Family Photo

[johnbiscuti]

Thought you guys might enjoy a photo of my current Guild family.

1968 Starfire 1; original Black finish with Badass II bridge, replaced nut, and replaced knobs.
1967 Starfire I; Cherry; big frets, changed tuners, and no pickup riser.
1973 Starfire II; Cherry & all-original w/ OHSC, hangtag, and manual.

 

[killdeer43]

Good looking family. Which one is your favorite?

Joe

 

[fronobulax]

Nice. I keep thinking I should take a Family Portrait but the couch isn't big enough for all of the Guilds and I don't know which ones to leave out or how to stabilize them all at once ;-)

 

[davismanLV]

I can't remember when we DIDN'T enjoy a family portrait. Great shot, John!! Just know that if your family grows you're gonna have to get a bigger couch....

 

[johnbiscuti]

Thanks friends! Joe, the '67 in the middle is currently my favorite. It's wearing some really thuddy flatwounds and has the "woodiest" tone of all of them. The Badass bridge on the '68 adds a very pronounced top-end "zing", even with flatwound strings. I'm looking forward to gigging with it to see how that translates in a loud live setting.

The '73 is strung with rounds and is the "piano" tone all the way. It sounds humongous and is a nice counterpart to the sweetness of the Bi-Sonic-equipped basses.

 

[mavuser]

I would check out some flatwound strings on that 73 before u go changing pickups or loosing sleep deciding to keep or sell!
great picture btw. I am overdue for a similar shared display of Guilds.

 

[adorshki]

Nice. I keep thinking I should take a Family Portrait but the couch isn't big enough for all of the Guilds and I don't know which ones to leave out or how to stabilize them all at once ;-)

TRY THESE:

 

[hagmeat]

Awesome ! Thanks for sharing.

Does anybody know if these SF
basses were ever available with
a longscale neck ?

Cheers

 

[fronobulax]

Awesome ! Thanks for sharing.

Does anybody know if these SF
basses were ever available with
a longscale neck ?

Cheers

I'm going to say No. Absolutely not. I think the closest thing to the non-existent long scale Starfire that actually exists is the Jack Casady signature which is long scale and a true hollow body.

 

[mavuser]

Thought you guys might enjoy a photo of my current Guild family.

1968 Starfire 1; original Black finish with Badass II bridge, replaced nut, and replaced knobs.
1967 Starfire I; Cherry; big frets, changed tuners, and no pickup riser.
1973 Starfire II; Cherry & all-original w/ OHSC, hangtag, and manual.

never out to highjack a thread, I just think theses pictures look too good next to each other.

L to R
1967 SF Bass 1 Sunburst (owned by LTG member Jules)
1968 SF Bass 2 Sunburst, 3-piece mahogany neck (aka the "sixty-eightburst")
1998 SF Bass 2 Antique Burst

I hope to convince John to do a full on comparisson/demo of his 73 and my 98 for the rest of us. as they are both full factory stock, unmodified, from the sounds of it.

 

[johnbiscuti]

Fantastic! Gosh those sunbursts are lovely, and all different in a beautiful way. That '68 is really sublime.

 

[hagmeat]

I'm going to say No. Absolutely not. I think the closest thing to the non-existent long scale Starfire that actually exists is the Jack Casady signature which is long scale and a true hollow body.

Hi Frono, I thought it would be a longshot, thanks for the confirmation.

 

[hagmeat]

L to R
1967 SF Bass 1 Sunburst (owned by LTG member Jules)
1968 SF Bass 2 Sunburst, 3-piece mahogany neck (aka the "sixty-eightburst")
1998 SF Bass 2 Antique Burst

I hope to convince John to do a full on comparisson/demo of his 73 and my 98 for the rest of us. as they are both full factory stock, unmodified, from the sounds of it.

Great pic Mav, I have to agree with John, I`ll take the 68 burst !

