Tele Bass Pickup Advice

[jimmacbass]

Immo - I just found this photo (not sure who it belongs to) and it looks as though a bass pickup has been added and is under a standard tele bridge plate

[Gunny]

Yep, that's my conversion instrument. I changed the pg to a black one, otherwise it's still set up as shown in the photo. The PUP is from the UK - was originally purchased for a Fender Musicmaster bass. It was just as easy to keep the bridge pickup plate, minus saddles, than it was to fill holes and match colour to the rest of the body. The neck was a Bronco that was modified by Rhomco (a forum member). I gig with this all the time.

[jimmacbass]

Cool build, Gunny! Got any more pics? It would be much cheaper for me to buy a Tele and then sell off the bits I don't need than to buy a plain body and do all the painting, etc. myself so this is definitely an option!

[Gunny]

I can take a few more photos but they're just the final product. I didn't take pictures as I put this together. Using a sharp wood chisel, I removed the wood between the neck pocket and the neck pickup route. That takes out 2 pieces about the size of a sugar cube. Knowing what I know now, I might have removed a bit more of the 'base' in the area I removed wood because after playing a while I realized that the heel of the neck was sitting a little high. I just put a shim into the neck pocket (furthest from the bridge end of things) to change the tilt of the neck. I used masking tape on the pickguard to mark the lines where to chop out the same area as the body. Others who have made this instrument conversion have purchased an Esquire PG and cut out the opening to fit the heel of the neck. I didn't care that much so my Tele PG still reveals the guitar neck PUP side cutouts.

[jimmacbass]

Pics of the final product would be great, just to see how it all looks :)

[robert spencer]

It almost looks as if the canted pickup serves to align the strings with the pickups. Very close. See no reason why it would not work well.
Here is one using the guitar PS.




This is an area of interest to me because I have a tele bass conversion coming up & my biggest questions are in regard to pickup selection & placement. Take care. Bob

[Gunny]

additional pictures here including a couple of non-Tele basses. Obviously this project is NOT a clinic in fine woodworking. If you saw earlier posts you'll know I have a shim in the neck pocket and you can spot the gap in the pictures.

[robert spencer]

I am going back & forth about which PU to use in my upcoming tele bass project. I think my #1 choice will be using a Pbass split with Pbass PG. Second is to use anything i can find to fit into this guitar body PU route & abbreviate the PG to more conventional tele configuration while using a tele guitar chrome plate to house PU



This is my SX body showing the route:
As long as we are discussing options I wanted to put mine out there with no intention of hijacking the thread. Sharing & attempting to contribute in return. Take care. Bob

[jimmacbass]

Looks great, Gunny! Thanks for sharing! :)

Robert - looks like that could turn out very nicely!

[robert spencer]

Hey Immo is this the strap button arrangement you speak of on this long neck tele bass?

[robert spencer]

jimmacbass thanks for the good word. I have hopes that it will be a worthwhile project. I know one thing though. It`s going to be a learning experience. I think that is a huge motivating factor for me. The icing will be having a sweet player. Take care. Bob

[Immo]

Originally Posted by robert spencer

Hey Immo is this the strap button arrangement you speak of on this long neck tele bass?

Yes, exactly! You see, when good ol' G&L uses something, it has to be good

[robert spencer]

I notice that the only basses on their website to use the double bottom strap buttons are the ASAT (tele bodies) series. The rest use only the standard top & bottom arrangement. Here`s the link to their basses & their [pickups:

http://www.glguitars.com/instruments...sses/index.asp

http://www.glguitars.com/shopping/sh...17&cat=Pickups

Take care. Bob

[robert spencer]

I wonder how these will work as tele bass pickups. Anyone know anything about them?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Genuine-...item2ebd203202
Here is a set as installed:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/LOADED-Fende...item53eae3cb9c


Take care. Bob

[losergeek]

Originally Posted by robert spencer

Hey Immo is this the strap button arrangement you speak of on this long neck tele bass?

