hooky_lowdown

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.

A picture of the pots and loom might help?

Darkstar's would be amazing, but are overkill for a cheap bass (rock n roll) project.

Thanks, I know the Epi EB-0 mudbuckers are super lower output (which is the opposite to what I'm looking for!), is the EB-3 pup higher (Artec is 30k)? Wanting to get something like this sound... tonnes of bottom end with a deep, warm tone...

I picked up a cheap p bass to mod, and found the routing under the pickguard to be really large, easily big enough me thinks for a BIG pickup to be dropped into the P position to replace the standard split coils. I'm looking for a high output, nasty, dirty rock sound, and came up with the idea to maybe put an Artec EBC4 mudbucker in there. Which should overdrive my amp, and at the same time I will run it through my sansamp to make a huge, overdriven sound (especially as I play with a pick). Also, thinking i should put some 500k pots and a 0.022 cap to squeeze out a little high end. What are people's thoughts?

None of those are HOT. I'm specifically looking for a HOT pickup.

Never seen one under my budget!

Using that diagram, how do I tell which wire is positive and which is negative? When I have one black and red wires on one pup, and black and white on the other.

Acquired some 90's p (passive) pups but am confused by both of the split coils having 2 wires coming from each. I'm used to p pups having a wire connecting the two together, then a black (ground) and a white or red (live) going to the volume pot. Here, i have one with a black and white wires, and the other has black and red wires. Do I solder the two black wires together, then is the white the ground to the volume pot and the red the live to volume pot?

Mark out the holes with a pencil onto some masking tape, use a bradawl tool to make initial holes, then screw in the screws. Simple.