Leo Quan BadAss II Bridge Reviews 
4 / 5 based on 1 reviewsIt was one sale at a Mars Closeout.
I had already read about it and had
been considering it, so I tried it.
That one was $48 dollars. Later I've
paid about $60.
The sound is more "musical", intervals
and chords have more shimmer, the whole
sound is less tinny, especially on my
Mexican Jazz, but I also have BadAsses
on some Peaveys.
I like that on my fenders and Peaveys,
it's a direct replacement [NO new screw
holes to drill.
I didn't notch the saddles, and I like
that the strings can shift a bit and
then return when plucked, since I don't
care much for the sound of attack anyway.
It uses up slightly more string length
between the ball and saddle compared to
the typical Fender style bridges so it's
that much less E-string fat winding that
wraps onto the tuning peg.
I wish it were a quick-load type,
where you don't have to feed each
string throuch its hole. It's heavey enough in build that such a feature
wouldn't weaken it at all.
Not a problem to me, but it's so big
that if your bridge is already at the
very most rearward edge of your bass,
this could hang over the edge. On my
Peavey G_Bass the corners do hang over
by less than 1mm. On certain other
designs it could be a problem.
It's ridiculously solid. It's very low profile so it can replace just about any
bridge WITHOUT forcing you into more
string height [higher action] or neck
shimming projects. For many basses incl
Fenders NO new holes are need be drilled.
If you are doing a direct replacement on
a Fender, You'll find the 5-hole pattern
of the BadAss to be slightly wider than
the pattern of your old bridge. Do not
panic. Just do the central screw first,
and work outward. I think this may be
intentional to make sure the screws bite
well in the old holes, but there is no
mention about it in the instructions so
it can at first glance seem like it's
going to be a problem.
It works as advertised and is solidly
built. I compliment it by adding a
few ounces to the headstock. The best
way I've found to do that is the metal
"Bass Thumb Rest" from AllParts. They
are fairly heavy but compact and you
can fit 1 or 2 on the back of most any
headstock [and they LOOK good too, as
if they were made for the purpose, so
your ax doesn't look Frankensteined].
If you're considering a BadAss then
you're consider the benfit of adding
mass, so I thought I'd mention about
the AllParts Metal Bass Thumb Rest[s].
They cost about $5 each.
Golem rated this unit
on
2003-08-04.
