Hello, I am late to the party. I just found out that G&L guitars is no longer in business. That makes me sad. You see, I saw G&L a bit like Fender 2.0 so to speak. Fender Strat players like Eric Clapton, Mark Knopfler, and David Gilmour drew me to the Strat. Then there was G&L which seemed like an underdog, the lesser known option. I live on a fixed income and I saved for six months to buy a new S500 tribute made in Indonesia G&L. I am learning with it from the JG app. I love the guitar. It stinks that G&L is gone, yet I am thankful that I was able to buy one new before they were no more. Thank you to Justin Guitar and the team for helping me learn. Here is an espresso shot toast to G&L guitar.
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The G&L guitars are very appealing. It is sad that the company isn’t around now but my guess is that well built guitars like these will be around for a long time to come.
Sad that they are gone. Fender owns the brand now but who knows what they’ll do with it, except maybe use Leo’s name and the IP as part of their newly aggressive litigation tactics… But I digress. I tried a used late-90s S-500 at my local guitar store a few weeks ago and liked it quite a lot. If I’d had more money I might have bought it. The only thing with it was that somebody had at some point changed the pickups for Fender Noiseless and removed the expander switch. I would have liked it better if it were original but it was still a beautiful guitar. I keep my eyes open for G&Ls now.
This guitar has the USA pickups in it. It came with the Leo designed parts. It was just built overseas to get the cost down.
Yes, that was one of the impressive things about the Tribute series - they used all the same hardware as the top-of-the-range Fullerton G&L instruments. They had a reputation for being incredibly good value.
It is a shame they couldn’t keep going. I do wonder whether Fender would have dared to send them a cease-and-desist letter for “copying” the s-shape. 
Without getting too far into the weeds, Fender bought the rights to Leo Fender’s name and not much else. The G&L factory in Fullerton, California was gutted. The equipment and most of the parts inventory were tossed. A few complete instruments from the G&L custom shop are being sold out of the FMIC storefront in Nashville, Tennessee. It is doubtful the improved pickup designs Leo created will ever see the light of day again. What a waste!
BlindFarmerDude, it is great you were able to get your hands on that G&L Tribute S-500. A remarkable value, to be sure!
Ah, you have an instant collector’s item!
That happened to me with a bicycle I bought years ago. The frame was welded in Colorado during the company’s “prime”. Just before COVID they developed a carbon fiber manufacturing technique in-house. I guess during COVID, they decided that bicycles weren’t so profitable so they closed their bicycle manufacturing and then shifted their carbon fiber manufacturing to aerospace and race cars. More profitable industries, I suppose.
Hold on!
They are not all gone, not yet!
If you want a G&L it might be worth it to ask you LMS to see if they are a dealer for MIRC.
From the video’s description.
When G&L closed down their factory, what happened to all their stock? MIRC (Musical Instrument Reclamation Corp.) bought everything! MIRC is now releasing guitars and basses to dealers.
The Zombie Guitar Company is one of the first shops to get a load of G&Ls. This is your chance to get a new G&L guitar or bass. Leo Fender’s last company, his final ideas.