I guess the hum is historically correct too?
Just because it's been done a long time doesn't mean it's a good idea.
it sounded like mud anyways.
it's much better now.
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Why does everyone hate Squire's????
- Thread starter JP Bassman
- Start date
I guess the hum is historically correct too?
Just because it's been done a long time doesn't mean it's a good idea.
it sounded like mud anyways.
it's much better now.
If they would make the 51 Precision lefty I'd have one by now, wouldn't mind having a Bronco too.
I have a Squier P-Bass Special that I modded to fretless, not bad but I'm still tweaking it. It will be getting a fretless maple/maple neck as soon as I get the finish applied.
I have a Squier P-Bass Special that I modded to fretless, not bad but I'm still tweaking it. It will be getting a fretless maple/maple neck as soon as I get the finish applied.
Short scale is pretty nice. I think I'll be sticking to that for a while. Just plan on replacing the pickup, or at the very least adding a whole lot of shielding.
I guess the hum is historically correct too?
Just because it's been done a long time doesn't mean it's a good idea.
it sounded like mud anyways.
it's much better now.
The hum has been a Fender bass tradition since the first Fender Precision in 1951 so yes, the hum is historically correct.
The original pickups in my Broncos definitely didn't sound like mud, nor have any other Broncos I've tried in stores, just the opposite, very lively sounding with a clear top end. You must've got the good one without all those pesky highs.
Nice job using the MM style pickup. I especially like how you installed the pickup backwards to how MM does it. Those two screw mounts always did get the way of my thumb.
Actually it's really not a nice job. It's a total butcher job, I just hogged it all out with a forstner bit on my drill press and then a sanding drum to smooth out the edges. Surprisingly it's not all that visible when you see it in person. without the camera flash you don't notice that bare wood.
I can't remember why I installed it that way. I think I did have a reason for it. perhaps I was thinking the same thing with the thumb, or maybe the wiring just ended up nicer. in any event I've found it's plenty bright, and it actually sounds a lot better to me when I play way further from the bridge. I've been anchoring my thumb on the E string right around where the original pickup was.
The main thing is that it gets the job done. I've fallen in love with the short scale and have been playing it more than my otherwise much nicer basses. I've set it up with a nice low action, and the new pickup has plenty of output that I can play very lightly and still get a great sound out of it. The frets aren't quite perfect, and I could probably set it up a bit nicer if I leveled them, but all in all it's got a pretty decent neck for such a cheap bass.
I wouldn't recommend it without a pickup replacement, but I've always been more into humbuckers, so I'm a little biased there. Perhaps there was something wrong with mine, because it didn't really seem all that usable to me. I had to stand facing in a specific direction, or it had way too much hum.
It's pretty much what I would expect in a cheap bass. Fortunately the corners they cut are ones that didn't matter to me.
-Nick
I love funky jobs like that. They have a style all their own.
You could always paint the excess routing black and it would be less noticable. Or paint the excess red or yellow or orange or something else bright to make it stand out even more.
But if you want to pretty it up some you could make a pickup ring from a MM style pickguard.
I was very impressed with the quality of the Bronco necks and a fret end dress was all mine needed. The wood on some Broncos even has some nice grain and I have one and seen several others with decent flamey figuring.
Like you said it gets the job done and that's all that matters.
Good Job!
Yep, it's the same reason I drive $100 cars. You find a good one, and it'll work fine. When you let a friend play it, and he slams the headstock into a wall, then over reacts and thumps the tail end into the edge of a table, you can laugh at him and just smooth the dings out with a little sandpaper.
Throw it in the trunk of the car, whatever.
Yeah, once I decide I'm done screwing with it, I'll probably just make up a new pickguard that covers up all of the routing. I haven't decided yet whether I'm going to change or remove the tone pot, though. And I'll probably move the bridge up a tad, since there's not much adjustability right now. (I was messing with an experimental pickup design)
Yeah. Mine had one sharp fret too. I don't know how you would even see the wood. Mine's got about a half inch of paint on it.
-Nick
I fondled a bunch of Fenders, USA, MIM etc and the CV is super nice. MIM Special Deluxe Active is next to the CV, been playing on the CV more often lately.
just bought one today and i already love it a TON.plus sonic blue makes me drool
Yeah. Mine had one sharp fret too. I don't know how you would even see the wood. Mine's got about a half inch of paint on it.
-Nick
Sorry, I meant the neck had the nice grain and flamey-ness.
I put contours in the body of one of my Broncos and the paint was a bit of a pain to cut through but the undercoat was even worse.
On the left is that one with the added contours and some other recent mods, and on the right is the same bass before the contours and the earlier mods plus some tchotchkes my son and I put on for fun one day:
Link Removed Link Removed
That bass now has the original Bronco neck re-installed.
Cool. I've been thinking of putting a little contour on mine too. and maybe a handle like on an Ibanez Gem.
-Nick
They are frickin nice basses and are a good mod platform, I've played many that've been better than MIMs and MIAs
It's the surfs who are the real problem......
And just think Eddie Van Halen. All one needs to do is get really famous, I mena super monster famous. Then folks will do a custom shop type tribute of your bass and you'll make millions!mongo2 said:
I agree actually. The ones I've played with are assembled a lot nicer, straight out of the box. The screws are usually straight, and aren't all chewed up like they were put in with a worn out screw driver that's a size too small.
then again, I prefer most of their more expensive basses to Fender as well. I've got a BTB555, and am totally happy with it.
If they had a 30" scale Ibanez in the store at the time, I probably would have
bought it instead.
After a bit of hacking though, the bronco is pretty nice to play. The pickups and pots are kind of junk, and the pickguard is poorly installed, but the neck is quite good, and that's the important thing to someone who's planning to swap out the pickups anyways.
I bought it as a test bed, just to hack on for some experiments, but it's so nice and easy to play now that I've ended up playing it more than my other basses.
Don't get me wrong. I think you can get a better bass for the money, but I wouldn't overlook it as a possibility either. If you want a cheap short scale bass and plan on swapping out the electronics anyways, the bronco is a workable starting point.
- Nov 9, 2009
- 360
- 100
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist: Reunion Blues, 64 Audio, Mesa Engineering, Ernie Ball.
Arrogance. At least that's what it is for the people I run into that condescend on the Squires. I've never owned one, but I hear that if you look for it, you can find some really, really nice ones.
