NBD: G&L LB-100 Option Order

[JDA04OSU]

This bass arrived last Saturday while I was out of town, and I’ve been bogged down with work since returning. But here’s to a belated New Bass Day!

Ordered through Greg from Rocket Music as a 40th birthday gift to myself. Total lead time ended up being just under 6 months, which was the estimate I got at time of order.

G&L LB-100
Alder body under LPB metallic finish
Quartersawn maple Jazz-width neck with ebony board, 12” radius, vintage frets, blocks and binding.

G&L actually got the headstock logo color wrong from my order (wanted silver/black), and offered to do the rework. I declined, instead asking for a t-shirt and a back-up pickguard for compensation. They packed 2 shirts in the case, and Greg said he’d have a guard drop-shipped to me (I chose parchment).

On arrival, there was more relief in the neck than I’d like but within a couple minutes, I had the neck a little straighter and the action a little lower. I chalk that up, at least partly, to shipping conditions. Feels very, very nice to me now. Smooth playability. Great P bass tone.

Haven’t yet taken off the pickguard but seems like it may not be shielded very well, based on the amount of hum and my brief research on G&L’s factory shielding. Planning to address that one of these next couple nights.

Overall, I’m happy and looking forward to recording on this beauty soon. Done rambling, time to attach some pics!

 

[Mike Vee]

Very nice! G&L is the best.

 

[JDA04OSU]

A little follow up: When I opened it up to shield the cavity, I found that G&L had never soldered the ground wire from the bridge into place. Checked the schematic online and soldered it to the tone pot. Shielded everything up and now it’s dead quiet. Not gonna lie though, I’m pretty disappointed in G&L. First, they screwed up the logo color, then failed to complete the grounding? On a ~$2k option-order, made in the USA instrument?

 

[Jeff K]

A little follow up: When I opened it up to shield the cavity, I found that G&L had never soldered the ground wire from the bridge into place. Checked the schematic online and soldered it to the tone pot. Shielded everything up and now it’s dead quiet. Not gonna lie though, I’m pretty disappointed in G&L. First, they screwed up the logo color, then failed to complete the grounding? On a ~$2k option-order, made in the USA instrument?

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Yeah, that's surprising coming from G&L. Sweet-lookin' bass though!

 

[eccles77]

A little follow up: When I opened it up to shield the cavity, I found that G&L had never soldered the ground wire from the bridge into place. Checked the schematic online and soldered it to the tone pot. Shielded everything up and now it’s dead quiet. Not gonna lie though, I’m pretty disappointed in G&L. First, they screwed up the logo color, then failed to complete the grounding? On a ~$2k option-order, made in the USA instrument?

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Thats what happened to me. Bought a US LB 100 and the ground wire wasn`t even stripped back to expose the wire. I put a picture in the G&L Club thread. And sod all shielding.

I like the basses but their qc is pretty ropey and it has put me off buying another. How can Harley Benton get it right in a bass costing £150 yet G&L can`t get it right in a bass costing £1100 in my case.

 

[JDA04OSU]

Thats what happened to me. Bought a US LB 100 and the ground wire wasn`t even stripped back to expose the wire.

Same. The insulation was intact all the way to the tip of the wire. They just forgot about it. Somehow.

 

[JDA04OSU]

Posting another update, particularly for anyone who might be considering an option-order G&L...

I ended up sharing my disappointment with G&L customer service. I was originally willing to overlook the headstock logo mishap, and I was able to solder the ground wire in place on my own, but of course felt like they needed to hear the feedback.

Seems like it's just one guy responding to emails there, and his initial response was timely enough (came after the weekend). He offered to send me a shipping label to have them fix both issues. Told him I'd already dealt with the ground wire, and inquired as to how long it would take just to redo the logo. Got the estimate but I really wasn't eager to send my brand new bass back and wait another 3-4 weeks for it to return. Even tried to give them another out, asking if they'd be willing to give me some other gear instead (maybe another pickguard, or another t-shirt). Mind you, I had never gotten the first backup guard I had been promised, and the Leo t-shirt they sent me fell apart at the armpit seam within 2 weeks.

They left me hanging for a couple days, so I circled back and said I'd just like to send it back for the logo fix. Felt like the least they could do is eat the shipping costs both ways and give me the logo I asked for. Got a fairly quick response asking me to provide them with my address and the serial # of the bass, and they'd send me a shipping label right away. I replied immediately with the requested info, and then nothing... left them a voice mail, sent another email, and it still took 5 days to get a reply with an apology and a shipping label.

Fast forwarding about 6 weeks, the bass is finally back in my possession and I'm willing to admit that it's a wonderful instrument. Yeah, the logo was sort of a trivial thing to stress about, but I'm happy I got it fixed to my desired specs (this was a 40th birthday gift to myself and my first "custom" bass). I also finally got the parchment guard, pictured below. I'm going to keep tort on there until my next string change, but I dig this look a lot too!

Lingering negatives: One of the inlays seems to be cut just a little bit crooked on one of its short edges (15th fret treble side). And to nitpick a little, rolled fingerboard edges would definitely make the neck more comfortable.

Overall, I couldn't possibly recommend G&L for an option-order bass. I have no concerns about the quality of the wood, hardware, electronics, etc. But they seem to run a pretty shoddy operation in terms of quality control and customer service. Happy to answer questions about my experience if anyone has 'em!