Vintage F-100 writeup on Vintage Guitar Mag. site, w/demo.

If this was discussed here, I must have missed it. I found it while looking for a refresher course on the F-100 switch settings, I found the article. The article mentions positive things about it and the guy in the demo seemed to like it. I broke out my '82 to compare it to my Les Paul and I must say that it compares quite favorably. Tone offerings are different, but pleasing to my ear. And, she has a sweet neck, and cool flat black control plate, neck plate, and vibrato cover. Apologies for the headless pic, but it's the only one that was left in my online photo storage.

http://www.vintageguitar.com/features/brands/details.asp?AID=3649

I also seem to have missed this article. Pretty informative for a short story with one exception. It states that Leo partnered with another longtime associate, George Fullerton, to found G&L Music Sales, Inc. It was actually Dale Hyatt that Leo Partnered with to form G&L Musical Sales. George Fullerton and Leo partnered to form G&L Musical Instruments. This is an often overlooked piece of information. G&L was actually two individual companies with Leo Fender being the major stockholder in both companies and Dale Hyatt and George Fullerton being equal but minor stockholders in the different companies. This resulted in Dale Hyatt and George Fullerton both being partners with Leo Fender but not being partnered with each other. Leo Fender set up his first company in a similar fashion in the late 1940s but for different reasons. At the time of Leo Fender's death in march of 1991, Dale Hyatt was Leo Fender's one and only partner due to George Fullerton being bought out by Leo in 1985.

Thanks for the G&L business history lesson. I didn't know the specifics regarding George Fullerton's and Dale Hyatt's respective business arrangements with Leo Fender. Thanks for that info.

The article also mentions that the passive F-100's were made in smaller numbers than the active. Is this true? I sure see a lot more passives showing up on Ebay and elsewhere. Mine is a passive.

Thanks for the G&L business history lesson. I didn't know the specifics regarding George Fullerton's and Dale Hyatt's respective business arrangements with Leo Fender. Thanks for that info.

The article also mentions that the passive F-100's were made in smaller numbers than the active. Is this true? I sure see a lot more passives showing up on Ebay and elsewhere. Mine is a passive.

Not ever having researched those numbers, I put the question to Dale Hyatt. His thoughts are that the passive model is the more rare of the two even though the F100 was only available passive when it first came available. Dale also mentioned the primary reason for going to the active circutry is that Leo felt it needed more highs and this was his way to accomplish that. The other benefits from this active circutry was almost a secondary byproduct. Once the dealers received the active model, the orders caught up to and surpassed the production numbers of the passive model.
In the event anybody has ever wondered what the F in F100 stands for, it's Fender.

Thanks for the G&L business history lesson. I didn't know the specifics regarding George Fullerton's and Dale Hyatt's respective business arrangements with Leo Fender. Thanks for that info.

The article also mentions that the passive F-100's were made in smaller numbers than the active. Is this true? I sure see a lot more passives showing up on Ebay and elsewhere. Mine is a passive.

Not ever having researched those numbers, I put the question to Dale Hyatt. His thoughts are that the passive model is the more rare of the two even though the F100 was only available passive when it first came available. Dale also mentioned the primary reason for going to the active circutry is that Leo felt it needed more highs and this was his way to accomplish that. The other benefits from this active circutry was almost a secondary byproduct. Once the dealers received the active model, the orders caught up to and surpassed the production numbers of the passive model.
In the event anybody has ever wondered what the F in F100 stands for, it's Fender.

Wow... MORE highs? It took me a while to learn how to get a great tone from my passive F-100. I'd been used to a vintage strat where I ran the tone controls full up 95% of the time. The F-100 did not sound good that way. Now I run the F-100 with both tone controls turned down almost halfway. If I want a little more spank and treble I'll roll up the treble control maybe to 3/4 (and maybe back down the bass a bit). If I want more drive and thickness from the amp I'll roll up the bass. I don't think I ever run either tone control wide open. In my experience the passive F-100 is capable of way more highs than I'll ever need! The guitar sounds great through a tube amp that's just on the edge of overdrive. The guitar's bass control let's me push it over the edge for great rock solo tones, or back it down for a nice cleaner ALMOST fendery sound. I don't find that the guitar works real well for producing very clean tones. I imagine I wouldn't like it much through a Twin Reverb, for example.

First Post on the forum. I am a long time f-100 player. It was my first real guitar over 20 years ago, and still my favorite overall.

It's a long story, but I took my guitar apart to make a simple repair in college. Got drunk. Girlfriend kicked me out, pawned most of the guitar. I got it out of hawk and repaired it as a passive guitar and have been playing it that way ever sinse.

It really needs some TLC, and I am going to take it offline, and my brother, who is an EE (and a killer bass player and pretty solid guitar player) is going to help me reconfigure it back to the way it was originally. So this video really helps jog my memory of how things worked!

I am looking to buy another G&L, because I love G&L. I am torn between a bluesboy or an asat deluxe. I have played both, but neither extensively.