G&L

G&L Electric Guitars — The Final Chapter of Leo Fender's Legacy

There's a quote that followed G&L throughout its entire history, spoken by the man who built it: "G&L Guitars and Basses are the best instruments I have ever made." Coming from Leo Fender, the man who gave the world the Telecaster, the Stratocaster, and the Precision Bass, that is not a small statement.

In 1979, Leo founded G&L with fellow Fender alumni George Fullerton, the G and L standing for George and Leo. For Leo, it was a chance to step back from his early Fender designs with fresh eyes, refining and improving his formulas for a new generation of players. The result was a series of instruments that took everything Leo had learned across four decades of guitar building and pushed it further than he ever had before.

G&L closed its doors in late 2025, bringing to an end the last company ever founded by Leo Fender. What remains are the instruments themselves, and they are as relevant, as playable, and as sonically alive as the day they left the factory on Fender Avenue in Fullerton, California.

What Made G&L Different

G&L was never content to simply replicate what Leo had built at Fender. Every model in the lineup was an exercise in refinement, built around a set of proprietary innovations that Leo developed specifically for this brand and nowhere else.

The MFD pickup, one of G&L's most celebrated innovations, uses a ceramic bar magnet rather than the traditional Alnico configuration, covering a broader magnetic field and delivering more output while staying cleaner across the full frequency spectrum. The result is a pickup that can dial in the character of a single coil, a humbucker, or even a P-90, all in one unit.

The Dual-Fulcrum vibrato uses two pivot points rather than the traditional six-screw configuration, reducing friction for a smoother feel, superior tuning stability, and the ability to bend notes both up and down. The Saddle-Lock bridge uses a small Allen screw to prevent lateral saddle movement, improving both tuning stability and sustain by allowing the saddles to vibrate together as a single mass.

These weren't marketing features. They were genuine engineering solutions from one of the most inventive minds the guitar world has ever produced.

The Models

ASAT Classic — G&L's answer to the Telecaster, and in many players' opinions, a significant improvement on it. The ASAT Classic carries all the twang, snap, and cut of the original Tele format but with Leo's MFD pickups and Saddle-Lock bridge bringing added clarity, sustain, and tuning stability to every note.

Legacy — The Stratocaster reimagined through the G&L lens, featuring the Dual-Fulcrum vibrato system and MFD pickups that give it a character distinctly its own. The Legacy is the model most often cited by players who crossed over from Fender and never looked back.

S-500 — A three-pickup offset design that pushes G&L's MFD technology to its fullest expression, with individual per-string pickup adjustment and a tonal palette that ranges from glassy clean to full-throated overdrive. The S-500 was widely regarded as one of the best Strat-style models on the market, with workmanship and materials that made G&L an insider tip among serious players.

Comanche — The most adventurous model in the lineup, featuring Z-coil pickups designed to deliver humbucker-style noise cancellation without sacrificing the openness and articulation of a single coil. The Comanche is the G&L for players who want something that looks, sounds, and feels like nothing else on a stage.

Played by Icons

Among the most notable players of G&L instruments were Carl Perkins, who used a G&L Broadcaster as his primary instrument during the final thirteen years of his life, and Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains, who has played several G&L models since the 1980s and can be seen playing a single-humbucker G&L Rampage in the music video for "Man in the Box."

A Piece of Guitar History

With G&L's closure, every remaining instrument becomes something more than just a guitar. It's a piece of Leo Fender's final chapter, built in the same Fullerton factory where he spent his last years doing what he loved most. Whether you're a working player looking for a workhorse with serious pedigree or a collector adding to a carefully curated selection, a G&L is an instrument you'll never regret owning.

Browse our available G&L electric guitars while inventory lasts.