Used G&L buying advice

That's about the right price range.

Older G&L L1000's are one of my faves, and I've always had one since they came out.
However, there are some things to beware of.
1) does the trussrod bullet move freely?
2) wood in the trussrod route can compress over time, leaving all the threads on the rods exposed, and no wood under the bullet. If you can't get enough adjustment to flatten the neck to your satisfaction, don't crank on the bullet. Remove it and put washers under it to take up the sapce where the wood has compress.
3) the microtilt adjust at the neck heel...this is accessed via the little hole in the neck mounting plate. It really shouldn't be necessary to use this for a great setup, but, if you need to use it, use it sparingly, and *don't* torque the heck out of the neck mounting screws. Doing so can and will cause the end of the neck to raise up in the dreaded "ski jump." Make sure the ned of the neck frets out properly, and if it doesn't, take a straight edge to it to make sure it doesn't have a hump out there at 15th position or so. If it does, it can be fixed by deressing those frets down, if it ain't real bad.
4) 1981 Should have "slot pole" adjusters on the pickups pole pieces...like, a straight blade screwdriver is used to raise and lower them. This is a one year pickup model, kinda neat-ish. Big hex wrech adjusters mean 1980, smaller ones mean 1982 and on. Incorrect pickup on a 1981 significantly lowers value, to me, for that year.
5) the proper case for that year would be a very nice G&G brand case with either magenta or brown velour on the inside. wrong or no case lowers value.
6) sometimes the chrome on the knobs peel. you can't get proper replacement knobs. they are metal, and you can get them rechromed. minus points for tarnished, peeling, pitted, or missing, incorrect hardware.
7) controls are volume, treble cut, and bass cut: it's all passive. there's tonnes fo bass by nature, i generally run it cut down to 40% on or so.
8) coil taps explained next post...

Now, don't let any of this scare you off, cause they're really great basses. Just be a careful shopper.

 

G&L setup guides:


ciol tap info


proper case:


not the best photo, but, here's slot opole pickups from 1981:


see the microtilt hole, on the bottom of the plate:

 

my two 1981's, one is a tobaccoburst mahogany body with ebony neck, the other is CAR on a maple body with maple neck.

The burst is big fat and warm. The CAR is mean, snarly and edgy.

 

hope that wasn't all too much for you...........

 

CAR=candy apple red. mine is metal-flake, though the flakes be small.
The early ones of this vintage are nitro finished, and prone to finish checking, and wear thru...

 

Ebony can, and does, have a lot of figuring...if it's not dyed black...
here's the ebony f/b on my 1980:

 

IMO, that's waay on the high side.
I paid $1000 for that CAR, nearly unplayed, with the original case, before the economy crashed.

I paid $550 for the 1980, well worn, with the right case, after the economy crashed.

You'd never see a first year stingray or precision for that kinda coin...they're both Leo products!!!!!

 

well...sorta...

in amps, you have to be a supporting member to ask "what's it worth" because we had a lot of guys basically listing stuff for sale thru veiled ads that way.

i believe the basses section mods allow this due to the wide variance of valuations that some vintage and oddball basses can have.

 

That spec comes up pretty often.
Theres a new one here now, it's even priced really well.

Yep,new....the BABP forum guys got G&L to do a limited run reissue of L1000's.

 

L1000 and L2000 never had pickguards to my knowledge...yeah, not original...
bummer, and puts it more in the $500 range, to me, given nothing else is jacked up.