New G&L Facebook page - CLF RESEARCH CO.

My latest acquisition has arrived. Of course pics are coming : )

Processing new acquisition...

B009166 was completed here at CLFR on September 2, 1982. This is an early example of black control plate and bridge plate,
with the powdercoating a matte finish rather than the more well known CLF crinkle finish. Clear blue on ash, 10.6 pounds (4.8kg) of fury.
Please join us in welcoming this wonderful old 2k to the Collection at Leo’s Lounge.

Robert Poss and his modded old SC-1 guitars inspired me to develop the Fallout. Thanks, Robert.

Robert Poss and his modded old SC-1 guitars inspired me to develop the Fallout. Thanks, Robert.

Seeing Fallout next to these SC-1, it finally see the inspiration for the Fallout pickguard. The curves a bit exaggerated (or some artistic liberty), but if you were to blend the small control plate with the Poss pickguard you essential get the Fallout pickguard. See something new everyday!

Current mood

There's a '91 on Reverb with everything but the fine tuner vibrato and maple

To paraphrase a silly French soldier, "I've already got one---it's very nice!"
That one on Reverb also needs to be added to the Registry, but I can't quite discern the serial number.

1973 Fender sales team with R&D guys. CBS Musical Instruments Division President Bob Campbell at top right (our dad John C. McLaren took that job when Bob retired.).
Harold Rhodes is in the second row wearing a grey suit. This photo was taken outside the CBS Fender building in Fullerton. The glass window behind eventually became
Bill Mendello’s office in the 1980’s. This place is long gone now.

1973 Fender sales team with R&D guys. CBS Musical Instruments Division President Bob Campbell at top right (our dad John C. McLaren took that job when Bob retired.).
Harold Rhodes is in the second row wearing a grey suit. This photo was taken outside the CBS Fender building in Fullerton. The glass window behind eventually became
Bill Mendello’s office in the 1980’s. This place is long gone now.

Bit of boys club really. Times have sure changed.

Don't tell me that isn't the coolest outfit ever. I remember 1973 but I do not remember dressing like these guys.
By far the most disturbing image I have ever seen.

y2kc

Back then they knew where the orange leather/polyester leisure suit/seizure inducing plaid crowd belonged for best visual balance in a photo - the very front!

George Fullerton Signature model. A few quick teaser pics of GF0573 completed here on January 23, 1996.
Back then Johnny and I were busy making and selling these, and now we just brought one of them home.

Leo with our old friend Jim Greenhill, the very first sales rep to take on the new G&L line in 1980.
This photo was emailed to Johnny by Roxie Hyatt, wife of Harold Hyatt. Harold was Dale’s brother and
left Fender to join Dale at G&L Music Sales in 1984.

I’m gonna sit in Leo’s office chair and chill out. It’s peaceful and inspirational in here. My sanctuary I guess.

My day just got a lot better with the arrival of this old Skyhawk in Clear Red.

I finally pulled the shrink wrap from Johnny’s old Ampex. Looks like it will clean up nicely.

Johnny getting the Ampex sorted

G&L Custom Shop Dave Brown in the belly of the Ampex

Spencer Brown pulled the whole Ampex transport as it seems to be a pain in the ass to do everything from underneath.
On the other hand, the build quality is awesome. Hang on.... I literally just heard Johnny say to Spencer, “you know, now would
be a good time to have Malcolm repaint the cabinet.” Here we go again...

Putting the CLF-67/68 prototype back together after Espada development. Just needed to get around to doing this.

Random after hours pic in the wood shop.

Completed here on February 23, 1996, GF0573 is a beautiful George Fullerton Signature model in Clear Blue over swamp ash with pearl pickguard.
Please join us in welcoming this Fullerton back to Fender Avenue in Fullerton. Wait, is this some kind of vortex?

