G&L George Fullerton Signature Model

This is a mid 1990s - probably first six months of production judging from the serial number.
Made in USA on Fender Avenue in Fullerton, California. George Fullerton was a long time confidant and colleague of Leo Fender. My understanding is that this guitar was supposed to be an homage to the 1957 Fender Stratocaster but with Mr. Fullerton's 1954 pickup design.
The finish is solid black. The body wood is Alder. The neck is solid maple.
Someone wrote on here earlier how these have the best necks. HE'S RIGHT. Mine has a fat V neck, which I believe only come on earlier production Fullerton models.
These guitars have one feature not advertised by G&L: MOJO and a lot of it.
The case with this one is the standard SKB G&L case. They now come with very find tweed cases. Me, I prefer the standard SKB G&L case as it does not say, "Steal me."
By the way, the weight is kind of on the light side.

I would compare this guitar to a 1956 Fender Stratocaster in terms of the sound stylings you can get from it.

Action, fit and finish are the best. G&L, because of it being Mr. Fender's company, apparently has access to some outstanding woods you can't get elswhere. The necks are fantastic.

The guitars that came out of CLF Research (Clarence Leo Fender Research, which supplied guitars exclusively to the original Music Man) and G&L are Leo Fender's companies after selling to CBS then leaving his consulting position there. The guitars made by these companies generally are among the most durable and reliable ever made. My G&L Fullerton appears to be no exception.

The warranty is 10 years to the original owner. I've never dealt with customer support.

I'm 36. I've been playing around 30 years.
If you want a current production Strat-type guitar, then I suggest you try the George Fullerton Signature Model. I played this guitar at the shop. Then, I played about 10 others. A friend was with me and she said the first guitar sounded way better than the others. I picked the Fullerton up again. My mindset must have been wrong on the first play because without any coaxing the guitar gave a beautiful sound (without being Strat-twangy as my friend said). A lot of people might read this and say that I'm not being critical. Well, this is not a PRS. It's not a Parker. It's not a Les Paul. As I wrote earlier, this model was supposedly intended to be a 1957 Stratocaster style with the 1954 pickup design of Mr. Fullerton. To me, it has the Mojo of a pre 1957 Fender Stratocaster (and I'm not talking reissues). For that vibe, this guitar is it but it is not a reissue. It has many of Mr. Fender's and G&L's innovations that have come into existence in the last 20 years. The most important being the necks. The reviews of this model made earlier than my review are good critiques. I don't agree with some of the points but they are reliable critiques. I don't agree with one reviewer who replaced the bridge pickup. Other than that, I'd just be nitpicking.

All strats to a large degree have the same features, this is because they are all base on the originals made by Leo Fender and George Fullerton in the 50's and 60's. Consequently, most "strat style" guitars have in common: 1 volume and 2 tone controls, 250K pots, 3 pickup design w/ 5-way switching, phase cancelling in positions 2 and 4, flatmount bridge with adjustable saddles and a screw in tremolo lever, screw in 4-bolt neck... It would just so happen that the two men who came up with the original Strat design would be the only ones brave enough to attempt to improve it. What was remarkable about Leo Fender was that he was never fully satisfied with any of his designs. He could be quoted as saying that he could never understand why so many people obsessed over buying vintage Fender guitars (58 strats). In his opinion, his newest guitars represented the product of many years of improvements. The Fullerton guitar has many features that make it superior to other "strats." 1) The neck is sealed with penatrating oils but not finished. This often leads to warping, but G&L uses methods to prevent this and have managed to overcome the problem. The feel of an unfinished neck offers advantages because it is less sticky and allows your hands to move more freely across the neck. 2) G&L uses a completely redesigned and superior bridge which is heavier, smoother. It allows the pitch to be accurately raised and lowered. The tuning stability is good. 3) G&L uses a synthetic nut material similar to bone and they file the slots to be very tight with 10 gauge strings. (I use 11's though and had to have the slots widened.) This increases the transfer of sound from the strings to the wood. 4) A very tight neck and body joint gives a very good transfer of sound vibrations ind leads to better tone and sustain. 5) The pick-up have a very warm but not bassy tone and sound very good clean and overdriven. Due to their full frequency range, they give a very dramatic tonal change in the 2 and 4 positions. 6) The quality of the finish is exceptional. The guitar looks as if it is incased in glass.

