G&L keeps the 40th anniversary celebrations going with special-edition S-500 guitar and SB-1 bass

(Image credit: G&L Guitars)

G&L Guitars has been celebrating its 40th anniversary with a spate of new products, including the Ruby Edition CLF Research Espada guitar and L-2000 bass.

Now the company is keeping the festivities going with two more special edition instruments, the 40th Anniversary S-500 electric guitar and SB-1 bass.

Both instruments boast okoume bodies finished in Clear Ruby Red, white pearloid pickguards, a choice of maple or Caribbean rosewood fingerboards and Leo Fender-designed MFD (Magnetic Field Design) pickups.

Other features on the S-500 include a Leo Fender-designed G&L Dual-Fulcrum vibrato with forged brass saddles, 12:1 ratio tuners and natural bone nut. Controls for the trio of MFD single-coils are a five-position pickup selector, volume, treble and bass with PTB (Passive Treble and Bass) system and a mini-toggle switch enabling additional pickup combinations of neck and bridge or all three pickups together.

The SB-1, meanwhile, offers a Leo Fender-designed G&L Saddle-Lock bridge with chrome-plated brass saddles, custom G&L "Ultra-Lite" tuners with aluminum tapered string posts and volume and tone controls for the single MFD split-coil pickup.

For more information on both instruments, head to G&L Guitars.

Richard Bienstock

Rich is the co-author of the best-selling Nöthin' But a Good Time: The Uncensored History of the '80s Hard Rock Explosion. He is also a recording and performing musician, and a former editor of Guitar World magazine and executive editor of Guitar Aficionado magazine. He has authored several additional books, among them Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck, the companion to the documentary of the same name.