NGD: 1978 Fender Bronco!

Jaded

So after recently selling my Vibrolux Custom (and getting an old JC-50 as part of the deal!) I had some money burning a hole in my pocket. This popped up on eBay and I managed to snag it at a really nice price. Excuse the poor photos, taken in a rush to get back to playing it   

It's in pretty good condition with a few dings here and there and some strange wear on the top (you can kind of see it in the 3rd picture). The trem is fantastic, right out of the box I stuck the neck on and put a set of 10.5's on and it works perfectly. It has the range of a Jag/JM and with the kind of "immediacy" of a Strat. Didn't come with an arm but I had a Staytrem Mustang arm laying about which works perfectly. 

It sounds amazing too, with the tone up full it's one of the most jangly guitars I've played without getting into icepick territory. Once you get the tone down around 6-7 it rounds out nicely and works great for most things.

It's definitely a keeper. Just needs a little more set-up work to get rid of some string buzz here and there, probably just needs a little truss rod tweak as the previous owner was using 12s or something.

JookyChap

Ooh, that is nice. I keep looking for Broncos and saw that one but forgot about it. Was very impressed it was from 1878...

Good job, I reckon

suspiciousminds

Looks lovely!
Great guitars - mine has a real tinny sound - B width neck is really comfortable too!

grungebob

Nice! I like that.

ICBM

I had one just like that about twenty years ago. Very nice!

jaygtr

I like it, good buy!

dogload

Well done, that guy!

I have always had a liking for those since trying one in my yoof, but never bought one. I remember being very impressed by the trem.

jellyroll

Very nice. Although it does seem to be deficient in the pickup division, to the tune of two...

jellyroll

The bridge pickup. I like.

grungebob

@jaded do you really use the trem on that kc jaguar?

Richardj

My first guitar was a '76 just like that (the trem arm isn't original on that one), great no-nonsense guitar. Weird thick finish on them that goes yellow strangely and chips.  Now I wish I hadn't sold it!

Jaded

@JookyChap - Haha yeah I saw that, when I realised it pre-dated any other Fender by about 70 years I just had to have it

@dogload - Yep! The trem is great. I tried an older red one last year down denmark street, even with the usual guitar store set-up it was impossible to throw it out of tune!

@grungebob - Loads. I've been thinking of upgrading it to an AVRI or a vintage unit so it'll stand up to more abuse. 

@Richardj - That's the same issue I have with the finish. It's quite cool really. 

Deadman

Jaded said:

It's definitely a keeper.

We all say that!

Lovely old thing though. Enjoy.

grungebob

Jaded;81562" said:

@grungebob - Loads. I've been thinking of upgrading it to an AVRI or a vintage unit so it'll stand up to more abuse. . 

Wow,mines locked and will always be :-)

Jaded

grungebob said:

Jaded;81562" said:

@grungebob - Loads. I've been thinking of upgrading it to an AVRI or a vintage unit so it'll stand up to more abuse. . 

Wow,mines locked and will always be :-)

I could never do that, too much of a Kevin Shields fan haha. Hell, this is the first guitar I've bought that doesn't use a Jag trem! 

littlethoughts

Nice! I saw this one as well and was tempted by it.

historyisjunk

Good buy, very nice wee thing that & not been modded. Glad you like it so much.

Neil

Looks a nice buy, in good nick too.

I assume it is a 24" scale?

Are these virtually a single pickup Mustang? What are the differences?

ICBM

Neil said:

I assume it is a 24" scale?

Are these virtually a single pickup Mustang? What are the differences?

Yes, 24" scale, but the tremolo is completely different from the Mustang.

It's actually a well-designed unit, and works very well - the whole bridge tilts as one unit so there is no string travel over the saddles, and hence no potential for the strings sticking out of tune - unlike the Mustang one, which *can* work well but is trickier to set up so it works well.

It does have a noticeable 'zingy' or 'wiry' tone which you can hear unplugged and makes the guitar sound the way it does - the tone is different from a Mustang's bridge pickup even though the pickup itself is identical.

They never made a two-pickup version, presumably because it would have been too close to a Mustang.

Neil

^^^

Thanks for that, good info. 

Jaded

@Neil - Yeah ICBM is spot on with his description. It's got a pretty distinct tone from a Mustang (or at least how I remember my Mustang sounding), much brighter but not in a shrill/icepick kind of way, I'd agree with 'zingy'. 

I run the tone about half way and it's still got plenty of cut... once cranked it reminds me of that no-wave/post punk kind of 'thin' sound, which is something I've been trying to get for a while. This is all through a Jazz Chorus. 

The tremolo is pretty much a simplified Strat trem. It doesn't have the same kind of range as a Strat though, you can dive about a full step and raise the pitch about half a step (maybe more, but I've not had the courage to pull it up that much!) which is more than enough for me. It just will not go out of tune. 

I'd love to find another one that's already been molested with a humbucker in the neck. A low output PAF in the neck paired with the single coil would be perfect.