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Post subject: Leo Fender Tri- Sonic prototype
Posted: Thu Dec 27, 2012 3:58 am
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Discover in 1991 at G & L , after Leo Fender 's death .

From Premier Guitar ;

http://www.premierguitar.com/Magazine/I ... 1&#gallery


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Post subject: Re: Leo Fender Tri- Sonic prototype
Posted: Thu Dec 27, 2012 7:36 am
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Very interesting. Looks like that was some kind of test bed body for Leo's experiments.

I believe that Leo, Tom Walker and Forrest White were also considering "TriSonic" as the name for the company they started a few years after the date on that body (the body was dated 1969; the company got going in 1973) - of course they settled on the name "Music Man" for their company. Since all the Leo-era Music Man instruments had active electronics that would likely explain the routing on that body for a battery pack.


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Post subject: Re: Leo Fender Tri- Sonic prototype
Posted: Thu Dec 27, 2012 11:45 am
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@John C

It's important to note that Leo left Music Man in November 1979 to establish G&L with George Fullerton and Dale Hyatt.

Music Man was acquired by Ernie Ball in March 7th, 1984 and production of the Music Man amplification came into a halt.


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Post subject: Re: Leo Fender Tri- Sonic prototype
Posted: Thu Dec 27, 2012 1:49 pm
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chromeface wrote:
@John C

It's important to note that Leo left Music Man in November 1979 to establish G&L with George Fullerton and Dale Hyatt.

Music Man was acquired by Ernie Ball in March 7th, 1984 and production of the Music Man amplification came into a halt.


It's not quite that simple. Leo didn't leave specifically to establish G&L; he established G&L in the aftermath of leaving Music Man and how they unwound the company. Remember - Leo also owned CLF Research, which designed and produced the Music Man instruments, as well as being a partner in Music Man. I assume you've read either Forrest White's book or George Fullerton's first book (or maybe both) so you are probably aware that Leo leaving Music Man reads like the deposition from a bad divorce. Just trying to pull out the facts from their books reminds me of the old adage that there are three sides to every story - person A's version, person B's version, and the truth. Since they are all gone now I don't know that we'll ever know the entire story.

At any rate Leo left because he was ticked that Music Man were sending too many instruments back for rework. He basically cashed out of Music Man, selling his shares back to Walker and White, but they the CLF Research contract to produce the guitars and basses continued since CLF Research acted as an OEM manufacturer. Leo never did have a personal stake in the amp factory as it was owned by the company and not the three principals.

Leo and George Fullerton wound up starting G&L in late 1979. Fullerton claims they started G&L because Music Man weren't sending them enough orders to keep the factory running and that they needed the production. White claims that they were maintaining the same level of bass orders but the guitars weren't selling so no dealers wanted to place any orders. So for about a year CLF Research was producing both G&L instruments and Music Man instruments. During 1980/81 White claims that CLF Research was shipping Music Man defective instruments to try to put them out of business - specifically necks with defective truss rods installed straight so they could not be moved to adjust the neck. These issues - either number of orders if you believe Fullerton or defective necks if you believe White lead to the end of CLF Research's contract to build the Music Man instruments. Music Man turned to other sources (Grover Jackson built some necks for them as both replacements for the defective ones and to complete instruments still in process; finally the last of the G&L basses to be built used graphite necks from either Modulus or Moses). Music Man never really recovered from not having the instruments available, and they did wind up going bankrupt in 1984. That's when Ernie Ball bought the company and eventually restarted instrument production with the Sting Ray and Sabre basses, then added their own guitar models starting in 1986 and as you say the amp line was never restarted. Supposedly EBMM still has a few pallets of crated up amps sitting in a dusty corner of their warehouse left over from the purchase.

Meanwhile Leo retired the name "CLF Research" and formally renamed the business "G&L Guitars" and moved forward with that company.


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Post subject: Re: Leo Fender Tri- Sonic prototype
Posted: Fri Dec 28, 2012 2:26 am
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Right, but the Sabres and Cutlasses were gone shortly after the Ernie ball buyout.

Phyllis Fender sold G&L to BBE Sound after Leo's death in March 1991.


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Post subject: Re: Leo Fender Tri- Sonic prototype
Posted: Fri Dec 28, 2012 7:33 am
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chromeface wrote:
Right, but the Sabres and Cutlasses were gone shortly after the Ernie ball buyout.

Phyllis Fender sold G&L to BBE Sound after Leo's death in March 1991.


Right on the Leo-era Music Mans - they were all discontinued with the bankruptcy in early 1984. It took Ernie Ball a while to get set up in their former Earthwood factory in San Luis Obispo that had been vacant for several years - which interestingly enough George Fullerton helped EB set up that factory.

I believe the first EBMM-built Sting Ray bass came off their line in late 1984/early 1985. They did put the Sabre bass back into production for a while; I believe it was dropped in the early 1990s - roughly around the time the Sterling Bass was introduced. And of course all the guitar models are their own designs post-Leo.

I read in the wikipedia article on Music Man that the Sabre guitar was kept around until the end; however, from a price list scan I saw on the web only the Cutlass I and Cutlass II basses were on the final price list. The Cutlass I was the Sting Ray bass with the graphite neck, and the Cutlass II was the Sabre bass with the graphite neck. The last Music Man price list I had was from 1981 (when I bought one of the first 112RD-50 amps) so of course it had all the guitar and bass models of the Leo era on it.

Wow, time does fly - it's been over 21 years since Phyllis Fender sold G&L to BBE Sound. While they have added CNC routers and done some other upgrades to the factory they still come out of that former CLF Research facility in Fullerton California.


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Post subject: Re: Leo Fender Tri- Sonic prototype
Posted: Fri Dec 28, 2012 12:31 pm
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More recently Ernie Ball introduced their Classic bass guitars combining vintage and modern features in a timeless design.

This Classic StingRay 5 has a strong resemblance to their 4-string counterparts as opposed to the original StingRay 5 which was modeled after the Silhouette guitar.

Image


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