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Squiers' Playability: Bronco bass VS Jaguar SS

#21
The three SS Squier options are all great deals for the price. Cant really go wrong with any of them, in fact I have all three (well, actually 2 with one on the way).

The Jag has a very nice rosewood fb/maple neck very flexible preamp and great tone. Only drawback is the jazz pickup is very weak if soloed. So plan on replacing that if it bothers you.

The Bronco is the ultimate modding bass. Cheap, built well, very nice all maple neck. Be creative on a pickup and preamp mod and you can make that bass sound like anything you want. I'm putting a GFS humbucker dual lipstick guitar pickup in place of the original and am considering dropping in a Stingray 2 band preamp with it - should be a very interesting tone. Will use for my surf band stuff.

The Mustang is the only one of the 3 I'd consider keeping stock (ok, I'd put some LaBella flats on it). It's just perfect as is for that old school thump.
 
#22
I have found a decent low cost replacement pickup for the Bronco, it is drop in with no mods required. It is a good choice for a bass because it is rated at 7k, not too hot like many rail humbuckers that you will find. If interested Just message me for the link to it, they are $19 shipped.
 
#25
ghostdog93 said:
The Jag SS (short scale) doesn't have a preamp. Weak J pup, yes. But no electronics.
Click to expand...

Sorry, should have used quotes to denote "preamp" as in figuratively. Correct, this is (was in my case) a passive bass with tone control and blend. I threw that out and now have a John East active preamp that just screams. Nothing really wrong with the stock electronics (except the bridge pickup is too weak in solo) I just wanted a more hifi sound.
 
#27
mongo2 said:
Just dropping in a singlecoil P bass pickup won't work well since the poles of the SCPB pickup won't align with the strings due to the closer string spacing of the Bronco.
Click to expand...

How does a guitar pickup work fine? I mean,
how do the 6 poles line up on the 4 strings.

I put a B&G Passive F P bass pickup on mine
and it sounds wonderful on all 4 strings.

No problem,

12-17-5.jpg


I didn't know a SS bass could sound this good,

Tabdog
 
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#28
Hey everyone! I hope people are still watching this thread. You all have great experience with Jaguar, Bronco and Mustang short scales. I have a Bronco Bass, converted to a Mustang. I recently bought a Jaguar SS neck because I wanted a rosewood option. Do you guys think it will be compatible on my Bronco? I know Mustang and Bronco are interchangeable for sure.

Front

Front


Here is my thread with pictures and more info:
HELP! I Need Somebody: Jaguar Short Scale and Mustang Neck Compatibility | TalkBass.com

Any help would be awesome! :thumbsup: The neck will deliver next week but in the meantime I'm looking for opinions on the issue. :bassist:
 
#30
I have all three (Jag, Bronco, Mustang) and I'd guess the Jag SS and Mustang SS have interchangeable necks but I think the Bronco is slightly narrower. I know the bronco bridge and string spacing is more narrow than the Jag and Mustang but not sure if the pocket dimensions are different.

I just got my bronco perfectly set up after a major mod so I'm not going to pop the necks and see it they'll swap but I can mic each one if you want. Let me know.

BTW - here's what my Bronco looks like these days...
imagejpg3_zps10e35510.jpg

I like it even more than my Jag and Mustang. I dropped a lipstick Humbucker in the P Bass spot then coil split it for series/parallel/sc neck/sc bridge and wired it to a 2 band preEB preamp, strung it with La Bella White Tapes and put a Precision ashtray on it. Fun, Fun, Fun!
 
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#32
AlexanderB said:
Wow - that looks great, even if I personally would not like to have a knob directly below the pickup.
Very pleasing and tasteful to look at.
Click to expand...
Thanks!
Actually the knob locations are temporary for now. I didn't want to route the cavity under the pickguard until I was sure this Preamp/pickup combo is the one I want to keep. Its been in a few months now and so far so good so my next move will be to get a custom pickguard and move the knobs away from the pickup. I agree its too close right now especially if you're a pick player, fortunately I play finger style and mostly between the PU and the neck, so no major issues.
 
#33
I would love to hear some sound clips of the final version! Nothing fancy, even just playing slow notes/scales can tell a lot about tone evenness, sustain, dead spots, "authority" and so on.
That bass could (on paper) be the perfect mix between the fatter, throaty rumble of a Danelectro combined with the clarity and attack from a maple fretboard, single coil pickup and a bit of general Fender DNA...
 
#34
historyprof said:
Hi guys,

I am a avid fan of squier basses, having owned the VM Jazz and CV Precision. Recently, I have become rather interested in owning a short scale bass because of its ease of play and unique sound (i'm a big fan of McCartney and Allen Woody). I'm wondering which will be better, the bronco or Jag SS. I like the looks of the bronco and I am not concerned with its pickups or tuners as I have intentions of modding it.

My only concern is the bronco's playability. I love the smooth neck of the VM Jazz and am quite sure that the Jag SS will have the same quality. The bronco is part of the affinity range and its quality is rather sketchy. I did not have a chance to try both of them (i intend to buy online; the stores near my place don't carry them). I would like to seek your thoughts on the playability and the craftsmanship of the bronco's neck.

Thanks for your help!
Click to expand...

