So I went to GC today and played a Bronco. From where I'm sitting, it's a better instrument. I'll do a comparison with my SX (which is the second, and better, of the two SXes I've owned):
Neck: on the Bronco was as you'd want it to be on any guitar. Straight, action was pretty good, not set in too high or too low (and I'm willing to bet the neck pocket on the body is MUCH nicer than the SXes - have you ever seen one on an SX?
). The truss rod nut was easily accessible and seemed to be 'happy'. No nuclear orange tint! Fretwork is the only thing I'm concerned about with the Bronco. I'm not sure the notes are all that accurate. I'm going back tomorrow with my ST-200 strobe tuner.
On my SX, the neck fought me the whole way when trying to tighten the truss rod. The nut seems to be 'set in' to the wood, making it very hard to access and probably impossible to remove without surgery. I had to shim the neck to get the action I wanted, and the fretboard is still uneven in a number of ways. The nut was also inferior - the Bronco's seemed functional and healthy, whereas on my SX it needed work (too low on the D and G). Tuners seem cheap on both, although the Bronco hardly needed tuning right off the rack at GC, whereas every time I pick up my SX it's significantly out of tune. Go figure.
- Body: The Bronco sits better on my knee than my SX ss jazz and, I believe, has less neck dive (I'll also investigate this tomorrow - showed up 10 min. before GC closed). The pickup is snug in the pickguard and well aligned (whereas the pups in my SX jazz are completely caddywompuss - all four screws for each pickup are in at their own angle, making proper adjustment difficult. The pups seem to be fighting the pickguard, which seems to have been cut by a different company and then retrofitted). The SX does win on finish and bridge, which are both superior to the Bronco. The wood is also nicer, I believe. Pups-wise, I dunno, people seem to love stock SX tone, but I found it to be merely ok. I replaced the stock pups on mine soon after I got it cuz they were too noisy.
Final verdict: at the end of this cursory comparison, I'd choose the Bronco off the rack in terms of QC. The bits on the SX as a whole seem higher in quality of raw materials, but SO poorly put together! Again, the SX in question is by FAR a better instrument than the previous SX I owned, which I sent back after a few days. It was unplayable. For modability, the SX wins - more standard pickup and bridge options by far! However, I found the Bronco to be consistently better manufactured in every way I could measure: the Squier CNC machines seem to be doing their job. Who knows how SXes are made? Monkeys with chisels?
More to come tomorrow!
Neck: on the Bronco was as you'd want it to be on any guitar. Straight, action was pretty good, not set in too high or too low (and I'm willing to bet the neck pocket on the body is MUCH nicer than the SXes - have you ever seen one on an SX?
). The truss rod nut was easily accessible and seemed to be 'happy'. No nuclear orange tint! Fretwork is the only thing I'm concerned about with the Bronco. I'm not sure the notes are all that accurate. I'm going back tomorrow with my ST-200 strobe tuner.On my SX, the neck fought me the whole way when trying to tighten the truss rod. The nut seems to be 'set in' to the wood, making it very hard to access and probably impossible to remove without surgery. I had to shim the neck to get the action I wanted, and the fretboard is still uneven in a number of ways. The nut was also inferior - the Bronco's seemed functional and healthy, whereas on my SX it needed work (too low on the D and G). Tuners seem cheap on both, although the Bronco hardly needed tuning right off the rack at GC, whereas every time I pick up my SX it's significantly out of tune. Go figure.
- Body: The Bronco sits better on my knee than my SX ss jazz and, I believe, has less neck dive (I'll also investigate this tomorrow - showed up 10 min. before GC closed). The pickup is snug in the pickguard and well aligned (whereas the pups in my SX jazz are completely caddywompuss - all four screws for each pickup are in at their own angle, making proper adjustment difficult. The pups seem to be fighting the pickguard, which seems to have been cut by a different company and then retrofitted). The SX does win on finish and bridge, which are both superior to the Bronco. The wood is also nicer, I believe. Pups-wise, I dunno, people seem to love stock SX tone, but I found it to be merely ok. I replaced the stock pups on mine soon after I got it cuz they were too noisy.
Final verdict: at the end of this cursory comparison, I'd choose the Bronco off the rack in terms of QC. The bits on the SX as a whole seem higher in quality of raw materials, but SO poorly put together! Again, the SX in question is by FAR a better instrument than the previous SX I owned, which I sent back after a few days. It was unplayable. For modability, the SX wins - more standard pickup and bridge options by far! However, I found the Bronco to be consistently better manufactured in every way I could measure: the Squier CNC machines seem to be doing their job. Who knows how SXes are made? Monkeys with chisels?
More to come tomorrow!
