The Fender Bronco. No not the guitar amp. No not the bass amp either. No not the short-scale Squier bass!
The Fender Bronco is the reverse of the Fender Musicmaster. Essentially a stripped down Mustang. It has one pick up, near the bridge. One volume. One tone. And then a tremolo bar can be added.
This guitar is incredibly rare. For a Fender guitar, the wikipedia entry is short, and there is about 8 videos on youtube (with varying sound quality). It's regarded as 'affordable vintage' and I think that's because not many people have heard of them!
The guitars were made between 1967 and 1981. It was built to go into a student package with the aforementioned Fender Bronco Amp. It has a solid Alder body and a Rosewood finger board. Originally coming in Dakota Red, the Bronco eventually came out in Black, Vintage White and Midnight Wine as well as Dakota Red.
The only notable player (I think, please correct me if I'm wrong!) is Alex Turner. Which is probably the main reason I know about this guitar.
The last point leads me nicely onto the next point. I'm a sucker for wanting guitars that my heroes have played. Though there a few reasons I want the Fender Bronco. Despite some of the frankly strange youtube videos (seriously, find the one by the French guy who keeps swapping between a Bronco and a Musicmaster) I really love the sound of this guitar. Having been a massive Arctics fan I've been exposed to the sound quite a bit. The distinct sound of that one single coil pick-up tearing through a variety of Arctic Monkeys tune sends me wild.
This is a point to pick up one. I never thought about acquiring a Bronco. Alex Turner uses one instead of a American and Mexican standard Stratocaster. So it's obviously going to be a lot of money right? No chance I'll get near one of them. Wrong. The guitar sells second hand for around £500-£700. That is a lot of money for a guitar; but with the chance of owning a guitar from the 60s or 70s, for £700? That blew my mind; and this is why I want one. A chance to own a rare piece of guitar history for not much money is great. I think I'd rather own a Bronco, Musicmaster, and a Mexican Stratocaster rather than buying a American standard one!
The last reason I'd like the Bronco is the fact that I have a thing for single pick up guitars. I love owning a VM Jaguar, an Epiphone Les Paul and Sheraton but now and then you just wanna pick up a guitar and just rock the fuck out. A single pup axe allows that. Just plug it in and blast away. I love to mess around with the blend on my Les Paul and there is a certain excitement about getting confused about a Jaguar but I think sometimes an individual needs two knows and a pick up.
The Bronco was discontinued in 1981, and hasn't been bought out again. I would suggest that the Bronco and the Musicmaster would be great additions to the Fender Modernplayer series; but I think it should be around the £280 mark. I think the Modern Player series is a confused series, most instruments being around the £350-£400 mark, with more glamorous models being £700-odd. A one pick up model should go the other way, with the option of buying a Fender amp for £90 more (just rename the Mustang a Bronco with a few different amp models would be ideal). A simple addition of a humbucker in a single-coil shape, with a coil-tap/coil-split and I'll sell my own sister (and yours too!) to own one.
Inabit.
SJ.
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