Why Leo Fender left Fender, Music Man, And G&L 

Please tell me that you have more to come. I was really, really enjoying this.

I love G&l and I was a dealer prior to selling my shop. To me it’s my go to before Fender I absolutely adore this company. I ordered so many 1 off guitars and basses. Alway open to anything and the Sky was the limited. I have four and never let down

Great! Now I have to buy a G&L guitar. Good video Phil!

Great video, I love this kind of stuff. It's the people behind the guitars that make them truly special and getting to see that is pretty rare. Well done!

Can't wait to see your new G&L. I just picked up my 4th G&L last week, a new semi hollow ASAT Bluesboy.

What else to say but “wow.”

This is one of the best videos you've made! I hope you make more like this - my wife knows how much I love the behind the scenes videos and that I'll plan a trip to a guitar builder as part of our vacations if we're close enough to do so. Thank you!

Great video! Thank You, Phillip. This really fills in the gap in history. Make this video 30-60 mins and it would be documentary quality - you could sell it to Netflix or Amazon. I would pay to see it. It really answers questions that I had and the legacy of how things came about. I wasn't alive then, but Being 38 years old I have dealt with alot of these instruments and always wanted this story of the evolution of how G and L and Music Man came about, the evolution of the Stratocaster. I have read and watched everything I can on this subject, There is a major gap in knowledge about what happened between early 70's and early 80's. Most coverage seems to focus on vintage strats up to 69 or super Strats from early 80's and beyond. Would like to learn anything I can about the changes made to the instrument in the 70's.

Beautiful!! Leo Fender will forever be a hero. Thanks for the video!

From Leo: Great history! Geniuses never quit looking to the future, never feel the need to rest.

My brother and I had the opportunity to get a private tour of the G&L facilities a few years ago. I bought a G&L the day after the tour and I couldn't be happier. Thanks for posting this vid!

That work bench color also looks similar to a military surplus green that our ancient military surplus computer/electronics consoles were painted at an observatory facility I worked at

epic video Phil, so happy to see that they are 'stuck in their way' when it comes to building the instruments. gives such a sense of soul and passion that you just wont get with a mass produced instrument that is stamped out. fantastic to see where his legacy moved.

Thanks Phil, I feel more proud to own my 2004 S-500! It still play's really sweet and I've never had a problem with it.

The details in this insightful vid have blown my mind... The paint color on the benches, the breadboard pickup position bass, all the background details and bits and pieces still sitting on those old benches. You add in a passionate interviewee with that much knowledge and you can't help but to want to feel these instruments in your own hands with all of that history in your mind. Thank you for sharing.

I love that he's all about "well, you have to tell the story of all three companies."

I have a G&L ASAT Classic and it's a great guitar. It was the first nice guitar I ever bought. I got it from my local mom and pop guitar store who is a G&L dealer. It doesn't have the traditional Telecaster sound. It's got its own thing. It is hands down the best playing guitar I own and I will never sell it.

I know they sound and play great but i didn’t know all of this, and the fact that they are so hands on and traditional makes want to reconsider some things. Hmmm

Would not be complete without mention of the Tribute series (of which I have one Tribute Legacy). I wanted to get a Fender Stratocaster, but could not afford USA made. So I started looking at Squire, then I found out about G&L. After some research, I learned about the better quality components in the Tribute, compared to Squire. Especially vibrato system and electronics/pickups/tone controls. So I bought a used Tribute Legacy. I am so happy that I did, it sounds/plays like a dream. My purchase experience and this video, make me glad I did not get hung up on buying an older design "original Fender" guitar, and instead, now own a newer better version, designed by the man himself...Leo Fender.

Thanks Phil! A really outstanding video and great oral history. Never knew Leo Fender helped start Music Man. That was priceless.

Great video, I really enjoy the inside perspective on the Fender history and seeing Leo’s prototypes.

I'm sitting and looking at a beautiful G&L bass plugged into an Orange amp. Thanks, Leo! One of my sons has two G&Ls, an ASAT and a Fiorano (Tribute) and loves them both. The Fiorano is a dual HB, 3x3, 25.5" design with a 14" radius, Leo's first "shredder." My other son has a MIM Tele and lots of acoustics. These guys love Leo's work. Now if he had only designed drums...

