1971 Starfire Bass

[RVBASS]

I received this 1971 Starfire bass today. A dark walnut finish over flame maple body. Nice condition for its age. The neck is beefier than my ‘67 Starfire, but still comfortable to play (looks like mahogany neck). I’m thinking of replacing the Guild humbuckers with Novak BS-DS pickups.

 

[James Hart]

Beautiful!

 

[lungimsam]

Bisonics would be great!! Congrats!!!!

 

[RVBASS]

Thanks! The bass came with the original case that is well worn on the outside and to some extent on the inside. I ordered a new Guild Starfire Bass case for it. Is it worth keeping this original case?

 

[twocorgis]

Thanks! The bass came with the original case that is well worn on the outside and to some extent on the inside. I ordered a new Guild Starfire Bass case for it. Is it worth keeping this original case?

Case-wise, I wouldn't change a thing as long as it still works. An instrument can only have the OHSC once.

 

[RVBASS]

Case-wise, I wouldn't change a thing as long as it still works. And instrument can only have the OHSC once.

Very good point, thanks. The bass bangs around a bit in the original case, so I will keep the original case in storage.

 

[drlucky]

Sweet, congratulations!!

 

[drlucky]

Dumb question: do the Bisonics have the same "footprint" as the humbuckers?

 

[twocorgis]

Dumb question: do the Bisonics have the same "footprint" as the humbuckers?

I'm not 100% certain, but I have seen quite a few humbucker equipped Starfires and M85s that were converted to Dark Stars, so it must be close. I know the Dark star swap on my DeArmond Starfire was pretty close, too.

 

[fronobulax]

These are all basses that predate the bass under discussion. To the best of my knowledge a Bisonic was replaced with a Guild Humbucker. I would expect that the Bisonic and Humbucker can use the same routing and the Bisonic mount might cover slightly more area. The absence of any holes left behind by the Bisonic supports this, even if the pictures are not great. BA-1061 is perhaps most interesting in that regard. This is the opposite direction from what is proposed but in my opinion supports a general interchangeability and the mods would be screw holes and not enlarging the "hole" for the pickup.

BA-314


BA-1061


BA-1684

 

[RVBASS]

314 is a beauty!

 

[RVBASS]

The color of the bass is pretty dark unless the light hits it right. It looks like it has some pretty nice flame maple under the dark finish. I was thinking of stripping off the finish to reveal the maple underneath. Any thoughts in doing that (or not doing that)?

 

[hansmoust]

I received this 1971 Starfire bass today. A dark walnut finish over flame maple body.

Actually, that looks like a 'flame' mahogany body to me. Don't remove the dark finish; it will not look like a flame maple body!

Sincerely,

Hans Moust
www.guitarsgalore.nl

 

[RVBASS]

Actually, that looks like a 'flame' mahogany body to me. Don't remove the dark finish; it will not look like a flame maple body!

Sincerely,

Hans Moust
www.guitarsgalore.nl

OK, thanks for the feedback. I will leave the finish as is. This photo of the buckle rash gives an idea of the wood under the finish.

I ordered a couple of Novak BS-DS pickups to replace the humbuckers currently in there that sound muffled compared to the bisonic in my ‘67 Starfire.

 

[mellowgerman]

Bisonics will fit the humbucker cavity just fine without extra routing being required, though mounting screw holes will need to be drilled -- if I recall correctly, the humbucker mounting screw holes will not peek out as they are spaced a bit closer together than those required for a Bisonic.

 

[lungimsam]

Is it a refinish?

 

[RVBASS]

Is it a refinish?

It doesn’t look like it and that was a finish option offered at that time.

 

[RVBASS]

Bisonics will fit the humbucker cavity just fine without extra routing being required, though mounting screw holes will need to be drilled -- if I recall correctly, the humbucker mounting screw holes will not peek out as they are spaced a bit closer together than those required for a Bisonic.

Good to know, thanks. I also ordered the Bisonic pickup rings from Guild the other day.

 

[RVBASS]

I must say these new Guild cases are really nice.

 

[RVBASS]

Moving along with this conversion, I now plan to do the following:

1. Install two Novak BS-DS pickups with the coil tap option on each
2. Install a JTEX Distiller filter for each Pickup
3. Decide if I want push-pull coil taps on the volume knobs for each pickup, or install mini toggle switches for each pickup with the settings: BS, Off, DS.

So that’s the plan right now.