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Show us your G&L
- Thread starter pwilson
- Start date
CLF Research line used old headstock shape and front metal plate instead of rear mounted controls, I wouldn’t dare to declaw!
What’s important to me is it’s Series 750. Full 19mm (3/4”) string spacing, like on 4 stringers. It means body and neck heel are wider, pickups and bridges and saddles are wider too.
Is there any way to find out how many JB MFDs were actually made? I have the one with the natural finish and maple fingerboard. I know there weren't that many made, I'm just curious as to how much of a rarity they actually are. Here's are pics of the build sheet and the bass:
Congrats. That's a beautiful, classic-looking bass that has its own distinctive sound. (I say that with confidence, though I've never heard it!
) I'm an old guy living on social security, but I have a nice bass collection, mostly budget brands. If I had known that G&L was going out of business, I would've found a way to buy one of these. They should be a treasure forever. I think it was rude of G&L not to give me advanced warning they were going to fold! 
After it was announced or hinted-at or rumored (blah, blah, blah) that Franklin Guitar Works / MIRC had acquired all of G&L's inventory, I wonder what's happened to it? I'm on the FGW emailing list, but they've said nothing about anything G&L. There's nothing G&L on their website or in their Reverb shop that I've found. I wonder if there are any of these MFD Jazz Pickups in that inventory.
- Jun 30, 2010
- 49,588
- 221,965
- Disclosures
- musician/artist/owner - Gildaxe
It’s more pedalboard than L2500, but it does reflect parts of it nicely.
Just assembled, testing.
I read here on TB that there were oodles of pickups that went in the dumpster when they were cleaning the place out, among other things. Apparently some people were dumpster diving and getting stuff. I'm hoping that someone eventually posts about building a bass with some of those things.Congrats. That's a beautiful, classic-looking bass that has its own distinctive sound. (I say that with confidence, though I've never heard it!
After it was announced or hinted-at or rumored (blah, blah, blah) that Franklin Guitar Works / MIRC had acquired all of G&L's inventory, I wonder what's happened to it? I'm on the FGW emailing list, but they've said nothing about anything G&L. There's nothing G&L on their website or in their Reverb shop that I've found. I wonder if there are any of these MFD Jazz Pickups in that inventory.
Maybe there will never be another MFD pickup available. Or maybe the McLarens will sell the patent to somebody and they'll produce some. Or maybe the McLarens will start winding them again and sell them as BBE pickups, if indeed BBE even still exists. Time will tell. Until then, I guess it's Alnicos, but IMO, MFDs beat the sound of any other bass pickups.
My understanding was that BBE and G&L were one and the same from a corporate perspective, so BBE ceased to exist along with G&L.
I also remember reading in the big long G&L Going Out of Business thread that all of the MFD patents have expired, so theoretically anyone could build a similar or exact copy at this point.
Since I posted this pair early in this thread, I've had both of them modded.
The Pharaoh Gold / rosewood bass was an SB-1 and is now a WhoKnows-What — an alnico pickup at the J neck spot and a ceramic blade at the Ric bridge spot (both noiseless) With lightweight Chromes tuned to D Standard, this has zero SB character left. Good for rootsy stuff and Motown.
The Ruby Red / gloss maple started as an LB-100, but now has the SB pickup, reversed. The action is very low, it's so easy to play, even with 50-110 Rotosounds.
The Pharaoh Gold / rosewood bass was an SB-1 and is now a WhoKnows-What — an alnico pickup at the J neck spot and a ceramic blade at the Ric bridge spot (both noiseless) With lightweight Chromes tuned to D Standard, this has zero SB character left. Good for rootsy stuff and Motown.
The Ruby Red / gloss maple started as an LB-100, but now has the SB pickup, reversed. The action is very low, it's so easy to play, even with 50-110 Rotosounds.
According to former G&L dealer UpFront Guitars, there were less than 100 total JB MFD's made. Glad I was able to pick up a pair. Build sheets both say alder but they sound quite different from one another. The metallic silver sounds deeper and fuller while the Fiesta red sounds tighter and really cuts through a mix. The Fiesta's gun oil stain neck and stainless steel frets feel incredible. The 2009 JB arrived with Hipshots (and a quartersawn, tiger-striped neck) and both JB MFD's now have Hipshots as well.
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This is just my two cents, the JB MFD pickups are hotter than traditional single coil jazz bass pickups, but I don't know if I would go so far as to call them loud. They are not hum cancelling. One great thing about them is that they have adjustable pole pieces so you can easily radius them. Memo told me that spec on that is 5/64" from the bottom of the strings to the poles and I set mine up to that. I'm happy with it, it's a fine bass guitar and I'm glad I grabbed it.
Thanks! I had always wanted a red L1k.
When I saw it for sale, and the seller was looking to trade for something I had, I had to jump on it. I did have to have it refretted. There’s 38 years of bumps and a little finish damage around the volume knob, and it’s on the light end of the “boat anchor” spectrum, but it plays and sounds amazing.
