Squier Bronco Bass Mods - From Bland to BAM!

[@hunterhelfrich1270]

Bought a bronco bass years ago, I did a ton of different mods over the years and finally did a full refinish and overhaul to make it one of my favorite basses I own 🤟

[@Elwooddudes]

I’m looking to take the plunge very shortly! They look/sound great

[@MirlitronOne]

My son played his red Bronco until it fell apart and graduated to an Ibanez, so I rebuilt the Bronco with a ridiculously large MM Stingray bass pickup and it sounds awesome. I later acquired a black Bronco and rebuilt it with a dual-rail humbucker. Never found the need to replace the tuners or the bridge but I added iron-on white trim around the edges of both instruments, so now they are a matching red / black / white pair. My wife (unknowingly) christened them the "Bucking Broncos"! It's not hard to transform a Bronco into something like the Mustang bass - I have one of those, too.

[@TheTapeFarm]

Nice. Yeah great mod platforms. I just picked up a Squier Mustang Bass as well. Very cool instrument.

[@Longisland95]

Bravo! Totally awesome modification. Sounds amazing. 👍

[@mainecanoe]

Bronco bass in stock form is fine. Sounds plenty good. I’d have no problem gigging it.

[@aloiseaux767]

I gigged it twice, it also is my only bass, just can't justify buying another one because i love the Bronco so much. Heh..

[@pavlovdogs1178]

Cool review. I like your technique. Cheers from Pittsburgh

[@TheTapeFarm]

@@pavlovdogs1178 thanks!! I’m just excited to hear that I actually have a technique!!

[@jonathanhorne6503]

I bought a pink one for CME. I bought it specifically to mod it, I went all out, more dollars than sense. I used Gibson mudbucker I’d been carrying sound since the mid 70s, in the middle I used a Fralin 52 Fender P bass and in bridge position it has a Lollar T-bird. I used a Badass bridge. No spacing issues. Gears are backwards turning Schallers. Strat Switching and push pull knobs gets every pickup choice. Wood needed to be added to the headstock to allow the tuning gears to fit. It’s an awesome bass, fun to play and very versatile. I play it through a B-15 clone loaded with a JBL D130, or a Vox AC-15 Mkii through a Foundation cab. Usually I just use my 64 Princeton. Great for recording. I’m 71 and I dont perform anymore but I still play as often as I’m able. Yours turned out nice. I’d love to send you a photo.

[@mikedradio]

Love that shell pink one! 🎉

[@kunaikai]

I’ve always dreamed of putting the 51 style pickup in one of these. Thanks for showing how it’ll sound

[@albertjennings3059]

You did an awesome job on your Bronco Bass!👍 I put a set of Fender Jazz Bass pickups in my Bronco Bass.

[@corodoug813]

This is awesome! I hope to do something like this in the future.

[@sd3falco]

Pretty cool. Enjoyed the video. I'm a short scale player as well.

[@billwaldenmusic7738]

I Just installed the pickup that you suggested. Huge improvement! Thanks!

[@Bjmusic2491]

Amazing video and great bass transformation

[@rinseyvessel6523]

I just put a standard p-bass style bridge on mine and a seymour duncan li'l 59 humbucker (in single coil format) for hum free playing and have played it that way since 2007. Flat wounds sound extra good on this bass.

[@TheTapeFarm]

Nice combo!

[@larryn2682]

Strat pickup format.

[@justinrayguitars6024]

A buddy of mine just found one of these in the trash. He brought it to me to play around with so we will see what happens. Got some good ideas from your video.

[@Farbocaster]

I love short scale basses too. I've modded two Glarry 30" short scale basses ($90 each) and changed them from basic student models to very playable, nice sounding instruments. I used a GFS Jazz Bass pickup mounted onto a custom WD pickguard on each guitar. The pickguard, in fact, cost as much as the entire bass! The tesults have been quite good, and they have become my go to basses.

[@markgrimm3564]

wow love it .i have to do that maybe with some mustang pickups. thanks so muck for providing the links very much appreciated

[@TonyJ1776]

Looks fantastic. Black tapewounds would really make it pop, although change the sound.

[@Exercise-01]

Good job its much better,iv you seen the new Broncos ? They changed those crappy tunners and put in a new bridge too. The artic white looks awesome.

[@DugNastyMusic]

I love the finishes on those!!

