G&L - do they still have the ability to make Stringmasters?

[David DeLoach]

Since G&L operates out of Fender's original Fullerton, CA facility, I wonder if they still have the old tools & plans that were used to make Stringmasters back in the day.

If so, it would be cool if they could make a few.

I asked G&L about this via a message on Facebook. Who knows if they will reply.

[K Maul]

I’d say it’s an extreme longshot. The market isn’t big enough.

[Bill Sinclair]

Seems like I've read on the forum that the tooling was shipped to Fender's operation in Japan many years ago. There was also a custom build on a factory website a few years back that cost several thousand more than you can get a nice used one for.

[Noah Miller]

I sincerely doubt that they have the tooling to make those parts, and even if they did, I doubt their Custom Shop would honor that request. They'll customize existing models but they've explicitly said they won't do totally new body designs, let alone hardware and pickups.

[Miles Lang]

I can’t think of anybody that makes a Stringmaster for the US market. I’ve seen some made under the Fender Japan label, but not many.

There is a company in the US that makes a Stringmaster/Deluxe S8 kit. I think the company is called Hudson

[Jack Hanson]

Since G&L operates out of Fender's original Fullerton, CA facility...

Nearly certain that the G & L facility is and has always been separate from Fender, CBS, Music Man, and/or FMIC. They share the same city, but not the same physical plant.

[John Larson]

Fender could print money with a Squier vintage classic stringmaster. The tooling of unique parts is probably the thing holding them back. I'm really surprised something like a Squier Champ hasn't been released in a post Larkin Poe market.

[David DeLoach]

Since G&L operates out of Fender's original Fullerton, CA facility...

Nearly certain that the G & L facility is and has always been separate from Fender, CBS, Music Man, and/or FMIC. They share the same city, but not the same physical plant.

From G&L's website...

G&L continues to make instruments with dedication and great skill in Leo’s historic factory on Fender Avenue in Fullerton, California – The Birthplace of the Bolt-On. And inspiration is always close at hand, as Leo’s private workshop, the center of his creative universe, remains as it was on his last day and has been visited by luminaries from throughout the music world.

[Jeff Mead]

Fender could print money with a Squier vintage classic stringmaster. The tooling of unique parts is probably the thing holding them back. I'm really surprised something like a Squier Champ hasn't been released in a post Larkin Poe market.

Fender released a relatively cheap version of the Champion a few years back which was neither a good guitar or successful.

I really don't think there is enough demand for a Stringmaster to make it viable for Squier to produce them - they would have to makee and sell an awful lot of them to make it viable. As has been mentioned before, Fender Japan made one in recent years and it was more expensive than a vintage one.

The only way a re-issue Stringmaster would be a success is if they could sell it for less than a vintage one and to do that they would have to sell it in very large numbers.

Even the way prices have been going up in recent years, a vintage Fender steel is still a fraction of the price of a vintage Tele or Strat of the same age which also reflects the relatavely low demand for steels.

[Noah Miller]

Since G&L operates out of Fender's original Fullerton, CA facility...

Nearly certain that the G & L facility is and has always been separate from Fender, CBS, Music Man, and/or FMIC. They share the same city, but not the same physical plant.

From G&L's website...

G&L continues to make instruments with dedication and great skill in Leo’s historic factory on Fender Avenue in Fullerton, California – The Birthplace of the Bolt-On. And inspiration is always close at hand, as Leo’s private workshop, the center of his creative universe, remains as it was on his last day and has been visited by luminaries from throughout the music world.

Yup, that's the G&L factory that Leo started, but it's not any of the factories that the Fender company used.

[Jack Hanson]

Not that it matters all that much, but it's well-documented that Fender's "original facility" -- which is long-gone, was on Santa Fe Avenue in downtown Fullerton. G & L is on Fender Avenue, about three miles to the east, which Leo began developing in the late '60s after Don Randall negotiated the sale of Fender Electric Instruments and Fender Sales to Columbia Broadcasting System.

[Erv Niehaus]

www.hudsonsteelguitars.com

[Stephen Cowell]

All the dies went to Fender Japan... they did reissue the Deluxe, they were very expensive, and you could tell by the tuner pan stamping that the dies were pretty worn... look at the logo.

Vintage Stringmasters are very good bargains, even today... same wood, same paint, same pots/wire/pickups as the armpit guitars costing tens of thousands. Fender Japan could reissue a SM T8... it would cost five thousand dollars... would you buy it?

[Michael Johnstone]

These look like a nice modern option. They make a D-8 and D-10 also.

https://caladesiguitars.com/caladesi-de ... ngle-neck/

[Ben Elder]

There is a company in the US that makes a Stringmaster/Deluxe S8 kit. I think the company is called Hudson

Jimmie Hudson recently posted that he's selling the business.

This was the post, but it's been edited since I first saw it. (Too bad--I was ready to have an S-10 built.)

https://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtop ... ght=hudson

[David DeLoach]

Just for the record, here is G&L's reply to my FaceBook message about Stringmasters...

[Tony Oresteen]

A 1990 MIJ Stringmaster Deluxe 8 just popped up on eBay.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/325101579253?h ... SwciZh4h9v

eBay item # 325101579253

The serial number I039473 decodes to:

Production year: 1989 or 1990
Made by Fuji-gen,Japan

Note that the serial numbed does not decode on Fender's site or some of the other decode sites. I used this one:

https://guitarinsite.nl/serienummers-fender_eng.php

The listing says it is a 1990.

At $2K it is way over priced IMHO. Has any actually played one of these and how did they sound?