Badass (guitar bridges)

Last updated
Badass
Type Private
Founder Leo Quan
Area served
Worldwide
Products bridges
Badass Bridge on a C.F. Martin Co EB18 BadassBridge1.jpg
Badass Bridge on a C.F. Martin Co EB18
Badass Tailpiece Bridge
as a replacement of wraparound stopbar on Gibson Les Paul Special / SG Special 1960 Les Paul Special Doublecut body.jpg
Badass Tailpiece Bridge
as a replacement of wraparound stopbar on Gibson Les Paul Special / SG Special

Badass was first trademarked by Leo Quan, a manufacturer of bridges for guitars and basses. Badass bridges (used on the Martin EB18 electric bass and a replacement bridge on the Fender Precision Bass) feature individually adjustable saddles, which allows for "extremely accurate intonation adjustments." [1] The Badass came on the market in the 1970s, [2] and was made by entrepreneur and guitar repairman Glen Quan, of Marin County music store Bananas At Large and Leo Malliaris of Oakland's Leo's Music (hence Leo Quan). [3] The first Badass bridges were built from diecast zinc and were considered somewhat rough; [4] later models were made from a high-density zinc alloy and more finely milled. [5] Badass is currently owned and distributed by Allparts Music, a subsidiary of Morse Group. In late 2022 and early 2023 Allparts Music relaunched the entire Badass bridge line including the Badass II bass bridge, Badass III bass bridge, Badass V bass bridge, Badass Wraparound Guitar Bridge, and Badass Fine Tuner Guitar Tailpiece.

Notable users and models

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References

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  14. Rig Rundown - Soundgarden's Kim Thayil, Chris Cornell, and Ben Shepherd , retrieved 2023-08-18