[@soup4495]

I was distracted by how good the song was that I didnt really notice any change

[@TheChef470]

Beautiful job. I'm just finishing an even cheaper,(well initially) version using the Glarry Bronco copy,($75). I've replaced the pickup with a Nordstrum 51 P bass model,($125) wait it gets worse lol ! Replaced the disgusting white pickguard with a tortoise version, the same company you used,($30). Prewired wiring harness,($45).......I'm lazy : ) and came withing a click of swapping the neck ! Instead I removed the neck and sanded front/back and applied 10 coats of tru oil. I'm reserving the right to change the neck if it just sucks. So I'm left with a stock body,neck.....for now and bridge. Hey it's still cheaper than therapy lol !

[@TheTapeFarm]

EXACTLY!! People have questioned why I do mods.. “just buy a better guitar/bass/etc”. I could do that, but then I wouldn’t get to learn and enjoy the process of experimentation. It’s a form of therapy.

[@TheChef470]

@@TheTapeFarm Amen !

[@drummerII]

I'm starting my mods on my Glarry Bronco copy. Did the pickguard you got fit your Glarry? Which one did you order? Thanks!

[@TheTapeFarm]

@@drummerII i modded a Squier Bronco. Don’t know if the pickguard I got will work on a Glarry.

[@drummerII]

@@TheTapeFarm sorry, that was for James Ramsey's comment regarding his Glarry mods.

[@AndyDion]

Nice mods, looking at getting a short scale bass

[@StevenDoyleLuke]

Great Job!

[@TheTapeFarm]

Thanks Steven!

[@mj7den]

You don't need to mod it. It sounds better than most other basses.

[@TheTapeFarm]

@@mj7den modding isn’t necessarily a “need” thing. People do mods because they enjoy it.

[@Tenoken]

Very nice. I'm beginning a mod on a Bronco myself. I wanted to ask about the Tape Farm waterslide. Did you make that or could you share the store that you custom ordered it from? Thanks

[@TheTapeFarm]

@@Tenoken fun project. I made it the decal on a laser printer. Just need to buy the correct decal paper.

[@Backlashed]

8:41 lol at the walking polisher

[@TheTapeFarm]

Seriously… I need to find a spot for that thing and bolt it to the floor.

[@crocholiday]

It came out great! The blacked out hardware is way cooler. I did the same mods to a Squier modified Jaguar. Original tone was disappointing. Swapped pickups, bridge, pots, wiring, tuners, all hardware and knobs black and I even repainted it with hot rod paint I found on line that comes in a rattle can. Looked way cooler and I was really floored by the difference in tone. It's now one of my main go-to basses.

[@Barry101er]

Wow-looks great.

[@JosePineda-jn8jk]

How did the string alignment over the pickup’s pole pieces turn out? I imagine the pickup was designed for a standard P-bass.

[@geraldp494]

Good Job

[@ernestschultz5065]

That bass is fine for what it is supposed to be.

[@TheTapeFarm]

Oh yeah. A great bass to learn on and have some fun. And also… I fun bass to work on too.

[@inaband428]

Supposed to be? A fair number of people are gigging with broncos...

[@TheTapeFarm]

@@inaband428 the cost of the tool does not matter. What matters is what you do with it. These are awesome tools for many reasons.

[@inaband428]

@@TheTapeFarm I know thats why I built mine. kzbin.info/www/bejne/qZbPg6F6g5lmmJI

[@TheTapeFarm]

@@inaband428 sweet

[@zuperdee]

So this bass comes with a stock 6-pole piece Strat pickup?!? That’s CRAZY! I’m guessing that this might be part of the reason for the 17mm string spacing: To line the strings up decently between the pole pieces… No WONDER they had the pole pieces totally covered on that stock pickup! I totally get that Fender might have wanted to use standard off-the-shelf parts that were economical, but given how practically everything else about this bass seems to be specific to this particular model, it doesn’t seem like much of a saving. At the very least, why couldn’t they just use a T-bass pickup as you did?

[@TheTapeFarm]

Yeah. Kind of silly.

[@inaband428]

17.5mm string spacing

[@TheTapeFarm]

@@inaband428 you might be right. I just took the measurement 17mm from a forum post, I didn’t measure it myself. Either way, the bridge I got works.

[@inaband428]

@@TheTapeFarm for sure , then neck will fit up to 18mm bridge actually.

[@Fotosaurus56]

Maybe it was done as a nod to the old Musicmaster bass guitar. They also used six pole pickups with a cover.

[@onkelpool]

To a large extent, my mood is improved by gray-headed wise men for whom 30" is a "short scale". At the time when I made my first acquaintance with a bass - 45 years ago - a large number of world-renowned bass players considered 30"-30.5" to be the normal standard. The commercial short scale label tends to be a XXI century marketing gimmick.🤓

[@TheTapeFarm]

I know right. P and J Basses use to be known as long scale, then they became the standard. And like you, I am aware that most things are marketing gimmicks. From products to politics, everyone is selling something.

