30" scale Telecaster/ Esquire bass build (pics)

[R0T0R]

In this application it’s not that I can’t find good foam (Mousepads work great for this).
It that the tele route is much deeper that a 51 P bass route. Hence I’m shimming almost of an inch in height. Too tall for my tastes. The screws barely bite the wood. I know I can get longer screws but I think its better to raise the bottom of the cavity and then just use a thin layer of foam or surgical tubing.

I think I just talked myself into it.

 

[koobie]

Nice work, interesting thread, thanks for sharing. Kinda makes me wish I'd jumped on a Bronco that just came up on our local Craigs... Having owned a Fralin split '51 pickup I can say this will be a nice-sounding bass.

Your work on re-shaping the headstock was great, it has much nicer lines now. Can you be more specific on how you finished the neck? Was there a sealer that you sanded out? And was the amber tint applied by brushes or sprayed?
And is Bakelite still being produced & sold?

 

[Dark Horse]

And is Bakelite still being produced & sold?

Well, I'm not the OP, but the closest I've found is called "Garrolite", and can be bought at McMaster-Carr.

 

[Basstovsky]

My local luthier recently made me a pickguard out of bakelite, he might have been using something different but it sure looked like bakelite to me when I chose the material.

 

[Dadagoboi]

My local luthier recently made me a pickguard out of bakelite, he might have been using something different but it sure looked like bakelite to me when I chose the material.

Allparts sells the stuff your luthier probably used.
Black Bakelite Pickguard Blank | Allparts.com

 

[R0T0R]

Can you be more specific on how you finished the neck? Was there a sealer that you sanded out? And was the amber tint applied by brushes or sprayed?
And is Bakelite still being produced & sold?

Thanks for the comments.

Koobie, The bronco neck was bone white and had clear poly covering it. To be clear I did not want to put too much color into the neck because I will use amber dye in a stronger concentration on the body and will not want them to be necessarily uniform. I want just enough to knock off the white which was not my cup of tea. In the process of re-profiling the headstock I had to sand the front an back of it. At first I was going to blend the sanding into the poly on the back of the neck but I could not hide the blend so I took it all down with 80 grit except the fret board. I sanded up to 330 or so. I just used a sponge dabber to apply the slightest kiss of transtint vintage amber dye diluted with denatured alcohol. Once dry I put in one coat of Behrs Scandinavian Tung Oil Finish. This gave it a little more glow as well.

before

You can see here that the fret board has not been stripped or sanded.

After

Because It was not practical to go to bare wood on the fret board I had to figure out a way to amber up that white maple. For that I used the same mix of alcohol and amber dye. I used steel wool and scotchbrite pads to skuff into the poly. This allowed the dye to grab into the scuffs.

For a final finish on the whole shebang I used tru-oil which I have never used before. I believe it will protect the neck but I was not impressed with it.

As far as the Bakelite goes. The pickguard was advertised as such. As I worked with it, it did turn to fine dust when sanding. It may just be a modern compound that behaves the same way.

JR

 

[R0T0R]

As mentioned above, even though this is alder it this is going to have an oil finish.

It has been recommended to me, that to dye Alder, a conditioning coat should be used to better to control the speed and depth of color absorption. The reason is because using dye on woods like alder and birch can cause the final job to appear splotchy.
.
.

.

For my purposes a conditioning coat is just my final finish thinned 50/50 with mineral spirits. I have worked on mostly gun stocks for the past 8 years and found some products I really like. Behr’s Scandinavian Tung Oil Finish (TOF) is one of them. It is an easy to work with, flat drying oil with some driers in it. No varnish in it to my knowledge and I have asked around. I have always stayed away from Birch-Casey Tru-Oil on rifle stocks. Not just because of the “metal” spelling but on the advice of cabinet makers and gunsmiths I respect. I did break down and try it on the Bronco neck on this project. I’m happy to say that while I think it will protect the neck nicely I don’t think it is an actual oil finish. Working with it felt like working with polyurethane. It may have “polymerizing oils” in it. I’ll bet that’s code for polyurethane. It just did not have the work time that oil does, Tung or Boiled Linseed (BLO ).

