Bad Bone

Same feel as a T Bone but with humbuckers and....well, badder.

Our Badbone 1, 190 and 2 models are the same overall body, neck and pickguard combinations as our T Bone does.

Our Badbone 1 has an LsL, P-88 higher output, hand-wound bridge pickup and a specially hand-wound LsL, vintage voiced, lower output humbucker in the neck position. This configuration works well together. We mount the neck humbucker right into the wood and so there are no adjustment screws visible on the pickguard.

The BadBone 2 has two LsL, hand-wound, PAF voiced, humbucker pickups. It has a hand-cut, 3 saddle bridge - it’s shorter but otherwise the same as our standard T Bones. The bridge pickup is mounted in an aged, pickup ring and the neck pickup is mounted directly into the wood so as with our Badbone 1, there are no pickup height adjustment screws visible on the pickguard.

We also are now offering the Badbone 190 which has our P-90 neck pickup paired with our Badbone 1 bridge pickup. She's a real hottie, this one.

All of these guitars are tone monsters. Their pickups sing and are very touch responsive. They shine brightest in higher-gain applications where they sing and cut through without piercing.

We also make a special switch tip for all our Badbones that has an inlaid, pearl dot in the center, just for a tiny touch of class.

Select a feature on the guitar...

Fingerboard Radius

Fingerboards can be made with 7.25" and 9.5" radius.

The 7.25" radius is rounder and therefore its geometry will not allow for very low action, but it feels great. We set all our guitar's action to .060" from the high E string to the top of the 12th fret and that suits most folks just right. It's low but high enough for good tone and easy bending.

A 9.5 radius is a bit flatter than a 7.25. It can accommodate a lower action. So it can feel faster to some.

We round the edges of the fingerboard after fretting to give a worn-in feel.

Neck

We hand-shape all our necks and there's nothing like it. So we can shape whatever we want. We're not locked into specific shapes.
Just order what you would like: big "C", "Soft V" etc. You can also supply us with thickness measurements and we'll make that too.

They come in either all maple or maple with a rosewood fingerboard. We've even done some exotics like rosewood and korina.

Necks with a rosewood have a slightly darker sound than an all maple neck.

Frets

Our instruments all come with 6105 size frets. That is they are .090" wide and .055" tall. They are the perfect combination of width and height.

Stainless frets are available for an extra charge - they kill our tools and are difficult to make but they last almost forever and are a joy to bend on

Strings

We use D'Addario, XL110 strings. They are: .010, .013, .017, .026, .036 .046 (High to Low in inches).

Pickguards

LsL Pickguards are all made in house and hand-fit and finished. They are available in:

Lacquered bakelite (black), Single-ply white, 3-ply black/white/black, 3-ply mint/black/mint, Single-ply parchment, 3-ply white/black/white,
Others are available on request with and extra charge.

Tone-Guard aluminum pickguards are also available.

We hand age these our own pickguards to give them a well-worn look. We take off the gloss and put a little hand-wear in the appropriate places. Then, we tint them.

3-ply is stiffer and more modern. It comes in white-black-white, black-white-black, mint-green, black, mint-green and many other varieties. We can usually get them all.

We use our own, slot-head, nickel-plated, aged, screws to attach our pickguards. We can also use philips head.

Body

Comes in either Swamp Ash, Sugar Pine or Alder. We now also offer KORINA in translucent amber finish.

And, we do double or single-side binding in cream.

Lumber is very important to us so we get the best.

Ash has a classic tone, like an old '52.

Pine is snappy with a big bottom and a big top and a louder attack.

Alder is smooth and round with a darker tone.

Bridge

We use a standard, vintage-style plate and put on our own, LsL brass saddles, screws, and springs. Either or both side flanges can be cut back for easy access to the strings right near the saddles.

Finish

All LsL guitars are finished with Nitrocellulose lacquer. We mix our own colors and apply as thin a finish as possible and then hand-sand and buff. We then crack the finish to allow the guitar to sing and since the finish is so thin already we apply a little creative beating so it has that played hard, brought home sweaty (for many years), kind of feel to it. Each one is unique and has her own personality.

Pickups

Bridge pickup: LsL Hand-wound, single-coil, vintage voiced OR LsL Hand-wound, P-88 hotter vintage tone.

Neck pickup: LsL Hand-wound, single-coil, T Bone neck pickup. This pickup has a rich, full tone.

Electronics

We use CTS pots, fiber covered wire, and Mojo Dijon capacitors. We also use a 3/8" long bushing output jack to accommodate right-angle guitar plugs. (ya gotta love that).

A 3-way pickup selector switch.

We use a push-pull switch on the tone knob that will split the humbucker coils. When pulled up, all humbuckers on the guitar go into single-coil mode.

Different wiring configurations are available on request.