Description
Before there was G&L, there was a moment on Fender Avenue in the late 1970s when Leo Fender was quietly sketching out ideas that would become his Magnetic Field Design pickups and Dual Fulcrum vibrato. The CLF Research S-500 imagines what a guitar from that exact window in time might have looked and sounded like, built as if it slipped out the door a year or two before the first official G&L models arrived in 1980.
John R. McLaren reworked the S-500’s MFD single coils from the ground up for this model, altering the coil bobbin aperture, pole piece length, and wire turns to land on a tone that’s softer and sparklier without losing the muscle and smoothness players expect from an S-500. The design grew out of Dave McLaren’s #Project1979s500, a build documented and shaped in real time with input from CLF Research followers on Instagram and Facebook. That collaboration is why the guitar wears a 3-ply black pickguard, machined CLF knobs, and a period-correct headstock shape fitted with Kluson tuners and a ’70s-style “go faster” logo.
This Cherryburst finish sits over an Okoume body paired with a maple fingerboard. Under the hood, the S-500’s signature PTB circuit lets you cut treble and bass independently through two dedicated tone knobs, going well beyond what a standard tone control can do, while the expander switch works alongside the 5-position selector to unlock neck+bridge and all-three-pickup combinations.
- Bolt-on construction, 25 1/2″ scale
- Leo Fender-designed G&L MFD single-coil pickups
- Okoume body, Vintage Tint Gloss maple neck with maple fingerboard
- G&L Modern Classic neck profile, 9.5″ radius, 1 11/16″ nut width
- 100% natural bone nut, 22 medium jumbo nickel frets
- Kluson Vintage tuning keys
- G&L Dual-Fulcrum vibrato with forged brass saddles
- 5-way selector, volume, PTB treble/bass controls, expander mini-toggle
- Includes G&L deluxe gig bag
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