Any Squier Bronco fans / haters out there?

[project_c]

I've been looking at Broncos in my search for a Fender-ish shortie, and I think they look pretty nice.

I don't really see much difference between these and Musicmasters / Bullets / Mustangs (I know Mustangs have the 2 pickups and the old ones were all USA made, but it's *kind of* the same family of supposedly 'student / beginner' basses). Does anyone here have one? Do they feel cheap? How are the necks on them? How's the action & intonation? How's the hardware? Is there anything else wrong with them? Would you take one out on the road with you? I'm expecting the pickup to be basic at best, but that's an easy swap - other than that, what else is problematic? As someone who plays nothing USA Fenders, am I likely to find the difference huge? Tone-wise, I'm 100% dusty dead-string fingerstyle and it seems like these would cope with that fairly well.

 

[felis]

Not a hater, but I bought one and returned it. The plan was to replace the bridge, pickup, and tuners. I decided against it.

The bridge was problematic for me. I couldn't get it intonated finely enough for me. It works just fine for some people though.
The tone was better than I thought it would be. Can't really think of what to compare it to
Fit and finish was fine for a lowest end bass. The neck actually felt pretty good to me.
I don't have enough experience with pots to know if replacing them would improve it,
but I can't imagine that the quality is very good at that price.

 

[Gorn]

Great chunky neck. The rest is okay. Good (not great) for the money.

 

[khutch]

I'm not a Bronco hater and not a Bronco fan either. I just don't care for the look. Others do however and since you do too, go with their opinion!

I've tried a fair number of Squiers in stores and I own one, a Squier VI. In spite of what many Squier fans say here I have never had any trouble seeing why one would pay more for a MIM than a Squier and more for a MIA than a MIM. In spite of that Squiers tend to be quite nice instruments. My experience says that they are more likely than the Fender branded instruments to have defects of some kind but the majority of them do not have defects. So you take a little more risk if you buy one sight unseen but not a large risk and in fact that is how I bought my VI. My VI has two general issues. One is a poorly cut nut. This seems to be endemic to the Squier VI, they almost all have it so while it is hardly a feature it doesn't exactly seem to be a case of manufacturing variation either. They just make them that way even though they don't seem to do that on other models. And the issue is more cosmetic than functional because the basses play fine, the nut slots just have a lot of "chaff" left over from the slotting process. The other issue is really a family of issues that all devolve from the rocking bridge tremolo system used on the Jazzmaster family of instruments. From the greatest to the least members of the family the tremolo tends to drive its owners crazy. In the end it actually works well, it just takes a commitment on the part of the owner to learn the ropes and keep them adjusted. The VI has the additional problem that the standard bridge channel is not really wide enough to allow proper intonation with heavy gauge bass strings. Those who use light strings can squeak by with some adjustments. The rest of us? Well, I have a Staytrem wide channel replacement bridge on the way.... And that is the solution that many VI owners adopt, regardless of where their VI was made.

My opinion of Squier in general is that you are somewhat more encouraged to try before you buy than you would be with other Fender family instruments. That is not a hard and fast rule, I violated it with impunity when it came to my Squier. But certainly if you like what you see when you try one I see no reason to believe it would not serve you well for years to come just as you would expect from any other well made instrument.

 

[j0llysnowman]

I have one - also have a Mustang. I'm a huge fan of that body shape

Intonation is what you'd expect from a 2 saddle bridge. I was able to get it pretty close, though, and I can't hear much dissonance in a band setting. I like the feel of the satin neck. The fret ends could use some filing, and a slightly more precisely spaced nut would do some good. I shielded the cavity, and there's no buzz. I added a Musicmaster pickguard and Mustang RI clover tuners, both purely for looks; the stock tuners worked fine. Since I already have other basses, I decided to leave the stock pickup in there (though I did experiment with some humbuckers). The stock pup sounds just fine to me; obviously it has its own character and sounds different (slightly less bright) than the Mustang, but I'm not going to complain! I use this bass at band practice all time, and will bring it to a gig at some point.

For $150 new, throw in another $100 for mods of your choice, and you'll have a fun personalized bass. Just remember to appreciate the Bronco for what it is, and don't compare it to USA fenders that are literally ten times the price.

 

[project_c]

Thanks for the replies, interesting reading about the VI and all its' intricacies. I'm trying a bronco over the next few days, won't be buying it unseen.

Not a hater, but I bought one and returned it. The plan was to replace the bridge, pickup, and tuners. I decided against it.

The bridge was problematic for me. I couldn't get it intonated finely enough for me. It works just fine for some people though.
The tone was better than I thought it would be. Can't really think of what to compare it to
Fit and finish was fine for a lowest end bass. The neck actually felt pretty good to me.
I don't have enough experience with pots to know if replacing them would improve it,
but I can't imagine that the quality is very good at that price.

