Tele (guitar) bodied bass

[Colledge]

i've decided to embark on a winter bass project as i don't have my usual winter bike project.

the plan is to buy either a cheap-o complete tele guitar or just a body (of better quality)
i'll then either buy a mighty mite neck (or other) or a donor bass. and all other parts off the bay. I'm undecided on wether to go for a precision or a jazz neck, definitely maple though.
i'll use the standard tele control plate with precision electronics and pickup, maybe single coil type.

I have no actual measurements at the moment, but from a quick eye up, i figure its just a case of re-routing the neck pocket and there seems enough room back there for the bridge.

provisional specs:

4 strings, standard fender (either p or j) spacing
34" 20 frets
the finest chinese ply body
Maple p or j neck with modified tele headstock.
bent tin or badass bridge and lightweight tuners.
precision wiring and pickup either standard split coil or inline early tele style.
undecided wether oly white, fiesta red or sea foam green, maybe with a light relic.

i'm aware that i'll most probably get horrendous neck dive from having pretty much no upper horn... but thats a sacrifice i'm happy to make.

I should be ordering parts sometime in the next few days.

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

Not sure if a short scale would be any use, but looking at my danoelectro longhorn (24 frets) it certainly looks as if the neck would fit a tele body. I'm sure I've seen danelectro necks for a good price somewhere (I think it was £80 inc tuners) & thought of doing something similar with a bolt-on firebird-type body to make a danobird, but then saw sense (and the state of my bank & account.)

[Colledge]

i don't have a tele on hand, but i know for sure that a strat has enough room for a 20 fret neck and 34" scale, by lining up the neck pockets of my bass and old guitar. a tele seems to have more room back there for a bridge so i recon scale wouldn't be a problem.

just found the exact bass i had in my head.

[Tait]

Sounds cool! Will the 34 inch scale fit onto a tele body though? I seem to remember when I built my tele shaped bass it wouldn't fit so instead I used a tele template, a precision template, and a jazz template to put together a bigger tele shaped body.

EDIT: d'oh! just seen you've answered this in your last post!

Edited November 7, 2010 by Tait

[Colledge]

from [url="http://terrydownsmusic.com/Archive/tele_body_drawing_revD.pdf"]this[/url] diagram, the distance from the bottom of the neck pocket to the bottom of the body on a tele is 12.847", the distance (from quickly measuring a bass) from the bottom of the neck pocket to the bottom of the bridge on a 20 fret, 34" bass is around 12", pretty tight. i could use a 22 or 24 fret neck which would free up a few inches.