Custom 5-string '51 P Bass build

[Chris 'Wighat' Jordan]

I've got a buddy who is quite the craftsman. He recently built a mighty fine tele from the ground-up. We've been bouncing-around the idea of him building a bass for a year or more.

I've always wanted a '51 P bass but 5-string, 35" scale and 19mm/.75" string spacing. Basically my Reverend BH5 neck with a five-in-line tele headstock on a butterscotch slab body, with a single coil P pup, amoeba pick guard and two-knob tele-style control plate. As "authentic" as possible.

I'm interested to hear anyone's advice, caveats, suggestions, etc.

Who all makes a pick-up for this?

 

[Bill Whitehurst]

I like the idea.
I forgot who, but I did find there are several pickup makers that can help ya out.

 

[charlie monroe]

I like the idea.
I forgot who, but I did find there are several pickup makers that can help ya out.

Lol

 

[Chris 'Wighat' Jordan]

Lollar and Nordstrand do. I started a thread over in the pick-ups forum.

Have experience with a 5-string single coil P bass pick-up a la '51?

Still interested in feedback on the bass build.

 

[Kirk Bryant]

I believe @Chef has a couple of 50's style customs. I've seen them in another thread. Maybe he'll stop by with pics.

 

[Chef]

One was built by @Rodent and is long gone.
One I still have is a valenti...

 

[Rodent]

IMO - if you're going to do a '51-'54 or '55-'57 influenced build ...

- use a traditional looking SCPB pickup and pickguard
- if you do a bridge pickup, use a J style instead of a soapbar
- use a Tele style control plate instead of mounting controls direct to the body
- and keep with a Swamp Ash or Alder body with Maple/Maple or Maple/Rosewood neck
- use a bent plate bridge like the Hipshot vintage offering
- keep it to 34" scale so that all the proportions are right (if the neck is built right, and you use the right strings, the B will be perfectly crisp, snappy, and full of sassiness)

Personally, I like the look of 5-inline tuners, but they're a real pain to do right while keeping the headstock in scale and ensuring the clovers don't clash (should the one all the way out there get damaged while on tour)

I'm not a fan Tele P builds that use a '51 style pickguard with a split-coil '58P style pickup set - I nearly projectile vomit every time I see a Tele style bass with this pickup configuration

 

[Moe Monsarrat]

 

[Chris 'Wighat' Jordan]

IMO - if you're going to do a '51-'54 or '55-'57 influenced build ...

- use a traditional looking SCPB pickup and pickguard
- if you do a bridge pickup, use a J style instead of a soapbar
- use a Tele style control plate instead of mounting controls direct to the body
- and keep with a Swamp Ash or Alder body with Maple/Maple or Maple/Rosewood neck
- use a bent plate bridge like the Hipshot vintage offering
- keep it to 34" scale so that all the proportions are right (if the neck is built right, and you use the right strings, the B will be perfectly crisp, snappy, and full of sassiness)

Personally, I like the look of 5-inline tuners, but they're a real pain to do right while keeping the headstock in scale and ensuring the clovers don't clash (should the one all the way out there get damaged while on tour)

I'm not a fan Tele P builds that use a '51 style pickguard with a split-coil '58P style pickup set - I nearly projectile vomit every time I see a Tele style bass with this pickup configuration

Thank you for all this valuable input. The thing with the neck on this build is this: I'm in life-long love with my Reverend BH5 and want that exact neck, hence the spec's. I'm right there with you on everything you think is important to the look of the bass but even more so because I could not tolerate a second pick-up even

So, given that I must have 35" scale, how would one address the proportion issues?

 

[Rodent]

I don't have a good set of images to a/b easily, but I do have an image of the one 35" scale Heritage Tribute commission (on left) and a 34" sibling (on right)

I worked by moving the bridge placement back towards the heel to account for a portion of the added inch, which changed the lower cut away and neck pocket, which then changed how the pickguard extends into the control cover plate and how it's shaped between the neck heel and SCPB cavity.

If you were to see these without them sitting side by side, you'd never notice the scale difference.

 

[Chris 'Wighat' Jordan]

I don't have a good set of images to a/b easily, but I do have an image of the one 35" scale Heritage Tribute commission (on left) and a 34" sibling (on right)

View attachment 1200890 View attachment 1200901

I worked by moving the bridge placement back towards the heel to account for a portion of the added inch, which changed the lower cut away and neck pocket, which then changed how the pickguard extends into the control cover plate and how it's shaped between the neck heel and SCPB cavity.

