| Author | Message | ||
     Marc |
1948 Leo Fender and Forrest White meet for the first time. 1971 Fender discontinues the last of it's solid state amps. Leo Fender, Forrest White and Tom Walker (Former Fender sales employee) form Tri-Sonics. 1973 The Tri-Sonics company is renamed Music Man. 1980 Fender reintroduces solid state amps into the amp line Fender returns to the "Black Face" cosmetics, first as an option and are standard by late 1981 George Fullerton and Leo Fender officially incorpore G&L on May 8th. 1991 Leo Fender dies March 21, 1991. 1994 Music Man founder and former Fender production manager Forrest White dies November 22, 1994. ---------------------------------------- ------- | ||
| Marc |
Date: Thu, 21 Dec 2000 19:25:17 +1100 From: Bill Bolton Subject: Re: RE G&L, MM again... In TBL Digest 2000-456, PV bassman [at] midsouth.rr.com wrote: My earlier post is based on my personal relationship with Musicman and the fact that my music store was among the very first Musicman dealers in the US. When I became a dealer, in January of 1975, the rep was the late Luke Morris, a former Leo Fender employee, who told me at the time I took on the line that Leo DID design the amplifiers but the fact could not be discussed due to his non compete clause. In the September 1977 issue of Vintage Guitar, Paul Bechtoldt started a two part history of the Music Man company... you can read the article for yourself, but he makes it clear that Tom Walker had been working on the amp design since 1968 and Leo had helped him in getting UL approval "with a conduit design for amp wiring". Bechtoldt specifically says... "In all fairness, the success of the MusicMan amps and their circuitry should be given to Walker. Leo had some circitary input but this was limited. Leo was busy designing guitars and basses that had their debut in June of 1976." Furthermore he told me that Leo had loaned the company their startup money but the principal owner at that time was Tom Walker which makes sense for if Leo had owned 100% of the common stock, he would have been in contempt of his non compete clause with CBS. Since Music Man by your own dating above did not start to compete with CBS after the until 1975, which was *after* the expiry of the non-competition agreement with CBS (which dated from the start of 1965). Leo was at that time also President of the privately held MusicMan company, something which would have been a little difficult for someone who was not a major share holder. Richard Smith who extensively researched Leos activities for "Fender: The Sound Heard Round The World" also supports White's claim about Leo owning 100% of the common stock of TriSonics-Musitek-MusicMan, as does Paul Bechtoldt in his research. There was clearly little love love lost between George Fullerton and Forrest White by the time they came to write their respective views of Fender history, so it's more than a little surprising that Fullerton even give a hint of this in his book "Guitar Legends". Cheers, Bill Bolton Sydney, Australia | ||
| Marc |
---------------------------------------- -------- Date: 17 Dec 2000 19:50:20 -0600 From: bassman [at] midsouth.rr.com Subject: Musicman and G&L Correction Leo Fender did not own Musicman, it was owned by former Fender associates Tom Walker and to a lesser extent Forrest White (Forrest was the production manager). Leo DID design the Musicman amplifiers, basses and guitars. The instruments were built at Leo's facility CLF Research. The amps were built at the Musicman factory of which I was fortunate to tour 3 times in the mid 70's. Leo did keep an office at Musicman but I was told then that he seldom used it. The CLF "Clarence Leo Fender" Research factory was the home of G&L. G&L was a company owned jointly by George Fullerton the "G" in G&L and Leo Fender, the "L" in G&L. For a short time both Musicman and G&L instruments were made simultaneously in the factory and when Musicman fell on hard times the parts were moved over to the Musicman factory and some of the last instruments were assembled there. Sometime after Musicman finally closed, Ernie Ball bought the assets of Musicman, .i.e. designs, remaining spare parts, schematics, etc. for the amplifiers. But the real value was in the designs and patents of the basses and the general goodwill of the Musicman name brand. Note that Ernie Ball actually bought an amplifier company, since CLF built the basses not Musicman. The Ernie Ball Co. built their bass factory from the ground up, taking the best of Leo's designs and improving on them. Their first departure from the original MM designs was their introduction of their 5 string in around 1988. After Leo Fender died, his wife Phyllis and George Fullerton sold G&L to BBE a company headed by John McClaren a former employee of Fender, Yamaha and others. The G&L factory has been left pretty much alone..same factory, same employees, same location and their quality has remained excellent. Mrs. Fender sits on their board of directors. ------------------------------ | ||
| Marc |
Date: Sun, 13 Sep 1998 11:47:12 -0500 From: Peter Vescovo Subject: MusicMan Stuff MusicMan........... Originally, the amp line preceded the instruments by a couple of years and due to Leo's "non compete" clause with CBS his initial involvement was not advertised. I took on the line in the fall of 1974 for my store from a sales rep named Luke Morris (a Fender sales alumni). The amp line sold very well in the beginning, but the early 80's weren't kind to the original MM company and ultimately, it was the amplifier line that caused their eventual demise. Tastes in amplifier sound radically changed in the early 80's and they were still making basically their clean versions of Twins, Super Reverbs and Bassman amps. The fact that they were expensive didn't help in light of the economy of the day either. ...my brother still owns a Stingray guitar prototype and a HD130-212 (Twin) amp given to him by Leo and Tom Walker.. Guitars were eventually dropped from the line and lower priced amps were introduced but it was too late. Bass sales were not enough to sustain the company so the Musicman name and assets of the company were purchased by Ernie Ball Co. in the 80's. For a time they did offer support for the amp line and MM president Tom Walker worked for them as an advisor during the transition but I think he has since retired. I know Tom Walker and knew the late Forrest White (he was the MM amplifier plant manager and ended up at G&L for a time) I toured the MM plant many times in Anaheim in the 70's and met Leo there. I remember being disappointed the first time when I found that the MM plant manufactured amplifiers only, the MM guitars and basses were subcontracted to CLF (Clarence Leo Fender) Research, the same plant that made G&L guitars and basses. Dale Hyatt and George Fullerton were partners of Leo in the (G&L = George and Leo) company and Dale Hyatt ran the sales division of G&L. Upon Leo's death Fender decided to sue G&L for using Leo Fender's name (they didn't do it while he was alive out of respect as told to me by Fender rep Bill Carson) on the signature guitar line and in the advertisements. Dale Hyatt, George Fullerton and Phyllis Fender (Leo's widow) sold G&L (now meaning Guitars by Leo in the ads) to BBE. Dale, George and Phyllis Fender worked with BBE during the transition but I don't know if they are still involved. Both Ernie Ball and BBE have done justice to these lines and their rich heritage. They continue to innovate on the basic theme and make excellent instruments. It is a credit that their efforts have I think, forced companies like Fender and Gibson to regain their reputation for quality. If Fender had not sat on their laurels and let their quality tank like it did in the late 60's and all through the 70's, it would have not forced Leo and his gang out of retirement "to change things". So, in that light, a big "thank you" goes to Fender and CBS. Dan Lakin of Lakland Basses is a big (pre E. Ball) MusicMan Stingray bass collector. His genuine enthusiasm for this bass, dating back to his childhood as he told me, and respect for Leo Fender so moved him to go into business and make the excellent instruments that he does today. Another example of the far reaching Leo Fender legacy. Regards, PV | ||
| Dave |
Unfortunately Tom Walker passed away in August of 2003. He lived in San Luis Obispo with his wife Pat. Tom was 82 years old. My connection with Tom is that I was his neighbor. Tom loved to talk amplifiers and the old days at Fender and Musicman. He was very sharp for his age, he could recall dates and names without hesitation. | ||
| Terry |
Hi Dave if you can email me Terry. musicmanamp@yahoo.com |