George Fullteron and Leo Fender founded G&L in 1979 to further expand Leo's innovations in the electric guitar. Many view G&Ls as the pinnacle of Leo's designs. Constructed in Indonesia, the G&L Tribute line offers Leo's brilliant designs at accessible price points. When you compare the Tributes to similarly-priced import guitars, they have so much more to offer.
Borrowing from Leo's classic Jazz Bass design, the G&L Tribute JB projects a time-honored yet subtly progressive vibe, embracing the past yet unafraid of moving forward. The JB blends the classic sound Alnico single-coil pickups with modern refinements and hardware that is built to last. It's also a nice-looking instrument that shows sincere craftsmanship, especially considering the price-point.
The JB features the comfortable contours and curves of the classic offset Jazz Bass body, and it is outfitted with two expressive Alnico V single-coil pickups. It sports a Leo Fender-designed "Saddle Lock" bridge that is a huge improvement from the original design. The Saddle Lock keeps the strings properly intonated and it remains stable no matter how aggressive you play. It also has greater mass than the traditional jazz bridge, transferring string energy right into the body end-grain to give the instrument more natural acoustic resonance.
This 2021 G&L Tribute JB features a gorgeous Lake Placid Blue finish and eye-catching white pearloid block inlays on the bound rosewood fingerboard. This one is gently used and about as clean as you could ask from a used instrument. We were able to find the tiniest bump by the bridge and one on the treble side (see photos), but that's it. It is setup to be a smooth player, and the 9" radius and medium-jumbo nickel frets deliver modern playability. It includes a run-of-the-mill SKB gig bag.