Short Scale Telecaster Bass

[redstrand]

Daaaaaaayum. Nice bass!!!

 

[spufman]

That looks incredible, with really smart design choices. Congrats and enjoy!

 

[Haans]

Very nice! I'm currently trying to find a cheap Telecaster to convert to a 3-string bass. Even shorter scale, but could still be fun.

 

[firetec05]

Awesome job! I'd love to have one like that.

 

[WI Short Scaler]

That looks awesome, nice work, wanna sell it?

 

[Pdaddy1978]

The perfect "what if?" bass....
As in " what if Leo had just settled on 30" scale in 51?".....
Considering how long it took Gibson to get the memo, it could have just become the standard.
Fantastic build by the way....

 

[funkinbottom]

the funny thing is, it sounds nearly identical to my full scale tele bass and i couldn't be happier with the way that it came out.

Absolutely beautiful sir. Play shorties but your flavor isn't available? John K says "no sweat, I will make it so" Again, beautiful bass.

 

[dalkowski]

throw a big ole humbucker in the neck position and i'm in

co-signed -- great work!

 

[Dave-shortscale]

You mentioned that you drilled a “bridge wire tunnel“... is that for a ground? Or do you have a piezo bridge pick up?

And, along with the masses, great work!!

 

[ruju]

Looks fantastic!

 

[Tall-Fir]

What a wonderful looking bass! Obviously a terrific job.!

 

[Kukulkan61]

You would make a killing selling these!!

 

[TNCreature]

Super job!

 

[Fender4Me]

From someone who doesn't care much for short scale basses, THAT is one I'd have to own! Outstanding workmanship! Looks killer!

 

[Kelly robinson]

What a beauty and a lovely design - If I may be so bold ? - what did this cost in materials ? Labor is obviously part of any retail pricing but I'm just curious as to the raw materials costs . I had a similar Lyon version I picked up from an antique shop years ago for 100 $ . Due to my inexperience at the time - I could never get it to sound good at all and gave it up . Nowadays I wish I had kept because it could have been set up and modded and been a proper player I expect . At any rate - great work .... Kelly

 

[Basvarken]

Looks great!

 

[Ggeorges]

i love Tele basses but since i switched to playing short scales about 2 years ago (after playing long scale basses for more than 50 years!), i decided to build a short scale one. below are some pics of the build................

i stated out with a lightweight swamp ash body blank that was almost 2" thick, then planed it to 1.75" and cut the perimeter of the body (that was scaled down to 96%) on a band saw.
View attachment 3948140

then i rounded the edges with a 1/8" roundover bit and cut the neck pocket, pickup route,control route, drilled it for the string thru 2 saddle bridge, drilled the pickup and bridge wire tunnels and bored a 7/8" hole for the side jack cup:

View attachment 3948141

i used a 30" scale one piece maple neck from musikraft, reshaped the profile to my preference (kind of on the chunky side), and mounted the bridge, and a seymour duncan stacked tele bass 'Sting' pickup (for no hum) and control plate:

View attachment 3948146

i used chrome schaller clover leaf keys and strung it up to make sure everything fit and worked properly:
View attachment 3948147

then disassembled it, sealed it and shot it with 4 coats of slightly translucent blonde nitro followed with 6 coats of clear nitro:
View attachment 3948148
gave the neck 6 coats of very slightly amber tinted clear nitro and applied my own logo decal, then buried it under more clear nitro:
View attachment 3948149

once it cured, i blocked the body and wet sanded it with 1000 grit. then i made a pickguard for it, assembled it and strung it up. To save a little more weight (almost 4 oz), i used G&L aluminum posts for the schaller keys. the bass ended up weighing in at a comfortable 7lbs 5 oz.:

View attachment 3948150
View attachment 3948151
View attachment 3948152

the funny thing is, it sounds nearly identical to my full scale tele bass and i couldn't be happier with the way that it came out.

View attachment 3948154

My dream bass!!!! Well dine...very well done

 

[mellowgerman]

Love it! Reminds me of those old MIJ Ibanez short-scale semi-hollow tele basses. A buddy of mine has one in his studio in the same finish as yours!

 

[RogerTheAlien]

i love Tele basses but since i switched to playing short scales about 2 years ago (after playing long scale basses for more than 50 years!), i decided to build a short scale one. below are some pics of the build................

i stated out with a lightweight swamp ash body blank that was almost 2" thick, then planed it to 1.75" and cut the perimeter of the body (that was scaled down to 96%) on a band saw.
View attachment 3948140

then i rounded the edges with a 1/8" roundover bit and cut the neck pocket, pickup route,control route, drilled it for the string thru 2 saddle bridge, drilled the pickup and bridge wire tunnels and bored a 7/8" hole for the side jack cup:

View attachment 3948141

i used a 30" scale one piece maple neck from musikraft, reshaped the profile to my preference (kind of on the chunky side), and mounted the bridge, and a seymour duncan stacked tele bass 'Sting' pickup (for no hum) and control plate:

View attachment 3948146

i used chrome schaller clover leaf keys and strung it up to make sure everything fit and worked properly:
View attachment 3948147

then disassembled it, sealed it and shot it with 4 coats of slightly translucent blonde nitro followed with 6 coats of clear nitro:
View attachment 3948148
gave the neck 6 coats of very slightly amber tinted clear nitro and applied my own logo decal, then buried it under more clear nitro:
View attachment 3948149

once it cured, i blocked the body and wet sanded it with 1000 grit. then i made a pickguard for it, assembled it and strung it up. To save a little more weight (almost 4 oz), i used G&L aluminum posts for the schaller keys. the bass ended up weighing in at a comfortable 7lbs 5 oz.:

View attachment 3948150
View attachment 3948151
View attachment 3948152

the funny thing is, it sounds nearly identical to my full scale tele bass and i couldn't be happier with the way that it came out.

View attachment 3948154

well ok ... I want one ...

 

[JimmyM]

Wow! A real beaut!