THE G&L THREAD

[Simon C]

On 11/07/2024 at 17:21, dmckee said:

Quiet round here..... anyone seen or heard of any G&Ls making their way to the UK?  Still hankering for a lightweight CLF L1000. 

I went to Andertons a month or so ago.  They had some G&L electric guitars in, but I didn’t see any basses.

[acidbass]

Slightly off topic maybe but has anyone experienced MFD pickups rusting quite badly?  Unsure how to sort!

[LeftyJ]

The adjustable slugs are plain iron, so they can be prone to rust. That said, on my G&L ASAT Special and the two MFD-equipped older guitars I've owned prior I didn't have any problems.

[jd56hawk]

[dmckee]

Red isn’t for me, but if anyone’s interested, there’s a bargain-priced CLF L1000 on eBay just now…..

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/186798811473?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=oCTjfIILT5K&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=TD0J1DOyQvS&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

[jezzaboy]

That is very cheap so it`s either a scam or a right bargain for someone.

[Handwired]

A scam! How very dare you!

[dmckee]

Down to £750. Hmmm. 🤔

[dub_junkie]

this one? I bought it yesterday with help from Paddy777

 

[neepheid]

Lovely stuff, and a great price too, congrats!

[dub_junkie]

Thanks. Traded away my pharaoh gold/rosewood wunkay three years ago and missed it so when I got the heads up on this from Paddy I didn't want to miss out 

 

[dmckee]

Nice one! 

[dmckee]

So I discovered back in August that the truss rod on my 1 year old USA L2000 didn’t work. Took it back to GuitarGuitar and they contacted G&L, who agreed to supply me with a new neck. 
 

We waited 4 months for a new one to arrive, and when it did, it ALSO had a non-functioning truss rod, and a huge bow. So, GG reported that and G&L said they’d ship another one. It came last week, nearly 5 months after requesting it. 
 

Tech fitted it, but when I brought it home I discovered 2 things:

 

- they’d fitted standard black dot markers where the previous one had nice black pearl ones (like my Fallout has). 

- the string positioning is out as the nut seems really badly cut.

 

And if I’m being really picky, the new neck is heavier than the old one, increasing the overall weight by about 4oz I think, but also giving the bass a very slight neck heaviness (it’s a light Western Pine body), which is a pity as it previously was perfectly balanced. 
 

The nut is replaceable easily enough (which I’m sure GG will do), but not sure what else to do. Do I ask for another new one, or money back, or what? Feeling quite disappointed and let down, especially after waiting so long….. None of this shows G&L up in a very good light at all, which is a shame as I do love their basses. 

Here’s the new L2000 neck, then my Fallout for comparison. 

[BassApprentice]

At the end of the day, you've ended up with a product that differs from the original and that isn't what you bought. They have tried to remedy the situation but not to your satisfaction, so you may still be able to return it. Only issue is the length of time that has elapsed.

 

A weird spot G&L have ended up in the UK, not readily available anymore which is a shame.

[neepheid]

10 hours ago, dmckee said:

So I discovered back in August that the truss rod on my 1 year old USA L2000 didn’t work. Took it back to GuitarGuitar and they contacted G&L, who agreed to supply me with a new neck. 
 

We waited 4 months for a new one to arrive, and when it did, it ALSO had a non-functioning truss rod, and a huge bow. So, GG reported that and G&L said they’d ship another one. It came last week, nearly 5 months after requesting it. 
 

Tech fitted it, but when I brought it home I discovered 2 things:

 

- they’d fitted standard black dot markers where the previous one had nice black pearl ones (like my Fallout has). 

- the string positioning is out as the nut seems really badly cut.

 

And if I’m being really picky, the new neck is heavier than the old one, increasing the overall weight by about 4oz I think, but also giving the bass a very slight neck heaviness (it’s a light Western Pine body), which is a pity as it previously was perfectly balanced. 
 

The nut is replaceable easily enough (which I’m sure GG will do), but not sure what else to do. Do I ask for another new one, or money back, or what? Feeling quite disappointed and let down, especially after waiting so long….. None of this shows G&L up in a very good light at all, which is a shame as I do love their basses. 

Here’s the new L2000 neck, then my Fallout for comparison. 

 

What a bloody saga!  I can only speak for myself but at this point I think I'd be giving up on it.  Even if I got the wonky nut replaced, the change in dot markers would annoy me, and I'd be reminded of the whole sorry experience every time I clapped eyes on the bass.  What a shame.  I really do fear for G&L at this point - not only do they appear to have Lancia'd/Mitsubishi'd us and disappeared from the UK market entirely, stuff like this is very worrying indeed.  You'd think that if you were replacing a faulty neck then you'd make damn sure that the replacement was tip top.  Worrying times.

[dmckee]

Thanks guys. You’ve summed up what I’m feeling pretty well. Waiting to hear back from GG just now, but as you say @neepheid it has turned a bass I really did love into a bit of an annoyance. It’s worse too as, even if I got the money back, finding a replacement is pretty hard, given the lack of G&Ls coming in now…. 

[LeftyJ]

G&L under BBE management has been messy at times, and when BBE as a brand went down in popularity G&L became their milk cow. There has been a lot of cost cutting in various departments, there was a time when Tributes had USA hardware and pickups but aside from the MFD pickups it's now the USA models that have Tribute hardware and pickups. But I thought the current USA models were pretty solid again. This is very disappointing to read!  I hope you can get it sorted or get the bass replaced or refunded. 

[funkgod]

i have said this somewhere else on here, but i think on dealing with G&L myself cracks were surfacing about G&Ls backup service a few years back.

where i said it has just the worst backup service i have ever known that i have personally had to deal with,

You cant clame to make a  professional product for professionals when your back up service is anything but professional.

i have sent an email to G&L about this, and yes... that just got ignored too.

what it should say is and feels more closer to the truth is  buy our instruments and once we have your cash we dont give a rats ass,

we will deal with you when we can be arsed.

that feels more the truth of it.

 

i love G&L basses and have 4 of them all 80s, which are great products that do everything and more that i ask of it.

now,,,

some of the guys i teach have gone out and bought G&L basses based on playing mine only to find that theirs are not as good as mine,

necks mainly seem to be a point, some of the thick necks they do feel cheap and to me and the people that have bought them also say they play horrid, and after me playing them as well,  i have to agree.

 

it is really sad, i dont think it would of got to this if leo still had control, who knows.

so the real reasons why it has got to this, im sure will come out at some point.

 

Conversations like these while they may put people off buying, it also serves to collectively shout out to G&L and ask 

what the fu@k is going on ? and that/this might be enough to push them into pulling their socks up,,,, if they can be pulled up.

we will see.

[jezzaboy]

The last 2 US G&L`s I have owned from new both had issues. One had a faulty tuning peg and on the second one they hadn`t attached the earth wire from the bridge to the pots! There is a lot of complaints on Talkbass about their quality control and the amount of time it seems to take to get anything resolved. I wont be buying anything new from them, not that I can actually find anything for sale anyway.

[funkgod]

On 16/07/2024 at 13:33, acidbass said:

Slightly off topic maybe but has anyone experienced MFD pickups rusting quite badly?  Unsure how to sort!

 

take all the poles out before the rust sets them ! give them a clean, get some vaseline give them a good coating with a generous

lashing on the threads, screw them back, wipe ya mess up and bingo.... good for years.