What was the intended purpose of ashtray covers?
He made two or three assumptions that didn’t prove to be universally accurate, but they were his best guesses: 1) The covers, reportedly an effort to shield the pickups from interference; 2) The foam mute, used to produce a more upright-like sound (and it should be noted that MANY manufacturers provided string mutes of various types up through the 60’s and early 70’s); 3) He placed the “tugbar” on the G-string side, assuming that bass players would anchor their fingers on it and play with their thumbs. Although none of these achieved universal popularity, they didn’t really detract from the designs he created – which set some visual and operational standards for the industry. Even boutique instruments are often visually similar to Fenders, which is IMO partly due to the ergonomic soundness and balance of Leo’s designs, and partly due to their visual familiarity for musicians.
