A little TLC goes a long way

[JIO]

My gf's niece is a young aspiring bass-player. Her parents started her out on a Squier Bronco Affinity series (CII). She is 5'2" (full height-so petite) and the bass is a very light 6 lb short-scale so it was a perfect starter bass for her. It developed a problem electronically and the store where it was purchased just refunded $200 and didn't want the bass back. Apparently to them it wasn't worth fixing and was disposable. They are in Portland and I'm in the bay area SF, so I found her a new Squier SS Jag P/J on-line for a good price and they ordered it for her. She's over the hump of it being a novelty and is serious about playing so it's a nice incentive to own/play a nicer instrument. Remember your second bass and how much better it was?

Anyway, I offered to get "Baby" (her name for the Bronco) working so she'd have a back-up and they shipped it to me. Turns out the ground wire on the jack was dislodged due to a loose nut - so an easy fix. Speaking of "crafted", the jack spun loose because it never had a lock-ring installed from the Indonesian factory. (!) After installing one and while I was at it, I looked through my bin and discovered I had some nice upgrade parts for Baby. The Bronco pu is a wht Strat pu (smooth cover/6 poles) and I had a Seymour Duncan Bassline single to install, which fit w/o modification. The Bronco bridge is a crappy 2 saddle "vintage" type which I removed and installed a standard bent-plate/threaded saddle Fender bridge. Better side-to-side alignment was achieved and besides, you couldn't 3-point tune the original if you tried - 2 saddle bridges were replaced by 4 saddle bridges for a reason. I also had a set of small plate open-gear clovers (like on Fender Aerodynes) to replace the cheapo boxed-gear/small keys. Needed to drill the tiny tuner pole holes larger, but once done - much better looking and better working. Along with the size, the body is why it's so light - the wood is very soft and screw holes are easily stripped. But aside from that, the neck (1 piece maple w/skunk stripe) is like any other inexpensive maple neck - decent enough to adjust and play. So once 'hot-rodded', and after tweeking the neck and setting the action (new strings are ordered and on the way) - it sounds/plays like any good (ss) P-bass.

So to some disposable, but with a bit of TLC - a bass perfectly suited for keeping the flame alive in a young players heart!

 

[jd56hawk]

Cool...stories like this make my day!
Nice headstock.
What kind of strings?

 

[Moving Pictures]

That is awesome! Nice to see someone give life back to an instrument that was discarded and help a young player out.

 

[JIO]

Cool, stories like this make my day!
Nice headstock.
What kind of strings?

I got a set of light gauge (.045/.060/.075/.095) nickel plated GHS Boomers from bassstringsonline. I figured the ones on it were factory basic and Baby was ready for a nice new set of strings! Oh, and I put those white knobs on too - replacing the standard flat-top knurled chrome push-ons. It's actually a sweet little bass and definitely a 'real' instrument!

 

[pcake]

thanks for sharing - it's super what you did for your gf's niece and her first bass

 

[2saddleslab]

Great story, bet she loves it.

 

[JIO]

thanks for sharing - it's super what you did for your gf's niece and her first bass

It's fun and I know how one can become attached to their first bass - I wish I still had mine. And if someone could have done some adjusting to my first bass - well, it would have been a whole lot easier to play anyway! Even stock, a cheap bass today is far better than what we were playing in the late 60's that was affordable!

 

[BAG]

Well done!!!

Just because it didn't cost much doesn't mean it's useless.

 

[JIO]

Great story, bet she loves it.

I'm sure she will! I need to get the strings and install them before sending it back.

Well done!!!

Just because it didn't cost much doesn't mean it's useless.

exactly - at least in this case!

 

[Dr. Cheese]

Hopefully, the young bassist learns the value of repair and set up, there is nothing worse than buying a new bass when the problem is easily repairable.

 

[paranoid30]

Why don't you put flats on this one? She'd have two instruments with very different sounds, something that might push her to play both and just the new (better) one

 

[JIO]

Hopefully, the young bass learns the value of repair and set up, there is nothing worse than buying a new bass when the problem is easily repairable.

