Another Bronco Pimping!

[4-string-thing]

So, I've recently been had GAS for a Mustang, but don't really like the Pawnshop thing, so after spotting a couple of threads on here and TB I thought I'd grab a Squier Bronco and have a go at modding.

So, I managed to find a black Bronco on Ebay and got it for £80. Turns out to be in good shape, no real damage and plays quite nicely despite old strings. It even sounded good through the bobbins Trace combo in our rehearsal room. All good so far. Ordered some Mustang parts from The States and after a bit of delay due to Royal Mail, I finally got started on it yesterday....

Starting point: [attachment=203270:WP_20151020_002.jpg]



Trial fit: [attachment=203271:WP_20151020_003.jpg]

The thing I'd read about this conversion is that the standard Mustang pickguard doesn't cover the old screwholes if you fit it right up to the neck. As I don't want to refinish the bass, I moved the guard around til it covered the screwholes, which it just about does, but it leaves an ugly 6 mm gap at the end of the neck. I didn't like the look of that, so my solution was to cut a "step" in the end of the neck, allowing the fingerboard to extend over the body, closing the gap to a couple of mm. I must admit I was pretty nervous taking a router to a perfectly good bass neck. But it seems to have worked, and although there is a bit of a gap, it's nowhere near as big and barely noticable now. I'm thinking of filing the scratchplate along the sides of the neck too, to make the gap the same all the way round.
[attachment=203272:WP_20151021_005.jpg]

[attachment=203273:WP_20151021_004.jpg]

There seems to be plenty of adjustment on the bridge saddles to allow me to move the saddles back a few mm to compensate for moving the neck 4 or 5 mm nearer to it, if not I may in the future source a Mustang bridge, or at least a 4 saddle item and move the whole thing back a bit.

Last thing I did yesterday was refit the neck and bridge and fit the pup onto the scratchplate so at the minute it looks like this:

[attachment=203274:WP_20151021_010.jpg]

[4-string-thing]

I wasn't very keen on the Squier tuners and did a bit of looking around and found that WD Music do a set of small enclosed tuners with "elephant ears" which seemed an ideal swap. There was a little bit more work involved than I expected, due to the bush sizes being slightly different (bigger outside diameter, smaller inside) and the posts being in a different position on the baseplate, but it didn't take long to fit the new ones. I had to fill a few holes, 2 per tuner, I did this with wooden skewers, carefully filed and sanded flat. I'll tint them with tea later and give the whole rear of the headstock a coat of wax, they will be virtually impossible to see. I've also added a cheeky Fender logo, though it's a vinyl sticker rather than a waterslide decal, and will fool nobody. I may even remove it, as it's not great quality and if I ever sell the bass, I'd remove it anyway.

Front view:

[attachment=203429:WP_20151023_002.jpg]

Rear view:

[attachment=203430:WP_20151023_001.jpg]


The only other thing I've done today is fill the one screw hole from the original pickguard that the new one doesn't cover, using another bit of skewer (by the end of the control plate) and fit a couple of wooden blocks under the control plate to accept the plates fixing screws. I made these from the baseplate of a mouse trap I found in the garage, cut and filed to size/shape and glued in place.

Hopefully, tomorrow I will have time to do the wiring (again, I'm planning to just use the original pots and wiring, so it's just a simple swap over) and touch up the filled screw hole and polish the finish back.

[JapanAxe]

Nice work! I would definitely want a 4-way bridge though...

[4-string-thing]

[quote name='JapanAxe' timestamp='1445624237' post='2892974']
Nice work! I would definitely want a 4-way bridge though...
[/quote]

Thank you, I like the vintage vibe of the 2 way, but I guess a 4 way would be better for intonation, though it was ok with the existing bridge before I moved the neck closer. I think a Fender Musicmaster has a 4 way bridge with a similar shaped baseplate so maybe a swap could be in order. I also think that bridge is for through-body stringing though and that would open up a whole new can of worms for me....

[Andyjr1515]

Yes...watching with interest

[4-string-thing]

Finally got round to connecting the pup to the existing wiring, fitted the control plate, swapped the screws on both plates for c/s rather than raised head, simply because I was a few short and my local hardware shop only had c/s. They look ok, but not as good as the originals, but for the vintage vibe I'm after, I will probably get some slotted, rather than cross head, raised head screws eventually. The control plate isn't quite as thick as the pickguard, which irritates me a bit, so that's got to come off and have the back covered with a piece of sticky back plastic (Fablon) to thicken it up a bit and to sit more flush, again, a 5 minute job.

The hole where the old pickguard was screwed down near the end of the control plate, didn't fill very well with the wooden skewer and after several goes at touching up the paint, sanding, polishing etc, I've decided it's as good as it gets.... The whole thing could do with another sanding and buffing using a polishing wheel I guess. It's very hard by hand to get the shine back, so at some time in the future, the whole thing will be stripped down and the front flatted and buffed up using a buffing pad. It's not really noticable from a few feet away so I can live with it for now. My other option is to mildly relic the thing and not worry too much...

[attachment=203925:broncolatest2.jpg]

Anyway, today I restrung using the old rusty strings that were on it when I bought it and had a go.... Through my Markbass CMD121P it sounds great! Quite powerful, clean and very "sixties" Just what I was after! The volume control works ok, and the tone, whilst not being over dramatic, gives just enough variation from a bit of twang to a bit of plumminess! The intonation is fine, even with a 2 saddle bridge, so I'll probably be keeping that for now, although I've found a nice 4 saddle on ebay that looks a little bit more like a Mustang bridge, for a very good price, so who knows? I also decided that I wasn't happy with the vinyl Fender logo, so I took a razorblade and hacked the F about and turned it into a T....

[attachment=203927:broncolatest.jpg]

I'm thinking it might maybe benefit from a bridge cover for looks and definitely a thumbrest for playability. Any suggestions for the bridge cover? And the position of the thumbrest? I tend to rest my thumb on the pup, so maybe just above it and nearer the bridge? I know on real Mustangs it's below the strings, near the neck but that just seems pointless to me...

Anyway, I'm really pleased with the way it's gone. It's a really nice, simple, lightweight, easy to play bass that (I think) looks cool and suits the image of my band really well (50's,60's and 70's RnB) I've spent more on parts than the cost of the original bass, and tbh, if I ever sell, I'll never see that money back, but hey ho it suits me for now. Now, if only I could find a rosewood neck.....