Description
The Fullerton Deluxe S-500 takes G&L’s Option Order favorites and packages them into a ready-to-play instrument that carries Leo Fender’s final design innovations. Bodies come in alder, swamp ash, or western sugar pine depending on finish, topped with a Clear Tint Satin neck finish that lets the wood grain show through.
Available finishes include 3-Tone Sunburst over Alder with a 3-ply parchment pickguard and maple or Caribbean Rosewood fingerboard, Andromeda over Alder with a 3-ply pearl pickguard and Caribbean Rosewood fingerboard, and Plum Metallic over Alder with a 3-ply black pickguard and Caribbean Rosewood fingerboard.
Underneath the finish sits the same architecture that made the S-500 a standout when it launched in 1982: three Magnetic Field Design single-coils built to Leo Fender’s own specs, delivering a bright, articulate top end and a bottom end with real weight, without sacrificing midrange presence. Roll back the volume and bass, and the pickups open up into a glassier, more detailed voice thanks to the PTB (Passive Treble and Bass) circuit, which shapes tone across all three pickups independently.
A mini-toggle Expander Switch adds neck+bridge and all-three-pickup combinations on top of the standard five-way switching, with the neck+bridge blend landing surprisingly close to an ASAT Special. Bending is handled by the Dual-Fulcrum vibrato, a stable, smooth-action bridge with a substantial aluminum arm. The hard-rock maple neck wears a satin finish, a 9.5-inch fingerboard radius, and medium-jumbo nickel frets for deep bends and easy playability.
- Alder, swamp ash, or western sugar pine body (finish-dependent)
- Clear Tint Satin neck finish
- Three MFD single-coil pickups
- PTB passive treble/bass circuit plus Expander Switch
- Dual-Fulcrum vibrato with aluminum arm
- Hard-rock maple neck, 9.5″ radius, medium-jumbo nickel frets
Built at the historic G&L facility in Fullerton, California, the S-500 remains a direct link to Leo Fender’s later-career vision — a guitar for players who want Fender-style feel with genuinely different electronics underneath.
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