Next visit I'll do a once-over on her Jag and have her watch me do it. At least the Jag is adjustment-ready w/o need to change parts. They should never install 2 saddle bridges on any bass, unless you're going for the '51 P vibe and don't care much for a properly in-tuned bass!

 

[Obese Chess]

lots of stores like that up here in PDX, very odd to me. A local place is selling an otherwise near-mint Dyna Bass with a frozen truss rod for like $100. Why not take the time to fix it?

 

[JIO]

lots of stores like that up here in PDX, very odd to me. A local place is selling an otherwise near-mint Dyna Bass with a frozen truss rod for like $100. Why not take the time to fix it?

Well, minor adjustments are one thing, but a truss-rod replacement/repair is rather daunting to most people, even in the DIY crowd. The neck is where most of the business is on a bass and unless it's something straight-forward, it could be a deal-breaker unless practically free. I'd say it's your gain if it's something you're comfortable with repairing.

 

[JIO]

Why don't you put flats on this one? She'd have two instruments with very different sounds, something that might push her to play both and just the new (better) one

It was a thought - maybe I'll get a set in the interim and after she plays Baby awhile w/the fresh GHS set, I'll eventually set it up with the flats when we visit next. I wanted her to be able to hear the difference between her new P/J and a P before throwing in the tonal differences of rounds vs flats. A bit at a time you know.

 

[Donavan12]

My gf's niece is a young aspiring bass-player. Her parents started her out on a Squier Bronco Affinity series (CII). She is 5'2" (full height-so petite) and the bass is a very light 6 lb short-scale so it was a perfect starter bass for her. It developed a problem electronically and the store where it was purchased just refunded $200 and didn't want the bass back. Apparently to them it wasn't worth fixing and was disposable. They are in Portland and I'm in the bay area SF, so I found her a new Squier SS Jag P/J on-line for a good price and they ordered it for her. She's over the hump of it being a novelty and is serious about playing so it's a nice incentive to own/play a nicer instrument. Remember your second bass and how much better it was?

Anyway, I offered to get "Baby" (her name for the Bronco) working so she'd have a back-up and they shipped it to me. Turns out the ground wire on the jack was dislodged due to a loose nut - so an easy fix. Speaking of "crafted", the jack spun loose because it never had a lock-ring installed from the Indonesian factory. (!) After installing one and while I was at it, I looked through my bin and discovered I had some nice upgrade parts for Baby. The Bronco pu is a wht Strat pu (smooth cover/6 poles) and I had a Seymour Duncan Bassline single to install, which fit w/o modification. The Bronco bridge is a crappy 2 saddle "vintage" type which I removed and installed a standard bent-plate/threaded saddle Fender bridge. Better side-to-side alignment was achieved and besides, you couldn't 3-point tune the original if you tried - 2 saddle bridges were replaced by 4 saddle bridges for a reason. I also had a set of small plate open-gear clovers (like on Fender Aerodynes) to replace the cheapo boxed-gear/small keys. Needed to drill the tiny tuner pole holes larger, but once done - much better looking and better working. Along with the size, the body is why it's so light - the wood is very soft and screw holes are easily stripped. But aside from that, the neck (1 piece maple w/skunk stripe) is like any other inexpensive maple neck - decent enough to adjust and play. So once 'hot-rodded', and after tweeking the neck and setting the action (new strings are ordered and on the way) - it sounds/plays like any good (ss) P-bass.

So to some disposable, but with a bit of TLC - a bass perfectly suited for keeping the flame alive in a young players heart!


Looks way better with the elephant ear tuners! You can also throw on normal gauge strings and not be just limited to shortscale! I also bet that basslines pickup sounds killer! I would love to hear how the bass sounds!

