You could get a blank Tele control plate (eBay or Amazon) for much less than F3X's pre-drilled one, and drill it for just volume and tone controls, or you could go three knobs and do the G&L passive treble and bass control circuit.
Or if you want really simple, just drill it for a 2-position on/off switch.
Agreed. I’m tempted to cut my original down to remove the switch position and shorten the plate, if I was going to remove the switch. The holes I filled in on the Frankenbass worked out really well.
I think I’ll let the idea marinate a little before I make that call
The problem with cutting a plate down, is that you lose the chrome on the ends where you cut.
Agreed, although I have done this with heat shields and so on, if the metal is thin and you cut with a fine fast blade, protect the chrome and polish the end the residual effect of the adjacent coating deters rust and it’s hard to pick. Mind you, there’s only one chance to get it right!
I had forgotten that the cavity's not routed on these. That would make Simon's original suggestion pretty attractive...
You don't really need the switch--at least not to get any of the effects we've been talking about. Tele and '51 style P bases didn't have any switches. You can get almost the same effect of tone-circuit bypass, by leaving your tone control cranked and using a no-load pot for volume--if you want it. But on further thought you may not even want that. Your SC pup will have a bit more high end already than a split p-bass or HB pickup. No load/tone stack bypass may be overkill. If you want to add a tone cap, you can always do it with a push pull.
I think the Esquire circuits are mostly to give a guitar a bit more twang. A lot of what you do with your hand, or foam, or tone pots on a bass is to get rid of some twang ;-)