DONE! Bronco to Musicmaster bass conversion

mellowlogic · Post by **mellowlogic** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 4:37 pm

nice job astro!

serfx · Post by **serfx** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 8:09 pm

astro wrote:

that look so sweet dude

i think i need to swap mine out to a music master guard...

astro · Post by **astro** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 9:08 pm

James wrote:[url=hhttp://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230330383695]lank[/url]

That looks sweet! A pearloid thumb rest would look great on this bass, I think.

astro · Post by **astro** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 9:12 pm

I just got the Musicmaster Bass decals in the mail today. They look good. The guy sent me three of them, good since I suspect there's a good chance I'll foul up the application of the first one.

The headstock has been sanded and several base coats of clear have been sprayed. I'll wait a few days for the clear to harden, then I'll apply the decal and do the final clear coats.

The tuners have arrived in the mail, too. As I suspected, they're identical to the stock Squier ones, except for the clover leaf buttons. I'm guessing they're made in the same factory. I wonder why Fender didn't use the clover leaf ones... you'd think they would have gone for the vintage look. Maybe they know something that I don't?

astro · Post by **astro** » Wed Apr 08, 2009 11:23 pm

astro · Post by **astro** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 4:27 pm

It's finally done. The headstock was a lot more work than the rest!

It's hard to see in the pics due to the lighting, but it's got clover leaf tuners now. Now all I need is a thumb rest. I'm thinking of getting the chrome one from GPR.

endsjustifymeans · Post by **endsjustifymeans** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 4:56 pm

It's not done until there's a demo.

serfx · Post by **serfx** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 7:47 pm

endsjustifymeans wrote:It's not done until there's a demo.

hotrodperlmutter · Post by **hotrodperlmutter** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 8:36 pm

you may have said this, but what did you use for pots/jack? did you keep the old ones?

looks awesome! as soon as i get the string-thru stuff done and mine back together, i'll put some pics up!

(same bass, daphne blue, string thru, clovers, GFS demon rail, white pearl mm pg, just need to find out about the pots (250k or 500k?))

endsjustifymeans · Post by **endsjustifymeans** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 9:10 pm

hotrodperlmutter wrote: just need to find out about the pots (250k or 500k?))

I would think 500k would be the way to go, keep the bass bright and punchy. 250k might be a bit muddy, no?

astro · Post by **astro** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 9:37 pm

hotrodperlmutter wrote:you may have said this, but what did you use for pots/jack? did you keep the old ones?

looks awesome! as soon as i get the string-thru stuff done and mine back together, i'll put some pics up!

(same bass, daphne blue, string thru, clovers, GFS demon rail, white pearl mm pg, just need to find out about the pots (250k or 500k?))

I used 250k pots and a 0.047 mfd capacitor. Those are the same values as one finds in a P bass.

Can't wait to see yours when it's done. I have two Musicmaster Bass decals, let me know if you need one for your project.

blacktaxi · Post by **blacktaxi** » Sun May 03, 2009 4:39 pm

Hey, Astro, nice job. I was just wondering, how does that lace sensor sound in this bass? Is there considerable amount of high end loss compared to original single coil? Our local music shop in our third-grade country finally has some funky new stuff in stock, and there's the Squier bronco bass. So I was thinking about getting it... I'm already sure I'll need to replace the stock pickup, because I hate hum. So what would you suggest?

Basically, could I possibly end up with too little bass if I put the wrong pickup?

astro · Post by **astro** » Sun May 03, 2009 5:04 pm

blacktaxi wrote:Hey, Astro, nice job. I was just wondering, how does that lace sensor sound in this bass? Is there considerable amount of high end loss compared to original single coil? Our local music shop in our third-grade country finally has some funky new stuff in stock, and there's the Squier bronco bass. So I was thinking about getting it... I'm already sure I'll need to replace the stock pickup, because I hate hum. So what would you suggest? Basically, could I possibly end up with too little bass if I put the wrong pickup?

The stock pickup is total shit. Any decent replacement will sound a million times better!

The Red Lace Sensor works quite well as a bass pickup. It's noiseless, and it's also a true single coil. No loss of treble. I'd say it sounds similar to a single coil P bass or the neck pickup on a Jazz bass. But without the hum. Plenty of bottom end.

I've seen on the net that a lot of people put in a rails style strat sized humbucker. You can get one here for cheap. Make sure that you put in some decent potentiometers because the stock ones are also crappy.

blacktaxi · Post by **blacktaxi** » Sun May 03, 2009 5:25 pm

astro wrote:
blacktaxi wrote:Hey, Astro, nice job. I was just wondering, how does that lace sensor sound in this bass? Is there considerable amount of high end loss compared to original single coil? Our local music shop in our third-grade country finally has some funky new stuff in stock, and there's the Squier bronco bass. So I was thinking about getting it... I'm already sure I'll need to replace the stock pickup, because I hate hum. So what would you suggest? Basically, could I possibly end up with too little bass if I put the wrong pickup?
The stock pickup is total shit. Any decent replacement will sound a million times better!

