Stratocaster Micro Bass 1 (1/3) ~ Luthiery Laboratories

Stratocaster Micro Bass 1 (1/3)

Eden paddle-head guitar neck converted to bass. Strings are lower four of 5-string set, unwound to fit 25" scale.

A few build details:

On the left:

Probably a Squier body, buffed and polished
Eden paddlehead Strat neck, cut to a slightly enlarged guitar headstock profile
laser-printed decals, poly finish
Chinese zinc-cast bridge, 18mm string spacing to match the neck - eBay
GFS Jazz neck pickup
Fender Japan P pickup, mounted narrow to match the neck
4-way blade switch - series/parallel
passive electronics - bass & treble cut
Chinese fake Fender 125-50 roundwound strings ( pretty bad )

I haven't decided what I want to do about the strings yet, but other than that I am quite happy with it. Really fun to play, nice tone - anywhere from P to J, and crazy roar in series mode. Weighs around seven pounds. To mount the bridge and pickups, I filled the tremolo hole and spring cavity with plywood. The bass pickups required some routing. The pickguard is obviously totally custom, and pretty crowded.

To make these strings, start with a 5-string set, and unwind the B down to the necessary length to fit the tuner. That becomes your E. You may also have to do the same for the E/A, the rest should fit.

1 2 3

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As everyone should know, the Stratocaster guitar is actually the guitar version of the Precision Bass, which came first. The big innovation on both was the extended upper horn, a necessity on a long-necked bass for balance and to bring the low frets within reach when the instrument is hanging on a strap. Not strictly needed on a guitar, but looks great, and back in the 1950s nothing had ever been seen like it. It was an instant hit.

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Conversion Necks

A conversion neck is one that can convert an instrument from one scale length to another with no other modification. A common conversion is 34" to 32". By overhanging the 20th fret, or leaving it off, you can use the stock bridge location on the body, just adjust for intonation. Such a neck will work on any standard bass body. A conversion from 34" to 30" requires overhanging two frets, or losing one or both.

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Unwinding Strings

I like to build short-scale basses, Unfortunately, the manufacturers don't like to make short-scale strings, and stores don't like to stock them. And some lengths, like 25" 'pico', simply don't exist. However, you can make your own from readily available long-scale sets.

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Guitar-Scale Basses

Basses built with the scale length of a guitar, typically 25.5 inches.

Stratocaster Micro Bass 1

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Guitar-Scale Basses

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Electronics & Wiring

One of the fun things about building electric guitars is wiring them up. Factory wiring tends to be simple, minimizing the amount of fussy handwork required. Many manufacturers keep strictly to 'classic' designs, seldom if ever changing anything. These designs are generally simplistic, often crude or even stupid, and sometimes outright flawed. There is no need for you to do this. I don't. Here are some of the things I have done over the years. I don't claim to have invented any of this, although some of these schematics I have never seen anywhere else, and had to derive them myself.

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