Short Scale Les Paul Bass project

[Rotor]

Short Scale Les Paul Bass project

Last year I did a short scale Tele/Esquire bass that was whole lot of fun. http://www.tdpri.com/forum/bass-plac...ass-build.html

This year I ran across an Electra Les Paul bass body that takes a bolt on neck and am going to try to get this thing back in action with a suitable short scale neck. It won’t be the one that was taken off though. It’s pretty beat up with cream colored binding. I will not be trying to make it look new just intact.
.

.

.

.

I got 30" scale neck off EBay from a guy in England. It has a great fake gold leaf CMI logo (I’ll call that Country Music International).
.

.

.
.

Updates as progress is made.

JR

[SamClemons]

Looks like a great project, but a lot of those Electra Les Paul guitars were fine guitars.

[robert spencer]

This one I will be following with interest. I like the concept & I like your work. Take care. Bob

[robert spencer]

Rotor here is a photo of a LP gold top. I prefere the wine color of the one you have but this is for comparison & perhaps inspiration:



Take care. Bob

[Rotor]

Ha! Robert. Thats my 95 Gold top LP bass.

Here's the same one next to the Esquire bass. ( can you tell I like guitar looking basses)
.

.

.

JR

[robert spencer]

I was trying to give inspiration to the inspirer. My bad. I have so many basses in my gallery now ( over 350) I sometimes forget where they all came from. LOL.
The LP & the Tele look good touether. I think there is a natural tendacy to create short scale basses to liik like guitars.

I know for my own Tele Thinline bass project I intend to use a Telecaster guitar bridge cover as a PU cover just to accent that Telecaster guitar look. Take care. Bob

[Rotor]

Nice gallery. I'm happy to have a bass in there.

The Les Paul gold top bass was from the custom shop in 1995. Gold was not standard at the time. And I ordered it with one extra fret so it's one of a kind.

Here it is in action

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTJXWP7kSh0

.

.

.
JR

[robert spencer]

Sounds as good as it looks Rotor and that is "very good". Take care. Bob

[Rotor]

For now it wears the Bronco tuners from last year’s Tele build. If this thing pans out I will upgrade them. I just took them apart and flipped the keys to make the 2X2 instead of 4 inline.
.

.

I can tell that the scale of the neck ( as it sits in the neck pocket) is not compatible with the current bridge placement. To make the bridge work with this neck I would have to push an inch out of the pocket. There is no room to do that so the bridge will have to move.


Before I do that I want to get the neck on and stable. I have to round the profile of the neck heel to mate with the neck pocket better.
.

.

.

.

JR

[robert spencer]

A well illustrated & informative narration on your part Rotor.

"For now it wears the Bronco tuners from last year’s Tele build. If this thing pans out I will upgrade them. I just took them apart and flipped the keys to make the 2X2 instead of 4 inline."

Now that a pretty good trick.
When you mention extra fret I was reminded that I am here to research a 0 fret idea that i am interested in using in an upcoming project ( 3rd on the list now). I hope to learn a lot through this build. I`m a newby to all of this assembling components stuff but am already hooked on doing it. Thanks for sharing. Boob

[ThreePlyGuy]

Another sweet one in the works, Rotor.

[Rotor]

OK. I knocked the corners off the neck heel and it fits the pocket pretty well.

I drilled some pilot hols and screwed it on just to see how it fells and where everything is falling together.
.

.

.
.
This Model Electra bass could not have had a 30" scale neck on it. The neck I'm using measures 14 7/8" to the 12 fret I guess that makes it a 29.75 " scale neck ( feel free to correct my math, I went to public school). The bridge needs to move at least an inch and half south to hit 30". I wont be re-using this bridge though. Look how nice the bridge/saddle is. The sting spacing is horrible too.
.

.

.
Yes the G string is in the nut.
.

.
.
I am thinking about using a tailpiece and floating bridge like a Hofner or some such archtop bass. That way I can anchor at the end pin and move the floating bridge to the right spot. There seems to be enough room for a short tailpiece.
.

.

.

JR

[robert spencer]

I thing using a floating bridge would be a cool idea especially with that body type.






This is going to be a nice product when finished. Take care. Bob

[Rotor]

I just got back at this and got the bridge off to see what I have to work with.

Because the saddles will have to move south about an inch and half to intonate (approx where the line of blue tape is), I can foresee some problems with whatever bridge I choose crowding one of the volume knobs.

The real immediate bummer was how this bridge was attached.

The posts are not actually riding in the body.
.

.

.

They are just threaded into the base-plate as height adjusters. The base-plate is screwed to the top via 5 wood screws.

.

.

.

The holes under the posts are just for height travel clearance. The body itself is arch topped but it is plywood floating over some dead space above the body below.

Look there's the ground wire. Great.
.

.


.

I do have a tailpiece and hofner style bridge on the way. The Hoff bridge will be the only way I can avoid that volume knob. Grounding will be an issue now that I see where the wire is. A rose wood bridge will not conduct very well and I don't have confidence in the strength of the top ( or volume knob clearance) to go with tune-o-matic.

We shall see how the floating bridge and tailpiece mock up when they arrive.


More to come.




JR

[Rhomco Guitars]

Cool Rotor! Great to see you are at it again. You can pick up your string ground from the tail piece. You will need to drill a small diameter hole all the way from the a spot under the tailpiece to the control cavity for the ground wire.
Good luck on your project,
Rob