1978 Fender Bronco, White
Super cool late Seventies Bronco in a lesser seen and very vibey aged Olympic White. Part of the series of Student guitars that featured the Mustang, Musicmaster and Bronco that Fender offered in the late sixties and through the Seventies. Released in 1967 it was available as a pair with the matching Bronco Amp or on its own. A popular model, the Bronco sold well and remained in the Fender line-up until the early 1980’s.
Featuring an offset alder body with Olympic White finish, only seen on the later Bronco’s - upon release and into the Seventies it was only offered in Red only - with a 24 inch scale Maple neck with a Rosewood fingerboard. The Bronco had a single bridge positioned pickup and Vibrato unit in contrast to the dual pick up Mustang and Neck pickup only Musicmaster. The Three guitars shared the same pickup type. The controls were a simple volume and tone knob. Tuners were the same Fender Schaller units used throughout the range and the Vibrato was a proprietary unit that was only used on the Bronco. Early guitars had white pickguards before changing by the Mid-seventies to Black to match the aesthetic of the rest of the Femder range.
This guitar is a very cool, vibey example, the original pickup has been swapped out for a more powerful Seymour Duncan SSL-5 that works very well in this Junior-esque guitar. The SSL-5 is the overwound medium-output Stratocaster pickup that Fender use in the bridge position of the David Gilmour Signature Fender Stratocaster. The pots are matched CTS with one dating to 6th week of 78 and the other unreadable. Frets and nut are original to the guitar, the frets have lost some height but the guitar plays well. Anyone used to playing Shorter scale Fender Guitars will feel right at home, strung with 10.5 gauge strings the guitar plays and feels like a full scale Fender. The neck has a 40.48mm nut width with a fairly full feeling C profile neck with a depth at the first fret of 23.08mm.
A lot of fun and great to play, the guitar comes with it's period correct Fender case.