When I was eight years old, I lived off of Raymond Ave. I used to ride my bike to 500 Raymond ave. I looked inside the side doors( they were open) and I would see the guys building guitars. They would yell at me “Hey kid get away!!” I could hear them laughing at me running away……. I would wait about ten minutes and go to another door and peek in. The same thing would happen. Eventually, they wouldn’t yell any more. It was so cool to watch them work. Move forward many years, I bought a house in Corona, Ca. I got to know some of the guys that worked there. Then John Page left Fender and started a Fender museum/kids rock free. They thought Guitar, bass drums and dance to local kids for free. I started volunteering there and got to know John and his wife Dana. I also was a volunteer jr. High youth minster at my church. It got to a point that John’s wife put me in touch with people at Fender that would arrange factory tours for my youth guys. Four years of tours were a high lite for my youth guys. Only once a year. One day I went to the G&L factory on Fender ave in Fullerton. It was lunch time. Many employees were out side whenI rode up on my BMW R1200 G/S. They all gathered around the bike and we talked motorcycles. After about twenty minutes Dave came out to see what all the hubbub was about. We talked motorcycles. We eventually started talking G&Guitars. They were surprised to find out I had four G&Ls as well as the bike. The guys at both factories ar e great people. Dave is a very down to earth and was a total joy to talk with.

This really great thank you for taking your time to do this interview.

This is a great video, thanks! My uncle owned the buildings next to Fender back in the day in Fullerton. He had some old stuff tucked away from when they would take imperfect instruments and smash them out back and throw them in the dumpsters. The buildings are gone now as they flattened them to build a bridge or something right there by the railroad tracks.

Well done Phil! I almost didn't click, thinking I already knew "the history". I learned alot. Thank you.

I think David just finished a pot of coffee! Great interview Phil

Great Video! I always learn so much from your video's, especially the fix it tutorials, but this one was really cool to see/hear!

Terrific video. Pleased to see a boss who really knows and cares about the legacy they have.

Great interview Phill, I can't wait to see the guitar you ordered and I do believe I will be looking at a G&L for my next guitar thank you, David, for a splendid interview

Im in Europe, and my first G&L (Tribute S500, Korea made) was bought in 2007, I got stoked the moment I tried it in the shop. Never understood why G&L is so underrated as they are REAL Fenders, it's the natural evolution of what he "left" to CBS: S-500 and Legacy of a Strat, ASAT of a Tele. There are so many guitarist that never EVER heard about G&L, that when I talk about the brand they think I'm talking about another asia-made cheap brand. WTF?! Thank you SO MUCH for this video! Hope it helps many people to get to know what a REAL Fender is nowadays.

Leo was THE Music Man!!! All those innovations for so many decades. My uncle worked for Fender and originally for Leo from 1958 until his retirement in 1986. I visited him often and would hear the stories over a good bottle of scotch. The wonderful of the early years and the horror and pressure of the CBS days. Uncle Jim passed away a couple of years ago, and I miss him a great deal. I was lucky enough to sit down with him a year before he passed away, sucking on a bottle of 30 year old scotch and playing telecasters with him. Today I have a 1960 Telecaster and a 62 Strat. Love the Strat!! I also have a Music Man Cutlass and a G&L Comanche with the MFD-Z coil pickups. That was the last thing that Leo developed before passing away. They are very interesting sounding pups. While it is definitely a single coil, without the hum, it sounds nothing like a Strat pup. The definitely have their own sound. More like a humbucker, but not quite. So what do I play? Honestly it's usually a newer telecaster I own with a P90 in the neck or my 2012 Strat American Standard with Tonerider pups in it. Dead quiet with a real honest Strat tone of the 1962. The historical stuff mostly sits in hard cases in a temp controlled storage. Now and then I take them out and play them, just to make sure nothing is going bad and to remember all of the history and what Leo contributed to the world of electric guitars. Since his death, there have been some great Luthiers with truly innovative electronics, but usually these are one guy, working in his shop, with a strong vision of what he wanted to design and build. But no one has ever done what Leo pulled off. From guitars, to basses and all the great Fender and Music Man amps over the years. With the way the guitar industry is set up now, I don't see anyone coming forth that could ever do what Leo Fender did. Bob in Germany

Phil, this is one of the best videos ever on the subject of Leo Fender. What a great video, sharing all that info first hand. This video is invaluable. Thank you Phil. I could feel Leo Fender very much still alive!

Leo Fender an amazing man that the music community should never forget.

