G&L, Leo Fender's Last Orange County guitar company, has shut down

[Jack_H]

Link to story: https://www.ocregister.com/2025/10/...t-orange-county-guitar-company-has-shut-down/

G&L Music Instruments, the Fullerton guitar-making shop launched by the legendary Leo Fender, has gone silent after 45 years.

News of the company’s closure hasn’t been confirmed by anyone at G&L. But on Friday, Oct. 31, the evidence started piling up. While the closure was first broached on G&L fan pages, a museum curator with a permanent collection of Leo Fender artifacts and a contractor who worked for G&L for decades appeared to confirm early conjecture.

Neither David nor John McLaren, the brothers who owned BBE Sound and G&L Musical Instruments, could be reached for comment on Friday. But according to the California Secretary of State’s online business search tool, BBE, which was the parent company of G&L, terminated its corporate status with the state on Tuesday, Oct. 28.

As well, the fact that loads of the company’s parts and materials have been tossed into dumpsters throughout October only adds to the circumstantial confirmation that G&L, this last direct connection to Leo Fender‘s instrumental genius, has gone dark.

more gut punch from the article

“So I drove down and saw the dumpster filled with just crazy (stuff), and I was like, this is absolutely insane,” he says. “There were trays and trays of pickups in there. They’re all magnetized so they were stuck to the bottom of the dumpster. Oh, yeah, dude, it was crazy.

“Me and my cousin and his friend just jumped in that thing and just started piling everything in our cars. Everything you can imagine, to put a guitar together or bass was in there” — the innards, not the bodies or necks. “Then we go to another dumpster. And I’m not joking that it was filled to the brim with guitar and bass bridges,”

 

[Spud]

Rumor is Fender bought up the remains/name..............

 

[Hodgo]

Sucks, but a bit odd to say G&L is the last direct link to Leo.

 

[teleme01]

Great to get a great deal at the estate sale, sadly someone had to die

 

[Rick]

I heard about this ... like Spud says, it was to finally get the "Leo Fender" name, which belonged to G&L. Like they did with Tacoma, they'll raid the factory for what they can use, and dump the rest. Interestingly, when they bought Ovation, they apparently left a lot in the factory and sold to it more or less intact. I think they bought ovation to get the distribution channels.

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

His R&D office should be carefully inventoried and reassembled in the R&RHOF museum in Cleveland as a historical exhibit.

 

[supertruper1988]

I heard about this ... like Spud says, it was to finally get the "Leo Fender" name, which belonged to G&L. Like they did with Tacoma, they'll raid the factory for what they can use, and dump the rest. Interestingly, when they bought Ovation, they apparently left a lot in the factory and sold to it more or less intact. I think they bought ovation to get the distribution channels.

Ovation was a brand of Kaman Music Corp which was all about distribution.

 

[Strat Avenger]

Ovation was a brand of Kaman Music Corp which was all about distribution.

So was Takamine, which was bought by ESP.

 

[supertruper1988]

So was Takamine, which was bought by ESP.

Takamine is Japanese owed. The deal with KMC/Fender and now ESP is distribution IIRC

 

[Strat Avenger]

Takamine is Japanese owed. The deal with KMC/Fender and now ESP is distribution IIRC

ESP is also Japanese owned.

 

[rauchman]

Yeah....I've read some interesting stories around this. I saw one guy on TheGearPage mention he lives in the area, and much found much treasure from dumpster diving at the G&L facility. Sad....

I have a 2005 or so US Legacy Special (uses their rail humbucker single coil sized pups), and have to say, it is a very finely crafted instrument. Personally, I think the G&L 2pt trem is the best non locking trem I've used. Having said that, I don't play it much and it was going to be fodder for a trade. Considering what has happened, I may be holding onto it.

G&L had some interesting designs furthering from where Fender started, especially in their pickups. Their MFD and the pups from the Comanchee guitars are different from the vintage stuff, but very good.

Sad....

 

[BroccoliRob]

wow, G&L. were they just not able to adapt to the marketplace or just didn't have that good Brand Name Value? I'd bet on the former. you gotta be able to pivot and adapt. like, a few months ago i was in a Starbucks, buckin' it up for a cup (that's what it's called, drinking coffee there) and this unhoused bro ran in, scooped all the sandwiches off display, grabbed every To-Go on the counter and bolted.

No one did anything, just stood (or sat) and watched it happen.

not me, tho. I chased after him and was able to catch up to him easily because I do exercises and have a strong core (inner muscles).

he begged me not to call the cops, but I told him that was never the plan. I offered him a job.

I told him, "u noticed a loophole in the legal system and are capitalizing and I want in."

I offered him $20 per store, to go into various coffee shops to steal all the sandwiches and stuff for me.

Guaranteed income for him. Cheap sandwiches for me. One day of his work and I'm set for three (3) weeks of meals.

Every single person in that 'Bucks by watched a business opportunity run out the door. What happened to real business innovations?

 

[stultzies9]

His R&D office should be carefully inventoried and reassembled in the R&RHOF museum in Cleveland as a historical exhibit.

Sadly, too late. I've already seen a pic of his file cabinet in a dumpster.

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

Tragic…