Awesome, I love mine! These are beautiful basses. Glad you got one.
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Oh My! CME exclusive shell pink Squier Bronco
- Thread starter nasonm
- Start date
BTW I checked my Player Precision and it has in fact a 41.3mm nut. The Bronco is 40. The Mini P is 38 like a Jazz.
I'm now gassing for a Vintera P because it's more than 44mm at 1.75 inches. The bigger the better I guess.
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Thanks.
More info, and more recent reports, each are good to have.
IIRC, the Vintera P with the 1.75" nut is only the 50s model.
Last March, I bought the medium scale Ibanez bass which is currently in my avatar.
One reason was because it also has a 1.75" nut width - Roadster Model RS721 from 1981 or 82.
The P basses gradually became narrower at the nut, next I think was something like 42.8mm, so a 60s Vintera P [if they make/made one] should likely be like that.
EDIT : I just looked at Sweetwater, and they have no Fender P basses with a nut width in that range, so I might have been dreaming that last statement.
By the 70s [or maybe the 60s], I believe that we had reached what I called the 'Modern P' spec of 1+5/8" [1.625"] [~41.3mm].
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New vintage red tort pickguard to cure the morbid pallor:
And a new pickup to neutralize the single coil hum. I went for a cheap Artec alnico dual rail from eBay:
At first I wired the rail humbucker in series but it was too dark so today I rewired it in parallel and it's a bit clearer but still too muddy. I really prefer the tone of the stock pickup. Too bad about the hum.
What do you guys think?
And a new pickup to neutralize the single coil hum. I went for a cheap Artec alnico dual rail from eBay:
At first I wired the rail humbucker in series but it was too dark so today I rewired it in parallel and it's a bit clearer but still too muddy. I really prefer the tone of the stock pickup. Too bad about the hum.
What do you guys think?
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The pickguard change certainly worked wonders !
Someone in the Fender Mustang Club thread posted pics of doing the same to a limited edition new Mustang of that same colour scheme a few days ago, so I already had seen how yours would look.
It's kind of festive even.
About the pickup - I do not know of that brand, but suffice it to say that if you were willing to rout for something else, many P pickups would make sense and sound good, and some J if they are the correct aftermarket model, in each case for more money though.
There could also be a stacked coil model from Seymour Duncan, in a size which might fit as is, but I am only guessing on that.
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I don't have the tools and knowledge for routing and honestly I already two P basses so I'd like this Bronco to be its own thing.~
The pickguard change certainly worked wonders !
Someone in the Fender Mustang Club thread posted pics of doing the same to a limited edition new Mustang of that same colour scheme a few days ago, so I already had seen how yours would look.
It's kind of festive even.
About the pickup - I do not know of that brand, but suffice it to say that if you were willing to rout for something else, many P pickups would make sense and sound good, and some J if they are the correct aftermarket model, in each case for more money though.
There could also be a stacked coil model from Seymour Duncan, in a size which might fit as is, but I am only guessing on that.
~
No J pickups - not a fan of the sound
I went with this generic pickup because it's very cheap. 1/3 of the price of Dimarzios and 1/5 of Seymour Duncans. I guess you get what you pay for.
If you can find a pickup from a Badtz Maru Bronco, it's hotter than the regular Bronco stock pickup.I don't have the tools and knowledge for routing and honestly I already two P basses so I'd like this Bronco to be its own thing.
No J pickups - not a fan of the sound
I went with this generic pickup because it's very cheap. 1/3 of the price of Dimarzios and 1/5 of Seymour Duncans. I guess you get what you pay for.
Also, a Telecaster (guitar) neck pickup may fit, depending. Different Broncos have different pickup routings. Mine has a bathtub under the pickguard big enough to throw a Mudbucker into.
Another thing. Strings. When I first got my Bronco, it had roundwounds, and was an over-bright clang machine. I switched to GHS SS Precision Flats, and got it to a nice olde skoole thump. 90% (-ish) of your sound is your strings.
You ain't kiddin'!
I have a couple of stock Squier Jags, but each has different strings and they sound like a completely different bass.
I've no idea how useful or otherwise my saying this is, but....
When I was watching Johnny Marr talking about the changes made to his signature Jaguar, he was talking about how they added a high pass filter that, when turned on, only works when the two single coils are put in series, to deal with the same problem of unwanted darkness that you had.