If you were to see these without them sitting side by side, you'd never notice the scale difference.

I don't understand what you mean by "moving the bridge placement back towards the heel". I understand "heel" to be the part of the neck that attaches to the body. My understanding is you get some of the extra scale length in the neck and some in the body/bridge placement so you would need to move the bridge away from the heel.

I'm also confused about the mods to the cutaway, neck pocket, pick guard and control plate. Would you please elaborate?

 

[Bill Whitehurst]

I think he was pointing out that in order to keep the balance right it helps to move the neck pocket a bit toward the bridge and then bridge
needs to move a bit toward the edge to the body.
Keeping everything else looking right my require some tweeking of placement and/or diminsions.
All in all 34 is easier, but 35 isn't a huge deal.
Personally, I think the 35 inch scale will make the wider 5 string neck more proportional.

 

[Rodent]

I don't understand what you mean by "moving the bridge placement back towards the heel". I understand "heel" to be the part of the neck that attaches to the body. My understanding is you get some of the extra scale length in the neck and some in the body/bridge placement so you would need to move the bridge away from the heel.

I'm also confused about the mods to the cutaway, neck pocket, pick guard and control plate. Would you please elaborate?

IMO there is a comfort factor to consider with scale length, so I limit the 'reach' out to the first fret by where I position the bridge. Closer to the heel reduces the stretch. This rules out the ability to utilize certain bridges.

As the neck is moved towards the heel, the neck pocket needs to also be adjusted to suit. The lower cut away is adjusted to give proper access to the upper frets.

Without showing overlaying a/b images of the CAD files, it's difficult to briefly describe the massaging that takes places to all of the parts to make it all technically work while retaining the visual of a '51 (which was only available as a 4-string, so the original design I worked with Chef was a significant undertaking to get right)

 

[mark beem]

I've got a buddy who is quite the craftsman. He recently built a mighty fine tele from the ground-up. We've been bouncing-around the idea of him building a bass for a year or more.

I've always wanted a '51 P bass but 5-string, 35" scale and 19mm/.75" string spacing. Basically my Reverend BH5 neck with a five-in-line tele headstock on a butterscotch slab body, with a single coil P pup, amoeba pick guard and two-knob tele-style control plate. As "authentic" as possible.

I'm interested to hear anyone's advice, caveats, suggestions, etc.

Who all makes a pick-up for this?

Nino Valenti built mine. It has a Nordstrand pickup.

5 String 51 Precision Bass Pickups

 

[JGR]

Do it!

 

[Chris 'Wighat' Jordan]

IMO there is a comfort factor to consider with scale length, so I limit the 'reach' out to the first fret by where I position the bridge. Closer to the heel reduces the stretch. This rules out the ability to utilize certain bridges.

As the neck is moved towards the heel, the neck pocket needs to also be adjusted to suit. The lower cut away is adjusted to give proper access to the upper frets.

Without showing overlaying a/b images of the CAD files, it's difficult to briefly describe the massaging that takes places to all of the parts to make it all technically work while retaining the visual of a '51 (which was only available as a 4-string, so the original design I worked with Chef was a significant undertaking to get right)

Would you please define heel?

Nino Valenti built mine. It has a Nordstrand pickup.

5 String 51 Precision Bass Pickups

View attachment 1229737

View attachment 1229739

What scale length?

 

[mark beem]

What scale length?

35" scale and 19mm string spacing at bridge.

 

[Chris 'Wighat' Jordan]

35" scale and 19mm string spacing at bridge.

Nice. Those are my jams!

 

[Chris 'Wighat' Jordan]

Here's a link to an extensive, step-by-step build for pretty much exactly what we're doing:

Invalid Link Removed

I haven't quite figured-out the bridge yet. I'm looking for a simple, vintage-style, bent plate, string-through-body 5-string bridge with 19mm/.750" string spacing. I started thread about it over the hardware forum but I thought I'd aske here, too. Does anyone know what model/year Fenders came with this?

 

[Rodent]

I use a Wilkinson 'swivel' style Tele P on my Heritage Tribute model 4-string units (like image below), but was never able to source a 5-string version so I use a Hipshot vintage bent plate as standard on the 5-strings