Any Squier Bronco fans / haters out there?

[blue4]

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.

I've had one for years, no fret sprout. I replaced the pickup other than that it's a decent bass. But I will say that other short scales in that general price range are better. There was no Jaguar available when I bought mine, no $179 ash bodied jazz bass from SX, etc.

 

[gln1955]

It's still listed at fender.com along with the MIM Pawn Shop version.

I got one of the last CIJ Mustangs available from any online retailer in February of 2015. Too bad, because this was the best short scale Fender ever made.

 

[Bassmaticmatt]

I picked mine up at a pawn shop for $70 put a cheap eBay hotrail in it and it is pretty sweet. Dissent get played a ton because it has 5 siblings.

 

[39-Bassist]

Why not get a early 80's 3/4 scale P-bass...great playability, balance an tone....Fender/Squier great quality. Just another thought.

 

[Duder]

I got one of the last CIJ Mustangs available from any online retailer in February of 2015. Too bad, because this was the best short scale Fender ever made.

Lucky son of a gun. There's still one listed on the Ed Roman site, but no button to buy it.

 

[Antisyzygy]

Unfortunately, mine is red, and it's not really a particularly nice red. Has a white guard now, but maybe pearl white would class it up a notch. Hmmm, might be a fun project. How would you describe the sound with that pickup?

It was pretty scooped in single coil or parallel, a bit more compressed in parallel, but the series mode was very P-bass like. I liked the single coil sound the best I think, had some extra brightness to it but wasn't lacking any bottom-end.

 

[Ric5]

I love the Broncos

oh ...

wait a minute ...

you are talking about basses ...

 

[Molochnik]

I've bought two. One is still a Bronco, but modified. The other became a donor for a telecaster bass project. My local GC always has at least one in stock, and when I set out to buy mine (a couple years apart) I tried out what they had in the store, and either bought or passed.
As mentioned earlier, some necks feel like a saw blade, but some are buttery smooth. The pots were not so hot, and the solder joints looked pretty bad too. My first one was awfully noisy, and re-flowing the solder helped quite a bit.
The bridge is good enough, for me. The tuners are too. The stock strings suuuuuuuuuuuck. I looked at one hanging on the wall at GC and they were actually rusty.
IMHO, if you find a good one, tossing in a DiMarzio BC-2, going over the solder joints, and a good set of strings will give you a nice player.

 

[NoBlackTShirts]

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.

Haven't you gotten the memo? When you say, "There are better....", you have to say, like, what. Otherwise you're just blowing smoke.

 

[NoBlackTShirts]

I've extensively violated every guitar and bass I've owned since 1966, but this Bronco is going to be my first "don't touch it" instrument. I tried a "better" pickup and it was worse. I'm going to leave this one just the way it is, and I'm going to play it because it is extremely enjoyable just the way that it is.

Incidentally, there are ones out there that aren't so nice as mine -- I briefly owned one like that. You have to find a nice one and let it be and you will be happy.

 

[Antisyzygy]

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.

The pickup is a single coil and pretty narrow. I wouldn't think it would be P-like. The width of a pickup affects tone.

That bad fretwork is to be expected on cheap basses like that. Some are worse than others as there will be some variance around a average quality level, you gotta shop around some for the right one. For what it's worth my former Bronco didn't have fret problems like that.

What was nice about the bass was the neck and body, perfect mod platform for the money (where else are you going to get a short scale neck and body for that much?). They cheaped out super hard on the pickup, tuners and bridge.

 

[ponticat]

I stole the colorscheme from another person on Talkbass, but I don't remember their username right now.

So...that's where my color scheme went.

 

[El Pelusa]

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.

Broncos are a great mod platform. After a pickup change it a pretty solid bass. I play mine as my main gigging and studio bass.

I love it

 

[Molochnik]

So...that's where my color scheme went.

[/

QUOTE]

Quarter Pounders are sweet. I put one near the bridge on my Bronco; love it

 

[project_c]

Why not get a early 80's 3/4 scale P-bass...great playability, balance an tone....Fender/Squier great quality. Just another thought.

I would love to! Where do I find one though?? Especially in the UK..

