N(U)BD: Squier Bronco

Hello everybody, didn't post here for a long while...
Had a little spare time recently (for obvious reasons ) so decided to go back to my past bass hobby!

Picked this Bronco cheap, 3 weeks ago, let it "quarantine" for two weeks and now have it played daily for one week.
It's my second short scale ever, the previous one was a Gibson LP Jr DC that I had to send back a month ago to the store because of delaminating fingerboard... it's a shame because it sounded wonderfully!

Because of carpal tunnel situation I'm trying to limit myself to the shorties now so searched for a new one and finally got this Bronco, for 8 times less money than the Gibson...

You've seen it maybe thousand times already but I'll post my photos anyway because why not!

Solo

or with my another cheap thing:


I was even able to almost properly intonate this bridge:

 

Decided to put GHS Brite Flats (shortscale) on it - never had them before, my first time. I was kinda surprised those aren't flatwounds but grounded down roundwounds. I did try the bass with D'addario Half-rounds just before, and the GHS' have much less zing even when new. They tried to emulate flats apparently, not sure yet this is a good idea. Still lots of noise gliding along the strings and they're rather grabby and not smooth... Also, too much difference in sound between the strings - the G is rather bright and E rather dull. We'll see how all this changes over time, I learned to not judge strings on the first day...
Pretty silks, I'd say "lake placid blue":

 

Cool, I'm planning to do something to the stock pickup too.
It has decent sound actually, but being a single coil it picks up all the electrical noises flying around, and especially computer noise that's bothering me the most.

I recorded two covers yesterday and today - be nice I'm a bit rusty yet

New great song from Vulfpeck - "3 on E"!No, I can't move as much as Joe Dart, my head and hands will fall off


Old great tune from The Meters, "Funky Miracle" (man, this thing is hard to play well, still trying but failing!)

 

Not satisfied with this one, oh well. At least you can hear the bass.

 

Maybe in 20 years when my strings go bad

By the way, the Brite flats start to settle down nicely after 2 weeks of playing 1 to 2 hours a day. The G string is still too bright but looses its highs progressively. I'll see how it all goes.

 

Another The Meters cover

 

So far very happy with this bass but I still want it to be better

Maybe the most limiting part of this bass is the single coil pickup that picks up lots of electric noise. So I decided to add another single coil in the bridge position - yes, great logic I know

Like the original one, the second pickup will also be of a regular "strat" type but with a reversed polarity like in a Jazz Bass, so the hum cancels out with both pickups at the same level. Don't think this kind of upgrade qualifies for the "Luthiers Corner", I'll just post the mod steps here.

So this is the idea of how it'll look at the end:


I cannibalized my Squier Affinity Strat for that (I don't ever play this guitar, so...)

 

Already made a routing template, will try to route the pickup cavity tomorrow

 

Well well, if this isn't a good surprise!

While routing, I was surprised by a very familiar smell, and lo and behold - do you see what I see here?
This wood 100% looks (and smells ) like ash!

 

Ash on a Squier Bronco? How did that happen - no idea, but I'm ok with that

 

2014
ICS14084216

 

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