For the history buffs, here is a short history of G&L. Leo and George sold Fender to CBS in 1964 due to poor health, remaining as consultants for the following few years. At the end of 1974 they decided to re-enter the world of designing and building instruments, forming CLF Research Corp (CLF being Clarence Leo Fender). They set up their own production unit and began producing Music Man™ products for Music Man™. Music Man wanted to own the production facility and when Leo and George refused to sell there was a fall out which led to a parting of the ways. George and Leo had a number of new innovations patented and opted to produce these on instruments bearing the G&L brand name. Their launch was 1980. These guitars were a further development on the Music Man™ theme. With encouragement from Tim and Bob Page of Buffalo Brothers, Guitar Superstore in California, George and Leo were persuaded to carry on developing designs they had produced in the 1950s and 60s. There was "unfinished work to do". This brought about the ASAT and Legacy models and if you treat yourself to a demo on one of these, USA or Tribute, you will see why there is a ready market for G&L.

G&L have a number of patents that do not appear on any other guitars (see unique features page) including those designed by George and Leo. They include Magnetic Field Pickups™ which are louder yet have much less background noise than other pickups, the Saddle Lock Bridge™ which vastly improves sustain, The Dual Fulcrum Tremolo™, Tri Tone circuitry ™ (PTB) tone controls and their own unique way of inserting truss rods that again is a major improver of sustain. The Tribute series which is made in the Far East have the same patented parts and feature the same pickups used on the USA guitars which are made in the Fullerton California Custom Shop

Before his passing, Leo wanted to be sure that the legacy of G&L would continue to shine even brighter in the future. He knew that he must look after the people of G&L, his family, so that they would remain secure and free to continue building the finest guitars and basses in the world. His wife Phyllis shared his dream and she chose BBE Sound, under the leadership of Chairman John C. McLaren, to take over the management of G&L and to expand and develop it in the way Leo would have wanted. Leo had begun discussions several years before with John whom Leo respected greatly. Leo was confident that John could make Leo's dreams for G&L's future to become reality and felt he could entrust John to continue his work with G&L in which he took such great pride. John shares Leo's vision of G&L as a maker of superb hand crafted instruments. The arrangements were made that the ownership would be transferred to John's company, BBE Sound. George Fullerton remained as a permanent consultant until his death in 2009 and Leo's wife Phyllis remains as Honorary Chairman of G&L - reminders to the world that the spirit and integrity of Leo Fender and George Fullerton will continue on in every instrument made at G&L. Today John C. McLaren, the Chairman of BBE Sound, continues to manage G&L, while his son John Jr. is Plant Manager of the G&L Factory. John Jr. always had a deep respect for Leo and visited him regularly at G&L during the 1980s while working at Fender Musical Instruments, back when Fender was located on nearby Valencia Avenue. John's other son David personally oversees marketing for G&L, and he too is dedicated to preserving the memory and rich history of Leo Fender.

Today the G&L factory continues production as Leo would have wanted. His private workshop, the epicentre of his creativity, remains untouched as it was on his last day and has been visited by music people from around the world. The people of G&L, his people, continue to build the instruments with love, dedication and great skill. In preserving the uniqueness of G&L and respecting the vision of its founder, John C. McLaren said, "G&L will always be willing to make changes. Leo Fender was a symbol of change and evolution for the benefit of musicians but for any change that is considered, we must first ask ourselves, 'Would Leo have wanted it this way?' If yes, then we do it. If not, then we will not. We always want to feel that Leo Fender would be proud of today's G&L."

Telecaster, Stratocaster, and Jazz Master are trademarks of Fender Musical Instrument Corp. Music Man is a trademark of Ernie Ball Corp.

G&L Dual-Fulcrum vibrato

The patented G&L Dual-Fulcrum® vibrato uses two pivoting points rather than the six wood screws attaching the a vintage type tremolo. Leo Fender created this design to yield a much smoother, "silky" feel and allows the player to bend notes up as well as down. Unlike silmilar looking copies, the DF vibrato uses a hardened steel bridge plate, pivoting on knife-edge bolts set into massive brass inserts anchored into the body. The bolts themselves are machined from billets of cold rolled steel, then heat treated for hardness and finally plated.  The handling of the vibrato is improved with the addition of a machined aluminum tremolo arm that uses a single locking Allen screw, pressing a nylon insert to allow quick installation and removal, smooth feel, and also allow the player adjust the amount of resistance on the arm. Further, Leo designed the string saddles to improve intonation and reduce string breakage.

