Did the search.... I really don't want to dig through the mountain of results. I just have some quick questions:
Picked one up for $90 to-my-door. Love it. Has become my goto for the past couple of weeks.
My questions are simple. What's the most popular mod, and why? I really don't see a reason to do anything to mine, but with sooo many topics and posts about them, I figured there has to be something to them that can be improved. I'm not someone who has really been an instrument guy. I've been playing my Ibby sr800 (1991) since I bought it new, and haven't modded it, or even been interested in anything else since. Got the Bronco as an impulse buy. So what gives? Are they just a good platform for guys that like to tinker, or are they diamonds that really shine with mods?
They have really nice necks and bodies for the price. I can't find anything wrong with my Bronco's neck, and the finish was flawless on the agathis body. Agathis isn't a bad wood either.
These instruments have cheap tuners, cheap electronics/pickup, and a cheap bridge. Those are the most common thing to replace.
The cheapest/easiest replacement tuners I've found are Ping tuners. However you have to be sure that the tuners fit in a 12mm bore if you don't want to ream out the holes to be larger.
The cheapest/easiest replacement bridge is a vintage style threaded saddle bridge. You might be able to use those "Wilkinson Telecaster Bass Swivel Saddles" though for another upgrade path where you don't have to redrill the bridge mounting holes.
The cheapest good replacement pickups are going to be some sort of GFS rail, but a common upgrade is a Seymour Duncan Cool Rails. People upgrade to strat-sized rails pickups because they are hum-cancelling (the stock pickup in a Bronco is not), they
drop right in without needing to modify the pickguard, and they also have a better bass sound to some people's ears.
The Bronco pickup is actually a Mustang or Strat pickup with 6 pole pieces, so the poles don't exactly line up under the strings with the stock pickup. A rail solves that problem. You can also replace the pickup with a Lipstick pickup to solve the unaligned pole-pieces problem if you don't care about hum-cancelling. The route under the pickguard will accommodate a full sized humbucker though so you have options.
Yet another "drop in" option is to use an aftermarket boutique pickup made for MusicMaster basses. Check out "Sentell Pickups" for a reasonable priced single coil Musicmaster pickup that should work in a Bronco.
Tuners are about 40$, Bridge replacement (or saddles) is about 40$, and you can get the pickup for about 30-60$.
Here's my Modded bronco, but it's not finished yet :
I'll have about 180 dollars in this bass when I'm done because the pickguard was a custom order.
What it's got :
1. GFS Pro-tube Lipstick Humbucker
2. Series/Parallel/Split switch
3. Upgraded Electronics (Pots/Capacitor)
4. Custom pickguard
I'm adding :
1. Vintage threaded saddles
2. Ping Tuners
3. No-load tone pot
