George Fullerton, Leo Fender, Dale Hyatt.
Inside Leo's Lab: the chair where the magic happened for decades.
Showing some magazine guys around G&L this morning and thought I'd share this little historical bit from Leo's desk. When Forrest White and
Tom Walker wanted to start a new business in the early '70s, they called it Tri-Sonix. Of course they needed Leo's support. Leo didn't like that
name and suggested (demanded?) the business be named Music Man. - Dave
June 1983: one of Leo's carts holding new G&L guitars and basses. We still use this cart today. This photo is stored in Leo Fender's office.
Inside Leo's Lab: "Apache" name on a sample neck dated 1983. It could be this was leading to the Comanche years later. Only Leo knows.
On board Leo's yacht: the helm of Aquafen IV. This is among the hundreds of photos he kept in his office.
Inside Leo's Lab: his notes listing parts to make a Magnetic Field Design (MFD) pickup. The history in here is amazing.
1950s Leo Fender: on top of the world, with many more great things ahead.
Leo Fender featured in the History of Orange County exhibit at John Wayne Airport.
From Fender to G&L, Leo's work forever changed music and the world we live in.
Leo Fender styling mockup of early G&L guitar concept. Some elements of this mockup suggest to us
that this may have been made in '78 or '79, while this place was still CLF Research, before Leo introduced G&L.
Note the early development of the G&L trademark hook design in the headstock, at this point no more than a bump.
The hook design wasn't used on the early G&L instruments; the completed hook design appeared
in production a few years later.
Inside Leo's office: early '70s photo showing construction of the Fender Avenue buildings developed by Leo.
This is where he operated CLF Research until he turned it into G&L.
It's August of 1976 and Music Man production is in full swing at CLF (Clarence Leo Fender) Research,
four years before production of Stingrays and Sabres would give way to L-1000s and L-2000s. In this shot,
pickup bobbins are being assembled using little fixtures Leo designed. To this day, G&L uses the same kind of fixtures,
most of which are still the same ones Leo left us. - Dave
Leo went through several pickup concepts before settling on the humbucking pickup for the Stingray and Sabre basses.
It was just like Leo to push things, to try the unexpected. How about one single-coil pickup per string? There's one way to find out.
Though this photo is over 35 years old, this prototype pickup arrangement remains in Leo's lab today. - Dave
The year is 1976. Leo has expanded the CLF Research facility on Fender Avenue to begin producing guitars and basses.
The names on them are MusicMan. It would be another four years before G&L instruments would be made here.
Let's have a look under the hood of those early years, starting with the woodshop. In this photo George Fullerton is with
Lloyd Chewning, the plant foreman. The first time I met Lloyd he had a stroke, right there in front of me, and passed away. - Dave
Here's a shot of the Fender Avenue buildings once they were completed and tenants were moving in.
That's Leo's white Cadillac. He always had white cars because he thought they were safer.
Easier to see at night, he said. He also encouraged employees to have white cars, too. - Dave
I think this would have been shot sometime in 1970 as the Fender Avenue buildings were under construction.
Leo built these as income properties to lease out, but he kept a few units for his CLF Research operation.
CLF stands for Clarence Leo Fender. - Dave
Here's an interesting moment in time with guitar industry titans and sometime rivals. On the left is Les Paul, in the middle is Leo Fender,
and the man on the right, well, I'm not sure but I've got a hunch he's either Norton Stevens or Maurice Berlin. At the time of this photo,
I believe it's 1977, Gibson was owned by Norlin, the name made up of "Nor" from Norton and "lin" from Berlin. - Dave
Inside Leo's Lab: body template for the last instrument he made, a baritone guitar prototype.
Late '70s to early '80s: bass neck templates for Music Man, G&L (no hook), G&L (with hook). EvoLEOtion.
Inside Leo's lab: an early prototype Magnetic Field Design bass humbucker. Note the MusicMan cover with ears. We think Leo built this in '78.
Inside Leo's Lab: double neck, dual six string. Each side has one split coil pickup installed but clearly accommodates two pickups per side.
24-fret necks have dual truss rods but not tilt-back headstocks, attached with raw, unplated and unmarked 3-bolt neck plates in the Fender/G&L style.
The ends of the headstocks are sanded to alter the shape, as they probably came from a manufacturer other than Fender.
We think it was a concept explored in the early '70s when Leo started CLF Research. CLF later became G&L.
Inside Leo's office: from the mid '70s CLF Research years, a styling mockup of a Music Man bass. By this time Leo had the body profile,
headstock and bridge footprint nearing the final form.
Inside Leo's Lab: the evolution of the split pickup concept continued through the '70s at CLF Research, culminating in the
G&L Magnetic Field Design Z-coil. The history in this place runs deep.
Inside Leo's Office: Leo loved photography and left us hundreds of photos from across his career.
In this photo from February 1951 we see amp chassis production.
Inside Leo's Lab: Pickup development was constantly under way.
Inside Leo's Lab: sketches for 5-string bass pickups. The Z-coil offset concept was used on the L-5000 of the late '80s.
The side-by-side coil concept is used on the recent MJ-4. Many of you have asked us about making a five string MJ-5.
Well, it's a great idea Leo started, so we're going to finish it.
At the NAMM show in the mid '80s. This photo is on the wall outside Leo's lab.
Inside Leo's lab: his moisture meter used to check the water content of wood. A few notes of his appear in the upper left hand corner of the yellow manual.
Inside Leo's Office: a man who works six or seven days a week always keeps a razor handy.
Leo has a few around here, including this 1960s Sunbeam Shavemaster.
Inside Leo's Lab: Fender Electric XII, possibly an old development mule just hanging around.
Whenever we look at this, we think about possibilities. What do you think?
Inside Leo's office: Leo Fender, President. Spiritually, he still is.
Inside Leo's lab: concept 5-string bass headstock dated August 18, 1986.
Inside Leo's lab: his Interstate log-linear sweep generator. It remains operational.
The man we thank every day for his gifts to the music world.