The guitar's sound is exactly what people mean when they talk about the "strat" sound. All five selector settings give a different but very usable sound. The neck pickup has the deepest response and the middle pickup is similar in tone but with a slightly higher range of frequency response. Particularly beautiful tones are produced using these pickups together. The bridge pickup has a lot of presence. Other reviewers have remared that the bridge picup is too high to be usable which is true if you always play clean and/or you always play by yourself (i.e. no bass, no drums, no 2nd guitar). In a band setting, the pickup has a much better place. The guitar will cut through and sound very clear and very tonal and will remain clear with increased overdrive or distortion. I bought the guitar to play music in the styles of SRV, Eric Johnson, and Jimi Hendrix. it is best suited for Eric Johnsons style. SRV and Hendrix tones are better achieved using overwound pickups.

Very well set up by the factory to be palyed as delivered. As stated, people who use larger string gauges will have problems because the strings will be pinched in the nut and will not tune smoothly. The finish is as good as they come. Beatiful sunburst with attractively grained ash. The pieces are all joined very tightly (tuners to neck, neck to body, bridge to body) giving good tone and sustain.

These guitars will prove to be more durable than the vintage Fenders. The finishes will not chip off like you see they always do with vintage strats. The quality of Hardware is first rate. No other company uses such a heavy bridge.

I had the guitar order direct from the factory by a local music store that had just decided to stop carrying G&L instruments. I received it locked in the case (keys inside) and nobody could open for me. This alone is rediculous because even a fender case key should be ale to open it. I had to pry the locks open and they're still broken today. I don't understand why they would have locked the keys in the case and sent it to me like that.

I use this guitar with an elaborate system including a Twin Reverb, Marshall Plexi, Fulltone: FD2, '69, Deja2, Clyde, Lexicon PCM 91, TC2290 Delay, TC1210 Chorus, and a stereo power amp with two cabinets. The guitar provides a perfect base tone upon which the rest of the equipment can shape a very wide range of sounds. The guitar is in no way restricting and I am never left unsatisfied with its performance.

I have two three bolt Fullertons. One has a traditional cut maple neck with fretboard, the other has the "v" cut with rosewood. One is Ash and the other is Alder. THey are both excellent guitars. The neck on the Alder (rosewood) plays and feels like silk. This is my favorite guitar of all time, and I have left it completely stock. The trem is awesome and easily adjusted.

I play blues, rock. This is pure vintage strat, no fuss, no mess. Flip the bridge pickup only for the sweet sparkle, hit the front two for the strat sound. Definitely not the Les Paul humbucker warthog, pure, clean, crystaline.

Finish and setup is flawless. I lowered the action on one of the two.

Are you kidding? Have you ever looked at one of these things. I'd have to drag it around town behind my harley just to make it look like it's been played!

n/a

Love it. Also have a Steinberger and a Les Paul Studio.
The Alder Fullerton is my favorite

I still don`t think there is a guitar that warrants a 10 rating but this guitar comes close. The George Fullerton is wired in classic Strat fashion with tone control on the neck and middle pickups. The bridge pickup is direct drive. Schaller manufactures the tuners for G&L and I find the work fine except for the high E tends to be a pain to wind around the stem(slips easily). The neck is the reason I purchased this guitar, THIS NECK IS THE BEST THERE IS.

The Bridge pickup is too bright for my style or any style. After playing this guitar for 2 months I installed a red lace sensor in the bridge position which gives me a fat sound out of this extremly bright guitar. I am using a fender hot rod deluxe to drive this guitars tone with excellent results. The G&L single coil pickups pick produce a great deal of string pull because of thier very powerful magnets(Don`t adjust them too close to the strings. The G&L vintage pickup has tons of gain and fantastic tone in the neck position. I`ve been a Gibson man for 25 years so this sound is a transition for me. The notch position has a nice spanky tone.

The Finish on this guitar is a very well done SunBurst will no flaws that I see. The Neck has a worn satin finish that gives you a fast feel.The wammy bar is way better than a Fender. I found the nut too high for my liking, Minor filing job fixes this. The action from the factory is too high but the nice little allen key set you get from G&L that comes with the guitar fixes this with no trouble. Overall the finish is diffently the strong point.

I`ve owned the guitar for only 4 months. Talk to me in 10 years. Personally I think guitar can be dropped while on stage and be no worse for wear. Very solid. I would like to see some rocker try to smash one of this babies, I would be tough. The neck is sawed in half and glued together with the grain in opposing directions. If this neck warps I`m starting accordian lessons.

10 year warranty is great as long as G&L doesn`t go bankrupt.

I also own a 1972 Gibson SG2, I`ve been playing through Gibson P90`s for 25 years. I always said I would never own a Strat, but this guitar is not a strat its a G&L . It tougher, better built, better bridge, with a neck that is outstanding. If you play Hard Rock like I do just slap a Semour Duncan double blade in this baby and this guitar will kick ass with any Strat on the planet. If your a country or blues player this guitar probably needs no modification. Just plug and play baby.