My gf's niece is a young aspiring bass-player. Her parents started her out on a Squier Bronco Affinity series (CII). She is 5'2" (full height-so petite) and the bass is a very light 6 lb short-scale so it was a perfect starter bass for her. It developed a problem electronically and the store where it was purchased just refunded $200 and didn't want the bass back. Apparently to them it wasn't worth fixing and was disposable. They are in Portland and I'm in the bay area SF, so I found her a new Squier SS Jag P/J on-line for a good price and they ordered it for her. She's over the hump of it being a novelty and is serious about playing so it's a nice incentive to own/play a nicer instrument. Remember your second bass and how much better it was?

Anyway, I offered to get "Baby" (her name for the Bronco) working so she'd have a back-up and they shipped it to me. Turns out the ground wire on the jack was dislodged due to a loose nut - so an easy fix. Speaking of "crafted", the jack spun loose because it never had a lock-ring installed from the Indonesian factory. (!) After installing one and while I was at it, I looked through my bin and discovered I had some nice upgrade parts for Baby. The Bronco pu is a wht Strat pu (smooth cover/6 poles) and I had a Seymour Duncan Bassline single to install, which fit w/o modification. The Bronco bridge is a crappy 2 saddle "vintage" type which I removed and installed a standard bent-plate/threaded saddle Fender bridge. Better side-to-side alignment was achieved and besides, you couldn't 3-point tune the original if you tried - 2 saddle bridges were replaced by 4 saddle bridges for a reason. I also had a set of small plate open-gear clovers (like on Fender Aerodynes) to replace the cheapo boxed-gear/small keys. Needed to drill the tiny tuner pole holes larger, but once done - much better looking and better working. Along with the size, the body is why it's so light - the wood is very soft and screw holes are easily stripped. But aside from that, the neck (1 piece maple w/skunk stripe) is like any other inexpensive maple neck - decent enough to adjust and play. So once 'hot-rodded', and after tweeking the neck and setting the action (new strings are ordered and on the way) - it sounds/plays like any good (ss) P-bass.

So to some disposable, but with a bit of TLC - a bass perfectly suited for keeping the flame alive in a young players heart!

 

[Obese Chess]

Well, minor adjustments are one thing, but a truss-rod replacement/repair is rather daunting to most people, even in the DIY crowd. The neck is where most of the business is on a bass and unless it's something straight-forward, it could be a deal-breaker unless practically free. I'd say it's your gain if it's something you're comfortable with repairing.

Yeah, I dunno how bad it is, but like, worth a shot, you know?

 

[JIO]

Looks way better with the elephant ear tuners! You can also throw on normal gauge strings and not be just limited to shortscale! I also bet that basslines pickup sounds killer! I would love to hear how the bass sounds!

Yes, I take offense at cheap tuners - more than most other parts on any bass. (I'm weird like that!) I'll prefer open-gear tuners in every case - hands down. I also like tuners (like these) with straight barrel posts and clovers that taper into the shafts. (pops too - among my favorites!) Other than opening up the peg-holes, I needed to file the top edge of the back-plates slightly so they didn't overlap there. They work better and look like a 'proper' bass. And it sounds decent - if I played it at a gig (through a nice amp) for one song no one would be the wiser!

 

[Donavan12]

Yes, I take offense at cheap tuners - more than most other parts on any bass. (I'm weird like that!) I'll prefer open-gear tuners in every case - hands down. Other than opening up the peg-holes, I needed to file the top edge slightly so they didn't overlay there. They work better and look like a 'proper' bass.

Oh yeah, I never liked the bronco strictly because of the ugly pegs! It looks like a Fender Musicmaster now The bridge made me shy away too, wonder how a badass would sound on it rofl. Nice work, that's awesome. Now modify the Jaguar Shortscale(another nice bass, especially the neck)

 

[JIO]

Oh yeah, I never liked the bronco strictly because of the ugly pegs! It looks like a Fender Musicmaster now The bridge made me shy away too, wonder how a badass would sound on it rofl. Nice work, that's awesome. Now modify the Jaguar Shortscale(another nice bass, especially the neck)

I'll bet the Jag P/J is a pretty decent bass after a proper set-up. Maybe in a few years she'll want to mod it herself! (...or not!)