1980 Monthly production numbers

[gbrooding]

Kind of a shot in the dark here, but were there any records kept at G&L early on that showed roughly how many basses were produced in the first months of existence? June/July/August?

Thank you!

[yowhatsshakin]

Kind of a shot in the dark here, but were there any records kept at G&L early on that showed roughly how many basses were produced in the first months of existence? June/July/August?

Thank you!

I do not know the exact numbers but lets do an estimate:

According to Paul Bechtoldt, while Leo was alive about 23,000 G&L basses were built. The period April 1980-March 1991 spans 11 years in all or 132 months. Hence, an estimated 174 basses a month, or about 8-9 a day.

- Jos

[gbrooding]

Thank you Jos. So if mine has a July 28, 1980 date on the body, could be a safe estimate to say it was within the first 300 or so?

[yowhatsshakin]

Thank you Jos. So if mine has a July 28, 1980 date on the body, could be a safe estimate to say it was within the first 300 or so?

Even better than that. Much better than that! Read this on my website.

- Jos

[gbrooding]

Thank you Jos. So if mine has a July 28, 1980 date on the body, could be a safe estimate to say it was within the first 300 or so?

Even better than that. Much better than that! Read this on my website.

- Jos

Nice! So if production started on July 9th, which was a Wednesday, that would leave 17 business days in July. (assuming they were not working weekends.) At the VERY most, July would have seen roughly 150 basses made. Thank you for that information. Probably trivial at best, but I love learning details like this!!

[derick]

I would think that it would take some time for a new production line to hit its stride. That would make your early basses rarer still.

I have an early '80 with August/September date stamps, Dave McLaren's log says it was logged into finished goods on October 9th.

Nice! So if production started on July 9th, which was a Wednesday, that would leave 17 business days in July. (assuming they were not working weekends.) At the VERY most, July would have seen roughly 150 basses made. Thank you for that information. Probably trivial at best, but I love learning details like this!!

[Its_Him_Again]

This is really cool. Congrats on having that bass!