G & L in trouble?

[charjo]

Hearing some chatter about lay offs and unpaid staff.
Apparently the company is smaller than Fender’s Custom Shop and don’t build guitars until they have an order. I guess that gives them a pretty small retail presence
Anybody else heard any news?
John

[sunjamr]

As the population of the world continues to dumb down, fewer people have the IQ to learn to play guitar. Why bother, when you can listen to AI generated music?

Sunjamr Steve

[GnLguy]

I think that there are a lot of small companies that have issues. It’s hard to compete with larger companies like Fender or Gibson due to capital that the big boys have to pour into advertising.
So many people insist on the Fender of Gibson name being on the headstock and won’t give companies like G&L any consideration. Many have no clues that the L in the names reflects the name Leo Fender or that he made many improvements to his original designs
Fender has put out countless iterations of the Strat & Tele, and other guitars, without an ounce of difference in the various models – but people buy them quickly because of the name Fender on the headstock.
Hey it has to be great b/c its a Fender and Jimi/Eric/SRV/etc/etc/etc all played Fender guitars!!

There has to be a huge supply of guitars and guitar related equipment worldwide – Look at Sweetwater, Musician’s Supply, Guitar Center, American Musical, Same Day Music, etc, etc, and all of the other online stores. Where are all of these guitars going?

John, you probably watched this video, in which Phillip McKnight talks about when you buy a G&L USA model guitar, you are getting a built_by_hand guitar that has very little CNC routing in the process. Great attention to detail.
If you watch his factory tour video and/or any the other videos about G&L – the employees truly believe in G&L and in continuing Leo Fender’s vision. Leo looked at his employees almost as his children, knew their names and their family situations.
One article that I read, Leo rarely ate lunch in restaurants, although he could easily have afforded it. When asked why he brought his lunch to work, he responded that with the money that he saved, he could buy components to help the company be financially stronger.

Leo placed the management of G&L in the hands of BBE Sound; if you know anything about high end stereo equipment, you might remember a company called Barcus Berry that made turntable cartridges and phono preamps – same company.
Like G&L, it’s a small company but their products are very high end and their quality is exceptional. Check out their effects pedals – all built to military spec quality and they use the highest quality components

Hmmm, by reading this, you might think that I’m a huge fan of G&L and maybe that’s why my moniker is GnLguy…. maybe

[San Luis Rey]

Hey John,
Just came across this today. Not sounding good.

Mike

[Author]

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