New Starfire Bass reissue questions...

[lungimsam]

1. How do you like yours, an how do they sound?

2.Really a Bi sonic?

3.Is this a cheapy reissue or a quality one? Seeing the Korea label doesn't sound so great, but I don't know from Guilds.

4. 2013 Starfire reissue or 2013 Fender Coronado - what's the diffs in tone and quality if any of you all know?

 

[fronobulax]

I suggest you use the Search Function and "Newark Street" will probably get to you the posts where I have already answered similar questions

Nevertheless.

I like mine. It sounds like my '67 when I dial the treble off on the NS and gets thinner as I add treble. Since the Newark Street has rounds and the '67 has flats it is quite possible that the difference is due to the strings and not the PU. I won't say it nails the Bisonic until I put flats on it but I like the sound enough that I am not really motivated to change strings and answer the question in a more definitive fashion. The fit and finish on mine are outstanding. I am hard pressed to find anything to complain about. That said, a couple of people who have ultimately not purchased one (or returned it) found things they could comment about. Based upon a sample of one, anyone who expects inferior quality just because it was made in Korea is going to be disappointed and will have to find some other rationalization for knocking products just because they are not made in the USA.

Can't compare to the Coronado.

As far as I know I am the only one on LTG who owns one. mavuser evaluated one in a store and there is a link to a non-LTG blog post from someone who eventually returned it. Their specific reason was the intonation on the E and G strings. Mine intonates as well as the '67 but if I tried to mess with the action I can see where the bridge would not adjust anymore. I view that as a design flaw of the bridge that has existed since 1965 and not a specific problem with the Newark Street Starfire.

 

[lungimsam]

Thanks for the info.
Sounds pretty good.

I notice that the "skunk stripe" in pics on Sweetwater's site shows them to be crooked. Anything to be concerned about? How is yours?
See how off center this one is? The others they have are crooked, too. And I saw an online review of someone else's that is also crooked.
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/StarfireBass/snKSG1300315

 

[fronobulax]

My skunk stripe is is straight as the one on my '67. If they are both crooked, I can't tell. I could make a case that with different lighting the Sweetwater strip would not seem crooked. It looks to me like an artifact of the photo and not a problem with the bass. That said, there are reports of cosmetic issues and other flaws so it may be that I am less picky or got lucky,

 

[lungimsam]

Found the thread. It is here, with plenty of great info. Sounds like a quality bass that sounds very close, if not the same as the vintage ones do.
I think I will try to buy from a store rather than online to avoid some of the cosmetic hiccups mentioned, though.


http://letstalkguild.com/ltg/showthread.php?177596-Newark-Street-Starfire-Bass

 

[fronobulax]

Found the thread. It is here, with plenty of great info. Sounds like a quality bass that sounds very close, if not the same as the vintage ones do.
I think I will try to buy from a store rather than online to avoid some of the cosmetic hiccups mentioned, though.


http://letstalkguild.com/ltg/showthread.php?177596-Newark-Street-Starfire-Bass

I have mixed reactions to some of the reports about quality control. For example, the inability to intonate the E string was blamed on production but the exact same inability exists on a vintage Starfire. The problem is real but it is something you get with the design. Ask yourself why so many Guild basses of the era have replacement bridges? Some of the complaints are about things that would not bother me. For example, when researching the skunk stripe I once again decided that something is not quite right on the back of the headstock. It could be that the tuners are not symmetric or it could be that a mounting hole is off just a bit. No effect on function or appearance from the front but I can understand that it might drive some people crazy. But there is enough discussion about cosmetics that I would want to order through a dealer and have the ability to inspect the specific bass that I was getting before I accepted delivery and paid for it. $1099 with case seems to be the best price advertised and the dealers I've talked to have not been interested in budging from that since since at the moment demand exceeds supply in stores.

 

[lungimsam]

Is that stripe painted on, or wood?
The latter would make me hesitate when buying if it was crooked.
BTW:
Today a return email from Guild said there are no plans at this time for other colors or Starfire II bass models unless this release does well in the market. It will all depend on that, they said.

 

[SFIV1967]

Is that stripe painted on, or wood?

The spec sheet will give you the answer. It shows it's a 3-Piece Mahogany/Maple/Mahogany neck, so what you see as "stripe" is the maple part of the neck. And I would think before you buy one you would evaluate it anyway to make sure you buy a nice one. It's hard to tell from a few pictures if something is a defect of workmanship or "crooked"...
Ralf

 

[fronobulax]

Today a return email from Guild said there are no plans at this time for other colors or Starfire II bass models unless this release does well in the market. It will all depend on that, they said.

Stripe is wood as on the '67 and so noted by Ralf.

That is consistent with what they said when it was announced. Assuming success in the marketplace, it will be interesting to see what the expansion strategy is. A Starfire II would take some retooling, if only because the bridge PU is not in the same place. I personally don't have that much interest in a II. The only 2 PU bass I have, and have played, where having 2 PUs really makes a significant difference is on the Pilot where the PUs are deliberately selected to give two different sounds. Do I represent any significant portion of the market? Colors would be easier to implement and would allow them to distance the Newark Street just a bit more from the vintage market. I've always been a sucker for blue and, while my B.A.S. is currently under control, I can imagine having to restructure the herd or get a bigger corral if the right blue Pilot or a new Newark Street Starfire Bass in the right shade came along. Fender's Lake Placid Blue? Fire engine red? "Minty" surf green? The purists would run screaming but the colors, like many bright and shiny things, might attract players who otherwise would not notice a boring old red Guild. Idle speculation since they have to do well in the market first and that is going to take a couple of years given the deliberate slow rate of production during the rollout.