The Red Lace Sensor works quite well as a bass pickup. It's noiseless, and it's also a true single coil. No loss of treble. I'd say it sounds similar to a single coil P bass or the neck pickup on a Jazz bass. But without the hum. Plenty of bottom end.

I've seen on the net that a lot of people put in a rails style strat sized humbucker. You can get one here for cheap. Make sure that you put in some decent potentiometers because the stock ones are also crappy.

Thanks!

How do you think, would it sound any good if I put two good strat p-ups (I almost forgot that I have them laying around) in parallel, to eliminate hum? Like, one where the original pickup is, and another closer to neck. Is this even possible without additional routing?

hotrodperlmutter · Post by **hotrodperlmutter** » Sun May 03, 2009 7:11 pm

mine just has the single route for the one pickup.

i think it would look weird with two pups. i think it would look awesome with a humbucker in it though. and you could probably fit that with not much more routing.

blacktaxi · Post by **blacktaxi** » Sun May 03, 2009 7:29 pm

hotrodperlmutter wrote:mine just has the single route for the one pickup.

i think it would look weird with two pups. i think it would look awesome with a humbucker in it though. and you could probably fit that with not much more routing.

What if I put two strat p-ups in there close as possible to each other and wire them parallel? Is that gonna be a humbucker?

And then maybe put a switch to alternate parallel/series connection? Hmm.

astro · Post by **astro** » Sun May 03, 2009 7:55 pm

blacktaxi wrote:
hotrodperlmutter wrote:mine just has the single route for the one pickup.

i think it would look weird with two pups. i think it would look awesome with a humbucker in it though. and you could probably fit that with not much more routing.
What if I put two strat p-ups in there close as possible to each other and wire them parallel? Is that gonna be a humbucker? And then maybe put a switch to alternate parallel/series connection? Hmm.

The route in the body for the pickup could easily fit 2 strat pickups side-by-side. But you'd need a new pickguard. It will only work as a humbucker if one of the pickups is reverse-wound reverse-polarity in relation to the other one. It would be a lot simpler to just get a single-coil sized pickup that's also a humbucker or uses another type of hum-cancelling technology, like the Lace Sensor.

blacktaxi · Post by **blacktaxi** » Sun May 03, 2009 8:21 pm

astro wrote:
blacktaxi wrote: What if I put two strat p-ups in there close as possible to each other and wire them parallel? Is that gonna be a humbucker? And then maybe put a switch to alternate parallel/series connection? Hmm.
The route in the body for the pickup could easily fit 2 strat pickups side-by-side. But you'd need a new pickguard. It will only work as a humbucker if one of the pickups is reverse-wound reverse-polarity in relation to the other one. It would be a lot simpler to just get a single-coil sized pickup that's also a humbucker or uses another type of hum-cancelling technology, like the Lace Sensor.

You're right, but I can't find any used suitable pickup at the moment locally, and if I decide to buy from GFS it's like a month waiting.

Now, how about this: I replace stock pickup with a regular alnico strat, and then put another strat pickup, but UNDER the pickguard, mounted straight on body. This way I will definitely get the hum-cancelling feature, and wouldn't need to modify the pickguard, but I wonder how would that sound? Talk about crazy ideas...

Mages · Post by **Mages** » Sun May 03, 2009 8:26 pm

yea, normal humbuckers are in series not parallel. when pickups are in parallel they act as high pass filters on each other creating that thin sound of the strat in the 2 and 4 position. real humbuckers are in series so they retain the low end.

you should do an rails.

astro · Post by **astro** » Sun May 03, 2009 11:20 pm

blacktaxi wrote:
astro wrote:
blacktaxi wrote: What if I put two strat p-ups in there close as possible to each other and wire them parallel? Is that gonna be a humbucker? And then maybe put a switch to alternate parallel/series connection? Hmm.
The route in the body for the pickup could easily fit 2 strat pickups side-by-side. But you'd need a new pickguard. It will only work as a humbucker if one of the pickups is reverse-wound reverse-polarity in relation to the other one. It would be a lot simpler to just get a single-coil sized pickup that's also a humbucker or uses another type of hum-cancelling technology, like the Lace Sensor.
You're right, but I can't find any used suitable pickup at the moment locally, and if I decide to buy from GFS it's like a month waiting.

Now, how about this: I replace stock pickup with a regular alnico strat, and then put another strat pickup, but UNDER the pickguard, mounted straight on body. This way I will definitely get the hum-cancelling feature, and wouldn't need to modify the pickguard, but I wonder how would that sound? Talk about crazy ideas...

I think that would work, as long as there's no shielding to block the second pickup. Also, you have to be sure that they have the reverse wound reverse polarity relationship, or you'll still have hum. Generally, on most modern strats, the middle pickup is the reverse wound reverse polarity one. So as long as one of your two strat pickups is from the middle position, you'll be fine. If you're using a neck and a bridge pickup together, you'll still get hum because these have the same wind direction and the same polarity.