hooky_lowdown

You want a Brown Tortoiseshell pickguard, has some red in it, but the overall look is much darker.

My guess would be Tonerider TRP1. They use these in the old Squier CV P basses which gets lots of glowing reviews

Another cheap trick to improve the sound of a pickup is replacing the magnets for a few quid. The stock pup will be ceramic, if you replace the magnets with Alnico V, will give a fatter, smoother sound. I've just done this with a cheapie I recently acquired, it's not as good sounding as a Fender 62 custom shop, but it's not far away.

Connected the white to the opposite black, and the remaining red and black to the volume pot - works a treat. Put the bass close to the amp and no hum. Bingo. 😀

Ok, so I am about to wire white from top pup to black on bottom pup, which leaves red from bottom pup (live) and black from top pup (ground). Will this mean the pups will be in series?

I prefer the warmer sound of nickel, and if I use rounds they will be nickel. However, I mostly play flats or half rounds which are mostly steel, so I vote for both?!?

That's marketing for you. They are essentially the same pickup.

Depends on what genre (as many people have said), but many "great" songs were written very quickly. If writing is slow or becoming laborious, then I say drop it. I generally noodle about, over time I have built up a number of riffs or hooks I like, then use them as a starting point, and fill in verses, bridges etc. If you don't have most of the songs structure fleshed out in the first 5 minutes, then leave it, and start with another riff.

A simple fix if your stock pickup is sounding honky is to replace the capacitor from the standard 0.047 to a 0.1, will cost pennies, and will take out most of the highs, to leave a deeper, richer and fuller bass sound. I suggest doing this before changing pickups. If it doesn't help then a budget, modern or vintage sounding are factors we need to know in order to give the best advice? The best P pickup imho is the Fender 62 custom shop (also known as Fender "Original" pickups) which does all what you have asked for. Also, DiMarzio Model P or Aguilar AG4P are great pickups and more than meet your brief.

Looks like the smaller 1x12. Still nice little combo mind.

I've seen several pro musicians gig with Bronco's - some completely stock, so there is no worries there as its totally gig worthy as long as you don't abuse it. The stock pickup, despite being a single coil guitar pickup is clear sounding but not very full, which suits some musical styles. If you play with overdrive/fuzz/distortion than the stock pickup is ideal. I had a Bronco where I replaced the stock tuners with a closed back set from an Affinity P bass (which was pretty much a direct replacement) they were more robust so I could put some high tension Fender flats on it. These strings (despite being full scale) brought the bass to life and sounded great, gave a more meaty and fuller sound. The weakest point of Bronco's imho are the electrics. Replace them with some mini Alpha (linear) pots, and if you did want to upgrade the pickup, I would suggest a 50's style single coil like a SD SCPB-3, or if on a budget the Roswell VTN4 (those used on Harley Benton PB50s are really decent). Both of these would mean a little tweaking of the pickguard to fit, and it's not a difficult job, but the result will be massive over the stock pickup and electrics. Many people have used Hotrail guitar pickups as a replacement, which are a direct replacement, which i found really filled out the sound (good), but lost all the clearity (bad).

Silks on flats are generally, but not always, are wrapped into the top binding of the string, which I guess stops the silks from moving or bunching up. So there is no way to re-wrap the string with silks AFAIK. If there are bald patches of missing silk it makes no difference, just trim any fluffy bits if it suits. Original flats never had silks and worked just fine. As long as you don't use the strings on different basses too many times as the grounded down top layer of flats can start to break apart or unravel, which will impact the strings ability to stay in tune.

@Soledad There's been many debates over wood. There are many factors in the overall sound you get from a bass, and those also have been covered many times before on here. However, saying 90s wood is better then that used today is rubbish. Different manufacturers use different woods so there isn't a direct comparison. Having owned a few 80s and 90s Squier P basses, I wouldn't say the wood bodies are better than those used in new Squier basses or guitars. Personally I prefer the newer Squier bodies, I had a 2015 affinity p bass which was better sounding and playing than any of the Korean Squire P's I've owned.

Yes. 😁

It's a classic! 😉

No worries bud 😉

Thanks, but I don't need a pickup, as I plan on using the Artec as mentioned in my original post! I was interested in the thoughts of the placement of the pup in the traditional P position, which some people seem to have missed.

The number of times I've brought a bass or started a project, and at the time decided it's not going right or whatever, then several months or even a year or so later, thought... that would be ideal now, or wanted that bass back - I've lost count! If you can afford it i would say hold on to the wife bass, I suspect you will get an itch for it in the future.

Sounds like a precision with SD quarter pounders meets your brief, so a Fender Nate Mendel would be a excellent way to go.

What you have described is a P bass. If we know your budget we can give better advice?

Rocking bass, but looks a bit lonely.