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Opinions
- Thread starter MultiScaleMale
- Start date
I totally understand why they did it, I am just disappointed G&L designs died with the company.
Evidently Fender needs some fresh ideas, this bass is cool, but it gives me wall hanger vibes, looks better than it is to play.
But Fender didn't let it die. If the factory could be saved, someone would have bought it.
I also don't see how Fender could have saved it without creating their own morally grey problem of having to lay off Fender employees elsewhere all to subsidize a factory they don't want or need.
From some examples I've seen in store, some Fender employees should be replaced anyway!
I get it, I just hope the workers found work and I hope one day we will see new G&L's made by someone, I don't care who's name is on the headstock.
It's almost like people have no concept of how business works.
It's almost like they got ahold of a Pedulla Rapture but didn't have the balls to only give it one pickup. That being said, they've been out a pretty long while now. I wonder how many they sell. Could be more than we could imagine. Talkbass can be a little insulated from the rest of the world sometimes.
Passive bypass with the S1 switch on the volume. And the Passive / flat Active sound identical.
It looks like a bass that would be in Rocko's Modern Life, and that's pretty cool. I'd be pumped to see one being played at a live show but wouldn't buy one myself
One shop I used to go to carried mostly G&L. The stuff looked nice, but it was all out of my price range. A niche brand like G&L didn't necessarily need to try to crack the entry level market, but why was there nothing for the intermediate levels? High end and pro level gear is nice and all, but that's a small market.
I wasn't looking for stuff in the $1,500 to $2,000+ range at the time, but I'm starting to look at that stuff now. Most of the brands I'm looking closely at I have experience with, because they do and have historically offered products in the $500 to $800 range.
How many more people would be interested in a brand like G&L if they could have had those good experiences with intermediate level gear when that was apropriate for their musical journey at the time?
Nothing I've seen about G&L's marketing indicates to me that they were trying to place themselves as a premium brand, where a high sticker price is part of the appeal to the intended customer base. G&L seemed like they were trying to be a brand known for rock solid, pro level gear that was a bit nicer than average. How can you play in that market if you don't build that market? It seems like a hard place to try to be if you're not catering to the levels just below that.
They had the Tribute line of Korean imports with American Pick-ups, IIRC they were priced $700-1000
Just very poor business structure, but they were doing fine until the dreaded 2020 timeline- Thin margins became losses and they never bounced back.
To be fair though, those $1400 basses were better than other stuff costing $2500 or more- but $1400 is still $1400 for a brand very few people knew about.
People flaunt their $4000 Les Pauls, but only because of the name, the product itself is often no better than an Epiphone- sometimes worse.
Don't know if it's been mentioned yet since my last post but, I just wanted to add that the Mexican model was discontinued last year. Guess it didn't sell very well.
I thought it was a good idea but bad execution. The only thing I really liked about mine was the looks and the high mass bridge.
The ergonomics were off, the active pre-amp and pickups not great, the finish on my silver burst was nice but the giant pickguard covered a lot of it up.
Mine was kind of heavy just below 10lbs so I really didn't have any neck dive problems at least.
I thought it was a good idea but bad execution. The only thing I really liked about mine was the looks and the high mass bridge.
The ergonomics were off, the active pre-amp and pickups not great, the finish on my silver burst was nice but the giant pickguard covered a lot of it up.
Mine was kind of heavy just below 10lbs so I really didn't have any neck dive problems at least.
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I think it's cool and would rather play something that doesn't look like every other bass. My concern would be neck dive because of the distance between that short upper horn and the 12th fret. I'd think you'd need to relocate that rear strap button a good deal higher, but the contour makes it appear there isn't much real estate there.
Owners on here report no neck dive really. I just wish it had better colored available for such a creative style (for fender).
Ok, I think I hear the girl consensus and along with this video, I'm thinking a J would be a better choice. I do appreciate the opinions both pro and con.
I think they missed the mark on the vibe of the meteora. They need to give it the same treatment as their Jazzmaster releases. Classic offset colors, nothing overly modern. I also agree the headstock doesn't feel right, I actually prefer a RVRH headstock. They do that a lot of the custom meteora guitars and it looks awesome! I've been playing around with options for a meteora build, since I just grabbed a loaded body for cheap. I want to refinish it and have a matching headstock:
I'm not a big AI fan, but it is useful for iterations. I personally love the Fiesta Red
