Short Scale Telecaster Bass

[johnk_10]

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!!

thanks. the bridge wire tunnel is for the ground wire, just like the original long scale.

 

[EatS1stBassist]

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

Beautiful beautiful job!

 

[johnk_10]

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 . .... Kelly

Short scale tele bass parts list:
lightweight swamp ash body blank: $125
Musikraft neck (special order with shallower slope behind the nut) $300
chrome schaller BM bass keys: $99
G&L key aluminum posts (had to buy the complete set to get them) $89
fender "F" neck plate with custom stamped serial number: $39
2 Fender 250K pots: $16
tele bass control plate:$11
fender tele jack cup:$10
switchcraft 1/4" jack: $3
fender '58 tele knobs (chromed aluminum): $17
Seymour Duncan Stacked tele bass pickup:125
tele bass bridge plate: $20
wilkinson compensated 51 p bass saddles (had to buy the complete bridge to get them): $65
Fender telecaster bass rear string thru ferrules: $12
3 ply w/b/w pickguard blank (then dyed to off-white): $20
nickel pickguard screws: $8
cloth wire: $5
NOS Cornell-Dubilier .05 ceramic disc capacitor (tone cap): $10
Fender Telecaster bass chrome covers (set): $40
Fender nut blank: $7
Fender bass string retainer: $7
Nitro sealer and paint: $ 150.00
total $1178
(+ hours and hours of labor)

 

[TN WOODMAN]

Thanks for sharing your “mash bill” of this bass. I always know when I see a heading of one of your builds I’m in for a treat. Your creations are always first rate and align with my tastes and this is no exception.

 

[AnalogKid4003]

Another masterpiece by Johnny go-go nice!!

 

[JimB52]

Oh my. Beautiful baby tele

 

[leona1]

I'll buy one from you!!

 

[Doctor Morbius]

Sweet! I really admire people that have the skills to do something like this.

 

[mikecd1]

Looks great, would love to hear it too! Congrats on a beautiful bass!

 

[PennyroyalWe]

Love this! I’ve oft dreamt about a 32” tele bass.

 

[funkifiedsoul]

I love when people create their own thing, way to go!...and thanks for sharing, I think it looks great!

 

[HaphAsSard]

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.

I too like the guitar Tele (or shall we say Esquire, which evokes the one-pickup feature but also, unambiguously, the single-cut shape?) as a bass design (as exemplified by the medium-scale 2012 Squier VM Telecaster Bass). In fact, I prefer it to the historical Fender Telecaster Bass (as in, the late '60 reissue of the early Precision).
Speaking of guitar conversions, should one instead wish to get a Telecaster bass in the double-cutaway sense but even shorter than the OP's, the Squier '51 is the ideal platform (if you can find one), as demonstrated by TB member @khutch:
Ibanez SRC6 and other Bass VI's

EDIT - If @JohnArnson ever passes by, this thread is an answer to his:
Short scale 50's P/Tele Bass, is that a thing?

 

[_One//Man//Mutiny_]

That looks amazing! Awesome job!

 

[rocu]

I've long wanted a Tele bass. Now I want this one in particular.

 

[DJ Bebop]

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

Human please, that is AWESOME!!!

 

[dbsfgyd1]

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

Very nice! Impressive project.

I do have a quick question. How did you figure the correct distance between the highest fret to the bridge so it plays in tune up and down the fret board? I noticed you made the body @ 96% of a full size and wondering I’d that translated to the smaller neck or something like that. Please advise. Thanks.

 

[johnk_10]

Looks great, would love to hear it too! Congrats on a beautiful bass!

thanks!
here's a quick clip of it (although i may have recorded it a bit on the hot side), recorded with a zoom H4n played thru my fender supertwin head/215 cab.

 

[johnk_10]

Very nice! Impressive project.

I do have a quick question. How did you figure the correct distance between the highest fret to the bridge so it plays in tune up and down the fret board? I noticed you made the body @ 96% of a full size and wondering I’d that translated to the smaller neck or something like that. Please advise. Thanks.

i just used my mustang bass to measure the location of the bridge saddles and transferred that distance to the new body.

 

[PullThePlug]

Tasteful and stunning. You have a real knack for this OP.

Short scale tele has been on my list for a while as well.

Thank you so much for sharing!

 

[JeezyMcNuggles]

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

Isn't that a Pbass? It doesn't look anything like a telecaster