 

[johnbiscuti]

Hey Mav, looking more at your family photo here, it looks like the bridge pickup on your '68 may be slightly farther from the bridge then a typical SFII. Is this the case?

 

[fronobulax]

Hey Mav, looking more at your family photo here, it looks like the bridge pickup on your '68 may be slightly farther from the bridge then a typical SFII. Is this the case?

Eric has suggested this may be the case but hadn't convinced me. Maybe we get twoorgis and mavuser to get out the tape measures? For the record I'd measure from the nut since bridge and saddle adjustments can vary and there is the potential for an "optical illusion" with the curved bridge.

 

[mavuser]

Hey Mav, looking more at your family photo here, it looks like the bridge pickup on your '68 may be slightly farther from the bridge then a typical SFII. Is this the case?

Thats because my bridge pickup is closer the "sweet spot" than the "bridge." Some SF2s are like that and may have started out as a leftover sweet spot SF1 body that never got used once the change was made to the neck position for the SF1. Then when they introduced the SF2, they may have gone back and doubled it up. All speculation and certain members of this forum do not agree that any SF 2 bass has the pickup in the sweet spot. Have yet to do a side by side comparison and measurement. But it is clear to me there is some variation of about 1/4 inch, give or take.

 

[fronobulax]

Thats because my bridge pickup is closer the "sweet spot" than the "bridge." Some SF2s are like that and may have started out as a leftover sweet spot SF1 body that never got used once the change was made to the neck position for the SF1. Then when they introduced the SF2, they may have gone back and doubled it up. All speculation and certain members of this forum do not agree that any SF 2 bass has the pickup in the sweet spot. Have yet to do a side by side comparison and measurement. But it is clear to me there is some variation of about 1/4 inch, give or take.

That would be me. However I can be convinced. I do, however, seriously question whether a sweet spot SF I body that was made in 1966 or earlier would hang around the factory for four years and then be re-purposed into a SF II. That secneraio woyld be more convincing with a SF II from 1966 and I don't think there is a claimed sweet spot SF that predates 1968. Yes, I know that I cannot argue from the absence of something but if there is a sweet spot SF II I would expect it to be a 66. The evidence suggests that Starfire basses sold pretty well from 1965-1969 and so the usual quirks where parts sit around and get used many years after they were made would not seem to apply. Regardless, I'll be easily convinced when folks actually take measurements and not just photos

 

[twocorgis]

Late to the party here, but Greenie measures exactly 27" from the bottom of the nut to the leading edge of the riser for the bridge pup. It does appear the the bridge pup is a bit closer to the bridge than Eric's bass

To keep it on topic, here's the rest of my Guild bass family...well, the 'leccies anyway.

 

[mavuser]

Frono u missed my point I think. After the non-Bisonic Mickey Mouse/hagstroms phase in 1966, when they went back to the Bisonic, at that time they moved the pickup location to the neck. At this time the SF2 still wasn't really available. There were a few out there, I know Phil had an early one...but the SF2 does not really get introduced until late 1967 along with the suck switch which is also added to the SF1 at the same time. My bass is a seemingly early 1968 and so it is feasible some of the very last sweet spot/Mickey mouse bodies went unused at first/late 1966 and sat around for a year-year and a half and were eventually morphed into a handful of SF2s. It seems there are a few out there but most have the location of twocorgis greenie. In the case of mine it also has the 3-piece mahogany neck so is a bit of an oddball in both regards but I like it. And would question if it really sounds any different than the greenie spec, if the same person played both.

 

[fronobulax]

I am assuming that the sweet spot is a fixed distance from the nut. I am assuming that the centerline of the pickup on non-Bisonic sweet spot basses and the centerline on Bisonic sweet spot basses are in the same place. If I am wrong on than then I would expect the pole pieces to be in the same place and if that is also wrong then I need to shut up and crawl back in my hole I await the measurement and will do the same for the NS on the presumption that it is dimensionally equivalent to a 1966. To be continued ;-)