Teesee Posted Monday at 17:36 Share Posted Monday at 17:36 I have a lovely little Bronco I bought for my son in around 2002 - 2003, I recently liberated it from the garage after 20 years cleaned it up added new pots, cap and jack socket, a McNelly pickup to replace the old 6 pole strat, and of course new strings - Roto flats in this case. Sounds lovely and proud, I really like it except for the bridge and machine heads. Bronco parts appear to be like rocking horse poo, even trying to get a pickguard is a nightmare - I'm having a black one made up - but that's a different story! The real horrible thing about this lovely bass are the machine heads/tuners. They have a very coarse adjustment which makes it really hard to get into tune and stay in tune, one slight touch and they'll go up or down a pitch, really horrible. Also they suffer from tightening and loosening in differing arcs of the turn i.e the post will flap about or be rock solid depending where you've turned the key which suggests to me either the 'rack' or the 'pinion' has not been machined to their tolerances. Ideally I'd like a drop in replacement with a finer action as I really don't want to drill out the headstock holes if I can help it and also not exceed the footprint of the back plate where they may interfere with their neighbour when it comes to fitting. The diameter of the post is 9.5 mil, the diameter of the holes in the headstock is 11.5 mil. If need be I will have to drill out the headstock, but that just involves me shelling out more for a drill and or/reamer. I've been going cross eyed and getting a headache trying to find replacement tuners so if any of you guys know what I could get and where I'd really appreciate it. Budget - upto perhaps £70 a set but prefer lower😉 Cheers TC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassApprentice Posted Monday at 18:42 Share Posted Monday at 18:42 I did a Bronco project a few years ago and I just bit the bullet and got a local tech to do the tuners for me since I like you, didn't have the tools at the time. Think he changed me about £20 to do it. And the standard size of the tuning pegs fit perfectly on the back so don't worry about a specific set if you are looking to save pennies. I got the tuners from here for about £15 too. Stick an ad up in the Items Wanted section and I'm sure someone round here has a set of tuners in their parts drawer. Super fun things to do and good luck with getting back to working order! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meterman Posted Monday at 20:36 Share Posted Monday at 20:36 Earlpilanz on ebay does replacement Bronco pickguards in all manner of colours. Plenty of folk on here will vouch for his work, and I’ve had a few custom pickguards made by him and he’s spot on 👍 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neepheid Posted Monday at 20:38 Share Posted Monday at 20:38 I reamed out the holes and fit standard 1/2" tuners. Absolutely no help to you whatsoever, but have some free Bronco pron. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teesee Posted Tuesday at 04:39 Author Share Posted Tuesday at 04:39 9 hours ago, BassApprentice said: I did a Bronco project a few years ago and I just bit the bullet and got a local tech to do the tuners for me since I like you, didn't have the tools at the time. Think he changed me about £20 to do it. And the standard size of the tuning pegs fit perfectly on the back so don't worry about a specific set if you are looking to save pennies. I got the tuners from here for about £15 too. Stick an ad up in the Items Wanted section and I'm sure someone round here has a set of tuners in their parts drawer. Super fun things to do and good luck with getting back to working order! Lovely looking bass mate, they're little packages of dynamite IMHO for bangs per buck really happy with mine and how she sounds - just the tuners to upgrade and I'll be a happy bunny 😄 On a similar note, already someone has offered me a set of Gotoh's for a good price which look like they'll fit so I'm gonna take those up :👍 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teesee Posted Tuesday at 04:41 Author Share Posted Tuesday at 04:41 8 hours ago, neepheid said: I reamed out the holes and fit standard 1/2" tuners. Absolutely no help to you whatsoever, but have some free Bronco pron. Cheers mate, always good to see a little bass pron and cracking instruments these.. 🙂👍 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teesee Posted Tuesday at 04:49 Author Share Posted Tuesday at 04:49 8 hours ago, meterman said: Earlpilanz on ebay does replacement Bronco pickguards in all manner of colours. Plenty of folk on here will vouch for his work, and I’ve had a few custom pickguards made by him and he’s spot on 👍 I tried him, but wouldn't ship to UK for some reason at least that's what it said on Ebay when I clicked on the page 😕, however someone on another forum told me to try this place up in Manchester https://tinytone.co.uk/product/scratchplate-builder/#configuration its knocking me back £62 with postage both ways as I'm sending the original to them. That went in the post yesterday so hopefully by next week it'll come back to me. Thanks for the suggestion tho 👍😀 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teesee Posted Tuesday at 05:13 Author Share Posted Tuesday at 05:13 Thanks all, got some new tuners coming in the post from a guy off here, Gotoh GB7 's I will need to open the holes a tadge but for the price I'm not going to complain. 👍 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean-Luc Pickguard Posted Tuesday at 05:59 Share Posted Tuesday at 05:59 Earlpilanz aka Brian Pillans is based in the UK, so I have no idea why ebay would say he doesn’t ship here — it was probably a glitch on the link you clicked. I have a few pickguards he made, and they are top notch, as is Brian’s service. