| I did it again. I modified another Squier. This time a bass; the Squier Affinity Bronco Bass to be specific. They run about $150 new and $50-100 used. Per the ad-sheet: “With its slim 30″-scale neck and lightweight body, the Squier Affinity Series Bronco Bass Guitar is an easy-to-play bass. Features a double-cutaway body, maple neck and fingerboard, 19 frets, a single-coil pickup, master volume, and tone.” I had modified one before to great success, but had passed that instrument on to an at risk teen interested in music that I had mentored as an Americorps. I do not regret giving him the ‘gift of music’, but I do miss having a short scale (guitarist friendly) bass to pay on. This model of bass in particular was my introduction to the Fender ‘short scale’ catalogue. I’ll say it a million times, Leo Fender is my hero. The first time I modified a bronco bass I upgraded the tuners to help with neck dive (this was also my introduction to Hipshot products, which I highly recommend), the bridge was replaced so all strings could intonate independently (what a concept?!), and the cheapo stock Stratocaster pickup was replaced with a GuitarFetish Lipstick pickup, because I was chasing a Danelectro ‘Tick-Tock’ sound. The cherry on top was a set of D’Addario Chrome bass strings. It was fun to play, easy on the fingers, and with restraint guitar amplifier friendly. This time around I chose to use Hipshot ultra light bass tuners again because I found a great deal on Musicians Friend and my many positive experiences with a variety of Hipshot products. The original pickguard looked junky so I went with a new custom one from a luthier in Phoenix who specializes in pickguards (the same guy who made my Musicmaster pickguard in my previous article). For whatever reason (Tariffs?) the lipstick pickup was not available thru multiple vendors, so I opted to try an Artec (Korean OEM pickup manufacturer) copy of a Gibson bass humbucker. Again, I upgraded the bridge with a standard Fender 4 saddle bass bridge. I do not remember the first Bronco bass having any fret work issues, but I was mostly ignorant to such things at the time. The new one, however, had ‘cheese grater’ fret ends that needed more attention than what a light polishing with an extra fine scotch brite pad could provide, so I did a complete fret job including leveling. Admittedly, kind of overkill but I welcome extra practice, time providing. I’m using a Gibson style bass humbucker, so I decided to use the schematic from a Gibson EB-1 bass. Leo Fender used a similar circuit at G&L in the LB-100 Bass (a good design or a non-competition clause? Ask me later!). I used CTS potentiometers, Panasonic film caps (consistently good), and a switchcraft jack. This time around I’ll be keeping this one, at least for now. However, I highly recommend giving the ‘gift of music’ to anyone- even yourself. Next month I will be revisiting my Jordan Bosstone project. |
