - they both sound the same to me.

View attachment 5381653

Why didn't you replace the pot with the new one? The sound wouldn't change. Not in the slightest. And, the scratching would be gone.

 

[JDA04OSU]

Not surprised. I’ve posted my issues with an option order LB-100 before… wrong headstock logo, ground wire not even soldered in place. One of the block inlays looks just slightly askew. Replacement pickguard they sent me as part of the make-up arrangement didn’t fit. Set up was meh, with extra buzzy open A. Still, a couple years later, it’s a pretty dope bass. Feels and sounds great. Just wouldn’t go through it again with all the issues. Felt like a bit of a rinky-dink operation over there.

 

[J Wilson]

NICE looking axe (Extra points for being a man of obvious taste and class to spec the matching headstock), and glad you had a conscientious dealer who was helpful in turning a lemon into lemonade.

I think it should be required that most consumers take a factory tour and realize pretty fast that most all our axes are built in a mass production, 'we ain't going home 'till we get today's 250 pieces, guys!' environment. CAD/CAM and CNC has removed a lot of the dimensional variability, modern QC practices help a lot as well, but ultimately they're still built by humans, so you wind up with the occasional iffy pot, a bag instead of a case. Sprout-y frets just happen across a country with four time zones and varying weather.

It's a solid bass I've no doubt, but G+L just needs to make their QC a little tighter. But in a post Covid world and companies scrambling every week for the HR Department to keep up with how many warm bodies Production needs that will show up every day and work the shifts and stay off their phones and Facebook, it can be a hill to clomb

 

[mrSaxonAcres]

Good thing it's purrrrty.

 

[john_g]

NICE looking axe (Extra points for being a man of obvious taste and class to spec the matching headstock), and glad you had a conscientious dealer who was helpful in turning a lemon into lemonade.

I think it should be required that most consumers take a factory tour and realize pretty fast that most all our axes are built in a mass production, 'we ain't going home 'till we get today's 250 pieces, guys!' environment. CAD/CAM and CNC has removed a lot of the dimensional variability, modern QC practices help a lot as well, but ultimately they're still built by humans, so you wind up with the occasional iffy pot, a bag instead of a case. Sprout-y frets just happen across a country with four time zones and varying weather.

It's a solid bass I've no doubt, but G+L just needs to make their QC a little tighter. But in a post Covid world and companies scrambling every week for the HR Department to keep up with how many warm bodies Production needs that will show up every day and work the shifts and stay off their phones and Facebook, it can be a hill to clomb

Pretty much this...especially the part about post covid workplace. Having my own business, it is very difficult to find people now and even in the best of times, things get overlooked.

 

[aero58]

Why didn't you replace the pot with the new one? The sound wouldn't change. Not in the slightest. And, the scratching would be gone.

Fair question. The reason is that the shop has still not received the new pot from G&L, so I wanted to play it now rather than wait.

 

[MattZilla]

I’ve never done this, I always just pull out the masking tape, files, steel wool, and polishing wheel’d Dremel and guarantee that sprout’s not gonna happen no matter how neglectful I am about maintaining humidity.

Seems like a good bit of well-adjusted adult behavior to just have hygrometers in each bass’s case and as needed lay the bass in it’s case on the floor, lay some wax paper or Al foil or something over the strings from the 3rd-14th frets and set a Martin humidifier weenie thingy on top of that and close the case for a day to a week (or I guess nearly a whole season as this guy did).

 

[ElectricBass72]

Sucks to hear about G&L quality control for USA models. I have 2 Indonesian G&L Tributes that were perfect out of the box and are better quality than MIM Fenders.... and MIMs are nice basses.

 

[StayLow]

Based on what I’ve experienced over the years, I expect Indonesian basses - and probably only Indonesian basses - to be perfect at the start.

As far as US products go, does anyone seriously expect US wage workers to be proud, attentive, highly motivated, or perhaps most important suffer actual repercussions for mistakes?

Long before Chinese or Japanese products were considered trash made by inconsequential people, those empires ruled most of the world. There’s an arc to all empires, and history repeats.

 

[Gizmot]

Beautiful bass! What we keep learning that no matter which brand it is and where it comes from that products made by human hands can have gremlins.

 

[J Wilson]

NICE looking axe (Extra points for being a man of obvious taste and class to spec the matching headstock), and glad you had a conscientious dealer who was helpful in turning a lemon into lemonade.

I think it should be required that most consumers take a factory tour and realize pretty fast that most all our axes are built in a mass production, 'we ain't going home 'till we get today's 250 pieces, guys!' environment. CAD/CAM and CNC has removed a lot of the dimensional variability, modern QC practices help a lot as well, but ultimately they're still built by humans, so you wind up with the occasional iffy pot, a bag instead of a case. Sprout-y frets just happen across a country with four time zones and varying weather.

It's a solid bass I've no doubt, but G+L just needs to make their QC a little tighter. But in a post Covid world and companies scrambling every week for the HR Department to keep up with how many warm bodies Production needs that will show up every day and work the shifts and stay off their phones and Facebook, it can be a hill to clomb

' . . . a hill to clomb'

Duh-oh!

Fannng, I wiss TakkBiss headd uh spilll-chzkkr built in.

 

[Spidey2112]

Arrived with a bad pot - can you believe that?

Yes... yes, I can.

 

[aero58]

Sucks to hear about G&L quality control for USA models. I have 2 Indonesian G&L Tributes that were perfect out of the box and are better quality than MIM Fenders.... and MIMs are nice basses.

Speaking of Tributes, I played a G&L Tribute Kiloton last year in a store and it was excellent! I almost bought it - still might.

 

[dbsfgyd1]

Placed a G&L Build-To-Order Jazz Bass about the end of January and got it just this past week. My local dealer said that the folks at G&L are cranking the BTOs out a pretty good clip right now. I ordered the jazz bass in turquoise.

The good:
- Paint job is PERFECT! Love it.
- Sound is excellent...now (see below)

The not so good:
- Arrived with a bad pot - can you believe that! Plugged it in and the neck pickup had a scratchy static noise. Thought it might be the amp, so tried a different one; same thing. Tech checked it out and sure enough bad pot. They called G&L to inquire what they wanted to do to remedy the situation. G&L said for now, if I was OK with it, to replace the pot with one the dealer had on hand and G&L would send them a new one. I said that was fine. When the new pot arrives, the dealer said he'd replace it for me if I wanted, or I could just hang on to it (I'll just hang on to it - don't want to mess up a good sound right now).
- Ordered a hard case; arrived in a gig bag. G&L quickly sent the case and said to keep the gig bag (cool - the gig bag is nice)
- Fret edges will need a little smoothing out on the G string side. Kind of a bummer to be honest, but easily fixed.

I'm a little underwhelmed with G&L's QC. Last year I got a G&L Fullerton Deluxe jazz Bass (stock - the macha green one, with Caribbean Rosewood fingerboard) and when I changed out the stock roundwound strings with flats, couldn't get proper intonation due to the saddle screws being too short. Luckily I got longer replacement ones and it's fine; and I still have this bass.

So, two basses, American made, with "issues" right out of the gate. Nothing that isn't/wasn't easily remedied, but still - c'mon G&L!

One last thing...this new BTO has an alder body, whereas the Fullerton Deluxe JB has a pine body - the BTO w/alder is definitely heavier. That's not a quibble, just an observation - they both sound the same to me.

View attachment 5381653

Yeah, that is a little sloppy. But, in the end you got yourself another really nice bass. congrats on it anyway.