FACTOIDS & TRIVIA

The F-100 Series II shown is an early example dated January 1981 and sports the very uncommon hardtail bridge. While G&L enthusiast Paul Bechtold estimates that less than 10 percent of the F-100s were made as hardtails, my own actual observations of over 800 F-100s shows that fully 23 percent are hardtails. An interesting design note is that the hardtail bridge used on F-100s were different from the subsequent fixed bridge designed by Leo Fender. The bridge on the F-100’s is a string-through body design, whereas the bridge used on the SC, HG, and ASAT series was a bridge-strung design. Since the bridge utilizes a boss that extends into the wood, the bridge strung design affords the same tonal and performance properties as a regular string-through body bridge. Therefore, Leo felt that a string-through design in addition to the boss was redundant. According to the 1981 price list, the F-100 was available in sunburst, natural, black, clear blue, clear red, clear green, candy apple red, and candy apple gold.

 Body: Solid; 2-piece mahogany

 Finish: Sunburst, nitrocellulose lacquer

 Neck: 1-piece maple, bolt-on

 Fingerboard: Maple; black plastic dot markers

 Number of Frets: 22

 Pickguard: None

 Bridge: G&L Locktight, chrome

 Nut: Plastic

 Tuners: Schaller, enclosed, nickel

 Pickups: Two, G&L Magnetic Field Design humbucking with adjustable pole pieces

 Controls: Volume, treble, bass, 3-way pickup selector, pickup coil splitter, phase switch

 Scale Length: 25 1/2 inches

 Neck Width at Nut: 1 5/8 inches

 Body Width at Lower Bout: 13 inches

 Body Depth: 1 5/8 inches

 Weight: 8.3 lb