You gotta love how calm Pete is as he casually plays a 1-of-1 hand-made custom Leo Fender original design guitar and then Lee , not to be outdone , hand winds his own pickup for a custom shop 1-of-1 .
About time someone shot a good video about these guys. Worked there for a decade until I went to Suhr (14 years here!) and always had a soft spot for it’s history and level of quality instruments. Was offered a cabinet of blueprints to make room for production equipment and damnit I should’ve accepted them! But alas, didn’t have room for them as I had an apartment at the time. Nice to see Johnny doing well and a shoutout to Malcolm, Timmy P. , Kenny Amon, and the O. G. crew from the 90’s Custom Creations Team. Good times guys! And nice stuff coming out (but not as nice as my custom stuff I made there!) JK. See ya around!!
You are sitting at ground zero for the electric guitar. I can hardly wrap my head around that. Lee and Pete, that must have been just incredible. Wow!!!!!!
Wow - those G&L guys really seem incredibly nice and down to earth. Looking forward to those customs arriving at Andertons. Think I'll rob a bank and get me one :-)
I liked seeing the factory, the dude who builds the customs seems cool. Also rad that he wasn't scared to show you anything. In fact he was excited to show you how everything was made.
This is the most fascinating thing I’ve ever seen. I’ve always been curious about Leo’s “forgotten” designs. That Espada is absolutely incredible. I would love to see this thing come into production. I adore G&L and what they’re doing with CLF. I hope to one day visit the facility. Bucket list.
The 3+3 hum cancelling pickup design is essentially the same as the Precision Bass pickup. Loved this episode, feels like you've travelled back in time.
Thank you so much for sharing this adventure with us! The pleasure and enthusiasm in your voices and faces is no doubt the same as any of us guitar nerds if given the same opportunity. Quality content as always thank you!
The grain on that guitar neck you are sanding also stood up? Seriously, guitar eye candy. If they play half as good as they look... 💥 💨 they seem SO much better than Fender who kind of embarrass themselves with quality level for price. If you got the bucks, ehh might as well do it right and then she's a keeper.
This is the best Leo office visit I've seen on youtube. I really liked to see these men enthusiasm while showing us their new colors and that fabulous new Leo guitar of the 20th and 21st centuries ! I will follow its grand arrival on the market ! Thanks to all of you ! From Canada.
I'm glad you made it to G&L. Original Fender factory not far from there. New one about 20 miles east. I was lucky enough to work at the old factory in the 70's. Your order looks great.
@@versnellingspookie Oh it was fun. I was young and green. I knew the name and the instruments of course, but didn't really understand how fortunate I was at the time. I worked night sanding necks. I ended up going back to college.
@@jonbarwick5946 We were just outside of the paint booth. I got a peek. Of course we got the necks and bodies right after they were ready for sanding and buffing.
I'm looking at that pickup winder and it's a sewing machine motor and a counter. Very simple and practical way to build one! Loved the tour, does make it fell like any one could get started building.
Absolutely love videops like this with a look behind the curtain and back in history. Again, Mr Fender decades ahead of everyone and G+L, rather than Fender, truly pays homage to a genius and follows the breadcrumbs to the future
This is, by far, the best Andertons video to come out of the NAMM trip. Love it. Can I get the ‘69 Prototype exactly as it is, in prototype form. And a Anderton’s Metal flake ASAT in Canada directly and save on the shipping and exchange rates? I wish. Nice guitars. I bet (hope) this video sells lots of G&L product.
Truly, wonderfully amazing video. Maybe the best you have ever done. Such genuine joy and amazement from the boys, and such deep pride of craftsmanship from the shop. This video made me want a G&L.
I can’t get over just how much pure and absolute joy Pete exudes when he has a guitar in his hands. That joy is so apparent in the end result too. Those aren’t just notes...it’s music. Pure and unadulterated freaking art! A trip Anderton’s is on my bucket list (all the way from Florida one of these days!).
Best video you guys have done. I know what you mean about walking into Leo's office. I stopped at the door, looked in and got goosebumps straight away. Saw it on the Friday morning of NAMM. Bought a Doheny V12 in Burst from the show through the Australian distributor Jack's Music. Now my Comanche has some G & L company. We bumped into each other at the Victory Amplification Booth as well Lee. Thanks to you, Pete and Mick I now have my new Facebook profile picture.
You guys will probably never read this...BUUUUT. I've been wanting to just say that you've FINALLY made NAMM watchable from home. And this video, for me, has really hit it out of the park. I live in Akron Ohio and I swear to GOD when I get the money, I'm buying something from Andertons. Get home safe!
