Poobats, Mike. I was going to start this up in the bass section so as not to bore the sixers, but it’s here now. And, going by the obvious influences of my design, I doubt if Gibson will be racing to get their jigsaws out…
OK, it starts with a couple of things I already have lying around; a set of Graphtech piezo saddles (Fender barrel style, and only four of them, malhereusement 😥 ) with the rather clever preamp, and a single coil ’51-’53 Precision pickup (as on the “Sting” bass, not the later split-coil). Now, the slab-side P body is just too boring but Warmoth do a bass-sized Telecaster body. So does a maker on eBay by the name of 100mph3:
http://i1.ebayimg.com/03/i/05/e0/f4/5f_1.JPG
but I don’t want the walnut, don’t like black binding and obviously prefer the ’51 pup rout. So, I’d talk him into a bass version of this lefty thinline:
http://i3.ebayimg.com/02/i/05/e6/05/fb_0.JPGhttp://i14.ebayimg.com/04/i/05/df/c1/da_0.JPGhttp://i7.ebayimg.com/02/i/05/df/ea/ag_0.JPGhttp://i16.ebayimg.com/01/i/05/df/84/6f_0.JPG
and that’s a big “yes” to the ivoryish binding, and a “please find more interesting top than that dull maple”.
The neck is maple/maple with the early P or Telebass headstock (rounded, like the Tele guitar), BUT, the tricky bit, I want MOP block markers like the 70s Jazz bass and ivoryish binding to match the body. Warmoth come close, but I’d need a custom job for a lefty Tele version:
http://www.warmoth.com/showcase/necks/BN806A.jpg
Lefty, Tele headstock required, please.
It’d have to be “elephant ear” tuners, for looks sake, and might as well get the 70s ones with “Fender” written on the plate. 70s “F” style neckplate and the Telebass bridge and pickup covers. I’d be very tempted to finish it in blonde and put a 50s style “Fender Telecaster” logo on the headstock to confuse people. Plonk the piezo preamp (which cleverly takes the mag pup wiring and blends the two outputs) and stereo jack (the preamp spots a stereo jack and splits the two signals or sends a mono blend if a mono jack is detected) with two volume pots (no tone control) and the three-way switch (piezo, both, mag) into the rout and cover it with a stock Tele control plate.
Voila. Bit of imagination (or Photoshop) required, but you get the idea. Cool looks, versatile sound. Money missing 😥