Week off for the Holidays... Squier Bronco BASS PROJECT!!

[Din Of Win]

Yayyy!!!

So, my job takes VERY few holiday breaks throughout the year. But it's all worth it, because we get the entire Christmas/New Years week off... PAID!

So, with all the free time, i've been gearing up (literally) to mod up a Squier Bronco bass.

It's a stock red n' white pickguard w/mapel neck Bronco.

As far as my hopeful changes go, it's nothing too fancy-schmancy...

-Replacing stock pup with a SD Hotrails pup. (Black)
-Changing vol/tone knobs, for aesthetic reasons. (Black Fender Knobs)
-Changing pots. (???)
-New paint job. (Pale Yellow-y)
-New pickguard border paint. (Keeping white, but doing a black ring on the side to mimic a W/B/W guard... i actually like the Broco's guard shape)
-MAYBE changing tuners. (To clovers)
-New Strangs. (whichever they have in stock at the music store)
-New Headstock Logo. (see below!)


I haven't embarked on something like this, but i thought a bass i spent a whopping $50 on is good test fodder


As i'm not too savvy with electronics:
-I know HOW to use a soldering iron (built a few BYOC pedals)... but what pots, exactly, have people used? I know it's a popular mod, i'm just not familliar with which one(s) to use!
-My roomy is providing the SD hot rails... but do i use the Bridge or Neck pickups?


Everything else i just plan on winging!


I'll keep an up date of the progress/degress as it happens!!



ALSO!!! SUPER IMPORTANT!!!

I'm gonna be 'that guy' puting a Fender logo on the bass, but for the model type, i'm doing something different... my name is Matt, so i was thinking:

-MATTStang

or

-MusicMATTster


I like MATTstang better... but the final bass will be more of a music mastery aesthetic... which do yall like??



Basically i want to try my hand at doing a bunch of the 'common' bass mods: repainting/electronics/hardware/waterslide... so... we'll see how it goes!!!

[BassBob2112]

MattStang in script would look pretty cool !

[Din Of Win]

Originally Posted by BassBob2112

MattStang in script would look pretty cool !

I actually thought of script at first... but when i laid it ON the bass it looked wonkey...

...it DOES look nice in the ginormous 70's fender block lettering though...

[ghostdog93]

Originally Posted by Din Of Win

As i'm not too savvy with electronics:
-I know HOW to use a soldering iron (built a few BYOC pedals)... but what pots, exactly, have people used? I know it's a popular mod, i'm just not familliar with which one(s) to use!
-My roomy is providing the SD hot rails... but do i use the Bridge or Neck pickups?

1) I'm going to guess some CTS 250k pots should be fine.

2) I would opt for the neck pickup, just like this one.

Good luck on the project.

[Din Of Win]

Originally Posted by ghostdog93

1) I'm going to guess some CTS 250k pots should be fine.

Awesome!

2) I would opt for the neck pickup, just like this one.

Those are the exact ones i'll be using!

Good luck on the project.

[Avalon]

I'll be following this one.

By the way, how about some current pics so we can get the full before and after affect?

[Din Of Win]

Originally Posted by Avalon

I'll be following this one.

By the way, how about some current pics so we can get the full before and after affect?

Will do! I jumped the gun just a scoatch on it... busy the next day or two with holiday stuff! I'll snap the 'Before Shot' tonight though!!


I would like to say that, the whole idea of moding a bass is completely due to TalkBass! We have a wonderful community here that is beyond inspirational!

[Avalon]

Time for a bump! Bronco bass mod goodness should be coming this way!

[bearplayingbass]

Awesome! I'm wanting to mod a bronco with the same color yellow, but i was wanting to do a tortoise shell or walnut veneer pickguard. Let me know if the clover tuners work out. Idk if the spacing is anything weird on the bronco headstock (being a smaller scale bass). What tuners are you getting (or have gotten)?

[Din Of Win]

Hey!

So, i ended up stopping at a MUCH earlier point than i had thought i would.

I replaced the pickup, pots/caps, new knobs, and painted the pickguard's edges...

...and that's it.


It ended up playing so beautifully, i didn't really make that extra step to change the tuners, because they work totally fine.

It's become one of, if not THEE main bass for me now:




the twins:

[ghostdog93]

Looks cool, and I dig the new V/T knobs.

What pickup did you use? Looks like a Seymour Duncan Tele Hot Rails...or something similar.

[Snakepit72]

Looks good, would've loved to see the new paintjob on it though, keep the thread updated if you ever decide to finish all the planned mods!

[Muddslide]

Looks great as-is. I really dig those Broncos. Just too small for me personally, but they are too cool and really well made overall.

[Avalon]

Yea, I'm hearing a lot of folks saying that these Bronco's should be on their way out now that the SS Jaguar's are available. But I still feel a bit of a preference for these modified Broncos. There is something so classic - so Rock and Roll - about the way the look. The Squier Jags are probably the better value, I realize, but not enough to knock the Broncos out of contention - not for me at least.

[ghostdog93]

Originally Posted by Avalon

Yea, I'm hearing a lot of folks saying that these Bronco's should be on their way out now that the SS Jaguar's are available. But I still feel a bit of a preference for these modified Broncos. There is something so classic - so Rock and Roll - about the way the look. The Squier Jags are probably the better value, I realize, but not enough to knock the Broncos out of contention - not for me at least.

The new Squier Jags (Special, Special HB and SS) are certainly nice and their retail prices are insanely low, but IMO the Bronco is far and away a better platform for mods.

I would be surprised if the Bronco was on its way out. The new VM Mustang is nearly double the price, so I can see the Bronco sticking around as a lower-cost option for those wanting the classic Mustang look without spending the bucks.