Hmm interesting, when you say you couldn't get it to intonate, how out of tune are we talking? I play up above the 12th all the time so I like it to be in tune, but I don't mind if it's a touch out. No more than a cent or 2 tho. Poor intonation would definitely be a problem for me (I can just play my fretless for that )

Great chunky neck. The rest is okay. Good (not great) for the money.

Would you be able to expand a bit on that? The neck is what most people mention as the best thing on these. I'm curious what you disliked about it though.

 

[Gorn]

Would you be able to expand a bit on that? The neck is what most people mention as the best thing on these. I'm curious what you disliked about it though.

I liked the front to back chunk on the neck. I didn't care for the sound of the pickup, not that it was bad. The bridge is fine. The tuners aren't very precise but function well enough. It's a fine bass for $150 new. Better for $80ish used.

 

[Ben B]

Since you are used to US Fenders, you may be somewhat disappointed in the current rendition of Squier bronco. I have played a few, but they just don't do it for me. They seem a little cheap quality-wise to me, both the wood and hardware. I guess for the price it's okay, but there are better non-Fender basses in the $100 - $200 price range. I liked an older rendition of the Squier shorty that I had tried some years back. Not sure if it was labeled a bullet or bronco. It may have been the Vista series. It seemed a little more solid and played better than the current bronco.

I also don't like to 70s-80s US made musicmasters. I think they are "meh" quality and playability. The price is ridiculous, but hey, it's a "vintage" Fender. If I was looking for a fender-ish shorty in this price range, I would go with the CIJ mustang hands down over the US musicmaster.

Somewhere in between... I have been wanting to try the Squier Mikey Way mustang, but I can't find any in stores. I would love to hear a comparison of them to the CIJ mustang.

Edit: I noticed you are in the UK. I'm not sure how prices vary between the used and new, so, my price range comparisons may not apply in your situation.

 

[project_c]

Since you are used to US Fenders, you may be somewhat disappointed in the current rendition of Squier bronco. I have played a few, but they just don't do it for me. They seem a little cheap quality-wise to me, both the wood and hardware. I guess for the price it's okay, but there are better non-Fender basses in the $100 - $200 price range. I liked an older rendition of the Squier shorty that I had tried some years back. Not sure if it was labeled a bullet or bronco. It may have been the Vista series. It seemed a little more solid and played better than the current bronco.

I also don't like to 70s-80s US made musicmasters. I think they are "meh" quality and playability. The price is ridiculous, but hey, it's a "vintage" Fender. If I was looking for a fender-ish shorty in this price range, I would go with the CIJ mustang hands down over the US musicmaster.

Somewhere in between... I have been wanting to try the Squier Mikey Way mustang, but I can't find any in stores. I would love to hear a comparison of them to the CIJ mustang.

Edit: I noticed you are in the UK. I'm not sure how prices vary between the used and new, so, my price range comparisons may not apply in your situation.

I have thought about the Mustang, but they are very rare in the UK at the moment, and the prices have gone crazy for the older ones. And finding one with a maple neck is virtually impossible. I was also looking at the Bullet shortie, but even those are going for silly prices - I saw one recently that had completely ruined frets, rusty, dirty, looked like it wasn't even playable, going for a similar price as a used 90s MIA P. Not sure if it actually sold for that price, but for just a bit more money you could pick up a brand new custom built short scale P which would be perfect.

So a big part of the appeal with the Bronco is the price, but then again, if it's junk then it's not worth bothering with at all, no matter how cheap it is.. I'm checking one out tomorrow, very curious to see what I'll think. In my head I'm expecting it to feel like a small P with a much thinner but nice tone, I wonder if it'll live up to that.

 

[DeliriumTremens]

Put a Duncan Invader in mine

 

[brianrost]

I never liked the original Musicmasters and don't like the Bronco either. Built down to a low price but skimping on important stuff like the pickup and bridge. There was a MIK Squier Musicmaster Vista back in the 90s and that was actually nice...so of course they stopped making it

The Mustang is the one to get if you want a short scale Fender.

 

[project_c]

Put a Duncan Invader in mine

Looks cool, can you explain how it has affected the tone?

I never liked the original Musicmasters and don't like the Bronco either. Built down to a low price but skimping on important stuff like the pickup and bridge. There was a MIK Squier Musicmaster Vista back in the 90s and that was actually nice...so of course they stopped making it

The Mustang is the one to get if you want a short scale Fender.

Thanks, do you think with a pickup upgrade and a bridge swap you could make this bass workable? I'm asking because a 70s Mustang costs around £1000 (around $1500 USD), whereas the bronco costs around a tenth of that, around £100 - the difference in price is huge.

