To say that Leo Fender revolutionized the music industry would be an understatement. After starting with the manufacture of lap steel guitars in the 1940s, his eponymous company, headquartered in Fullerton, California, put mass-produced solidbody electric guitars and basses on the map — and its guitar and bass amplifiers powered the revolution. Hot on the heels of the Telecaster guitar (introduced in 1950 as the single-pickup “Esquire”), Leo’s Precision Bass hit the market a year later, just as rock ‘n’ roll was taking off. And not a moment too soon. The upright bass, difficult to amplify and prone to feedback, couldn’t compete with the electric guitars that were becoming ubiquitous onstage as electrified music was taking over the charts in the 1950s. And of course, Leo, an electronics engineer by trade, also designed and manufactured the amps to amplify his electric instruments.After the death of Leo Fender in 1991, Fender's wife, Phyllis Fender, passed the management of G&L to John C. McLaren of BBE Sound. George Fullerton remained a permanent consultant until his death on July 4, 2009,and Leo's wife Phyllis remained as Honorary Chairperson of G&L until her death in July 2020. In a print advertisement for G&L, Leo Fender claimed the G&L line of instruments were "the best instruments I have ever made.
Leo Fender and George Fullerton created improved designs over the years, with the most advanced being featured in G&L instruments. The "Magnetic Field Design"(MFD) pickups use a ceramic bar magnet in combination with soft iron pole pieces with adjustable height, instead of the traditional Alnico magnet, and allow a player to set the pickup output per string, as opposed to the entire pickup as a whole in traditional single-coil pickup designs. MFDs are known for their distinctive tone, which combines clarity, high fidelity and power with an airy "sweetness".b The "Dual-Fulcrum Vibrato" has two pivot points. The design aims to improve tuning stability, and according to some has a sound that is more mellow than a traditional bridge. It allows the player to bend notes up as well as down. See also Tremolo arm. The G&L "Saddle-Lock bridge" utilizes a small Allen screw on the side of the bridge, to reduce side-to-side movement of the individual string saddles. The design, and the bridge's beefy dimensions, aim to prevent loss of sustain due to this sideways motion by locking the saddles together. The "Tilt Neck Mechanism" designed and patented by George Fullerton. This feature is no longer used, and was a carryover from Music Man production. The "Bi-cut neck design" involved cutting the neck lengthwise perpendicular to where the fretboard is later installed, routing a channel for the truss rod, then gluing the two neck pieces back together. As G&L moved production to CNC machines, this method was phased out.The Tribute series is offered in many of the same body shapes as their original creations although some use hardware and pickups designed by G&L but sourced in Asia. The Asian sourced hardware is generally considered good quality and roughly comparable to US offerings. The Tribute SB-2 was offered briefly but was discontinued, however, it was reintroduced late 2006/early 2007. The JB-2 was introduced to the Tribute series at the same time. As of 2020, the Tribute line contains many of the standard offerings from G&L including the Commanche, S-500, Legacy, various ASAT models, Doheny and others.
