Do vintage and NS Starfire basses physically feel the same?

[lungimsam]

So for y’all with both vintage and NS Starfire how is the “feel” while playing them? Balance? How they “sit” on you? I know people ask if they sound alike but do they feeeeeel alike (left hand play, balance, weight)??

 

[RVBASS]

To me, my vintage and NS Starfire basses feel different. The vintage is lighter and has the feel of raw wood, and balances well. The NS is heavier and feels like a modern polished instrument, yet still balances well. So, I would say they feel the same way as they look. They are both very comfortable to play, and both sound great in their own way.

 

[fronobulax]

I have participated in a one person experiment. I close my eyes and someone hands me a bass. I then identify which one it is. I can obviously tell the '67 and the NS apart when I move my right hand to play. I can also feel for the places where the '67 is worn and the NS is not. I can't tell the difference in 60 seconds if one is placed on my lap while sitting or placed "in" the strap while standing. Since my strap does not slide it is possible that if the strap did not hold things in place one might "balance" differently than the other but that doesn't happen with my strap. I don't normally "feel" the body so any difference in the finish is not relevant. The finish on the neck does feel different but I can not reliably say which is which. I have said the neck finish felt different when I was handed the same bass twice and I have said it was the same when handed two different basses.

So my answer to the question is No.

That said these questions often depend more on the observer than the objects. To use audio as an example some people can't hear the difference between a CD, low sample rate MP3 and vinyl. Some can. People who can, will sometimes claim they can hear a difference between different gauges of speaker wire, or wireless speakers. Are these differences caused by measurable differences in the technology, the listener's ears or some combination?

I can't tell a difference in weight between the two basses. But suppose my scale can. How do we interpret the hypothetical half pound difference? Does it have any practical meaning if I don't notice it? Does the fact that my experiment was based on 60 seconds standing allow for a different answer if I play a 45 minute set and am in constant motion on stage?

 

[lungimsam]

Sometimes I hear the same bass differently on a different day with the same settings. Alot of this stuff does have to do with the subjects' perception.
But if I get an overwhelming agreement among many end users here that would be telling.

 

[fronobulax]

So for y’all with both vintage and NS Starfire how is the “feel” while playing them? Balance? How they “sit” on you? I know people ask if they sound alike but do they feeeeeel alike (left hand play, balance, weight)??

Sometimes I hear the same bass differently on a different day with the same settings. Alot of this stuff does have to do with the subjects' perception.
But if I get an overwhelming agreement among many end users here that would be telling.

And here I was trying to avoid any discussion of tone

 

[mgod]

Maple and mahogany Starfires feel different. I got rid of every mahogany one I owned. Love the maple ones.