Mustang/Bronco Bass mashup....

[paulnb57]

I had a custom Mustang Bass body made for me, by @DeedPoll to suit a Bronco Bass neck, in roasted Ash(?) I elected to site the bridge myself as I hadn’t decided which bridge to use. It arrived I decided on a bridge, drilled mounting holes, all good, then drilled the earth wire from the bridge to the control cavity, started with the drill bit vertical and gradually tilted to aim at the cavity, at which point a big chip popped of the top in front of the bridge, I was gutted, I tried to glue it back, it was a mess, so much so I bolted the neck on, masking taped the parts that I had to it and propped it in a corner...and sulked......now and then I’d pick it up, give it a dose of looking at, curse my stupidity and put it back 2 years passed and being quarantined with this bloody Virus about, , I decided the time was right to try and sort it out and get it finished......I sanded the top but it was still a mess, so I filled it using Isopon Auto body filler, just a thin skim, sanded again and then sprayed it Halfords rattle can Satin Black, this is the thinnest covering Ive ever done, about half a 20ml can, it sunk into the grain beautifully.....
This gave me the impetus to carry on, I ordered Hipshot Ultralight tuners, of course the holes in the headstock are too small, so Im waiting for a tapered reamer to arrive......I designed a scratchplate and Tim at Scratch-It has produced one in clear acrylic, for me to sandwich a design between it and the body, pickup will be a Strat size Duncan Rail......waiting for parts now......

Anyroadup....photos

[mortron]

I have a Bronco as well. The body is the soft spot. Literally. But I like it and the neck was worth the $75 I paid, forgetting the APS1 Strat pickup also inside.

While I'd have liked a Mustang Bass, the Bronco gets you in the ballpark and a great mod platform.

First thing I did was replace the pickup with a single coil sized dual rail humbucker from Dragon Fire... Some of the folk on here who own Broncos will know em. Bout $11 at the time. I get good sound, good output, but the radius mismatch between pickup and fretboard meant I had to get a little crafty on setup.

What concerns me most is your bridge. May I ask the spacing? One drawback to the dual saddle bridge is that intonation isn't the best and swapping the bridge ends up high on the list .... BUT... The spacing is such that if you were to install a traditional Fender bridge, it pushes the strings out so far that they can be much closer to the edge. I play hard and sometimes with the stock have slid off the fretboard. Due to this I am holding out for a narrow bridge. You may be fine depending on the bridge, but if not, may want to get it off before it leaves an impression in the paint - if you go smaller, it may not cover the area of old one and leave an outline.

The Mustang, Guild Starfire (iirc) and Musicmaster bridges have similar spacing. Hipshot offers a Vintage Style one that has .669" spacing... So you have options, but they're not as common. And like I said, maybe your bridge is already narrow enough. Just didn't want you to get to string up and get frustrated.

The tuners on mine rattle. Badly. Like I thought there was a broken truss rod at first and went insane. Those gotta go too on mine, but they hold tune well enough and wish I could spend money on other stuff instead. Also, the nut on mine was hollow plastic... Since it's a bass nut and may be easier due to margin or error, I would suggest trying to make one or replacing it with a slightly better nut that is pre slotted.

How much does that body weigh? Looks nice, same thickness as original Bronco bass body? I also love that you have a chain called Halfords. I can't help imagine a retired Rob Halford from Judas Priest helping me pick paint colors to match the kitchen and select lumber... little smock over his leather and some big Aviator Glasses "the persimmon is much warmer than the periwinkle and will highlight the grain in your cabinets"... In falsetto of course hahaha.

[paulnb57]

Bridge spacing is fine, but thanks for your input, it could have been a schoolboy error, however Ive decided to replace it with a Hipshot!.....good call regarding the fretboard radius compared to the rail bucker, thats something I had not considered...

[mortron]

Glad you managed to avoid that problem... seen too many mount and string it to find out the hard way.

Which Hipshot did ya grab?

The radius may be fine, if anything it was the cheap pickup I had purchased having a weird radius to it. It still works really well though, but if I were to grab one again, it would be something to consider.

I like the clear pickguard idea...my bass teacher had a Yamaha guitar that came that way from factory. Oddly enough, he didn't remember it until I lamented how cool it was when he got it way back when. What designs you thinking about?

[paulnb57]

Ive ordered the Hipshot Rickenbacker bridge, which will cover my earlier booboo and has a narrow string spacing....not decided on what to put behind the acrylic guard yet, watch this space!
I remember those Yams with clear guards!.......pretty cool idea, but I guess it never caught on...