Saddle-Lock Bridge

The patented G&L™ Saddle-Lock bridge is used on all many ASAT™ models, as well as the full range of G&L basses. This design was revolutionary for a number of reasons. The most significant feature is a small Allen screw on the side of the bridge, which presses all the saddles together so they resonate as though they were one single mass. This eliminates the loss of string vibration energy caused by side-to-side saddle movement inherent in other designs. Further, the strings no longer needed to be routed though the rear of the body for optimum sustain as well as allowing the strings to enter directly through the rear of the bridge. For G&L 5-string basses, the Saddle-Lock bridge employs a string-through-body configuration. Testing revealed that the increased break angle on the low B string yielded a more focused sound when routed through the rear of the body.

The bottom side of the bridge has a large protrusion which fits into a route in the body. The protrusion fits snugly against the end grain of the body wood, allowing the highly resonant bridge to transfer much more of the string vibration energy directly to the core of the body, yielding much greater sustain than his earlier fixed bridge design. Again, Leo's innovative saddle design was used to minimize string breakage.

Non-Compression Truss Rod

G&L's latest neck construction is the result of intensive research and development, using our latest Computer Aided Design (CAD) efforts, Computer Numerically Controlled (CNC) technology, special diagnostic functions of our Plek machine, and of course, the skilled hands and ears of our craftsmen

Our latest construction methodology uses a one piece neck blank with the truss rod installed underneath the fingerboard. In the case of an all-maple neck, a layer of the maple neck blank is sliced off, and this slice becomes the fingerboard, ensuring a consistent appearance of a solid, one-piece maple neck.

Truss rod technology has evolved over the years, and G&L has carefully studied design options before finalizing its latest design. This contemporary design incorporates a secondary, flat-sided rod which bows away from primary rod. Unlike a vintage truss rod, this design does not compress the neck longitudinally in order to function; compression contributes to distortion of the fingerboard curvature. Operation is both fluid and accurate with the articulation of the neck, the "relief", being very consistent across the length of the neck. Unlike similar rods available today, G&L's rod has an additional anchor for the heel end of the neck, to help ensure long-term stability and ensure that the rod will never shear through the adjustment end of the neck. Finally, the channel for the rod is also carefully designed to provide a snug fit for the rod while ensuring free and complete articulation.

While we at G&L maintain great respect for the innovative bi-cut design pioneered by our founder, Leo Fender, he would have expected that we continue to improve G&L instruments to better serve musicians. To fulfill this expectation, it means that we must be unafraid to change something that we had viewed as state-of-the-art. However, there is but one certainty about state-of-the-art; it changes as improvements are made.

Presentation of the Bi-Cut design

The Bi-Cut neck design was another revolutionary patent granted to Leo and G&L. The traditional method of truss rod installation involves routing out the back side of the neck, installing the truss rod and covering the route with a rosewood stripe commonly referred to as a "skunk stripe". Alternatively, a traditional installation puts the route for the truss rod from the face of the neck, covering it with the fingerboard.

The Bi-Cut method involves cutting the neck blank in half longitudinally, making a route on the inside, inserting the truss rod then gluing the two halves together. The new completed neck blank is then put in a Taylor press with approximately 350 pounds of pressure, assuring a nearly invisible truss rod installation. The design goal that the Bi-Cut method achieves is exceptional resistance to warping and twisting, because the centrally located glue joint is actually stronger than the wood on either side.

The G&L Magnetic Field Design pickups

The patented Magnetic Field Design® pickups use a ceramic bar magnet installed underneath each coil, with soft iron adjustable pole pieces to transfer the magnetic field to the surface of the pickup. By contrast, traditional Alnico type pickups, such as used in the Legacy and George Fullerton models, use nonadjustable Alnico pole pieces leaving the only adjustment being pickup height. The Magnetic Field Design has this adjustment, but further offers individual adjustment of each pole piece, letting the player effectively adjust the output of each string on each pickup. Magnetic Field Design yield about twice the output per wind, making the pickup quieter while allowing a greater overall output. The sound of Magnetic Field pickups is slightly warmer with a broader frequency response. One major Nashville session guitarist remarked that the G&L S-500 with Magnetic Field single coil pickups sounded as balanced and "sweet" as his favorite old vintage Alnico equipped axe. The difference is that the S-500 sounds that good right into his amp without all the EQ tweaking of his mixing console that made his other guitar sound so good. When he ran his S-500 though his studio rig, he was truly amazed at the rich and warm, yet clear and sparkly sound.