Have a Super day : )

So I guess you noticed we scored this old Superhawk. G022752 was completed here on July 11, 1988,
and after a spa day this hawk will be ready to rawk. Welcome back to Fender Avenue, buddy.
Bet you’ve got some stories.

This 1989 L-2000 has a control plate 4 years after the control plate was phased out. Why? I’ll post the answer later today.

The top pic shows the logbook entry for B018514 which was completed on March 29, 1989.
You can easily see it’s an L-2000 in Red with rosewood (RW) fingerboard. But what about O/S? It means Old Stock,
because Dale Hyatt wanted to use one of the old bodies in stock that was routed for a control plate.
There were lots of old bodies around and this one stamped JUL 22, 1984 did the job nicely.

Here is the whole oddball 1989 L-2000 factory built with a NOS 1984 body and control plate.

Johnny sent me pics of Leo Fender’s earliest known drawings of his Dual Fulcrum vibrato concept done in the first CLFR building on Elm Street in Fullerton.

Video:

Half a dozen old L-2000s in a row 1981 to 1991

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Reverb strikes again. We have like 6 other old instruments waiting for the their spa days but I couldn’t resist this Clear Blue transition L-1000.

Random polish department pic. Feels like 1980 and I love it

Johnny and I with Rickmarcelmusic bassist with Kool & the Gang who kindly stopped by Leo’s Lounge and more.
I’ve got a pic that blew Rick’s mind I’ll share later. This guy is mega talented and super chill, and the licks he threw down
in Leo’s Lounge were so amazingly funky I almost couldn’t handle it.
Thought I need plastic surgery to repair the damage from extreme stank face. ; )

Rickmarcelmusic of Kool & the Gang just picked up a Blueburst M-2000 so I suggested we take a picture of him with it sitting in Leo’s lab chair.
Suddenly I told him to hold this photo of Leo and “Thunder Thumbs” Louis Johnson in the same CLFR lab here, probably in ‘78. This is so damn cool.
History is very much alive here. Thanks for hanging out, Rick!

No, I’m not gonna make you work that hard trying to see Rickmarcelmusic holding the photo of Leo with Louis Johnson here in the CLFR lab.

Rick Marcel of Kool & the Gang just picked up his new Blueburst M-2000 and gave us a great demo at Leo's Lounge.

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Rick Marcel is making Leo very proud. What a great player!


y2kc

A few Doheny V12 undercoated bodies in the paint shop. The top two are okoume and the bottom one is swamp ash.

Leo’s mind at work

Ooooh! Something old has arrived but I have to leave now. I’m taking my wife Amanda out to dinner for our 25th anniversary. We’ll have a look tomorrow.

The new arrival is a delight. Spence and Memo gave it a quick setup and now I’m thumping. Better pics later

OMG mode engaged

The old Ampex is getting closer to full operation. We’ve got it plugged into the QSC setup and listening to these recordings from what appears to be early 1960s.
Check out that track list.

Sound check action in Leo’s Lounge

Chilling on the sofa while these guys make some noise in Leo’s Lounge. Scott Tarulli on guitar, Chris Brady on drums, Ron Moreno on bass.

Damn right

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Working on improvements and expansion of the polish department. I love shop stuff.

A moment of silence for the death of an original CLFR light switch working in the 2548 building since 1975.
I’m getting so weird now I think I’ll look for some NOS Leviton light switches. Ebay here I come!

Taking Johnny’s old Mustang for a ride.

Johnny has a crew vacuuming in one of the lofts so I can better organize some cool old stuff.

Let’s have a good look our recent score, this L-1000 in Clear Blue over swamp ash with rosewood board. B012680 was completed here on December 20, 1983,
so it’s kind of transitional having the black crinkle hardware and control plate, but also the hook headstock. OMG mode on this L-1000 is killer.

I just need to solder a ground lead to play this tester from the lab. The bridge and body are Fender era,
the neck is MM era and the MFD pickups are G&L era. All of Leo’s brands in one lab tester.