[@nj1255]

Couldn't you use Mustang replacement parts? IIRC, my Squier Classic Vibe Mustang is 19mm string spacing, but it feels like you should be able to slap one of those bridges onto a Bronco. Great work eitherway! I've also always liked the way the Bronco looks. If they just had lollipop tuners the Bronco would be a 10/10 in looks IMO.

[@TheTapeFarm]

19mm spacing would have been to wide, at least for me. I love the Mustang pickup. Thought about putting one of those in but opted for the old school P Bass/Tele Bass one instead.

[@larryn2682]

​@@TheTapeFarm *too

[@TheTapeFarm]

@@larryn2682 thanks officer. I’ll have to be a bit more carful when using Siri to respond to comments.

[@donklink4571]

Awesome mod. I really enjoyed the video. I would have went with a higher quality pic-up to go with the rest of the upgrades. The tonal difference from the demo was hard to hear. A custom shop 51 P pic-up perhaps? (Then you have spent well over twice the cost of a new Bronco though).

[@yanonbass1223]

Can I take a look at the back of the headstock after you replaced the tuners? :D

[@TheTapeFarm]

I filled the screw holes. There were a bunch.

[@andreamarcellini230]

Thanks for the video. You sure nut width is 38.1mm? Cheers

[@TheTapeFarm]

That’s directly from Fender’s web site, so… I hope it’s correct.

[@andreamarcellini230]

@@TheTapeFarm cool. Thank you ☺️

[@andreamarcellini230]

@@TheTapeFarm and what about strings? Does it work with regular 105's? Thank you!

[@AndreaAustoni]

Mine is 40mm but fender is often wrong with nut widths.

[@AndreaAustoni]

@@andreamarcellini230 Yes

[@douglasboyd8475]

I want one!!!!!!

[@greccoox]

amazing job, but one of the most important part is to show and feel how it sounds after all this work, was just a couple of seconds without hit hard the strings or at least show the results. anyway, nice video.

[@marioharaldklug]

I did rebuild a bronco Bass too ... pls see the video reg. harald kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y2TahIhsaNynabc

[@BillyBigLug]

Was your scratchplate a direct drop-in replacement?

[@TheTapeFarm]

Yes

[@KennethCarter-go8po]

did you change the pot and wher did you get them

[@TheTapeFarm]

I did change the pots. I think I got them off Amazon.

[@gabedestellano]

The bridge isn't hard to find at all... they're all over Amazon

[@saburo16]

Is Bronco bass original pickup is kind of stratocaster pickup?

[@TheTapeFarm]

It IS a Strat pick up. Blew my mind when I saw it. 🤯

[@maxs.3238]

​ @TheTapeFarm that's how broncos and musicmaster basses have done it for decades. You could say it's vintage correct 😂 Edit: I measured mine, almost 14k dc resistance isn't exactly strat territory I'd say. Originally they came with the same pickups as strats, mustangs and other guitars though, so those would've been about 6k at the time.

[@jfiery]

You said it was a 50s style P bass pickup you put in it?

[@TheTapeFarm]

@@jfiery yeah. 50’s “style”

[@jfiery]

@@TheTapeFarm thanks, until now I didn't know 50s P bass didn't have the split coil. Ive been looking at this bass as a gift to my wife as a backup/fun change up tp her MIM Mustang PJ. Thaks for the info!

[@arnlmndza]

That was a guitar pickup!

[@TheTapeFarm]

Yup.

[@aloiseaux767]

Isn't it possible to just throw a rail pickup in there? No problems with alignment right?

[@TheTapeFarm]

Sure. But you also have to take string spacing on the neck into account. I’ve seen people put standard P/J bridges on, but for me, the strings are too close to the edge of the fretboard.

[@TheTapeFarm]

@@Great-Documentaries maybe you should create some original guitar content. Your extensive knowledge would be good addition to the community.

[@albertjennings3059]

Yes, it is easy to put a full-size bass pickup in the Squier Bronco Bass. I put a set of Fender Jazz Bass pickups in my Bronco Bass.

[@TheWannabeBusker-z9c]

I may just get one

[@billyhooks99]

❤❤❤

[@mr.k905]

Hm… It sounds almost like a regular guitar now. Too much high end. I liked the stock pickup a bit more, although it is admittedly noisy.

[@adamproductions4529]

I want one so bad

[@lincolnstovall9471]

Budget bass!!!

[@salmon4breakfast]

what pickup did you add in?

[@TheTapeFarm]

There’s a link to it in the description

[@bertbregdenz2756]

Try Vincent Pony Bass ℹ️

[@stonkpuppets6393]

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