ShortScale.org

MatthewK wrote:Well yes, if I wanted to spend $700 and destroy a Fender! Actually I wanted to use the SX as a cheap starting point for experimentation.
Here in Aus even the "student" Fenders are stupidly expensive.

Also - your EB-0 to EB-6 would be pretty simple, wouldn't it? New bridge, new nut, put in a set of 3x3 Grovers, done! You'd only need to drill 2 holes and put in some bushings around the Grovers to fill the larger bass tuner holes.

hmm. over here the bronco bass is only $150.

the eb-6 would be pretty simple. it'd just require me not spending my money on guitars and on a bass instead.

Actually the Squier Bronco is only $300 here. Think I'd prefer the shortscale jazz tho. Especially if it was $109.

I think one trick with the EB-0 to EB-6 conversion, as well as adapting a Squier Bronco or Rondo SX to a BassVI would be pickups.

what sort of 6-pole pickups would work that would still allow it to sound like a bass? any guitar pickups? Would they be gutless in the bottom end - all midrange 'n stuff...?

@MatthewK

PS: I love your photoshopped mock-up. I reckon it looks cute. If it turns out looking like that, I'd have no problem with it.

getting back to the neck width at the nut:

MatthewK is indeed correct that the spec's say the Fender BassVI's nut is 1.5" (or 38mm), which is what a Rondo SX 6-string conversion would have.

is there any Fender BassVI players here that find that 38mm is too narrow to use with 6 strings? I'm picking on Fender BassVI because it was a production model. Sure there are other 6 string basses out there, but their fretboards are like landing decks of aircraft carriers.

aen wrote:Also:

this gretsch baritone is tuned E-E.


as used by teh bon ivers! Come on, Skinny Love!

$549 new.

And the Schector Hellcat VI at about 549-599 as well; it has some pretty solid reviews and was designed with input from Robert Smith and Perry Bamonte of the Cure, producing a very similar sound to the Fender VIs they use.

@Ankhanu

I started looking at the Schecter Hellcat VI, but they don't seem to be available in my (and MatthewK's) country. Living on the far side of the world reduces what's available, as MatthewK is finding with Rondo product.

@MatthewK thanks for the good explain over on the Fender forums regarding pickups. It's encouraging simple good quality Strat pickups could work since there's no shortage of guitarists ripping out their stand set in favour of some new-fangled replacement and selling "surplus to requirements" on eBay.

Yes indeed - the original VI were stock Strat pickups with metal sleeves around them. I might go with CIJ Jag pickups - plenty of people want to get rid of them and I have one spare already.
General question about strings - others have suggested the VI sets because they taper, but this conversion wouldn't have six inches of string behind the bridge like a VI. So would the taper be useless in that case? Maybe a Jag baritone set would be better, since that's a shorter scale (27"? plus a few inches for the stop tail)?

Something to watch for with your bridge and string choices is the ball ends on the strings. The Fender VI strings are a bass sized ball, while the Jag Baritone strings are guitar sized. I believe that the d'Addario baritone strings (slightly smaller gauge than the VI strings) that are popular with many VI players are also bass sized. Your bridge choice is going to be important in your string choice. Where you're looking at guitar bridges, you might be best off trying the Jag Bari strings to make sure they'll actually string through it and sit right under tension.

I had thought of that Dano bridge because I don't need to route (not one of my skills yet) but I am wondering if it's a good choice (radius is the number one question). Perhaps one of those Tele bridges without the pickup section might be better. Mustang would need a trem route, right?
I am kind of opposed to tune-o-matic and stoptail, they would probably sit too high to replace the Jazz Bass bridge, and I don't want to shim the neck to a crazy angle.

barry.b wrote:I think one trick with the EB-0 to EB-6 conversion, as well as adapting a Squier Bronco or Rondo SX to a BassVI would be pickups.

what sort of 6-pole pickups would work that would still allow it to sound like a bass? any guitar pickups? Would they be gutless in the bottom end - all midrange 'n stuff...?

the old gibsons just had regular humbuckers in them. never actually played one, so i have no idea how they sound. though a bass vi with jaguar single-coils is anything but gutless.

Hey I wonder if I am looking at the wrong SX shortscale bass?



(wrong colour, and not currently available OF COURSE)

"Wrong colour"

beauty is obviously in the eye of the beholder. Candy apple/fire engine red could work out well - it wouldn't put me off. In fact, partly because of hiding the downing and redrilling of the headstock for 6 machine heads, I'd be inclined to paint the headstock the same colour as the body - a la the red MIJ Fender Jaguar basses.

ooohhh.... "Fender Jaguar Bass VI SS" (SS: short scale)
or "Fenderstein Bass VI"

"and not currently available OF COURSE"

sigh ... thanks for checking, MatthewK

RE: String and Bridge choice.

it may get to the stage that string choice (what's available) dictates what type of bridge to use. I'd assume the Bass VI set would be the go, but MatthewK, that's a good point about the amount of string length from bridge saddles to ball end. I hadn't thought of that.

MatthewK wrote:Hey I wonder if I am looking at the wrong SX shortscale bass?



(wrong colour, and not currently available OF COURSE)

Win Win Win!

Justin J wrote:

barry.b wrote:I think one trick with the EB-0 to EB-6 conversion, as well as adapting a Squier Bronco or Rondo SX to a BassVI would be pickups.

what sort of 6-pole pickups would work that would still allow it to sound like a bass? any guitar pickups? Would they be gutless in the bottom end - all midrange 'n stuff...?

the old gibsons just had regular humbuckers in them. never actually played one, so i have no idea how they sound. though a bass vi with jaguar single-coils is anything but gutless.

Yeah, as Justin said, the Gibson was a standard guitar pickup, the VI had Jaguar pickups, and don't forget the 4-string Musicmaster bass had a Strat single coil in it. You can get surprising bass depth out of a guitar designed pickup.

@MatthewK

where did you find that second SX bass - the red Fender Jaguar bass look-a-like?

I've been all over the Rondo site like a rash ... can't find it.

I saw an old link to it on another site. The model was discontinued in late 2008 - apparently it might be back around the end of this year. Another forum member told me they were dreadfully neck-heavy though, so I am not going to go for that.

neck heavy, eh?

I wonder if it was the heaviness of the neck or lightness of the body?

I ask because I might have sourced a second-hand mustang bass neck. I'll find out more on the weekend.

still, the short-scale Jazz SX could scrub up OK.

more of a curiosity than anything else

there are 3 Fender Bass VI's over on the US ebay site.

one takeaway from the photo's (esp the headstock) is that, while there's a lot of strings at the nut, it looks OK - it makes sense.

but with US$2400 price tags, MatthewK's idea of building a frankenstein bass with cheap parts is a lot more appealing to my wallet...

Uh oh -

Fender PDF + SX headstock shot = FAIL



Any workarounds, do you think?

Well ... now that I look at it again, I guess it's just a matter of cutting the top edge to a new angle and adding a semicircle of maple - if I got a maple veneer for the whole headstock it would cover the dowels and the add-on as well. Hm.

it's really that important? why not just smooth the beak out. no one would be able to tell the difference except jcyphe.