is the badass wrap around bridge a tone killer ?

electricskychurch · Post by **electricskychurch** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 8:23 pm

i wonder if the badass wrap around bridge is a tone killer compared to the separate bridge and stop bar setup ?

i think i saw malcolm young had put back his original bridge on his gretsch, maybe for this reason.

is the tuning as good on these badass wrap aound bridges and the saddles having a long enough setup possibilities ?

fillmore nyc · Post by **fillmore nyc** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 9:28 pm

electricskychurch wrote:i wonder if the badass wrap around bridge is a tone killer compared to the separate bridge and stop bar setup ?

i think i saw malcolm young had put back his original bridge on his gretsch, maybe for this reason.

is the tuning as good on these badass wrap aound bridges and the saddles having a long enough setup possibilities ?

Personally, I love the Badass wraptail bridge. I have two different Strat type guitars that I've built, one has a Badass, and the other has a tune-o-matic / stoptail. There are a lot of factors that influence a guitars tone and sustain, but both are better on the Badass equipped guitar.
I think for a purely vintage tone, an aluminum wraptail is better than a Badass, but IMO, the Badass is a great bridge, and overall sounds better than a T.O.M. / stoptail set up.
A Gibson Firebird III has a wraptail, and since I dont use a trem, it has always been a favorite of mine, even over the Firebird V, because of that bridge, and the tonal benefits it has. There is a VERY noticeable difference between those two guitars, which are otherwise basically identical.

electricskychurch · Post by **electricskychurch** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 2:12 pm

in fact, i'm hesitating betweeen a gretsch 6131MYR with badass and the 6128T with bridge and bigsby !
i have often read the badass had less sustain than a separate bridge and stop bar.

i have no wrap around bridge guitar but seeing how some of my guitars needs to be well setup to be in tune all along the neck , i'm afraid i wouldn't be happy to do not be able to set up the saddles for good tuning !

Roe · Post by **Roe** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 2:20 pm

even angus used the badass - see pics from the if you want blood era (early 78)

darkbluemurder · Post by **darkbluemurder** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 4:14 pm

The badass is certainly in no way inferior to the Tune-o-matic/stop tail combo. I like the Pigtail and the Tone Pros AVT II wraparound bridges even better but one word of caution here: these bridges have a smaller radius than the Leo Quan Badass. If the fretboard radius was matched to the Badass neither the Pigtail nor the AVT II will fit perfectly.

fillmore nyc · Post by **fillmore nyc** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 5:46 pm

darkbluemurder wrote:The badass is certainly in no way inferior to the Tune-o-matic/stop tail combo. I like the Pigtail and the Tone Pros AVT II wraparound bridges even better but one word of caution here: these bridges have a smaller radius than the Leo Quan Badass. If the fretboard radius was matched to the Badass neither the Pigtail nor the AVT II will fit perfectly.

Well, you can always compensate by notching the bridge saddles deeper. I've done that with tune-o-matics on a Fender radius neck. Its not optimal, but it does work. Easy way to do it is by lowering the action till a string(s) (usually the "E" strings) contacts the frets, and then go to work with a nut file in the saddle slots on the higher strings till all the strings just touch the frets, and thats it.
Again, not the best way on earth to accomplish the task, but its better than having a mismatch in that area.

demonufo · Post by **demonufo** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 1:04 pm

I guess you should have a little more sustain with a stop/tail, but as for tone...
Years ago I bought a cheap Gordon Smith, thin bodied Les Paul junior copy, junked the pickups for Duncan Pearly Gates, and kept breaking strings with the original wraparound. Replaced this with a Leo Quan Badass and fine tuner attachment, and this guitar just smokes unbelievably. This will ALWAYS be my number 1 guitar, none of the Les Pauls or strats I've been through even come close to putting such a big grin on my face. (Funny actually that with the neck pup split to single coil it actually sounded more like a strat than one of my '99 U.S. std strats! Go figure)
Amazing that such a cheaply made guitar could have such a rich, complex tone, and I put quite a lot of it down to the bridge. I think by chance I just stumbled across a really good combination.

rtcook · Post by **rtcook** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 1:07 pm

Just a little FYI. I own the Malcolm Young model Gretsch. It does not have a REAL Leo Quan Badass bridge on it. It is a replica. It is made ever so slightly different. I bought a real Badass and am in the process of putting it on so I can't vouch for the tonal difference if any.

I am also looking for another new Leo Quan Badass bridge in nickel if anybody has one they wish to sell me.

Thanks,

Roger

yngwie308 · Post by **yngwie308** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 7:52 pm

In most cases the reputation of wraparound bridges is from the reputation of a Les Paul Junior, where the plank of mahogany is a tone monster.
A Goldtop wraparound bridge is a little more subdued, due to the maple cap, ect.
If you can play in certain spots on the neck, the less than perfect intonation of an uncompensated wraparound is acceptable.
I chose to keep my '52/'56 Goldtop conversion over my 100% stock '54 Junior for this reason, the ABR-1 lends itself to more versatile instrument, still with the amazing P90 tone!!
yngwie308

fillmore nyc · Post by **fillmore nyc** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 10:33 pm

yngwie308 wrote: I chose to keep my '52/'56 Goldtop conversion over my 100% stock '54 Junior for this reason, the ABR-1 lends itself to more versatile instrument, still with the amazing P90 tone!!
yngwie308

Yng, does your '54 still have the non-ridged bridge on it? As much as I love wraptail bridges, I've never used an uncompensated one. I hear they're really impossible to intonate.
Its amazing that PRS guitars are so consistent that their wraptail, not having individual intonation for each string, is really spot on intonation wise.

yngwie308 · Post by **yngwie308** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 12:43 am

fill my ex-'54 I sold it back in 1997 unfortunately and no it was stock, uncompensated, but those PRS ones are kewl..

, I can't stop saying kewl, what's with that??
yngwie308

fillmore nyc · Post by **fillmore nyc** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 7:32 am

yngwie308 wrote:fill my ex-'54 I sold it back in 1997 unfortunately and no it was stock, uncompensated, but those PRS ones are kewl.. , I can't stop saying kewl, what's with that??
yngwie308

Maybe you're becoming a Rockstah.

(Which WOULD be kewl)

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is the badass wrap around bridge a tone killer ?

is the badass wrap around bridge a tone killer ?

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