G&L Guitars Out of Business

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Looks like they closed the factory late last month and are looking for a buyer.

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Wonder if they'll take a couple of vintage vehicles and some scrap metal?

Definitely did not do a great job of marketing and dealer relations. I like the MFDs in my ASAT Special, I do know bass players say they are way to hot in a bass. I always thought they were the best value for money in used gear.

That sucks, they made really good guitars. I have an ASAT tribute that's really good, and I got it for cheap several years ago.

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Looks like they closed the factory late last month and are looking for a buyer.

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Strange. They just announced not very long ago that they were re-releasing the Rampage... the model that Jerry Cantrell made famous.

I think,he meant it as Last Guitar? I saw the video, and Phil has a great channel if you are into guitars. I think he gives good honest reviews even if the guitar is sent to him by a manufacturer.

G&L's biggest problem historically was their inability to effectively tell what could be (have been) American guitar-making's best story, at least in a way that that was able to convert ads, impressions, page views, etc., into actual sales.

If I was the CEO of FMIC, knowing I have the personnel and the ad/marketing budget to work with ... I'd pay whatever reasonable price I could to acquire G&L. What's at stake? Not only the G&L name, but Clarence Leo Fender's name and signature in all forms; rights and usage to every G&L, CLF and/or Leo-owned Music Man patent and IP I could get my hands on; the actual G&L facility (the old pre-CBS plant, down to tooling and Leo's office, untouched since his passing); unfinished prototypes; all of Leo's notes; and the list likely goes on.

First thing I'd do would be to move the Fender Custom Shop and the Fender Museum "back" to the old Fullerton plant. Then I'd execute a MASSIVE ad/marketing/promo campaign telling G&L's "coming home" story and why anyone should care. You'd be surprised how the people who know the story behind the G&L headstocks, MFD pickups, the Dual Fulcrum and Saddle Lock bridges, the PTB circuitry, etc. ... focus on Leo's ingenuity and innovation and reasoning for it, rather than surface cosmetics.

Here's my '96 Legacy. I've owned it longer than any guitar in my playing history. It has my pickups, my preferred wiring circuit, a Fret Shack refret with super jumbos, a trunk and fingerboard conversion from the stock satined poly finish to hand-rubbed Danish oil. I've had people offer me trades worth ten times more my G&L's value, the guitar is just such an incredible example of a S style solidbody. Not for sale. Especially now.