Anyway back to the bass.

In goes the 50/50 conditioning.
.

.

Let it dry for a couple of days and in goes the dye ( Trans-tint vintage amber thinned in denatured alcohol)
.

.

.

.

.


It does look a little splotchy but I think after I build and oil finish it will mellow out a lot.

It will never pass for butterscotch but I think I am going to like this look.
.

JR

 

[Dark Horse]

Allparts sells the stuff your luthier probably used.
Black Bakelite Pickguard Blank | Allparts.com

(which, I believe, is actually Garolite.... shhhh.... )

 

[Dark Horse]

It will never pass for butterscotch but I think I am going to like this look.
.

JR

Looking good so far !

 

[Legattabass]

Because It was not practical to go to bare wood on the fret board I had to figure out a way to amber up that white maple. For that I used the same mix of alcohol and amber dye. I used steel wool and scotchbrite pads to skuff into the poly. This allowed the dye to grab into the scuffs.

For a final finish on the whole shebang I used tru-oil which I have never used before. I believe it will protect the neck but I was not impressed with it.

JR

Hey, regarding the fretboard. Did you apply tru-oil to it as well? If so, how many coats did you use, and how did you avoid pooling around the frets, etc?

 

[pie_man_25]

It will never pass for butterscotch but I think I am going to like this look.
.

JR

I dunno, I think it looks pretty close - definitely not butterschotch, but pretty darn close, maybe it's just the camera. I'm REALLY diggin' this by the way. I think I'm going to sit back, and take notes, I want to make a "Joe Strummer" tribute "telecaster" bass using more or less the same methods as you.

 

[R0T0R]

Hey, regarding the fretboard. Did you apply tru-oil to it as well? If so, how many coats did you use, and how did you avoid pooling around the frets, etc?

After the light dye I did use tru-oil on the fret board to seal up the scuff. In this application I think it worked fine. I worked it in pretty quick and kept it moving. It did not puddle because I edged into the frets with a soft cloth and my thumb.

JR

 

[koobie]

Great thread JR, thanks for the education.

 

[R0T0R]

The Bakelite pickguard is getting lacquer and needs to be sanded first to give the edges a little “melt”. I’m not sure if I will wet sand it after lacquering or not.

New

Sanded

After the first three coats

Time lapse for application of Behr’s Scandinavian Tung Oil Finish (TOF).

Applied with poly dauber. Let soak for 25 or so mins. Wipe off with soft cloth. Let cure for at least 24 hours. Repeat as necessary to build finish to taste. In this case 7 or 8 times. Top it off with Johnsons paste wax.

Time to get the bridge on to mount the Fralin split 51 so the ground wire and control cavity shielding happen now. I have never done this before but thanks to lots of good threads I think I get the basics.

For what I hope is a foolproof ground I am going to tie in to the right front bridge mounting screw like this.

Between the thread engagement and the copper foil this should be bombproof.

It is really looking like something now. I just have to get the pickup installed and wire it up.

JR

 

[bass rocks]

what will you be using to cover up those big holes

 

[slotrod65]

I REALLY like this. Nice build, and great info!

 

[Basstovsky]

Lookin nice now, are you going to have a dummy switch in the control plate to take up the extra space?

 

[iiipopes]

Can you get a metal bottom plate off a standard Tele bridge pickup? The single coil bass pickup should fit right onto it.

 

[R0T0R]

Lookin nice now, are you going to have a dummy switch in the control plate to take up the extra space?

It will have a std. tele contol plate. I have a switch but will probably not install it. I was trying to think of any interesting tone shaping ideas that could use that switch. I can go back to that at any later date though.

JR

 

[R0T0R]

Can you get a metal bottom plate off a standard Tele bridge pickup? The single coil bass pickup should fit right onto it.

I thought about it but I have the make angle of the 51 pick up alittle steeper than a tele for the more narrow string spacing of the Musicmaster bridge and Bronco neck. So no a tele plate will no longer fit. It would look good though.

JR