Squier Bronco Bass Mods

[TIMDETROIT]

Hello all and Happy New Year 2020! I sold my Bronco years ago but have decided to repurchase a used red one and mod it. I need your assistance!
Black pickguard...where to buy cheap. Reverb $38.
Direct fit pickup, Hi gain, hummer OK. What worked 4U?
4 saddle bridge...What is saddle spacing? I don't see a replacement anywhere. Anyone try a Mustang bridge and drill new holes? No high mass.
Pictures would be appreciated of you mods. There' nothing on YouTube without a bunch of hacking, no bridge brands given.
Thanx again...No YOU Rock!

 

[TIMDETROIT]

String spacing on Bronco 2 saddle bridge is 2"/51mm from E to G. MusicMaster bridge, same shape, is 2 1/16"/52.4mm. I can live with that extra 0.5mm per string. Now, gotta find one. Hope this info useful to others. Decided to paint the pickguard matte black, not spending $40 for a $15 item. Best of luck!

 

[P_Dubby]

Pickup? I just got a red Bronco today. Fun little bass, but definitely needs a new pickup.

 

[WI Short Scaler]

So maybe I have some info to assist you.

I just assembled a Bronco from pieces I bought on TB from the classifieds.

I picked up a neck from one sale, and a loaded body from another. The bass was originally black and has been repainted in Sonic blue. The bridge and pickup were upped with the following.

Hipshot (17mm) aluminum bridge, same spacing as my Musicmasters
Nordstrand (custom 17mm) '51 split-coil pup

All I had to do was a little trimming/shaving on the pickguard in the neck pocket and I was able to slap it together and set it up.

There's a few threads about the Bronco's in the "basses" forum on here too. Lots of options and things people have done, a lot more involved than mine, like this

surprisingly, my bronco...

Like my Musicmaster's, I think it's a fun little bass.

 

[wunnorf]

My two Broncos

 

[Joel T]

Hello friends, I bought a Bronco Bass back in 2019, made in the same year I bought it. I purchased the bass at a local music store here in New Jersey. I got a black and white Bronco Bass. As I played the bass, it felt relatively comfortable for a short-scale bass. However, the humming sound while playing in a concert has gotten my attention. So this was my plan, get some hot-rail pickups to kill the excessive buzzing and humming noises while not playing a note. It was early 2020, entering the rough invasion of the coronavirus, aka COVID-19. I had to abandon the modification project for months. The local music store closed for a while as I also had to take care of my health as the pandemic continued. Eventually, last Spring, I was able to have the guitar tech at the music store finish off my modifications, mainly to replace the old pickup with the Korean-made hot-rails I ordered back in early 2020. I also bought new strings and a new pickguard that has a different hole shape to fit the hot-rail pickup. Overall, I was satisfied with the bass sound quality. I had more bass boost than the stock with the buzzing hums cancelled out. It was a cheap-but-awesome upgrade overall in terms of the pickups. I also loaded Stratocaster-style volume and tone knobs as I lost the original ones. I have played in recent gigs with this bass using a Direct Input pedal. It sounded great while jamming with my buddies on stage. And I spent under $30 for those hot-rails. It felt like a good steal. Well, here's the photo of the epic project. I've considered a fretless conversion in the future to hear how it would sound. Hope you slap like on it!

 

[mongo2]

I modded these a bit...

Since that picture was taken I replaced the neck and bridge on the top one with a Hofner Icon neck and a Wilkinson 3D bridge and an inexpensive no name dual rail Strat pickkup from Amazon...it's not very pretty but it plays and sounds great.

 

[Joel T]

My Squier Bronco Bass is now fretless. I had the fretless conversion project finished this week. I took this bass to a local Sam Ash music store as their guitar tech did a beautiful fretless conversion on the neck part. I played around with this bass, and it sounded beautiful!

To the guitar tech,
Excellent work! Thank you very much!