Yaaay! You won't be disappointed. I've been playing them since '95. I still love my Fenders, but these are gems. I can't wait to see what you get.

A couple months back I swapped a MIM Strat for a Fullerton Standard Legacy. The shop made me a sweet deal on trade, and the G&L is truly something to behold. Plays butter smooth and the candy red is so deep and lovely!

Welcome to G&L family! I got Legacy Special. Before that, I had Legacy Standard which got stolen. I got to know G&L because my first teacher had one when I grew up in this small town in Japan. His S-500 was awesome; had Leo's handwritten signature, as they did with high-end models. I always prefered G&L over Fender because it's better built for the price and, well, more unique. Hey, I live in West Valley here in town. Hope to show you mine in the near future!

Awesome!!! Can't wait for the demo of the one your ordered.

man that took a while to come to fruition, but holy cow was that ever worth the wait. Great great great Phil.

Awesome knowledge and history!! Thanx for this, Phil!! 👍✌

I lived in Orange county most of my like, now 50, and did not know this. They were always the coolest guitars I though. Now I need to get a SC-2 or SuperHawk tribute

This video is great .Every Leo Fender fan should watch it a couple of times every year in Memory of Leo.

Great Show, Phil ! Historical Documentaries are so cool when the Source Material is as interesting as this ! Also, the Factory Tours are always helpful in that they offer a greater insight to just how the product (guitar/bass/et cetera) is made, and as such, the quality of the Workmanship put into the Finished Product ! Very interesting, and very informative ! Thanks, Phil, For All That You Do ! P. S., I can't wait to see and hear what you ordered ! Do I sense an impending "Unboxing and Demo" Show coming up ? Well, I certainly Hope so !

Loved this video, Phil. Even 4 years ago you were doing a bang-up job of producing genuinely interesting content and I have to say that this was one of the most interesting and enjoyable videos I've watched on RU-vid. Not only of yours and not just music/guitar related, but overall, period, end of sentence, and full stop as our friends across the big pond have been known to say. If this had been a one to two hour feature length presentation I think I still would have wanted more when it was over. Thank you for doing what you do, and the way you do it, Phil!

Absolutely great video, I didn't know most of those details about MM/G&L, very fascinating

PHILL!!!! WOW!!!! That was FAN-FREEKING-TASTIC!!!!

This video is historic. I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see it in an award winning documentary.

Wow, what a great interview. Thanks for that Phil!

I really enjoyed this guy’s storytelling. So passionate and animated.

Great video Phil, it's awesome to learn about their heritage and see how they make their guitars. This material is always interesting, it helps me put some perspective on the guitars i play.

WOW Phil, that was THE greatest bit of history, how does this get nominated for an award!!? Simple people history. ⚓️

When I was 10 years old in 1964 we moved from NY to Placentia, CA which was the town right next to Fullerton, We used to drive past the old Fender factory buildings all the time. Fullerton was mostly orange groves back then. Fast Forward to 2003 living in ATL I was in LA and decided to revisit the area where I grew up. I had two G&L guitars at the time and went by the factory on Fender Ave. The Production Manager showed me rhe different buildings where they were making the guitars and even showed me Leo's workshop that they keep locked up but I couldn't enter the workshop. That alone was worth the trip.

I hope you have more on this. I was glued to the screen. I got an 87 Leo Fender signature Asat. Really nice pickups and plays great. Got the bug a few years ago and picked up an old USA legacy too. Two really nice axes.

Awesome video. Always had a passing interest in G&L but now I may have to add one to the guitarsenal. Thanks Phil 😎

Cool video. One of your best yet but I seriously hope this is a “part 1”. It felt pretty incomplete.

This is so interesting, hope theres more to come Phill. thank you for posting this, and thank you for your time, Haha so you ordered one, nice one Phill, look forward to seeing it, hopefully , Cheers

I think the British invasion freaked Leo out. 1963-65 none of them played Fender. It was Rickenbacker, Gretsch, Hofner and Epiphone and they all played through Vox amps.

Great story, this is really interesting!

That, Mr. McKnight, was one of the coolest videos I've seen in quite a while. Thanks and more of the same, please.

What a fantastic video. Wish it was longer.

Very enjoyable insight into the Fender and subsequent history and legacy. I'd certainly appreciate more of this type of material.

My experience is that both Music Man and G&L instruments are way better than what Fender offers.