 

[Default]

I can imagine having to restructure the herd or get a bigger corral if the right blue Pilot or a new Newark Street Starfire Bass in the right shade came along.

"Restructure the herd". A bold, yet ambiguous statement!

 

[fronobulax]

"Restructure the herd". A bold, yet ambiguous statement!

I have more basses than a rational person can justify owning especially if talent and playing time figure in to the justification. I live in anticipation of the day that my kids put me into a nursing home or retirement community and the new place will only let me have one bass.

 

[lungimsam]

Here it is again with the crooked neck woods from an owner with a review (and this one has a crooked tuner, too):
http://johnbiscuti.net/words-music-photography-by-john-biscuti/2013/04/25/2013-guild-starfire-bass

Nevertheless, I am anxious to try one, and just hope I get a good neck and aligned tuners.
I won't keep beating this issue to death. Just disappointed that I have to now go through the trouble of finding a well made Starfire out of the bad ones, and maybe have to go through the trouble of returns, since I can only axcess them from online vendors.

I just don't get how Guild isn't precise with their neck woods craftsmanship, while asking for the $1,099 US dollar pricepoint.
That is unacceptable at that price, I think. Especially the crooked tuners. I am not saying this to be snarky, I am just puzzled that at 1099 they would put those "defective" basses on the market.

If it was a painted stripe - who cares. But being part of the neck construction, its gotta have some negative effect on the thing I would think.

 

[SFIV1967]

O.k., thanks for that link, I think that is a great picture of a wrongly aligned center strip in the neck and misaligned tuners. Agreed, that should have been caught by QC and not ship. Obviously number 91 was one of the very first made basses at all (the 91 is for all Newark St. models, so this is not the 91st bass!).
Now I also better understand your comments about the one at Sweetwater.

This link (just too big to include) also shows the bad paint job on the fretboard edge, looks like the ebony was not cleaned when they sprayed the Poly and so some kind of oil prevented binding of the Poly with the side of the fretboard. (At least it does not look like it is striped ebony with lighter colored ebony wood included) http://static.squarespace.com/stati...78e4b0950e66543b09/1368927369546/IMG_5049.jpg

It would be worth to hear Mike Lewis comments about this why such basses shipped and were not rejected by QC.

Ralf

 

[fronobulax]

Now I need to check my serial number, but I don't think it is that low.

Note that Biscoti claims to have returned the bass because of issues with the E string and intonation and not just the cosmetics.

A point that needs to be made is that I think we are have different sensitivities when it comes to cosmetics. I have seen crap basses from other brands with prices over $1099 so I don't think the cosmetic flaws at this price point are a problem compared to the rest of the market. However when $1099 represented my entire summer's earnings you know if I were going to blow it all on a bass then the bass better be darn well perfect. I will say that my bass does not seem to suffer from the cosmetic flaws noted on other NS Starfires, my '67 has seriously more cosmetic issues - a couple of which may have been that way from the factory - and I can neither hear nor feel the cosmetics when playing either one.

All that said, I think we agree that the build quality on the Newark Street basses currently on the market seems to be a bit variable and the wise consumer needs to inspect or be prepared to return. It remains an open question if this will still be the case when there are 50+ basses on the street. We don't now whether these are teething problems or more generally indicative of a sloppiness in production.

I know there is all sorts of folklore concerning non-US made instruments. My dealer, who sells much more than Guilds, says that his experience has been that the earlier models have the same or better quality than later production because people are not watching the production line as closely once things seem to be up and running. He also could not say enough good things about the quality of all the Newark Street instruments he had received.

 

[mavuser]

I inspected and played one. Overall the experience was positive and I recommend the bass. It is noted some of them have some degree of cosmetic flaw, but said flaws, or apparent flaws, vary widely.

One of the earlier reviews/critiques noted the crooked tuners. This concerned me to read. Then I looked at pictures of vintage SF basses, and many are like that. Although many are also symmetrical. I asked someone about this and was told as long as everything in the front lines up right, that's all that's important.


The one I played had a finish crack in the neck joint where it is set to the body. Could have definetly lived with it, was only cosmetic. But would have likely spread and for a brand new bass at 1099+ I wanted to be confident in my purchase so I held off. The center line "maple stripe" in the back was close to center, but might not have been dead center. If not it was very close though. I do recall looking closely at that, but do not remember being too concerned with what I saw there. More the finish crack in that neck seam. Played and sounded fantastic though!


I think if Guild could have done one thing better, it would be the price. if it could somehow be $100-$200 less...maybe without the high gloss finish, if satin is cheaper...but alas, they are selling fast at $1099...and I suppose qc is apples and oranges to price...


I just think a lot of the wood materials are fresh cut and young/farmed for production, and with the heavy finish and tension of new bass strings and all, warehousing...some cosmetic variation can be expected. Some of the stuff we are starting to see though, is too much variation at that price.

 

[SFIV1967]

Picture of a 1967 and a 1971 bass. The tuners are also not "perfectly" aligned, at least the center strip is in the center however.
I guess the 4 center holes are perfectly aligned but the mounting was done by hand, so nobody cared to much about perfect alignment of the tuners in the past.

Ralf

 

[mellowgerman]

I'd say the biggest issue with tuner alignment on the newark street basses is that the longer shaft makes it more apparent from the front. With a shorter shaft, like the vintage sfb's had, the angle wouldn't be quite as obvious... If that makes sense.
If i were to pick up a newark street starfire, i'd look into getting some aftermarket rickenbacker tuners, which should fit and look more like the original sfb grovers