1963 Harmony H1201T Rubber-Bridge Mini-Bass Conversion

Sometimes it feels as if there's a never-ending line of tenor guitars getting converted into mini-basses these days! Even though the first one I did up like this was for my friend Steve, these have come to be known as "Bennybasses" around here as Mr. Benny Yurco has been having us cook a lot of them up for him. See here, see here, see here, see here, and see here. He even has two more upstairs that I'm threatening Ancel with conversion jobs on...!

Ironically, this one is my own fault. I was traded this H1201T tenor a little bit ago with the vague plan of having it be an acoustic GDAE-tuned tenor with something like a lipstick pickup in the soundhole. Then came the onslaught of Insta-folks asking for mini-basses and... I relented! Okay! Just one more, hit me!

This is the result -- with a scrounged P90 pickup mounted in the soundhole, K&K acoustic under the hood, and jacks so you can split the signals however you like. The fella interested in it suggested flatwound strings and this has a set of LaBella flats on it (of the Hofner-intended variety) with the low E-string just hanging-on for life around its tuner post. I tend to suggest roundwound strings for these basses as they will survive more abuse on the tuner posts (flats tend to unwind when going around sharp corners), but this string seems to be holding-up alright for the moment.

Last neat fact -- I used a Strat trem's spring-claw as a repurposed tailpiece. It works great!

Repairs included: a neck reset, fret level/dress, tailpiece install, rubber bridge install, side dots, pickup installs and wiring, cleaning, and setup work.

Weight: 3 lbs 6 oz

Scale length: 22 3/4"

Nut width: 1 1/4"

Neck shape: medium V

Board radius: flat

Body width: 13"

Body depth: 3 3/4"

Top wood: solid spruce

Back & sides wood: solid mahogany

Bracing type: ladder

Bridge: ebonized maple

Fretboard: ebonized maple

Neck wood: mahogany

Action height at 12th fret: 3/32” bass, hair-over 1/16” treble (fast, spot-on)
String gauges: 95w-40w or close to it, flatwounds

Truss rod: non-adjustable

Neck relief: straight

Fret style: medium-lower

Condition notes: it's got original tuners, an original bridge base, and orgiinal pickguard. It's actually pretty clean throughout save a (stable, over the kerfing) small hairline crack on the back-lower-bout. It also has mild weather-checking to the finish and mild usewear throughout the finish, too. Clearly, things have been modified as well.

It comes with: sorry, no case.