After selling the Fender company to CBS in 1965, and co-founding
Music Man in the ’70s, Leo Fender’s next
business venture was the creation of G&L
in 1980. Originally named for the partnership
between Leo and his longtime collaborator
George Fullerton, after Fullerton left
the company the G&L moniker was
described as meaning “Guitars by Leo.” Leo’s
desire to constantly improve his designs
manifested itself at G&L, where he worked
diligently nearly every day until he died in
1991. After Leo’s death, the company was
purchased by the McLaren family (best
known for its association with BBE Sound),
which continues to build quality instruments
in the way Leo would have wanted.
At Music Man Leo came up with a number
of variations on his original Fender
designs, the most noteworthy being the
StingRay bass. Many of these improvements
made their way into the G&L bass and guitar
lines, along with some new elements.
First and foremost, Leo came up with an
all-new pickup that he dubbed “Magnetic
Field Design.” This was quite different from
his previous pickups and used a ceramic
magnet instead of alnico, and had adjustable
polepieces. The MFD is extremely full range
and quite a bit brighter than many pickups,
but I’ve always found it a lot easier to mellow
out a bright sound than to add top end
when it’s not there in the first place!
The body style of the L1000 is definitely
derived from his previous work, but
who better to inspire Leo Fender than
himself? This bass is from the first year of
G&L production, and this original headstock
shape was perhaps too Fender-ish,
so soon afterward the gracefully carved
headstock shape that we all now associate
with G&L appeared.
The L1000 is obviously a descendant of
the Fender Precision Bass, and its single
pickup has that singular midrange punch
we all know and love. In addition,
however, the massive pickup and tone controls
provide cool options beyond the typical
sonic range of the Precision. Many other
G&L basses use an active preamp, but the
L1000’s passive electronics display astonishing
versatility. The tone controls are bass
and treble boost, and the three-way switch
provides very useable settings. Toward the
neck is humbucking mode with both coils
on, in the middle is the back coil only, and
toward the bridge it throws the pickup into
“series” setting, dramatically increasing the
lows and lower-midrange bark. Later G&L’s
with the active preamp had a similar twoway
series/parallel switch that is one of my
favorite ways to kick a tone to another level.
I have had a pair of L2000s (fretted and
fretless) for many years that I love and have
used extensively, and this bass is like their
muscular little brother.
This particular bass belonged to Dee
Murray, Elton John’s longtime bassist who
lived in Nashville for a few years before his
untimely death from cancer in 1992. I
always loved his playing and was fortunate
enough to get to know him quite well. I was
always impressed with his humble unpretentiousness—
especially remarkable for
someone who drove a Rolls Royce! Nigel
Olsson, who played with Dee for many years
with Elton, had these remembrances of his
friend: “Dee was an amazing player and
had a heart of gold. In the early days, audiences
couldn’t believe it was just the three
of us reproducing Elton’s heavily orchestrated
records, and Dee was the key to that.
Our producer, Gus Dudgeon, always loved
the sound of that G&L bass and even tried
to buy it after Dee’s death. Not a day goes
by on the road where we don’t think of Dee,
usually when something strange happens—
he always was a practical joker!”
Sometime during the ’80s, Dee refinished
this bass in a color he called
“oxblood,” and it has been hanging in tribute
to him at Corner Music in Nashville
ever since his passing. (Thanks to JD for
the loan.) What a pleasure it was to play
this bass and think of all the great records
Dee played on during his time with Elton.
Check them out if you haven’t, as anything
cut after 1980 probably has this bass on it.
The L1000 is a great example of a
superb concept made better, in this case
by the originator. Hats off to Leo Fender
for all he did for bassists, and thanks to
Dee Murray for the inspiration. Peace,
Love, and Grooves until next time.