Bronco Bass 'project'

Painting? Routing? Set-up tips? Or just straight-up making a guitar from scratch? Post here, and post pics!

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DanHeron
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Bronco Bass 'project'

Post by DanHeron »

This has been done at least once before on here and it isn't really a 'project'. I ordered a black bronco bass today (new for £92 :D) and plan to make it a black/black musicmaster style.

I ordered a black/white/black musicmaster pg
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Going to get THESE KNOBS off eBay.

Then I will probably change the pickup. Any suggestions? I saw this photo:
► Show Spoiler
and it made me want a lipstick cover. But if not, just a black pickup cover.

The outcome will be a mix of this Mustang bass:

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and this Musicmaster:

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Post by blacktaxi »

Cool. Looking forward to see the results.
I'm thinking to mod my bass a bit too, just not sure yet what I want. Do you think black body, black pg and maple neck would look good with matching headstock?
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Post by DanHeron »

blacktaxi wrote:Cool. Looking forward to see the results.
I'm thinking to mod my bass a bit too, just not sure yet what I want. Do you think black body, black pg and maple neck would look good with matching headstock?
Hmm I'm not really a fan of matching headstocks. I cant think of many guitars with maple necks and black headstocks.. only found this Schecter:
► Show Spoiler
It looks alright on that, might be worth doing a photoshop mock up of it. Different colour schemes suit different guitars. The Squier Musicmaster bass's had matching black headstocks (pearl pickguards) and they looked good. They had a rosewood neck though.
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Post by Noirie. »

I reckon the Lipstick pickup wouldn't work great with a bass, Red lace sensor or a Hot rails might be fine though.
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Post by DanHeron »

Hmm I might try one of the Seymour Duncan pickups for single coil P-Bass's :
http://www.guitarandampshop.co.uk/acatalog/Single_coil_P_Bass.html
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Post by hotrodperlmutter »

yes do that, and let me know what it sounds like. i've almost got mine together (just waiting on the pg). i wanted that one or a hot rail and i went with the rail.
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Post by DanHeron »

hotrodperlmutter wrote:yes do that, and let me know what it sounds like. i've almost got mine together (just waiting on the pg). i wanted that one or a hot rail and i went with the rail.
Cool, i will probably get one of those then. They seem pretty good, not too expensive.


Here's a photoshop mockup I did:
► Show Spoiler
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Post by DanHeron »

Hmmm I found this:

Image

This guy is using the Duncan P Bass 1/4Pounder and had to put it at that crazy angle to align the pole pieces with the strings. :S I cant be doing that with the musicmaster guard.
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Post by hotrodperlmutter »

yeah, cuz that will really matter with a pickup as hot as that one...

p bass (modern) poles don't line up... there's one on each side, sure. would it really make that much of a difference? surely it can't be worse than 'lining' up 6 strat poles to 4 bass strings?
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Post by blacktaxi »

I'll probably be getting vintage-winded GFS Lil Killer (dual rail).

Do you think it is possible to stain fretboard dark enough to look like rosewood? I honestly can't come up with any potent color scheme for maple fretboard :?
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Post by DanHeron »

hotrodperlmutter wrote:yeah, cuz that will really matter with a pickup as hot as that one...

p bass (modern) poles don't line up... there's one on each side, sure. would it really make that much of a difference? surely it can't be worse than 'lining' up 6 strat poles to 4 bass strings?
Ah yeah, I guess it wont make much difference with such a hot pickup.
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Post by DanHeron »

ARGH stupid WDMUSIC. Got an email saying "As indicated on our website the b/w/b musicmaster pickguard is out of stock". They offered to put it on back order which will take '2 weeks' (I would expect it to be longer) or to send a solid black one.

As I'm not in a rush I asked to put it on back order and I will wait. The annoying thing is it wasn't indicated on the website! All musicmaster guards say delivery time 1-2 weeks, and there is small print on them all saying "Please note that this pickguard is generally not a stock item and may need to be ordered in from our supplier. Please contact us for availability and delivery details."

They should just have a big "NOT IN STOCK" under the product title.
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Post by astro »

That's weird, when I ordered my Musicmaster pickguard from WD they said they made it specifically for my order. Maybe they're out of the pickguard material blanks?

I used a Red Lace Sensor in my Bronco-to-Musicmaster Bass conversion project. Sounds killer, got it off a shortscaler for $30. The rails pickup would probably sound just as good, but the Lace has a built-in robroe, so that's why I chose it.
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Post by DanHeron »

astro wrote:That's weird, when I ordered my Musicmaster pickguard from WD they said they made it specifically for my order. Maybe they're out of the pickguard material blanks?

I used a Red Lace Sensor in my Bronco-to-Musicmaster Bass conversion project. Sounds killer, got it off a shortscaler for $30. The rails pickup would probably sound just as good, but the Lace has a built-in robroe, so that's why I chose it.
From what they told me it seemed like they keep some in stock. They said they had black ones in stock but are waiting for b/w/b guards from the supplier. That could mean the pickguard blanks though yeah..

I like the lace but can you change the robroe? I want a black pickup cover and it has a white cover.
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Post by mcconnachiea »

blacktaxi wrote: Do you think it is possible to stain fretboard dark enough to look like rosewood? I honestly can't come up with any potent color scheme for maple fretboard :?
:S

Look for the 'telecaster project' thread. its possible but could end up real messy

As for rail pickups - thats what I had in mind, no problems with polepiece alignment then
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Post by DanHeron »

blacktaxi wrote: Do you think it is possible to stain fretboard dark enough to look like rosewood? I honestly can't come up with any potent color scheme for maple fretboard :?
I wouldn't do that.. i can imagine it turning out pretty bad. There are loads of colour schemes that go with maple necks anway. Look at maple necked guitars for inspiration. I think the lighter colours look better with maple necks - daphne blue, suf green, v white etc. Here's some nice maple necked fenders:


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Post by astro »

DanHeron wrote:
astro wrote:That's weird, when I ordered my Musicmaster pickguard from WD they said they made it specifically for my order. Maybe they're out of the pickguard material blanks?

I used a Red Lace Sensor in my Bronco-to-Musicmaster Bass conversion project. Sounds killer, got it off a shortscaler for $30. The rails pickup would probably sound just as good, but the Lace has a built-in robroe, so that's why I chose it.
From what they told me it seemed like they keep some in stock. They said they had black ones in stock but are waiting for b/w/b guards from the supplier. That could mean the pickguard blanks though yeah..

I like the lace but can you change the robroe? I want a black pickup cover and it has a white cover.
The Lace Sensors are all available in white, black, or cream covers. Each pickup has the cover epoxied on, so an individual pickup can't have it's cover changed. But the Lace pickups are very common on ebay, in every colour of cover, so you shouldn't have any trouble getting a black one for cheeps.
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Post by DanHeron »

The Bronco arrived this morning! As did the eBay knobs:

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The action was nice and low straight out of the box and with hardly any fret buzz which was nice. Gave it a quick tune and plugged it into the tiny terror. I was impressed by the sound. A lot has been said about its crappy pickup and I expected the worst but it isn't too bad! The shortscale neck is soo easy to play. Much prefer it over my full scale p-bass copy. Overall, I was impressed by it. It looks a lot nicer in real life as well.

New knobs are pretty nice, dont have any screws on though GRRR
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Post by Tobias »

Awesome stuff, ive very often wondered why the pickups looked like a strats. And now I do haha :D
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Post by Noirie. »

Whats happening with this bass then? got the pguard yet?
theshadowofseattle wrote:less being WOKE
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