WubWub Posted March 15 Share Posted March 15 Hello folks, This post is much longer than it has to be, but I'm "one of those" people who struggle to describe things concisely so I hope you can bear with me.. I am an inexperienced bass player who knows little about how different types of pickups compare to each other in a bass, how they might be suited to certain amps and styles of playing etc. I come from playing six string guitar and have experience of every type of common pickup except active ones for guitar. The only bass I have every owned has been a Squier bronco bass of which I upgraded the pickup to one of these cheap mini twin rail humbuckers and put a coil split switch on it. This was good enough for me but I only every used it plugged direct into a audio interface. I had not used it in years and just got myself and amp with the intention of playing in some bands but noticed that my beginner level soldering has failed in several places ! so I know I need to rewire the whole thing, might upgrade the pots and caps if you lot recommend that I do? but my main question is whether I am missing out on anything with this pickup compared to a "professional quality" bass. I also have a Seymour Duncan hot rails in my parts bin which I did not use the first time because I would have had to cut the pickguard. I am willing to spend upto £100 on parts like pickup, pots, intonatable bridge, strings etc if need be to get this stage ready. But am definitely not hunting for excuses to spend money or do more work than I need to! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neepheid Posted March 22 Share Posted March 22 When I modded a Bronco, I put a cheapo generic lipstick Strat pickup in it - a bridge one so it was a bit beefier in the DC resistance department. Probably scored it off eBay. Sounded good to me. Definitely heard of people using Hot (and Cool) Rails in Broncos. I don't think you can go wrong with either. Can't remember if I changed the pots, sorry, it was many years ago. The stock bridge is intonatable with patience, but not the best. Trouble is there is no direct swap that I know of. The bridge off the Squier Vista Series Musicmaster is close, but it is string through the body - I used this bridge to upgrade my Bronco but I had to drill my own holes in the back of the bridge for the strings to thread through top loaded. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baloney Balderdash Posted March 22 Share Posted March 22 (edited) The Seymour Duncan Hot Rails pickup ought to be a great upgrade for your Bronco. Regarding bridge, as said above most bridges out there are made for the standard 19mm string spacing at the bridge, and the Bronco only got 17mm strings spacing, and a slightly narrower neck, which means that if you fit a bridge with 19mm string spacing on the Bronco the upper and lower 2 strings will be very close to the edge of the fretboard, which will make it really hard to play without them slipping off the sides of the fretboard. Edited March 22 by Baloney Balderdash Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WubWub Posted March 31 Author Share Posted March 31 Thanks for the feedback ! I will probably just change the pickup and leave everything else as is in that case. Reasonable intonation is good enough for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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