I've bought two. One is still a Bronco, but modified. The other became a donor for a telecaster bass project. My local GC always has at least one in stock, and when I set out to buy mine (a couple years apart) I tried out what they had in the store, and either bought or passed.
As mentioned earlier, some necks feel like a saw blade, but some are buttery smooth. The pots were not so hot, and the solder joints looked pretty bad too. My first one was awfully noisy, and re-flowing the solder helped quite a bit.
The bridge is good enough, for me. The tuners are too. The stock strings suuuuuuuuuuuck. I looked at one hanging on the wall at GC and they were actually rusty.
IMHO, if you find a good one, tossing in a DiMarzio BC-2, going over the solder joints, and a good set of strings will give you a nice player.

I've extensively violated every guitar and bass I've owned since 1966, but this Bronco is going to be my first "don't touch it" instrument. I tried a "better" pickup and it was worse. I'm going to leave this one just the way it is, and I'm going to play it because it is extremely enjoyable just the way that it is.

Incidentally, there are ones out there that aren't so nice as mine -- I briefly owned one like that. You have to find a nice one and let it be and you will be happy.

Well, I tried one today, and unfortunately it was not a good one. The action was horrible and the intonation was way out, which made a bad first impression. And yes, those stock strings were 2 years old and they were absolutely horrible. So not a good start, but I could have lived with those things. However, the bass was surprisingly heavy, and in fact it was very neck heavy. The neck itself was covered in scratches, but the fretwork was fine, no sprout at all. The tone was probably the worst thing about it - the weakest, most nondescript tone I've heard in a long time. Not even close to the Bronco tone I heard on a YT video. So I guess it was one of the bad ones. Like any bass, I'm sure it could be made to be a decent player, but the combination of all these things made me decide against it.

The modded Broncos in this thread are great on the other hand!

 

[miner]

So...that's where my color scheme went.

Yep I copied yours! It looked too good hahaha

 

[Pilgrim]

I've never had trouble intonating my Bronco, and I bought it with the intention of trying different pickups. I settled on thie one in this photo, from a Gretsch 2202. it's a TV Jones design.

This is a pretty sweet bass. light, nice 30" scale, sounds BIG with the Gretsch pickup and Labella Deep Talkin' Flats. The two-saddle intonates fine for me.

 

[Bugeyed Earl]

I would love to! Where do I find one though?? Especially in the UK..





Well, I tried one today, and unfortunately it was not a good one. The action was horrible and the intonation was way out, which made a bad first impression. And yes, those stock strings were 2 years old and they were absolutely horrible. So not a good start, but I could have lived with those things. However, the bass was surprisingly heavy, and in fact it was very neck heavy. The neck itself was covered in scratches, but the fretwork was fine, no sprout at all. The tone was probably the worst thing about it - the weakest, most nondescript tone I've heard in a long time. Not even close to the Bronco tone I heard on a YT video. So I guess it was one of the bad ones. Like any bass, I'm sure it could be made to be a decent player, but the combination of all these things made me decide against it.

The modded Broncos in this thread are great on the other hand!

I'm not surprised to hear that the tone was weak, but the weight issue is odd, the Broncos I've seen (as well as the other short scale Fenders) were lightweight and very well balanced. I wonder if the body was unusually light, or it had non-stock tuners? I guess the latter is unlikely if it had the stock strings...

 

[NoBlackTShirts]

I'm not surprised to hear that the tone was weak, but the weight issue is odd, the Broncos I've seen (as well as the other short scale Fenders) were lightweight and very well balanced. I wonder if the body was unusually light, or it had non-stock tuners? I guess the latter is unlikely if it had the stock strings...

The one that I had that I didn't like was heavier than a cinderblock. I don't know what they did to it to make it that heavy. Yes, it was mint new factory original.

 

[Duder]

The one that I had that I didn't like was heavier than a cinderblock. I don't know what they did to it to make it that heavy. Yes, it was mint new factory original.

The one I tried recently was heavier than the Matt Freeman sig I tried right after it.

 

[Fendermtlbass]

I just acquired one recently and completely refinished it and upgraded all the hardware. I have a b style hipshot bridge, 3/8 hipshot tuners and a cool rails Seymour Duncan strat pickup. It sounds amazing.