Guitar tech's opinion on G&L (2024)

I was talking to my repair guy yesterday and the quality of G&L guitars came up in the conversation. He insisted that the Fender American Standard Series blows away any of G&L's Fender-style guitars.
A main point being the comfort of the neck between the two brands. That G&L guitars have sharp neck edges that make it uncomfortable to play, while the Fenders have a wonderfully-rolled fretboard edge.

As he is telling me this, I am thinking about the 90s G&L Legacy that is currently on its way to my door. I didn't bother to tell him.

I remember thinking that as well! That G&L quality is considered by many to be in the class of CS Fender? I didn't bring this up either.

My repair guy works for a Fender dealer, btw.

StanG said:

Don't his concerns relate to preferences not quality?

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Yes, yes they do.

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There is no standard G&L in any case so it is difficult to compare American Standards and G&Ls as like-for-like guitars.

Kmaz said:

My repair guy works for a Fender dealer, btw.

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There's your answer right there.

It will be interesting to see what your opinion of the Legacy is.

I know that my first G&L, a semi hollow Bluesboy, permanently changed my opinion of Fenders, and not for the better. That was in 2007, at that point I had been a "fender guy" for over 25 years.

The quality of current Fender and G&L is very comparable. They both make fantastic guitars....Neither one is a Fender Custom Shop experience and I have to say that the Fender Custom Shop isn't really the height of build perfection anyway.

At this point I honestly don't know what people are looking at when they talk about superior build quality anyway. There are stories of unplayable CS Fenders due to high frets. Stories of endless big neck pocket gaps on Fenders....I worked for a shop that sold Fender and this just wasn't a problem on any of our guitars. I've also have plenty of G&Ls and a number of them had very iffy build quality like neck pocket gaps, jacks falling out, dodgy electronics/poor quality wiring, poor string/bridge alignment. That's just on the ones I've owned.

Fender and G&L are very different experiences and it totally makes sense that some people would relate more to the ultra solid feel of a G&L and equate that to quality where others would feel that the guitars are clunky and unrefined. In my experience, neither company is a clear winner in the quality department....

It's nice that they're both available and that each offer a different take on Leo's classic designs...it's really a win/win.

Kmaz said:

Thanks, rhinocaster. The Legacy that I purchased is a 1996 model, so whatever was happening in that era? I guess I'll find out soon enough!

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There are disagreements even among G&L fans as to which guitars are better, the old ones or the new ones. I've owned G&Ls for the last 20 years and I've owned them from every decade....they're really nice guitars and I don't have a preference for the old ones or the new ones. Some of the more recent ones are feeling lighter and that's nice.

Generally the older the G&L the thinner the neck gets...I don't know what you'll get from a mid '90s model in that respect.

I'm back to G&L as my main gigging guitar and I'm enjoying it very much. I hope yours blows you away!

This is a sexy and great sounding beast!

I'm a huge G&L fan. My last one had a few cosmetic QC issues, but the dealer and G&L made it right.

The solid overbuilt feel, even playability, and balanced sound of the pickups give the impression of a quality. Side by side with Fender I vastly prefer G&L. They are different enough that my preferences may be more based on the design, not "quality".

IMO, PRS kills them all in terms "quality", but many people find the shape, feel, sound does not suit them.

YMMV as they say. OP's tech has an opinion. So does everyone else.

By coincidence I was at my guitar tech's yesterday, too (well known top notch luthier to pros & non-pros alike and does some very sophisticated builds of his own in addition to primo work on others' guits) ... we were talking about various things and I mentioned my G&Ls (not what I was there for yesterday). His opinion was that they're excellent quality.

That's been my general experience, too --- the standard production G&Ls I've bought over nearly 20 yrs. are generally superior to the comparable Fender (American Standard, for ex.) --- IMO --- more close to custom shop quality in some cases.

You can always find examples of either brand that are not quite there. I've seen a few great Mexican Fender Teles, but you probably have to play 30, 40, 50+ to find that one, not just pick the one off the rack at GC. The couple of G&L Tributes (an L-2000 bass and a Fallout) I have in addition to the USA-made compare very favorably with (are better than) similar priced Fenders I've seen.

In the end, much of it is personal taste. They're both going to vary from instrument to instrument and subjective preference may point one in the direction of one or the other as a preference.

Other than my 2 Tributes my G&Ls are generally older (late 90s to '01) and I luckily found some with pretty good sized necks. The 90s necks tend to be smaller but I had a great Legacy ('94?) I miss that had a comfy mid-sized (not skinny) neck.

StanG said:

Don't his concerns relate to preferences not quality?

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Yes, they do. We should chip in and buy him a dictionary.

Try as I might I've never met a keeper G&L
I've had a total of 5
3 different models
Always felt Stiff if that makes sense
Although my Commanche was by far the prettiest guitar I've ever owned

Bought a new Strat about a year ago
The quality is off the charts on the new Fenders
Couldn't find a dud in the bunch

Talking USA here don't know about the imports

boogieplaya said:

I have owned both Fenders and G&L's and I agree. The Fenders are just much more ergonomic imo than G&L. The 2 Legacy's I owned felt very clunky and unbalanced where the Fenders just felt much more comfortable. I do think the QC on G&L's is better than F, but I would rather play a Fender any day.

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I've got to agree with you. The G&L does have it's good points (price?), but for comfort, Fender American feels much better. The Legacy's are also WAY heavier...and they have very thick poly finishes, sharp edged fingerboards....the list goes on.

G&L's do look nice. That vibrato is super stable....and built like a tank. I still have a Legacy and I'll probably hang on to it. May as well, you can't really sell them for much, they have NO resale value at all.

I put a set of Fralin's in it and it plays and sounds GREAT, it's just a little more hard edged.

First off, G&L's are fine guitars, for the most part. I can't find much, if anything, objectively wrong with them.

That said, there is a certain cult who always feels the need to bash Fender, every time G&L comes up. I get it. We all like to root for the underdog. We all want to be informed consumers, not swayed by the lifestyle marketing of huge corporations. To be smarter than the mindless hacks who "buy the name on the headstock," etc. To "know better." It's not just a guitar; it's a reflection of the buyer's superior intellect and taste. It's the same with Heritage (also fine guitars, from my admittedly limited experience with them) and Gibson.

I play a Fender, for the most part, but I don't come in every Fender thread to talk about how much better they are than G&L (or any other Fender style guitar) I'm not even implying that, now. It's just a matter of taste.

The tech in the OP was talking about opinion and preference, though, not quality (the quality is comparable, and good). It's an opinion I happen to share, but opinion, just the same.