I still don't see how, from a physics perspective, this would be different than just having the top bottom (which is where it was on the body I just bought). Once you've anchored your strap on that button I don't see the bottom one changing anything.

[losergeek]

Originally Posted by robert spencer

I wonder how these will work as tele bass pickups. Anyone know anything about them?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Genuine-...item2ebd203202
Here is a set as installed:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/LOADED-Fende...item53eae3cb9c


Take care. Bob

These sound pretty nice in the vintage modified bass - I took a long and hard look at them for mine, but decided to go cheaper since I need to get this together on the cheap for now and worry about upgrades later.

[robert spencer]

losergeek like yourself I just cannot wrap my mind around the concept of needing a second button to stablize things. It seems to me that ten more beyond that top one would all be considered a mute point and offset nothing. Having said that I have to add that my gut feeling is that it probably works (for reasons beyond my understanding).

As far as the pickup(s) are concerned from the VM bass I have no doubt that they sound good. I just wonder about the installation concept & how well they would lend themselves to tele bass application. Take care. Bob

[Immo]

Originally Posted by robert spencer

I wonder how these will work as tele bass pickups. Anyone know anything about them?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Genuine-Fender-Squier-Vintage-Modified-Telecaster-Tele-Bass-Pickup-Humbucker-/200741499394?pt=Guitar_Accessories&hash=item2ebd20 3202

This pickup kicks a**! I have Sq VM TB customized with Sting Bass neck (the neck's far more solid than the stock one and makes the whole bass sound better!) and it's a ultra-bass-machine. LOTS of blues low-end with tone rolled to 0 and lots of funky mids and high-end with tone rolled to 10. And if set somewhere in the middle, you get a pocket-size double bass.

Originally Posted by robert spencer

As far as the pickup(s) are concerned from the VM bass I have no doubt that they sound good. I just wonder about the installation concept & how well they would lend themselves to tele bass application. Take care. Bob

There are many fellas who put a single coil telecaster bass PU into a bass with the tele bass humbucker. One of them said to me it's one of the wisest mods he's done to a bass ever, as it gave the bass more balanced sound.

Originally Posted by robert spencer

losergeek like yourself I just cannot wrap my mind around the concept of needing a second button to stablize things. It seems to me that ten more beyond that top one would all be considered a mute point and offset nothing. Having said that I have to add that my gut feeling is that it probably works (for reasons beyond my understanding).

And, believe me, it works!

[robert spencer]

Immo do you think this pickup could be adapted (reasonably) to use with a Pbass pickguard by enlarging the opening intended for the Pbass split pickup? If so I`m definately interested. Also I will be using a Bronco bridge so string spacing may or may not become an issue. Your endorsement is enough to sell anyone.
Glad you didn`t take offense about some of us not being able to grasp the principle that makes the double strap button work. I commend your reply. Thanks & take care. Bob

[Immo]

The split-coil opening in my precision bass pickguard is approx. 5 x 10cm (~2 x ~4 inch).
The humbacker in my Telecaster bass is approx 5 x 8cm (~2 x ~ 3.2 inch).
So there will be a gap disallowing tou to install the humbucker directly to the pickguard. However, if you're not afraid of further "non-canonically" customizing your bass, I'd suggest using two chromed aluminum U-shaped rails like this:

Fix them to the pickguard parallel to the strings on both sides of the hole for humbacker so they'll be touching the shorter edges of the pickup and install the PU between them by drilling a proper holes in the "a" surface. With this method, when you'll decide to leave a long piece of the alu rail, you'll have a comfy, Ovation Magnum-like thumbrest rail allowing to fingerpick anywhere above the pickguard (you can also curve the edges of the rail ("b"), making it resemble the original Fender thumbrest).
Only an idea, but I think it's worthy of consideration if you're not afraid of unorthodox ideas.

Oh, by the way, the string spacing for the humbacker is 17.5mm (0.68897inch).