Former G&L Employee Breaks Down the Quiet Collapse of the Iconic Bass Brand

Earlier this month, it was confirmed that G&L Guitars had shut down its operations. The process, which had been underway for at least a month, was conducted quietly without official details from the company or Fender, which had purportedly acquired the brand’s intellectual property and thus returned Leo Fender’s likeness to his namesake company. While the full scope of what happened is unclear, we now have a better picture of the events leading up to G&L’s final chapter.

Former employee Steve Araujo has posted a video breaking down the timeline leading up to the company’s dissolution. Araujo, who also runs The Bass Hang, worked for G&L for about nine years and worked his way up to director of sales. He resigned on August 1st due to internal issues.

“I felt like I could not do anything else to help that company because of the things that were going on there,” he explains. “Obviously, G&L is dissolved. I don’t think it’s a big mystery that financial issues were the problem.”

Araujo provides the dates when factory workers were furloughed, the information they were given, and when production at the Fullerton factory officially ceased. He also explains what happened to all the instruments in the company’s possession. While most of the hardware was thrown into dumpsters, the instruments in for repair or sale were sent to MIRC in Nashville.

At the time of the video, MIRC had not been responding to inquiries, but Araujo tells No Treble that they have since gotten in touch with dealers and customers about their instruments. As an integral part of the sales department, he dealt with customers and dealers alike, all of whom were left in limbo. The radio silence was from G&L itself, he says.

“A goal of making this video was to let the consumers know that [the lack of communication] was not the dealers’ fault. They were also in the dark as anybody else,” he said by phone, adding that “MIRC is now getting back to dealers and customers about returning instruments or giving credit or a check.”

Get the full rundown from Araujo:

Fender has yet to make an announcement on G&L’s intellectual property acquisition. We’ll keep you updated with any further details as they become available.