I was looking around Warmoth's website, and got a wild and crazy idea to make a short-scale piccolo bass out of baritone strat parts. Here are the specs: Alder Body Baritone conversion Maple neck/Rosewood Fingerboard EMG Select humbucker chrome hardware 4 "Indi Bass" bridges Now, the baritone conversion neck is 1 11/16" at the nut--the same as a P-Bass. The "Indi" bridges SHOULD make the string spread narrow enough so the strings don't fall off the edge of the board. IN THEORY, this would work. The only problem I see is that I've estimated this all to cost about $400. That seems like quite a bit for something to toy around with. What do you guys think? I know there is a guy from Warmoth on the forums--I'd like to know what he thinks as well. Here's the bass (or four-string guitar, or piccolo bass, or whatever you wanna call it). I used pics off the Warmoth site and some fancy photo software. I'm trying to keep this as simple as possible--meaning I don't want to have to do any wood work myself (routing pickups, mainly). I included two different pickup setups.
It's a cool idea, but a gamble. Might or might not meet your expectations and desires. It's your money tho, not mine
IMO if you don't want to make the effort to do it right - don't do it at all - referring to your "no woodworking" edict. You could get the neck with no tuner holes and at least space your tuners correctly. Use a rear routed body - that J control plate looks ridiculous in that position. Finally, the second pup setup is probably closer to what will sound good. The first illustration has the pup in such a close proximity to the bridge that I doubt you would get much tone that could be called "bass". Experiment for best placement. Sorry to be so gruff with my assessment but I don't suffer butchering good wood easily.
First of all, what program did you use to design that?! Second, I've never priced a Warmoth instrument under $600, remember to include finishes (they won't guaruntee unfinished necks) all the hardware, electronics, and all the little stuff noone remembers like strap buttons and knobs!
Adobe Photo Deluxe Business Edition. I've included everything that I could possibly think of in the price, minus the finish. I went through the whole darn site finding the right parts (even the pad that goes under the bolt-on plate). It's my understanding that they'll sell unfinished necks and bodies, but if something goes wrong, they won't be held liable. --Matthew
I'd agree with the idea of not putting tuner holes in it and drilling you own. Also, you could get the narrow string spacing you need from either the Scaller 463 bridge that we carry or the Schaller 2000, which I think allparts has. Rio Grande makes a chrome-covered bass pickup that fits in a guitar humbucker rout, too. On the other hand, you could probably find an old bronco or bullet bass (or import knockoff) for less than this project would cost. This way at least you'd have the right proportions - the guitar conversion idea puts the bridge near the middle of the body.