I'm late to the party, but boy, what an informative vid.......I'm the proud owner of a G&L LB100 that I now know what went into it when made........I've owned and played many basses back in the day(Gibson Thunderbird, Rick 4001, Hamer Explorer etc) but this upgrade on his classic P-Bass is the most beautiful, balanced, sleek Rock and Roll machine the finest I've ever played.

Great interview Phil! Very interesting stuff.

Have 2 G & L's one is a tie as my best guitar in over 40 years playing

Very interesting thanks Phill.

I am hoping that there will be MORE videos from this trip.

Awesome episode. Thanks for sharing this

Welll that was awesome !! Thanks Phil. Can't wait to see your new ax, bro !

This is the best historical insight on this subject I've ever seen.... excellent video thank you Philip

Excellent video. I've been eyeing a pristine G&L Comanche for several weeks now... I'm going in! This video sold me....

Phillip McKnight always delivers fantastic material. This no exception. Funny note: Most of the interview seems to be the point of view of someone overhearing a conversation in a dr office!

Phil, this video was truly a inspiration! Thanks for making this one.

My brother plays a G&L Bass, the quality of manufacture is second to none. It's an absolutely beautiful musician's instrument.

Absolutely great video Phil, thanks for sharing.

Very interesting, just came across this. Thanks Phillip.

I’m so glad that you’ve done this. So many people don’t know the history.

I bought a S-500 back in 2011 and it quickly became my favourite strat. It opened my mind and I bought an Asat Special and an Asat Z-3 Semi-hollow.

I love this kind of video! Awesome history and a look into the life of Leo! I know its the end of 2021 but please do more like this!

I could listen to THIS for HOURS!!!!! We need more stuff like this,.

Can't wait to see what you ordered!

Great video. Was always very curious about the quality of their operation. Definitely considering a purchase given the high praise!

I'm glad I got my Telecaster Custom from 1967! The only thing that keeps me from a G&J instrument. I paid $125 for my Tele in 1980, and $75 for my Rickenbacker, in 1972!

Great documentary and of course you had to order one! Thanks Mr McKnight, you keep filling the blanks in my guitar story. Wonderful.

This is very educational with Dave McLaren sharing the history of Leo Fender to Music Man to G&L as well as a brief look at the factory.

I really enjoyed this video. I hope there is more to come. I've been wanting a Fender tele for some time but a G&L Asat may be in my future.

Awesome interview and tour! I love watching this kind of stuff.

Great video Phil, I really liked the interspersing of the interview and the shop tour, It really took it up a level. 🤘🏻🎸👍🤘🏻🎸👍🤘🏻🎸👍🤘🏻🎸👍

Loved this.

Super content! Thanks Phil!

awesome stuff Phil. didn't know any of this stuff. cool to learn about some real guitar history.

Great job Phil! I'm proud to have in my collection: Fenders, MusicMans (besides my fantastic Ernie Ball MM guitars, I also bought a new first-year HD-130 2x12, and later added a MM 4x12), and G&L ASAT. Proud to have - unintentionally - followed many of Leo's inventions over the years. Whew - what a mind!

It was a little hard to follow Mr McLaren as he went through the Fender history, but it's obvious that he is a huge Leo Fender fan, as he should be. He also has a respect for the achievements, innovations, and the manufacturing process itself. That is very commendable, and maybe the reason that my favorite guitar is a mid 90's (G&L's are notoriously hard to date) Legacy Special. I was a beneficiary of the used market for G&L's, and it's sad but it should in no way reflect the quality of these fine instruments. The sound of my Legacy through a Blues Jr is the stuff dreams are made of. I hope G&L keeps doing what they do for a long long time. Congratulations Phil on your purchase, I know you will love it!

Very good informative video! 👍

Great history! It really gives you the human story of the small business beginnings behind guitars we love. More please.

thanks,I have been using a G&L 5 string bass for almost 10 years,5 string,(jazz bass on steroids) still my fav bass I have other Fenders and other brands.

Bravo Phil! Excellent work!

Wow!!!! That was fantastic!!!!! Thanks!!!

that surf green is the same as the shop I work in. its a cotton gin research lab opened in 1949. lots of the green colored machines. have finally been replaced but still the furniture remains.

Great video and interview. I love G&L and its really cool to see they are carrying on the vision of Clarence Leo Fender. I have a G&L Fallout and that guitar just rocks.