I've never played a short scale Jaguar but I own a Bronco and I like it. The neck is really nice for the cash you're paying. I've played worse on instruments twice its price. The fretwork was pretty darn good really.

I didn't like the stock pickup, it was a bit "hollow" sounding. Lots of people seem to replace the stock pickup with a stratocaster-sized rail pickup of some sort. Most people seem to do the Seymour Duncan Cool Rails.

I'm currently modding my Black Bronco in part because I didn't like the pickup. I'm adding a Lace Dually Red / Silver to get an ability to blend some tones between the two mismatched Lace Sensors (Honeyiscool, a person in this thread, actually recommended). Birdsong actually puts Lace Red Sensors on some of their short scale basses. Apparently they make great bass pickups on their own.
 
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#35
GBassNorth said:
I have all three (Jag, Bronco, Mustang) and I'd guess the Jag SS and Mustang SS have interchangeable necks but I think the Bronco is slightly narrower. I know the bronco bridge and string spacing is more narrow than the Jag and Mustang but not sure if the pocket dimensions are different.

I just got my bronco perfectly set up after a major mod so I'm not going to pop the necks and see it they'll swap but I can mic each one if you want. Let me know.

BTW - here's what my Bronco looks like these days...
imagejpg3_zps10e35510.jpg

I like it even more than my Jag and Mustang. I dropped a lipstick Humbucker in the P Bass spot then coil split it for series/parallel/sc neck/sc bridge and wired it to a 2 band preEB preamp, strung it with La Bella White Tapes and put a Precision ashtray on it. Fun, Fun, Fun!
Click to expand...

Hey sweet Bronco! That thing looks mean. I'ts nice that you have all 3. You know you need to add the new Invalid Link Removedto that collection!

I wouldn't ask you go swapping the necks around, haha. But could you snap a picture of the Bronco and Jaguar side by side so I can see how the neck heels look? Even better would be if you could measure the width at the heel of the Jagur and Bronco necks, as well as the length from nut to heel. Thanks!
 
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#36
AlexanderB said:
I would love to hear some sound clips of the final version! Nothing fancy, even just playing slow notes/scales can tell a lot about tone evenness, sustain, dead spots, "authority" and so on.
That bass could (on paper) be the perfect mix between the fatter, throaty rumble of a Danelectro combined with the clarity and attack from a maple fretboard, single coil pickup and a bit of general Fender DNA...
Click to expand...
Unfortunately I don't have a way to make any decent sound clips right now but hopefully I will in a few months. I sold nearly all my recording gear when I moved across country a couple of years ago. I did notice we both have a Dano longhorn (I assume yours is short scale also) we can use that bass as a reference. As soon as I get a chance I'll jump into the practice room and play the two side by side on the same amp with the same settings and post my findings.
 
#37
supersonics1996 said:
Hey sweet Bronco! That thing looks mean. I'ts nice that you have all 3. You know you need to add the new Invalid Link Removedto that collection!

I wouldn't ask you go swapping the necks around, haha. But could you snap a picture of the Bronco and Jaguar side by side so I can see how the neck heels look? Even better would be if you could measure the width at the heel of the Jagur and Bronco necks, as well as the length from nut to heel. Thanks!
Click to expand...
Will gladly get the measurements off both for you. Just checked out the Jazz SS - thanks for the GAS.
 
#38
supersonics1996 said:
Hey sweet Bronco! That thing looks mean. I'ts nice that you have all 3. You know you need to add the new Invalid Link Removedto that collection!

I wouldn't ask you go swapping the necks around, haha. But could you snap a picture of the Bronco and Jaguar side by side so I can see how the neck heels look? Even better would be if you could measure the width at the heel of the Jagur and Bronco necks, as well as the length from nut to heel. Thanks!
Click to expand...

Super - here's the info you requested...
Jag heel width = 2.25"
Bronco heel width = 2.3" (same as Mustang)

Jag neck length (center of nut to end of heel) = 21.25"
Bronco neck length = 20.50" (same as Mustang)

Other notable info...
Jag = 20 frets
Bronco = 19 frets (same as Mustang)

Jag thickness of neck (front to back) at the 1st fret = 1", at 12th fret = 1", at the pocket = 1.60"
Bronco neck thickness at 1st fret = .850", at the 12th fret = 1", at the pocket = 1.50"

Jag amount of exposed neck (top of body to top of fretboard at the pocket on E string side) = .35"
Bronco exposed neck = .22"
 
#40
tabdog said:
How does a guitar pickup work fine? I mean,
how do the 6 poles line up on the 4 strings.
Click to expand...

They don't but the poles on a flat-topped 6 string Strat style guitar pickup are close enough to form a contiguous magnetic field in the region where the Bronco strings pass through it so there are no gaps in the mag field strength and output of the strings is even since the mag field is contiguous. The poles on an SCPB pickup are set wider apart so the mag field is not contiguous and there are areas of lower field strength between the poles and the poles don't align with the strings as well so the strings will align at varying distances from the poles causing response to the vibrating string to be uneven.

An SCPB pickup would have to be angled to align the poles with the strings which precludes it from being a "drop-in" replacement. The bridge could be replaced so the strings are in closer alignment with the pickup poles with the pickup in the standard Bronco position but the outer strings will wind up very close to the edges of the fingerboard.
 
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