Company type | Private |
---|---|
Founder | Leo Quan |
Area served | Worldwide |
Products | bridges |
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.