BREAD FAN

A recent film has emerged of the late Leo Fender’s handmade Breadboard Bass, essentially a chunk of wood with strings that was used to test pickups. Combining elements from Leo’s brands Fender, Music Man and G&L, the Breadboard gets its name from its resemblance to the similar kitchen item. As Dave McLaren from CLF Research puts it in the video, “It sort of touches all three brands.”

Leo first assembled it in the 1960s, while he was at Fender, and installed a traditional Fender bridge. Later on, he added a Music Man neck. Finally, he added single-coil MFD (Magnetic Field Design) pickups with large adjustable pole pieces, which he had developed for his G&L instruments. “This is where you see the man’s personal journey transcend the brands,” McLaren states. “We have the Fender brand beginnings, and then the Music Man brand and then finally the G&L brand. It’s all kind of in one thing.” Did it have a major ‘roll’ in the development of crust-punk, we ask? Watch the video at www.guitarworld.com under ‘Bass Player’.