I know about the strings. My Bronco still has the crappy light gauge Fender rounds and I only play flats. Maybe Chromes will liven it up. Too bad EB doesn't make cobalt flats for short scales.
The pickup is still dark in parallel and strangely enough it went from 12K in series to only 3K in parallel. And it almost sounds distorted. The stock pickup is much clearer but the single coil hum is a dealbreaker.
I'll leave it as for a while, maybe I'll learn to like it. It is a looker for sure.
~I don't have the tools and knowledge for routing, and honestly I already two P basses so I'd like this Bronco to be its own thing.
No J pickups - not a fan of the sound
I went with this generic pickup because it's very cheap. 1/3 of the price of Dimarzios and 1/5 of Seymour Duncans. I guess you get what you pay for.
Generally you do.
But not all J pickups sound the same. - It depends upon the resistance of the coil [or coils if it is a humbucker internally], which way they are wired if there are two [as you also noticed in your new pickup], the magnet material and structure, and a bunch of other factors.
Also, too many people judge a J pickup by how the one usually located next to the bridge sounds.
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Yes, it's pretty without a doubt !
- Maybe you should sell it to me. 
And hum IS a dealbreaker. - I hacked up the body of my brand new 1974 Ric 4001 rather early on, to try other pickups, to get rid of the hum, because I still liked its neck so much [rather than getting a different bass - I had a P just before the Ric].
The coil resistance as you described it did exactly what it should, obeying Ohm's Law.
Based upon what you said, that pickup has two 6K coils.
In series they will add, making 12K.
In parallel, they will divide by the number of coils [if identical to each other], making 3K.
I suggest that you shop for strings next, and another set to consider is GHS Brite Flats, which are ground flat like D'Addario Half Rounds, but I like the GHS better, especially for short scale, as they are not as light of a gauge in short [and medium] scale, which will match a short scale bass better and not flop around with inconsistent pitch.
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I was going to say more like 70%, but yes, strings matter more than just about everything else, maybe except pickup hum, in MY book.
If it hums, gotta deal with that immediately or sooner.
Schnell !
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Helpful as always. Cheers!~
Generally you do.
But not all J pickups sound the same. - It depends upon the resistance of the coil [or coils if it is a humbucker internally], which way they are wired if there are two [as you also noticed in your new pickup], the magnet material and structure, and a bunch of other factors.
Also, too many people judge a J pickup by how the one usually located next to the bridge sounds.
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Yes, it's pretty without a doubt !
And hum IS a dealbreaker. - I hacked up the body of my brand new 1974 Ric 4001 rather early on, to try other pickups, to get rid of the hum, because I still liked its neck so much.
The coil resistance as you described it did exactly what it should, obeying Ohm's Law.
Based upon what you said, that pickup has two 6K coils.
In series they will add, making 12K.
In parallel, they will divide by the number of coils [if identical to each other], making 3K.
I suggest that you shop for strings next, and another set to consider is GHS Brite Flats, which are ground flat like D'Addario Half Rounds, but I like the GHS better, especially for short scale, as they are not as light of a gauge in short [and medium] scale, which will match a short scale bass better and not flop around with inconsistent pitch.
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I am a big fan of Lace Sensor Pickups. You get a broad palette of sounds, from Gold being very bright to Red being the most powerful. SingleCoil sound and clarity with nearly no hum.
As Volker writes, strings are really important. I like dAddario Tapewounds and prefer them to chrome flatwounds.
I've looked for Lace Sensors. So far I've only found a couple of dodgy used ones (pass) and sets of 3 for Strats. I'll keep looking but they are expensive.
I'd love to try tapewounds! This set? ETB92S Tapewound | Bass Guitar Strings | D'Addario
I used a dual rail Dragonfire Strat Pickup from eBay it was $20 and sounded great.I don't have the tools and knowledge for routing and honestly I already two P basses so I'd like this Bronco to be its own thing.
No J pickups - not a fan of the sound
I went with this generic pickup because it's very cheap. 1/3 of the price of Dimarzios and 1/5 of Seymour Duncans. I guess you get what you pay for.
I've heard of these. Not available right now plus I'm in Europe, shipping is already expensive from the UK, where everything seems to be located these days.
Yes. I prefer them to LaBellas, which seem to be slightly brighter and less round to me.
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