See and hear sample videos of Leo's last instrument ...

[Craig]

Dave posted this on the G&L facebook page:

Leo's last instrument: what did the genius have in mind? We've decided to embark on a search to find out.
Dave Nicholson, a former G&L employee in the early '90s, stopped by and we handed him this mythical creation.
It's not been setup since the day Leo passed away. — in Fullerton, CA.

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In response to a couple of posts:

G&L Musical Instruments Skip and Tom McNalley - nobody's really played this before and it's way out of adjustment after 23 years.
He's a fine bass player, but is this a bass? A guitar? Leo called it a 6-string bass. We've called it a baritone. Our quest begins.

G&L Musical Instruments Tim - we can label the parts, but "what is it?" is more of a philosophical question.
That's what we want to know. That's the quest. Since you mentioned F-100, each humbucker is constructed of what appears to be paired early S-500 pickups.
He could have just used F-100 humbucking pickups, maybe wound differently, but he didn't. He chose early S-500 pickups as the basis.
We'll need to dig deep to discover why.

G&L Musical Instruments Davey - that's a natural conclusion, but there are bits about this that make us think he was trying to stretch it or go in a different direction.

Here's the link to photos posted previously: This is the last instrument created by Leo Fender.

Last edited by Craig on Wed Dec 17, 2014 8:59 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Reason: Added link to the post of photos of this instrument.

hmmmm...would a set-up be sacrilege or the right thing to do?

The low E sounds good , seems like there is an instrument in there somewhere

thx for relaying the facebook post Craig,

Thanks Craig!

I have always been intrigued by this mythical instrument. Not sure about it but do agree with Elwood,

seems like there is an instrument in there somewhere

Way cool stuff

If G&L built a model based faithfully on this instrument, I would buy it. I would even move out one of my Leo-era keepers to make room for it.

Thanks Craig!

I have always been intrigued by this mythical instrument. Not sure about it but do agree with Elwood,

seems like there is an instrument in there somewhere

Way cool stuff

Being a New Order fan from back in the very early '80s, I could find plenty of ways to make this sound great (or at least have serious fun trying). Think Peter Hook on Ceremony or Dreams Never End:

[youtube]9pr6SxJb-Dw[/youtube]

[youtube]GXuRe0GkXyA[/youtube]

Ken

I like that! Definitely an instrument in there not too far beneath the surface. When's the release date planned for?

Here's another video G&L posted on their facebook page:

Leo Fender's last instrument: our friend Tom McNalley stopped by to explore what it can do. Leo called it a 6-string bass.
We've called it a baritone. Nobody knows what was in the mind of the genius, but we're searching for answers.

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