30" scale Telecaster/ Esquire bass build (pics)

Rotor · Post by **Rotor** » Thu May 05, 2011 9:07 pm

Winter project time is winding down and I have to get moving on this thing. Itâ€™s going to be a short scale (30") Telecaster/ Esquire bass. I was inspired by some pics I saw of a bass Rhomco built that was laid out similar to this so I thought I would give it a go.

It will use an off the shelf 3 piece Alder Tele body from Rondo that was routed for standard Telecaster bridge and neck pickups but not drilled for the guitar string through bridge locating holes. To keep the overall length close to that of a guitar I am going to seat the neck deeper into the body by knocking through to the space routed for the Tele neck pickup.

For the neck I am using a 20 fret Maple donor neck from a Squire Bronco. Its is a 30" scale that I picked up for $75.00. It was well worth that just for the neck. It's straight with well dressed frets The headstock will be re-profiled to the Telecaster style peghead.

Anyway... because the neck is maple the "theme" is going to be a cross between a 51 Fender Precision Bass and a early 50's Telecaster. There is no neck pickup so I guess this makes it an Esquire Bass ( if Fender had built a 30" scale in 1951 or 52). It will have black Bakelite pickguard and a Butterscotch or Blond body. The bridge is a string through body Fender Musicmaster bridge with individual saddles. I will have to rout a little room for a Lindy Fralin Split Coil 51 Precision pickup in what is now the Tele bridge position. Moving the bridge back to make it a bass means the bridge position hole is a great spot for the 51 P pickup.

I started this in January and am quite a bit further along than this I just wanted to keep the posts in some order resembling a timeline.

JR

hotrodperlmutter · Post by **hotrodperlmutter** » Thu May 05, 2011 10:48 pm

looks like a cool project. i can't wait to see what you do with it.

doing a standard tele/esquire guard or something more imaginative?

i still want to bang the shit out of this one:

Rotor · Post by **Rotor** » Fri May 06, 2011 7:09 pm

hotrodperlmutter
It will be a Rat Rod'ish homage to 50's tele's and Precisions with an Oil finish and Bakelite guard.

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To get the neck to seat deep enough in the body I chiseled through the bottom of the neck pocket in to the space where a tele neck pickup would be.

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I had to open it up just a C hair to get a nice tight fit on the Bronc neck.
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The neck is next.

JR

Haze · Post by **Haze** » Fri May 06, 2011 8:25 pm

My god I want to build one of these

h8mtv · Post by **h8mtv** » Sun May 08, 2011 9:35 pm

Wow, great job.

StevePirates · Post by **StevePirates** » Sun May 08, 2011 9:38 pm

Sorry if I missed it elsewhere, but do you have plans for the Bronco body?

Rotor · Post by **Rotor** » Tue May 10, 2011 2:05 pm

StevePirates wrote:Sorry if I missed it elsewhere, but do you have plans for the Bronco body?

Steve. No plans yet but I'm holding onto it waiting for inspiration.

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Time to re-profile the peghead.
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There is just enough meat in the right places to get a 51 P bass/ Tele style headstock. I tweaked the profile a just little from the template. The Bronc peg head is way to long for it's own good. I need to lose 1/2 an inch to get this thing into a baritone guitar case.

It was roughed out with a coping saw and sanded the edges to 80 grit. I have to open up the tuner holes from 3/8 to 9/16 to accommodate the bushings on the replacement tuners. I'll finish sand after that step.

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Now Plug the holes from the stock Squire tuners. The new tuners will be lightweight types to stave off neck dive. I dyed the neck a shade with amber dye to give it a bit more of vintage tint. final finish for the neck is Tung oil for warmth and then Tru Oil that has poly in it to seal it. It has a nice satin feel that wonâ€™t get sticky.
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All finished with lightweight tuners installed.
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JR

othomas2 · Post by **othomas2** » Tue May 10, 2011 2:42 pm

Wow awesome work, I have a feeling this is gonna turn out just lovely.

Ankhanu · Post by **Ankhanu** » Tue May 10, 2011 2:45 pm

This is looking awesome. Love it.

Thom · Post by **Thom** » Tue May 10, 2011 2:45 pm

othomas2 wrote:Wow awesome work, I have a feeling this is gonna turn out just lovely.

+1 Loving it so far.

sholkham · Post by **sholkham** » Wed May 11, 2011 5:45 pm

looks cool, also that fender tele-bass with the chrome humbuckers looks insane, is that a Japan model?

stewart · Post by **stewart** » Wed May 11, 2011 5:56 pm

mad skillz. interested in seeing the finished result. go swifty, like a young gazelle.

