Short Scale Telecaster Bass

[/\/\3phist0]

Would that neck work on a regular telecaster guitar body?

I'm grafting a 21 fret Gretsch electromatic 30" scale neck onto a Tele guitar body.
Short Scale "Tele" bass

if by "work" being a straight bolt-on? unlikely to be a good result due to the extra 5" of neck length, the neck dive would be crazy unless the body weighed a ton, or you put on a massive bridge. The bridge would need to be re-located also.

answer: yes it can "work" with a lot of wood work.

 

[2saddleslab]

Which one

Per your request: @bassdude51

 

[Astronaut]

Always dreamed of the one ibanez did back in the 70’s.

 

[johnk_10]

well, a friend of in loved this SS tele bass so much he commissioned me to build him one just like it.
here's a couple of pics of it:

and here they are side by side:

i shot his with a lighter blonde finish and i actually like his color better than mine !!!!

 

[sleddogn]

ok i'm in, here we go again, you gotta make a batch or two

 

[johnk_10]

ok i'm in, here we go again, you gotta make a batch or two

it's too much work.

 

[Chickenwheels]

Make mine a black with lollipops!

 

[Oddly]

@johnk_10 , I swear, if ever I win the lottery, I'll make it worth your while to build me one...

 

[rockinrayduke]

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
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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

That is soooo sweet

 

[BassmanM]

well, a friend of in loved this SS tele bass so much he commissioned me to build him one just like it.
here's a couple of pics of it:

View attachment 4437445


View attachment 4437448

View attachment 4437450

and here they are side by side:

View attachment 4437451

i shot his with a lighter blonde finish and i actually like his color better than mine !!!!

I'll take one too, please!

 

[Andy Marshman]

Would that neck work on a regular telecaster guitar body?

I've done exactly that. It can be done. You have to open the space between the neck pocket and the neck pickup route on the guitar body. I got the idea after seeing it done on a different Internet forum. I'm sure you could find it - I don't know if Talkbass likes us cross-referencing other forums. You can send me a private message if you want to dig in on this. Initially I put a Musicmaster neck on a Hwy 1 Tele body. Later I used a modified neck from another Fender short scale bass.

 

[6stings]

A piece of art!

 

[WI Short Scaler]

Those are both outstanding. I've always loved the Tele headstock and love my SS's.

I'll jump in line with others who said they want one.

 

[trifase]

Would that neck work on a regular telecaster guitar body?

I put a bronco bass neck on a telecaster guitar body and it works. (You have to move down the bridge to 30” scale)