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Why so many more StingRays/Sterlings than G&Ls?
- Thread starter jaywa
- Start date
Well, I hardley ever see a "new" G&L bass for sale here, let alone a used one. And I don't even know who the closest dealer would be (certainly no one nearby me). I see Music Man and Fender everywhere. I have no opinion on G&L 'cause I've never seen or played one, new or used. I can't even recall an advert for them recently(?). I must live in a cave.
the funny thing, to me anyway, is that Talkbass is a huge forum with a lot of members. there's a sticky at the top of the main bass forum mentioning the G&L forum, there's said G&L forum, and there's G&L advertisements here on Talkbass. if i was making basses, i couldn't ask for more visibility.
yet no one knows them, sees them or plays them.
which goes back to the original question. why?
yet no one knows them, sees them or plays them.
which goes back to the original question. why?
That's a good point. In addition, I've seen full page G&L ads in Bass Player mag in the past.
The way I discovered them was seeing a couple of G&L's at the local shop. I wasn't looking for G&L specifically nor did I know about them via any print or internet media prior to actually seeing them in person.
It's interesting that you find others discussion about basses they like uninteresting since you have over 22,000 posts on talkbass.Seriously though most threads take tangents on and off the subject as part of the natural progression of discussion.
+1 Tangents are cool as long as people realize they are tangents and not really answering the question raised by OP
And, again, I was not saying that discussing likes and dislikes is uninteresting, only that it is uninteresting in the context of the OP's question for this particular thread. In other words, everyone who owns a G&L and gigs it and keeps it, by definition likes it. Same with MM. Same with Wishbass, for god's sake! The OP was wondering why there are so many MORE MM owners than G&L, not whether MM owners like their MM's more than G&L owners like their G&L's
I agree though, that my interpretation of the OP's question relies much more on my business school training than 'opinions about the basses'. This can be a disconnect for people only thinking about pickups and headstocks
Speaking of G&L ads, I think it's kind of interesting that when you search eBay for "G&L Bass", it returns more ADS for sale than actual instruments. And if you filter out the listings for Tribute models (which I have absolutely no interest in), the actual amount of G&L product for sale on eBay is practically nil.
The number of G&Ls on eBay always seems to fluctuate, and I suspect that the old ones are scarce right now because the owners are waiting to ride out the bad economy in order to command "vintage" prices.
The interesting thing about those G&L ads on eBay is you can see who was playing them at particular points in time. I saw one for the L-1000 featuring Dee Murray, and another one with Rocco Prestia. First time I had known either of them had any affiliation with G&L.
Nah G&L has never commanded any sort of high resale price. Even for the most vintage ones. I think they are scarce on fleabay mainly because they are scarce to begin with.
That's been in the process of changing. Compare what L1Ks go for now vs what they went for 4 or 5 years ago. Prices were rising until the economy hit the skids and they haven't fallen fully back (trust me, I'd be stocking up if prices went back to where they were when I started buy/selling G&Ls). I have yet to see them hit the type of prices that in-demand vintage gear goes for but they aren't the same prices they once were.
Notice that I put "vintage" in quotes. They've never had a resale value anywhere close to vintage (see, no quotes) Fenders. But the older ones (especially with original headstock) have always brought a higher price than the newer ones.
Getting back to the original question...
I've owned several G&Ls, Musicmans (Musicmen??) and Fenders, and currently have a 1981 G&L L2000, a Stingray 5, 2 Fender Jazzes and a Fender Precision.
The G&L sound isn't for everyone. A lot of players find them "blah"... "without character"... "sterile"... and I think it might have to do with the complicated electronics. They are loud, for sure, but they don't have the simple earthiness of a passive Fender. That quality is what helps a Fender sound so good in a mix, IMO. Musicman basses just have the brute strength to cut it (as long as you're careful not to crank the bass knob, which can muddy things up quickly). My G&L, on the other hand, is actually quieter in passive mode than any of the Fenders, and no matter what I do with the myriad controls, it always sounds somewhat compressed and hi-fi. Tame.
I've had it for 10 years and haven't sold it because it is fantastically built, with a perfect neck, and, ironically, the best sounding recording I've done in the past decade was done with it (going through an Ampeg tube preamp, admittedly), AND it gets more compliments on its tone from other musicians than any other bass that I own!
Okay... glad I cleared that up...
Sorry...
I've owned several G&Ls, Musicmans (Musicmen??) and Fenders, and currently have a 1981 G&L L2000, a Stingray 5, 2 Fender Jazzes and a Fender Precision.
The G&L sound isn't for everyone. A lot of players find them "blah"... "without character"... "sterile"... and I think it might have to do with the complicated electronics. They are loud, for sure, but they don't have the simple earthiness of a passive Fender. That quality is what helps a Fender sound so good in a mix, IMO. Musicman basses just have the brute strength to cut it (as long as you're careful not to crank the bass knob, which can muddy things up quickly). My G&L, on the other hand, is actually quieter in passive mode than any of the Fenders, and no matter what I do with the myriad controls, it always sounds somewhat compressed and hi-fi. Tame.
I've had it for 10 years and haven't sold it because it is fantastically built, with a perfect neck, and, ironically, the best sounding recording I've done in the past decade was done with it (going through an Ampeg tube preamp, admittedly), AND it gets more compliments on its tone from other musicians than any other bass that I own!
Okay... glad I cleared that up...
Sorry...
True but IMO the prices they command now puts them in a place where they are simply not ridiculously cheap as they were a few years back.
Not that I have seen. In the past 3 years I got 5 of the 6 early 80s G&Ls I've had at about half the price of new ones. $600-$800 roughly. Anyway... back to the original topic.
Speaking of prices... is the "suggested retail" price of a new L-2000 really $1,800?!?! That's what I saw on one Website. Good grief, that's more than a new StingRay. Seriously?
That reminds me. What was the motivation for the headstock change. Legal problems with Fender?
I don't know about the L-2000, but the USA L-2500's I've seen are anywhere between $1100-$1500, which puts them in the Stingray 5\Sterling 5 price bracket. +/-
BTW - What website was that? Did they have the L-2500?
It was actually an eBay listing. Here it is (go down to the product blurb you'll see the "Retail Price"):
http://cgi.ebay.com/G-L-L-2000-4-St...itar?hash=item5d25bf8187&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14
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That is correct. The Fender company told Leo Fender that the early G&L headstock looked to similar to the Fender headstock that he designed!
I've only been into G&L's for 5 years or so, probably because I thought the post '83 headstocks were ugly, but now they are my absolute favorite, and I'm sick of Fenders (if you couldn't already tell).
If you were to ask me what my dream bass was, I would say one that sounds like an L-2000, but looks & feels like a Stingray.
Quite possibly what EB was going after with the StingRay HH... though IMHO they didn't quite get there.
In retrospect Fender (the company) really kind of looks ridiculous for claiming that, considering there are a dozen different bass makers out there now using a headstock design that's a hell of a lot closer to Fender's than those early G&Ls were. Apparently it's OK that a bunch of other people mimic Leo Fender's original headstock design, but not the man himself.
