As a long-time player of Leo's later creations (several G&Ls, specifically, as well as playing, but not owning an early Music Man Sabre II), I must say this:

His basic designs have not changed. The Telecaster, Precision, Stratocaster, Jaguar, Jazz Bass and Jazzmaster are all amazing designs that have yet to be surpassed, IMHO. If he had never built or designed another guitar after 1962, his legacy would be complete.

However, some of the details he came up with were improvements. The hard tail bridges of G&Ls (specifically my G&L F-100 and my long-departed SC-2), with the set screw that pushes the saddles together, is one of the best upgrades of any Fender design. That little set screw adds more sustain than any other thing I've ever seen.

The tremolos on the G&Ls (specifically my long-departed G&L Nighthawk, which I wish I had back) were the only ones I've ever been completely satisfied with. Tuning stability was not an issue, even on the rare occasion that I dive-bombed that sucker. There was much more sustain with that Nighthawk than my Stratocaster has--even after blocking the tremolo on my Strat.

The MFD pickups in these guitars immediately gave me the sound that many high-end Custom Shop or Boutique pickups are purporting to have.

He made active electronics work properly in the 70s (on the Music Mans) and perfected them in the 80s (on the G&Ls). I don't particularly like active electronics, but his designs were/are amongst the best.

He figured out a way to make the three-bolt micro-tilt neck work properly every time, not just when the stars were lined up a particular way (unlike the Fenders of the 70s).

Most of the "dated" designs that G&L had (Rampages, Invaders, Kahler Tremolos) were not directly from Leo, rather they were in response to what was happening in the guitar world in the 80s, and they were trying to be competitive.

The basic designs weren't as ground-breaking as what he had done in the 50s and 60s, not by a long shot...but the details and tweaks he added to his later instruments make them worth a long and respectful look...they should not be overlooked or demonized in any way.

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Good Vibes To Y'all!



Screamin' Armadillos
Texas Roadhouse Music
Guitar/Slide Guitar/Harp/Vocals

This is an argument that will never be over. Some people see the old guitars as perfect. Others see where there was room for improvement. Still others see yet more room for improvement and endless possibilities for future development. Some people like sticking with tradition and some have vision. I think both are valuable and there should be room for all opinions here. Arguing about it won't solve anything. No single one is "right" because they are just opinions. Nothing more.

We have enough on our hands sifting through spammers and rip offs and quality issues and bad information being purported as truth without arguing pointlessly over what a dead man would have wanted if he were still alive. Not to mention tone wood discussions...

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Just think of how awesome a guitar player you could have been by now if you had only spent the last 10 years practicing instead of obsessing over pickups and roasted maple necks.

It's true. Leo Fender was never a guitar player himself. Most of the biographies I've read on him will attest to that. But he was a radio repairman and electronics tinkerer who was building custom amplifiers and guitar pickups for musicians well before he built the first guitars that bore his name. He saw a need that guitarists had, then filled that need. What Leo did know was sound, and how to design or modify equipment in order to get that sound. He listened to his customers, learned from them, and was able to please them with his craftsmanship. One thing led to another and the rest is history.

From what I've read about the man, I don't think he would take any issue with players modding his creations. Hell, he had done that himself, in his early days, countless times. I can't see him stubbornly refusing to put a 5-position switch in his Strats; it was more likely because when that "in-between-jamming" practice became enough of a demand that would have caught his attention, he had already sold Fender to CBS. And they, in turn were never as well in touch with customers' wishes as Leo had been, so it was 1977 before they finally began installing the 5-position switches in the new models.

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"It's about sound and sound alone. Looks are irrelevant. You can have the best-looking guitar on earth, but if the sound isn't there it is nothing more than a beautiful piece of trash. The sound it makes is the soul of any guitar."

Regarding the 5 way switch thing, I can't recall where I read about that, I think it was actually in one of the Fender amp books I have and Freddie Travares was talking about the way he and Leo would discuss new ideas etc, Freddie was like Leo's right hand man and R&D guy during the vintage years of Fender.


I did Google the subject and now found this:

http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/wiki/i ... ratocaster


"1965-1985
In 1965 Leo Fender sold the whole Fender company to the concern Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS). As a result some changes that Leo Fender had prevented were pushed through: the 5-way toggle switch that allowed the Stratocaster to combine the single coils came in 1977. Leo Fender didn't like the idea because he said the sound wouldn't be clear anymore if you combine the pick ups.
The musicians loved the changes, though."

I don't know how right or wrong it is, it all happened before I was born.

Snowy

When you read history it's important to always remember that it is written by human beings who may very well have their own agenda. When a certain topic is not absolutely written in stone and there is room for interpretation (like the timing of and reason for the introduction of the 5-way switch) the author may well give in to the urge to put a spin on things.

Personally I believe Leo would never have had an issue with it or any modifications. Working within his basic design, which is still pretty much unchanged even to this day, he played with quite a few variables himself. Even if you knew nothing about Leo Fender, didn't play guitar and had absolutely no knowledge of instrument design you could tell that he played with variables simply by looking at the current line-up of retro Strats. There's a '57, a HotRod '57, a '62, a HotRod '62, a Classic 50's, a Classic Player 50's, a Roadworn 50's, a Classic 60's, a Classic Player 60's, a Roadworn 60's and that doesn't even begin to account for all the other retro models that have come and gone from the Strat line up in the past 15 years or so. They make re-issue models commemorating his dabbling with variables. If you want to go beyond Leo's ownership there are even more retro models. That's proof enough even for a layman that Leo was not stuck in a rut and that he was open to changes.

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Just think of how awesome a guitar player you could have been by now if you had only spent the last 10 years practicing instead of obsessing over pickups and roasted maple necks.

+1

And many of the one-off products developed via Leo's "tinkering" might well have seen the light of day in terms of production models had it not been for Don Randall's insistence that FEIC stick to his obstinant marketing plans.

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY

This is true - it really wasn't the 3-bolt design that had issues, it was CBS/Fender's fairly sloppy production and that the 3-bolt wasn't supposed to be just slapped on existing designs. To work properly it needed both tighter production tolerances and a slightly different design with a deeper neck pocket (not sure about the MMs; it's been forever since I've seen one in person but I know that G&Ls have much deeper neck pockets). Of course since Leo built these he could keep up the tolerances.

Here's a Fender Tech Bulletin with some more info on the 5-way switch and how Fender didn't introduce it for the first 23 years of the Strat's existence.

http://www.fender.com/en-AU/news/index. ... rticle=606


Snowy