baritone-ing my tele

[chiSEERKIND]

Here goes guys...

am in the middle of crafting a new body for my telecaster after it got, ahem, introduced to my patio after a heated argument!

given that i have the hardware already (everything survived apart from the thinline semi-hollow body!), i am now in full on project mode! The prospect of making a baritone "bass VI" type affair is tempting, however, knowledge is limited.

Basically, my main query is, Can I convert the new tele to baritone by using original neck but simply moving the bridge to make it long scale? if so, should i just match the original Bass VI scale? or am i going to need a longer neck and i'm basically barking, even howling up the wrong tree here?

Go Basschatters go!

[velvetkevorkian]

No, the frets wouldn't line up with notes properly if you did that. You would need a new neck to match the correct scale length. [url="http://www.warmoth.com/Guitar/Necks/Tele_BaritoneNeck.aspx"]Warmoth[/url] make a direct replacement 28.625" scale Tele neck.

[Colledge]

the 12th fret has to be exactly half way between the nut and the bridge on any bass or guitar, moving the bridge completely messed up the intonation. to make a baritone you would either need to replace the fretboard or the whole neck.... so you'd pretty much have to make a new guitar minus hardware.

[chiSEERKIND]

well, that pretty much clears it up!

Cheers anyhow guys,

regular tele build it is! (heavey as hell gauge strings and lets see how low we can go!)

[dannybuoy]

I say do it anyway. You would have a unique set of notes to play with and could make some really interesting music in the key of B [size=3]⅓[/size].

Edited August 11, 2010 by dannybuoy

[velvetkevorkian]

Or go fretless.

[Beer of the Bass]

You may be surprised how low you can get with big strings on a regular guitar scale length. My brother has Danelectro baritone strings on his strat and tunes down to A (with lots of tape echo and chorus for that underwater sound!).

[Mr. Foxen]

[quote name='dannybuoy' post='922047' date='Aug 11 2010, 09:43 PM']I say do it anyway. You would have a unique set of notes to play with and could make some really interesting music in the key of B [size=3]⅓[/size].[/quote]

They wouldn't be in key with each other though.

Mate has a pile of thinline hardware from an (entirely justified) angry wife incident, is on the lookout for a new body, its the one with buckers.

[geoffbyrne]

I have a Yamaha Drop 6 (for sale) which has a scale length of about 26.5" and with 13 - 70's on it it goes down to B easily and comfortably lower if needed.

G.

[henry norton]

I'm building a 30" scale neck for a Strat type guitar (along with all the other projects I'm trying to get done ), hopefully giving me something like a Fender bass VI with three pickups, tremolo, 5 way switch and narrow string spacing but tuned an octave lower like a proper bass, hopefully using all the original hardware. It's the only way to go really low but if you're only going baritone I would definitely try heavy strings, it's surprising how low you can go.