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Squier Bronco Modification

milothefultz

milothefultz

Nov 29, 2008
176
9
Portland, OR
www.milofultz.com
#1
So I got a Squier Bronco and realized my hatred for it.

- 1 guitar pickup (I thought people were joking when they said that)
- Unintonatable neck
- Crappy two-per-screw tele-style bridge
- Awful tuners
- Terrible electronics

I understood that a lot of stuff on the bass would be horrendous, but really? A guitar pickup? Anyways, long story short, I want to mod it into a bass to play with heavy power trio stuff. So this is my idea:

- In lieu of the guitar pickup, I want to put a 4-lead hot rail pickup in it with a coil-split configuration and a passive switchable overdrive inside. I was going with the rails to get away with any string spacing and the fact that it's a bass.
- A short scale block inlay neck from SX basses is $30-$50. Enough said.
- New bridge. Don't know quite what to do here. Will I need a special bridge for a short scale bass? or for this bass in particular?
- Change tuners, that's easy, but any recommendations?
- Resolder in a coil-split switch and an passive overdrive knob (a la Black Ice™). Also drill new output jack slot on the outside and find something to put in the extra knob space.

Sound good? Any recommendations? Anything I could do wrong that I shouldn't? Anybody tried this before? Am I just polishing a turd here? Do I sound stupid?
 
#2
milothefultz said:
So I got a Squier Bronco and realized my hatred for it.

- 1 guitar pickup (I thought people were joking when they said that)
- Unintonatable neck
- Crappy two-per-screw tele-style bridge
- Awful tuners
- Terrible electronics

I understood that a lot of stuff on the bass would be horrendous, but really? A guitar pickup? Anyways, long story short, I want to mod it into a bass to play with heavy power trio stuff. So this is my idea:

- In lieu of the guitar pickup, I want to put a 4-lead hot rail pickup in it with a coil-split configuration and a passive switchable overdrive inside. I was going with the rails to get away with any string spacing and the fact that it's a bass.
- A short scale block inlay neck from SX basses is $30-$50. Enough said.
- New bridge. Don't know quite what to do here. Will I need a special bridge for a short scale bass? or for this bass in particular?
- Change tuners, that's easy, but any recommendations?
- Resolder in a coil-split switch and an passive overdrive knob (a la Black Ice™). Also drill new output jack slot on the outside and find something to put in the extra knob space.

Sound good? Any recommendations? Anything I could do wrong that I shouldn't? Anybody tried this before? Am I just polishing a turd here? Do I sound stupid?
Click to expand...


Everything that you want to do should be quite an improvement. Just be sure that the SX neck will fit the neck pocket and that it has the same scale. go to guitarpartsresource for a new mustang bridge as each saddle is individually adjustable.
 
#5
I'm in the process of modding a bronco bass right now, so I know the utter dissappointment those things are. first off, I don't think that the sx necks will fit in the bronco neck pocket. I have a short scale body that will snuggly take a full scale neck, so you're going to have problems getting that to work. Yes you are just polishing a turd, but worst case scenario, you can just take the parts you put into it and install them into your next bass and not have to worry about it! make that turd shine!

bobs
 
#6
I'm all for modding a bass that you really like in most ways, and tweaking a couple of things to make it better. But given how many things the OP dislikes about this one, it would have to be virtually rebuilt from scratch. In that case, I say, just get a different bass. (Unless, of course, he digs the idea of building his own unique Frankenbass -- that can be cool too if you're into it.)

In other words, it's worth polishing a turd if the only problem with the turd was that it didn't shine. Hey, I like a good turd as much as the next guy, but not when what I really want is a cheesecake.

Um, anyone wanna abuse this metaphor a little more?
 
#7
Thanks for your responses, guys!

Lobster11 - First off, great avatar.

Second, I like the Frankenbass idea a lot, so modification just sounds fun to do.

xaosbass - Just measured the Bronco neck's dimensions, and I got 2 3/16". The SX neck says 2 7/16". Is that an amount that I could remove to make room for the neck to fit into the pocket (i.e. sand down sides of neck pocket)?

Here's the neck and a link:

necksjmb1.jpg


Thanks for the bridge link, as well! I will use that for sure.

Any more ideas?
 
#8
milothefultz said:
Thanks for your responses, guys!

Lobster11 - First off, great avatar.

Second, I like the Frankenbass idea a lot, so modification just sounds fun to do.

xaosbass - Just measured the Bronco neck's dimensions, and I got 2 3/16". The SX neck says 2 7/16". Is that an amount that I could remove to make room for the neck to fit into the pocket (i.e. sand down sides of neck pocket)?

Here's the neck and a link:

necksjmb1.jpg
Click to expand...

You'll have to exercise a little skill there, but I see no reason that you can't make the neck fit with some tools and time.

Draw (Trace) the neck pocket outline on the body and transfer it to the butt of the neck on the back-side. Take it to a disc-sander, a bench-type, and just work it / fit it / work it... until it's a nice snug fit.

You'll have to make sure the neck is square/straight to the body, so it's going to require a little creativity to get that relationship together as you go. But you sound like you're up to the process!

I just got a Bronco as a teaching bass for a young kid in my neighborhood. Sounds like doo-doo, but it'll doo the job I guess. :smug:

Maybe I'll get around to a nice mod. I thought of sticking a Model-One pickup in it. I'd have to set it at an angle to the strings I guess... but it's a great pickup and would probably make a decent improvement.

Go get 'em mang! Post photos when you're done! :hyper:
 
#9
I have a bone stock Bronco that works just fine as a gig bass. I strung it with flats and it sounds very much like my '51 RI single coil P bass which ain't too shabby.

I've modded several Broncos just to see what could be done with them. The stock "guitar pickup" isn't a problem at all. If you were to use EMG mag field viewing paper just under the strings it would reveal a contiguous mag field that looks like that of a single rail style pickup.

However, if you want change the pickup an EMG SA (for a Strat) requires only a little modification of the pickup slot in the pickguard. I had an SA laying around so I used it in a Bronco for a while and it works very well and is virtually noiseless but I found I prefer the tone of the OEM pickup.

Good luck with that SX neck, not only is it wider than the Bronco neck, it's a 21 fret neck compared to the 19 frets of the Bronco so it looks like either the neckpocket will have to be extended further into the body or the bridge relocated for proper intonation. Also the neck heel is shorter on the SX neck so that may require further modification to the Bronco body.

I found a Mustang RI neck fits the Bronco neckpocket nicely though it's a very slightly looser fit.
 
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#10
The Mustang bridge is for through body stringing only.

You'd either need to drill holes in the bridge, or route the bass for string through.

I believe the Musicmaster bridge has the same deal...
 
#12
You know, it's been a while since I've looked into this thread... but I've played the Bronco a bit since, both plugged and un-plugged. The dang thing sounds pretty cool- I was a little jumpy there in my early asessment. Feel just this side of stupid now. :hmm:

Okay I'm over it. :)

I think that rather than spend precious $$ on bridges and pickups for my "hobby-bass", I'm going to try Mongo's angle and throw some flats on the little guy. If it works out maybe I'll get a nice water-slide pin-up girlie sticker for it...

Intonation does bug me a bit, but maybe flats and the short scale will help dim that aspect enough to make it work. Hey, it's not an Alembic!
 
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