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meterman Posted Tuesday at 06:21 Share Posted Tuesday at 06:21 1 hour ago, Teesee said: I tried him, but wouldn't ship to UK for some reason at least that's what it said on Ebay when I clicked on the page 😕, however someone on another forum told me to try this place up in Manchester https://tinytone.co.uk/product/scratchplate-builder/#configuration its knocking me back £62 with postage both ways as I'm sending the original to them. That went in the post yesterday so hopefully by next week it'll come back to me. Thanks for the suggestion tho 👍😀 That's weird about Earlpilanz because he's in Scotland and as far as I remember he posts worldwide. I got a pickguard from him last year and I'm in France. You must have been unlucky to have had an eBay glitch or something? Glad you're sorted though 👍 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teesee Posted Tuesday at 06:45 Author Share Posted Tuesday at 06:45 Hmm, that's very odd. It may be that I'm using Nordvpn and it thought I was in a different country, but I always use the UK server so yeah, it must've glitched. Apologies Earlpilanz for losing a sale due to my useless tech skills.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teesee Posted Tuesday at 06:51 Author Share Posted Tuesday at 06:51 47 minutes ago, Jean-Luc Pickguard said: Earlpilanz aka Brian Pillans is based in the UK, so I have no idea why ebay would say he doesn’t ship here — it was probably a glitch on the link you clicked. I have a few pickguards he made, and they are top notch, as is Brian’s service. Yeah as I say it's well strange. I didn't realise either that earl was Brian. I was tapping his Ebay site up before but every time I went to place an order I had a message for weeks saying 'this seller is taking a break' and it wouldn't process my order. Kodiakblair mentioned to me that he was moving house which may explain that, he had the very pickguard that I needed. Oh well, hopefully this other outfit will come up good, although I could have saved a few bob had I gone to earl. Never mind, what's done is done. Cheers anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NancyJohnson Posted Tuesday at 07:28 Share Posted Tuesday at 07:28 Bought a Badtz-Maru Bronco years ago; biggest failing was the machines. First attempt at enlarging the holes resulted in what is best described as catastrophic headstock damage. Junked the neck; bought a vintage rosewood '70s neck from the US (including machines), but that was horribly bowed and the truss rod maxed out. Neck #3 was a loaded one (with decent machines) from the Stratosphere place in the US. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neepheid Posted Tuesday at 08:01 Share Posted Tuesday at 08:01 (edited) 1 hour ago, meterman said: That's weird about Earlpilanz because he's in Scotland and as far as I remember he posts worldwide. I got a pickguard from him last year and I'm in France. You must have been unlucky to have had an eBay glitch or something? Glad you're sorted though 👍 Not any more - moved to Newcastle. Which I'll accept - has been Scottish a few times over the course of history... I just ordered a guard from Brian for my Jaguar H, and he did a pickguard for my G&L Tribute LB-100 a while back - top notch stuff. Edited Tuesday at 08:02 by neepheid 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jono Bolton Posted Tuesday at 13:25 Share Posted Tuesday at 13:25 5 hours ago, neepheid said: Not any more - moved to Newcastle. Which I'll accept - has been Scottish a few times over the course of history... I just ordered a guard from Brian for my Jaguar H, and he did a pickguard for my G&L Tribute LB-100 a while back - top notch stuff. I was wondering about that; I've been trying to buy a pickguard from him for a while. His old shop was about ten minutes from me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meterman Posted Tuesday at 17:00 Share Posted Tuesday at 17:00 8 hours ago, neepheid said: Not any more - moved to Newcastle. Which I'll accept - has been Scottish a few times over the course of history... I just ordered a guard from Brian for my Jaguar H, and he did a pickguard for my G&L Tribute LB-100 a while back - top notch stuff. Oh, no! I hope he doesn't regret it 😂 I lived in Newcastle for about a year and half and never really got the hang of the place, despite growing up in County Durham, which isn't far away, or culturally that much different. Having said that, my Dad's from Leith and we had a lot of family there and in Edinburgh. I way prefer it up there. As a kid I spent a lot of time with family in Leith and Fife, and Pittenweem, Anstruther, etc. Love it 🏴 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teesee Posted 20 hours ago Author Share Posted 20 hours ago Just out of curiosity I went back on his Ebay site, there's a banner now saying he'll be back on 28th October, I missed it by a whisker. I'm getting the new PG tomorrow hope it's OK, but it was twice the price of Brian's. 😭 I'm looking at the rest of my basses to see if any of 'em need a different pickguard now Brian's back in the game! 😆😆 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teesee Posted 20 hours ago Author Share Posted 20 hours ago Speaking of machine heads - after I posted the first message, a basschatter - sifi2112 - got in touch with me said he had some Gotohs but they was black, at first I was thinking chrome but I got to thinking, well black will go nice with the black pg and so I ordered a black Sung Il BB404 from Northwest Guitars that'll be arriving tomoz. Anyway, took sifi's offer they arrived about an hour and half ago ago, straight into the garage with a round rasp file, opened up the holes and here we are! Got some nice white cupcakes and the white pup cover so I reckon it'll look good! I've got roto flats on it and the 4 pole bass pup just makes it a vintage 70's sound, in my collection maybe something I haven't really got. I know the Sung Il is 19mm spacing but I'm reliably told either on here or the 'other' forum site that there wont be any slipping off the fretboard with the E or G, just less land. I hope they're right I've just filled the old bridge holes with epoxy and wood where I'll shave them flush tomorrow. The old bridge is on it's way to Manchester, as the guy who was cutting the pickguard has a Bronco but with the new 4 saddle and he wanted the 2 saddle, rather than it languishing in my draw he put in a decent donation to charity. Works for me. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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