Starfire I Bass on the way!

hieronymous

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Hi, I'm kind of a Guild owner in absentia, or I guess my bass is in absentia - a 1967 Starfire I with Bi-Sonic pickup. Found it hanging innocently at my local Guitar Center (not a place I choose to frequent often), so after playing it for a few minutes, I quickly grabbed it. I've been looking for a bass to try out a Dark Star pickup, but here I had the real thing!

Only problem is, Sacramento CA apparently has a law that used instruments have to stay in the store for around a month or so in case they turn out to be stolen! So it's sitting off in the back somewhere (hopefully safe), and I have to wait until the middle of August to pick it up!

So I thought that in the mean time I would introduce myself. I own another hollowbody bass, a '68 (or so) Gibson EB-2, and a bunch of solidbodies, including Rickenbackers, Alembics, and Fenders. But I'm really looking forward to my first Guild! It sounded really amazing the short time I got to play it. I will post pictures and soundclips when I get it.
 

capnjuan

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Welcome hieronymous:

Not a bass player myself but many BB members are. Too bad about the CA law re/ stolen goods; too bad about people who snatch other people's stuff. :evil:

Post some pics when you can and strap yourself in; it can get a little looney around here....

cj
 

jp

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Hey hieronymous

Welcome to the fray. Nice grab. You have to post pics when you finally get it. I've never heard of that law before.

I also favor the big chunky thunky sound of hollow and semi-hollow body basses. I've always wanted a Starfire or an M-85, but fate has never lead either one my way. I have a '65 500/2 Hofner Club Bass and a 90s Charvel Surfcaster for the higher gear R n R.

Are you gonna keep it stock, or are you gonna mod it a little like add another PU? I'm sure you probably know about the Hammon Engineering Dark Stars.
 

hieronymous

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Thanks for the welcome!

Ever since I heard about the Dark Stars (a few years ago?) I've wanted to try them, but never really quite got there. Recently I looked into picking up a JS-1 with the Guild humbuckers, with the intention of eventually putting in a Dark Star.

I really don't like Guitar Center, but every now and again you get lucky. Because I had been doing some research, I knew right away that the pickup was a Bi-Sonic, and that I was probably going to get it.

I plan on leaving it stock. I like all different kinds of basses, and I like to work with the character of each one. So I'm really looking forward to getting to know this one! I played it through the amp in the store, and then picked up an active bass - with the active bass on 10, it was like half the volume! So I'm excited to crank the Starfire through my Alembic F-2B preamp.

One thing I'm wondering though - am I going to go with flatwounds or roundwounds?
 

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hey hieronymous, welcome!

Starfirebass - sounds great, waiting for the pictures. Hope one finds me someday, too.

all the best

michael
 

hieronymous

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fronobulax said:
hieronymous said:
Only two more weeks!

Counting the hours yet?

Actually, I may not have time to pick it up! I'm driving up to Sac International Airport on Monday to drop my friend off, and was planning on stopping by GC to pick up the bass. But now something came up at work, so I have to be back in Lodi by 1 at the latest. I'm gonna try and get over there, but might have to wait another week, because Monday night I have to drive down to Fresno (yuck!) for a conference, and then down to LA on Thursday through the weekend for a wedding. So actually, even if I pick up the bass, I won't be able to play it! :x
 

hieronymous

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coastie99 said:
Is John Fogerty still stuck in Lodi ??

If he is, I haven't seen him! :mrgreen:

Actually, I read somewhere that he had never actually been to Lodi when he wrote the song - I think he was from Sacramento. I know someone who works with the old drummer for CCR though.
 

hieronymous

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Picked up the bass today! And what looks like the original case!

I have to leave for a week, so I only got to pluck a few unamplified notes. Can't wait to come back so I can put it through its paces!!!
 

hieronymous

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Finally took some pictures! Unfortunately, I haven't really taken any good ones yet. But this will give an idea:

bodyflash1ao8.jpg


Also, I finally have an avatar!

I haven't been playing the bass too much - too exhausted from last week, plus the intonation is funny and I want to put on new strings before messing with any adjustments. What I can't decide is, what strings to put on? I have a set of LaBella roundwounds, but am kind of paranoid about what they will do to the wooden bridge saddles. Flats would be nice, but I don't want super-high-tension bridge cables, and also don't want black nylon strings (have them on my Gibson Melody Maker) or TI Jazz Flats (got 'em on my Alembic doubleneck) - anyone have any suggestions?
 

fronobulax

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hieronymous said:
Finally took some pictures!

That's my bass! But how did you get the yellow (instead of blue) lining in my case and what happened to the thumb wear above the one rest? :)

I've had the same roundwounds on my bass for 20+ years so I am in no position to comment about the sound or the effect on the wooden bridge saddle. However, the E string saddle did split a couple of years ago but there are too many variables to attribute that to the strings as opposed to age. The late Brian B. (last name is something like Bowdren but I cannot recall) made replacement saddles that are on the bass now. They're a little taller than the originals but my playing is not subtle enough to notice the difference and the action can be set much lower with the higher saddles.
 

hieronymous

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Finally got a slightly more decent picture of my new Starfire!

body1ew1.jpg


One of the screws for the finger rest was completely stripped, so I pulled the old toothpick & elmer's glue trick - worked like a charm! My dad taught me that one, though I had to look it up on the internet just to make sure.

Also, I finally ordered a set of LaBella flatwounds for it - we'll see how that goes! Ordering strings for non-long-scale basses can be such a pain! But I'm looking forward to (trying) to set it up after I put the new strings on. I might need to ask some questions about bridge adjustment!
 

hieronymous

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One thing I noticed is that you can't see the grain of the wood as much in the new picture that I posted. The first pictures I took with flash, like this one:

horngraindx2.jpg


You can see it in the first picture I posted above too. I still haven't managed to take any pictures that I'm really happy with that accurately show the color...
 

fronobulax

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The most recent picture nails the red, at least compared to mine. The other pictures kind of make sense in that the changes I would make to the red would also improve the other colors in the shot. You're inspiring me to actually photograph mine since it is only going to be in wear and grain that ours look different. Any photography tricks that ware working for you, or not? I suppose after I figure out where the shutter is, the first thing I need to learn is how to disable the flash. Second may be how to enable close up/macro features...
 

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Any photography tricks that were working for you, or not? I

Indoors, without flash, some kind of supplemental light helps immensely. Fiddle around with the lights & camera angle to minimize glare.

I don't have photography lights so I use a desk lamp. These flashlights help some.

2L.jpg


If your camera has a bracket function it's worthwhile to try. Set it to take 4 or 5 exposures with different F stops & edit out the least appealing pics.

Once in a while a nice exposure pops up, for me about one out of ten.
ea9866ae.jpg
 

hieronymous

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Taking pictures of instruments is definitely fun! I like to use a tripod and the timer, in order to minimize bluriness. I also try never to use flash if I can help it.

I prefer to use natural indirect sunlight, but Jeff's picture looks great with artificial lights too. Some cameras you can manually adjust the light settings - sunlight, cloudy, incandescent or flourescent. And the micro/macro settings are useful too, if not essential for closeups! Don't want those blurry, completely unidentifiable pics like you see on eBay...
 

fronobulax

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Thanks for the hints. I couldn't follow all of them, but at least I know why the results are what they were. The ones that aren't too bad are here.

Below is one example. The next "full frontal" will be improved by using natural light instead of flash and finding a background that is a little less cluttered :)

200%26_09_05_Guild%20007.jpg
 
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