ShortScale.org

ok, ive decided i want a mustang bass. but i dont have that kind of money right now. so im going to make a mustang out of a bronco bass. my plan is sherwood green with brown tort pickguard with maple fretboard. p bass pickups and maybe matching headstock. i havent decided on if i want matching or maple headstock. i want it to look like this


i should be getting the bass tomorrow morning.And then i will start the refin. im gonna rout it for pbass pickups. and do the string through holes. now my question is, can i drill the holes for the strings after its finished??

Wow, turns out that the Squier Bronco Bass is offset after all, I was going to call that out until i checked and low-and-behold. You can drill the string through holes before or after, your choice. I would do it before so you can cover up any mistakes before finishing. You'll obviously have to adjust the bridge and possibly even fill some routes that don't line up with the mustang layout. Finding a short scale neck for a mustang can be difficult, you might as well make a mustang bass out of it, parts are on ebay for a somewhat inflated price, although reissue parts will be cheap. Plus a mustang bass has much fewer parts than a mustang. No fancy trem to route, no extra switches, only a single pickup. Plus you'd already have the shortscale neck from the Bronco Bass you could tint up all nice like and maybe do an matching headstock
Mostly rambling, sorry.

yeah, well i want to make the pickguard and control plate. so i figured that would save alot of money.

as far as parts, im thinking this list should be ok.

used bass from daddys junky music.
squier brinco bass - 99.99

from basspartsrecource.com

fender mustang bridge plate- 29.79
fender bridge saddles - 12.99
bass string ferrules -4.49
mustang knobs - 4.29

from onlineguitarparts.com

bass tuners - chrome - 19.95

from decaldeluxe.com

2 fender mustang bass decals-19.95


so for the total price, im thinking around 200.00

I did a similar thing to a Badtz Maru Bronco. See this thread where I show my conversion.

I chose not to get a Mustang bass bridge because I didnt have the money to do it at the time plus I dont think it really looks that bad. After all, it will never really be a Mustang bass, just a Bronco dressed up to look like one.

yeah, maybe i will leave that bridge and tuners for a lil bit. ill just do the paint and routing for p bass pickups.

ok, well things have come up and i was not able to purchase the bronco bass this weekend. but i plan on getting it within a few days. i still havent decided if i want matching headstock or not.

not a fan of matching headstocks, personally, but looks cool.

did you photoshop this, or is there a dressing room for the mustang i'm not aware of?!

no, i made it on the builder on this website.

http://www.shortscale.org/builder/builder.html

going to buy the bass tonight. i will upload pics later.