I got to meet Leo when I was a teenager and he was at Music Man. I brought a cardboard cutout of a guitar I designed and he sat with me and gave me pointers of what would work and what wouldn’t. Employees came back from lunch and laughed at me and my face must have fallen because Leo said, “don’t mind them, they don’t have any imagination...you stick with this.” That was a great day! And I did eventually become a hobby luthier. Leo was definitely the dreamer. My dad took me to meet Paul Gagon too (who he would bike with On PCH I believe) when it became G&L and (BBE is associated with it too), and he was the nicest guy. Got a beautiful Legacy from him and it is a superb guitar. I recently got a spalted maple Dohene and it’s the prettiest guitar I own...and sustain to die for. I love G&L. Going to buy this new one when it comes out. I’m a long ways from Huntington Beach these days.....I didn’t know how lucky I was then.
This is one of the best videos I’ve seen in a while. Leo’s history, prototypes, guitar building and a lot of cool guitars yet to be reviewed. This is awesome!!!
Such a awesome video. I would have had chill bumbs for days after. You guys got to experience the eighth wonder. Love you guys! Thanks for taking us along on such a sacred tour.
Thanks for that walk around Leo Fender's office and workshop. It does give a little look into the mind of the man. Also, I saw SO MUCH STUFF I wanted to get my HANDS on!😎
You guys ...wow. A tour through the latest leo life work. Where else but Andertons. You guys did a huge service. Thank you for Pete being there with Lee. Amazing.
This was tremendously cool. Thank you so much for sharing this with us. So much history. I grew up surrounded by Fender history because my dad was the head of FMIC's pro audio division in the nineties, so as a kid I got to hang out at Fender's headquarters in Scottsdale and met people like Bill Schultz and John Page. Hell, I even got to hold the original Blackie! But THIS is a whole other level of deep history. As a hardcore Fender nerd, getting to see this deep into Leo Fender's personal history and creative process is a rare treat and a half.
This is a beautiful beautiful video. You are very lucky guys to see Leo’s magic den. Thank you so much for putting every second of this up for us all to see.
That was the coolest video I've seen in quite some time. I'm glad you got to do it, and I'm more glad you got to share it with us. What an amazing place! (Lee is NEVER going to get all that metal flake off his hands.)
It is so interesting to see so many of the photographs I took of Leo and George and also the guitars for the dealer sheets on the walls. I did the photography with Leo, George and Dale in the later days of G&L. During this period, I also worked with Don Randall of Randall Instruments. The photo of Leo at his bench with his magnifying visor was one of my favorites. I still have the transparencies from that shoot.
I have two custom G&L guitars and have always wondered what the shop looked like. I have 23 guitars including Fender, PRS, Gibson and Collings, but I play the G&L’s daily. Thanks, guys!
David, Johnny and Dave were such good hosts and I feel very privileged to have seen inside G&L. They have made me focus on their line. The guitars sound and look excellent to my eye. I really want one. Time to make a few sacrifices in order to get a beautiful guitar to meet my needs.
The reverance and respect that is shown for Leo Fender is heartwarming. Leo really was one of the most creative geniuses of our time and one of the main reasons why all of us are nerds about guitars and amps. He did a lot of things before anyone else and his designs are still the best today. I love Gibsons and some PRS's but Leo is still king! G&L make great guitars at all price points using Leo's final ideas before he passed. Great video, great interviews and info on new and old designs. Clearly one of the best guitar videos ever! The Captain and Pete triumph again!
Hmm remember Lee said this would be a guitar he would be interested in when Rob asked him what would your choice be of your next guitar? He said a custom G&L. Must’ve known they’d be visiting.
Proud owner of a 10 year old G&L invader... Amazing to see Leo's office preserved like that and probably one of the Best guitar/factory videos i ever seen...The gold hardware customshop tele at the start is pure Guitar porn..
BEST TOUR YET!!!! Anderton's is going to sell a whole lot of G&L's! Amazing video, want to drive over there right now (a whole 20 minutes) and pay homage to Leo. Truly G&L doesn't get enough Love and exposure, such fantastic guitars. Thanks so much for doing this.
Learned lots! Used to work at a little corner music shop for over a decade that sold G&Ls as their top shelf brand. I never knew enough about them apparently! Wish I could go back in time and scoop a few of them!
Fender is still a great brand today, but it's cool to see Leo's legacy and vision for the electric guitar manifest in G&L and (for amps) Ernie Ball Music Man. The guy was a genius.
Wow, the Espada might just be my favorite Leo Fender design ever. I love the shape of the body. I think I'd prefer the regular G&L headstock, though. The electronics and pickups sound great, and I prefer a two-pickup design. I really want a blue metalflake Espada, now.
Thanks for doing this segment, guys. Top notch video... gotta get me a G & L guitar now... their passion for what they do and their love of Leo Fender sold me.