 

[pie_man_25]

the only two differences between a bronco and a musicmaster are the pickguard and bridge. The pickguard has a different shape, and I think the bridge was a two-saddle. Other than that, basically the same bass. I don't personally care for the bass all that much, but people have liked them

 

[WhoSeyes]

Modding a Squier - Bronco? Cabronita? CaBronco!

CABRONCO
or
BRONCONITA

 

[project_c]

Modding a Squier - Bronco? Cabronita? CaBronco!

CABRONCO
or
BRONCONITA

love that! the bridge looks a little bit too wide but it looks awesome.

 

[twinjet]

I've been looking at Broncos in my search for a Fender-ish shortie, and I think they look pretty nice.

I don't really see much difference between these and Musicmasters / Bullets / Mustangs (I know Mustangs have the 2 pickups and the old ones were all USA made, but it's *kind of* the same family of supposedly 'student / beginner' basses). Does anyone here have one? Do they feel cheap? How are the necks on them? How's the action & intonation? How's the hardware? Is there anything else wrong with them? Would you take one out on the road with you? I'm expecting the pickup to be basic at best, but that's an easy swap - other than that, what else is problematic? As someone who plays nothing USA Fenders, am I likely to find the difference huge? Tone-wise, I'm 100% dusty dead-string fingerstyle and it seems like these would cope with that fairly well.

Played one, needed bandages after. Fret sprout bad enough to qualify that neck as a weapon.

Tone-wise, it's not what I expected. I was expecting a P sound, but got a weak representation of it. Aside from the fret sprout from Jigsaw, the neck felt OK. Electronics were pretty lame, but not scratchy at least. A bass not worth more than $50 to me.

 

[SanDiegoHarry]

I bought a used MIC sq bronco many years ago for my GF's son. It was serviceable, but felt like a baseball bat, was noisy as sin and the parts are *cheap*. It's a kids bass.

 

[pbass2]

I bought one for my son when he was about 8 years old to goof around with. 3 years later he has no interest in it, but I keep it around anyway in my studio. I've used it a few times just for kicks when I needed to do some kind of raw, lo-fi, intentionally raunchy track and it's kinda fun to use it instead of one of my nice basses. I haven't even bothered to really set it up. I've also taken it to gigs a few times as a backup, even leaving it in the car sometimes. If it got stolen no biggie. I do wonder if there's any mods worth making to it to make it a better bass, but honestly hardly seems worth it.

 

[project_c]

Hmm ok, some less favourable reviews there, thanks guys. Not loving the sound of those sprouting razor blades. I do like a lo-fi vibe but maybe I'm expecting way too much from this thing.

 

[Antisyzygy]

I've been looking at Broncos in my search for a Fender-ish shortie, and I think they look pretty nice.

I don't really see much difference between these and Musicmasters / Bullets / Mustangs (I know Mustangs have the 2 pickups and the old ones were all USA made, but it's *kind of* the same family of supposedly 'student / beginner' basses). Does anyone here have one? Do they feel cheap? How are the necks on them? How's the action & intonation? How's the hardware? Is there anything else wrong with them? Would you take one out on the road with you? I'm expecting the pickup to be basic at best, but that's an easy swap - other than that, what else is problematic? As someone who plays nothing USA Fenders, am I likely to find the difference huge? Tone-wise, I'm 100% dusty dead-string fingerstyle and it seems like these would cope with that fairly well.

The neck was the best part. The body aint bad, it's pickup route will fit a full sized humbucker and it's got shielded routes. The entire route is also big enough for a variety of control schemes.

Tuners are meh, so are the bridge and pickup. You can't intonate with that bridge as well as a four saddle one and the tuners are cheap. The pickup is actually a Strat or Mustang guitar pickup so the poles don't line up correctly under the strings.

They do make excellent mod platforms, but it's tough to find replacement tuners that will work without requiring you to widen the tuner holes, and you'll need to drill new holes if you want to install a better bridge.

For what it's worth, Schaller M4s or any analogues will work as replacement tuners without requiring you to widen the holes.

I'd recommend replacing the bridge with a vintage Fender threaded saddle one to let you get better intonation, as well as to get the string spacing correct. The string spacing on a Bronco is narrower than most Fenders so you need a bridge that can go narrower. That's the cheapest option I found but Hipshot makes a better bridge that would work, Hipshot .669 I think, and the Schaller roller bridge also works.

Most people replace the pickup with a Lace sensor or a Seymour Duncan rails. They work just fine, drop right in and sound good.

Here's one I modded (Series/parallel/split switch, volume, varitone, lipstick humbucker, custom pickguard, vintage threaded saddle bridge) :