Rotor · Post by **Rotor** » Tue May 17, 2011 4:54 pm

OK, time to get on with pre-assembly.

I am using a Bakelite pickguard and will have to lengthen the neck pocket opening to account for the neck being so much further into the body. This one came out OK but it's a little to sloppy so there will be another. (maybe red tortoise shell)
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The next step is to locate the bridge at the right distance to reach the 30" scale. It must also be properly centered so the strings are spaced evenly on the fretboard. Must find the center line.

Before I took the Bronco apart it took the critical measurements from the front of the nut to the bridge saddles. I transferred those to the blue tape.
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I am stringing fishing line to get the bridge in just the right spot. Once I mark the spots on the tape I can drill pilot holes for the mounting screws.

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The Musicmaster bridge is a string through body design and not having a drill press makes getting the holes evenly spaced on the back a little more difficult. To get them close I drilled 1 and 4 string holes all the way through. The hole for the 2nd and 3rd string was only drilled a 1/2 inch deep from the top. I flipped the body over and used the bridge as a template and marked and drilled the 2nd and 3rd string centers based on where 1 and 4 emerged. When I open up the holes in the back the 2nd and 3rd string holes in the back will meet the ones from the front and the pattern in the back will be as evenly spaced as I can make it.

I counterbored the holes in the back to uniform depth to use some long bass ferules I found. The short ones came with the musicmaster bridge.
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Drilling that hole for the bridge ground wire was a nail biter. A footlong bit and I made it just to the bottom of the control cavity without hitting any of the screw holes. I thought about going to the cavity via the endpin and the dropping a hole to it from under the bridge and them plugging the endpin hole. In the end I just did the hole straight from the bridge.

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Now I have the bridge installed and I can string this thing up to work on the Pickup location and angle. This is also the first chance to get a feel for it and I like it. The shorty feels great. Low string tension and easy spacing between positions. The tone was lively and it intonated just fine so the bridge location is right. I did have to use a neck shim to raise the neck a little so the bridge saddles were not bottomed out.
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...........Next is finishing the body and I can tell the sealer that is on this cheap imported body is going to be tough to sand out.

JR

serfx · Post by **serfx** » Tue May 17, 2011 5:13 pm

looking great!

stewart · Post by **stewart** » Tue May 17, 2011 5:14 pm

nice work so far. interested to see how it balances without a proper top horn though.

Sparky · Post by **Sparky** » Tue May 17, 2011 6:35 pm

Woahhh! That's a beaut of a project! Can't believe you made it look so seamless! Good idea with the fishing line, when I did my Bigsby I just eyeballed it.

So are you going to modify the upper horn? It might be badass, but probably not necessary especially considering all that could go wrong. It's a one-of-a-kind but still clearly Fender. I dig it!

endsjustifymeans · Post by **endsjustifymeans** » Tue May 17, 2011 6:49 pm

I think we should be Fender's new R+D dept.

Ankhanu · Post by **Ankhanu** » Tue May 17, 2011 8:48 pm

stewart wrote:nice work so far. interested to see how it balances without a proper top horn though.

Being shortscale, I think the balance might be a lesser issue than with a standard Tele bass. It might be a little neck heavy, but, personally, I don't think it would be bad enough to warrant modification.

endsjustifymeans wrote:I think we should be Fender's new R+D dept.

Many better ideas than what Fender comes out with these days.

Rotor · Post by **Rotor** » Tue May 17, 2011 8:59 pm

Sparky wrote:Woahhh! That's a beaut of a project! Can't believe you made it look so seamless! Good idea with the fishing line, when I did my Bigsby I just eyeballed it.

So are you going to modify the upper horn? It might be badass, but probably not necessary especially considering all that could go wrong. It's a one-of-a-kind but still clearly Fender. I dig it!

Thanks. I had heard others use the fishing line trick. It works good. Nothing is realy new.

I think Stewart was refering to the fact that it does not have a top horn like a 51 P bass. I will not be making a horn there.
I dont think neck dive will be a problem. The length is 4 inches shorter than a 51 P and the ultralight tuners will avoid the dive. If I have to I will add lead to the body. I don't think I will have too.

endsjustifymeans · Post by **endsjustifymeans** » Tue May 17, 2011 9:04 pm

Warning you now, I'm buying this from you at some point.