I have been sent a Squier Bronco for fixing the wiring and while checking it I found one of the magnets on the pickup broken, roughly below the A string. After swapping 1 pot and re-soldering everything the bass works but the sound is uneven, E & A are quite a bit lower volume than the D & G and there is irregular noise when played. Is that caused by that broken Magnet, in other words is a new pickup needed?
Yes On a more serious note, I’d say the noise and volume issues indicate a replacement may be in order. You can try examining the pickup further, try to assess if repair is possible, but at some point it becomes more cost-effective to just get a new pickup.
The pickups in the Bronco are just cheap stratocaster style singles not optimised for bass - for the amount of work you'd have to put into repairing the magnet you would be as well off buying a new one to replace it and still come out with an improvement in the sound . A lot of people I've seen talking about modded Broncos have used a generic hot-rails style pickup which eliminates most of the string balance issues.
Thanks, I will suggest a new pickup. Would you happen to know if the Seymour Duncan SCPB-2 would fit?
I put a dual rail strat pickup in my bronco and it sounded amazing. I paid $20 for new on eBay. Dragonfire Pickups out of Oregon.
I put a Lace Sensor Red in my 76 Fender Musicmaster, very happy with it. Very low mid forward which seems to fit very nicely in the mix
Well, there isn't much choice here, it's either the SD or the broken original PU remains in place But thanks!
I realize that this thread is a month old, but if you want an exact replacement pickup, I've got one laying around that I'll give you for free. Just cover my shipping, if interested.
Definitely go with a “strat” sized pickup... I can say that a ‘51 P style will not work without some modification, (longer as well as different string spacing)... For a Bronco, either a rail type on the cheap, or for a few more bucks, a Sentell... he winds Musicmaster replacement pickups that are fantastic. -robert
Thanks for the kind offer, I am still waiting to hear from the owner about how he wants me to proceed.
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