Acousticraft Posted September 17, 2008 Report Share Posted September 17, 2008 I finished building and setting up my first bass on the weekend and have had a cool time playing it. I have found I can have just as much fun playing a bass as my guitars. Playing chords, scales and arpeggios plus bending notes is lots of fun and much more exciting than normal bass plunk, plunk is. I was amazed how quickly I felt at home playing it as the fret spacings and neck length feel huge compared to a Strat. I will get some pics taken and posted soon. The specs are: Northern Ash Telecaster guitar body, 34" scale Hard Maple neck with 12" radius Purple Heart fingerboard and brass nut, Allparts Fender style vintage tuners, Allparts bridge which is way better than a standard pressed Fender one. Genuine Fender split P bass pickup and controls that I bought second hand off our local auction site. The body, neck, nut, and fingerboard I made myself. Also pictured my Strat built out of the same piece of Ash. http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g111/One...Image0006-4.jpg http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g111/One...Image0003-3.jpg http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g111/One...Image0009-2.jpg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muzz Posted September 17, 2008 Report Share Posted September 17, 2008 Lots of grainy goodness there Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psw Posted September 17, 2008 Report Share Posted September 17, 2008 errr...nice pair! A real fender tele bass...doesn't look like a tele, so this one is unique. Both guitars are sure to age well. How is the balance though...is it neck heavy without an upper horn? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr_Buttman Posted September 17, 2008 Report Share Posted September 17, 2008 Very nice design - really doesn't look like tele but as a unique bass. Congratulations Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WezV Posted September 17, 2008 Report Share Posted September 17, 2008 i actually started a tele bass ages ago... i soon realised that the body was quite short next to an actual tele bass since i had used a guitar template and i started worrying about balance so never got around to finishing it... so my question is about balance... whats it like? yours looks cool and has me tempted to revive mine!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
black_labb Posted September 18, 2008 Report Share Posted September 18, 2008 looks good. like the control plate, suits the body shape well and is still simple Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killemall8 Posted September 18, 2008 Report Share Posted September 18, 2008 so, you used northern ash for this? its rock hard, isnt it? i used it once becuse its the cheapest here next to poplar. but it was such a pain to work with. but guess thats why the used it for baseball bats. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ihocky2 Posted September 18, 2008 Report Share Posted September 18, 2008 so, you used northern ash for this? its rock hard, isnt it? i used it once becuse its the cheapest here next to poplar. but it was such a pain to work with. but guess thats why the used it for baseball bats. It's no worse than hard maple and even some soft maple. Just very heavy. I finished a hollow body Tele that is only slightly lighter than my mahoganny strat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Acousticraft Posted September 18, 2008 Author Report Share Posted September 18, 2008 (edited) The balance isnt too bad considering it has no strat like horn and also a heavy neck as I built like a Warmoth neck with two steel reinforcing rods 13x3mm on edge set in resin to give it strength. The hotrod truss rod which I also built myself has very little tension on it because of the stiffness of the neck. I havent a bass amp to play thru and my guitar amp doesnt like the E string and distorts badly but played acoustically sounds very even across all strings for each fret. It has a glued in set neck. I did the setup exactly as per Fenders setup guide from their website and it plays like a dream. Well done Fender! Northern Ash is a very easy wood to work and machines easily and has such a gorgeous grain running thru it, I couldnt bear to colour it at all. The control plate I designed and made out of a stainless steel offcut from the school I work at. I didnt want to use the standard Tele control plate but based it on the P bass scratch plate shape. Handy having free acess to lathes, milling machines, and jointers and thicknessers when making guitars. Did Fender ever produce a Bass with a normal Tele body as one of the intinerant music teachers that comes to the school thought they had, but Im not so shure about that? http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g111/One...Image0001-5.jpg http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g111/One...Image0004-4.jpg Edited September 18, 2008 by Acousticraft Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zyonsdream Posted September 18, 2008 Report Share Posted September 18, 2008 This is a Fender but I'm pretty sure it's converted guitar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Acousticraft Posted September 20, 2008 Author Report Share Posted September 20, 2008 G&L make the ASAT bass which uses a Telecaster body. Fender must never have produced a factory version. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.