Guild Jet Star Bass

mgod, i would like to thank you for making my day.

If I said anything other than WOW, I would obscure my meaning. :shock:

OK so I get an e-mail through my "The Guilds of Grot" web site from somebody offering to sell me there late Father's '66 "closet classic" Jet Star Bass.

I would have jumped on it but I don't like the "four-on-a-side" headstock.

Here's the picture he sent me;



Here it is lightened up a bit;



If anyone is interested PM me and I'll give you him e-mail address.

Oh yeah, this is the one I'm holding out for;

Wow mgod! I'm stunned--very nice. :shock:

The Guilds of Grot said:

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And I'd jump on it but I'd have to change the pickup for it to be useful to me, and that would be a shame.

DS

Hi, my first post today so...

Back in the early 70's I picked up a Jet Star for arould $80 at a pawn shop in NYC. It was sn#211 with four on a side tuners and a D'amond pick up that had a gold screen on it's face, no poles.
Wonderfull guitar as I remember a friend (Gordon) offering me a brand new Jazz Bass for it, even trade.
She had a worn cherry finish so I (being young and foolish) removed the paint, ran out of money and sold it at We Buy Guitars. Now I am older, wiser and have more cash. Anyone else looking to buy back the mistake from their past?

bklynbass said:

http://video.mail.ru/mail/uyriy3-1/6587/7111.html

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Links to a video of the Monkees lip synching "Sometimes Love is Only Sleeping". Peter Tork's Jet Star is visible often. The site, so far as I can tell, did not try to do anything undesirable to my computer.

bklynbass - Welcome to LTG. You snuck in under the radar. So tell us about the bass in your avatar? I'd guess it left the factory as a M-85 I prior to 1970, perhaps as early as '67. Bridge PU was added and doesn't look like the post 1970 Guild humbucker, but what can I tell at 100x100 pixels? The thumb and finger rests allow for a lot of informed speculation :wink:

wow, great pics,
somehow I missed this thread.

and welcome to ltg, bklynbass

So tell us about the bass in your avatar? I'd guess it left the factory as a M-85 I prior to 1970, perhaps as early as '67. Bridge PU was added and doesn't look like the post 1970 Guild humbucker, but what can I tell at 100x100 pixels? The thumb and finger rests allow for a lot of informed speculation :wink:

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That's what I originally thought, but according to several authorities on the subject, in 1970 Guild put out a lot of basses with mixed pickups due to the fact that the Hagstrom Bi-Sonics were no longer in production. This bass actually left the factory this way. As you should be able to see now, that is a Guild humbucker in the back which they started using in 1970. The serial number uses the old "BB" designation but the number falls after the 1969 cutoff, making it an early 1970 model most likely. The bass probably was originally going to be an M85 I, but later the company received an order for a two pickup model. Rather than waste the Bisonic that was already on there, they simply added a humbucker. The thumbrests would have already been on there, as they usually were on all M85-I basses.




I've seen several others from the same year, including this one, which a friend here in brooklyn owns (it now has Darkstars on it). Note the exact same placement of the selector switch, the absence of a master volume and thumbrests:



And here are pictures of an '70 M85 (again, no master volume, but with the more standard selector switch placement) and a '70 JS-2, both with a Bi-Sonic in the front and a silver hagstrom soapbar pickup in the back, presumably put in before they rolled out the Guild Humbuckers.






This is just one of the many quirky things they did at Guild over the years; part of what makes these instruments so cool. Thanks for the welcome, and hello again to all the people here I already know.

Great thread, guys. Fascinating.

Dave

mgod said:

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Interesting observation: In regard to the two SFB-II SB's in the front center, it looks as though the bridge pickup was a hair farther back on the '67 models before they changed to the harp bridge. Or was that '67 originally a SFB-I ?

Looks the same to me. Check the g side of the harp bridge.

bklynbass said:

Looks the same to me. Check the g side of the harp bridge.

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good eye, although the space between the pickups looks larger on the '67 as well...

bklynbass said:

That's what I originally thought, but according to several authorities on the subject, in 1970 Guild put out a lot of basses with mixed pickups due to the fact that the Hagstrom Bi-Sonics were no longer in production.

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Thanks. I have seen several pictures of a Bisonic at the neck and "something else" at the bridge but yours are the first examples I have seen where the "something else" was actually the Guild humbucker that became the standard bass PU by 1971.

I wondered if it was a conversion because the vast majority of factory 2 PU basses did not have the thumb and finger rests whereas many of the conversions do. However my knowledge is strongest for Starfires and I have learned that what is true for Starfires does not necessarily hold true for M-85's.

Times of transition often lead to quirky Guilds. I've seen a picture of a late '70's JS that apparently left the factory with a B-301/2 bridge and PU. It makes sense that they would convert a I to a II if they had demand, ran out of something and didn't expect to get more.

Who are your authorities? Hans Moust, author of The Guild Guitar Book posts a lot on LTG. I suspect he would be interested in the basses you posted, if he doesn't have them in his database already.

Thanks for sharing.

Who are your authorities? Hans Moust, author of The Guild Guitar Book posts a lot on LTG. I suspect he would be interested in the basses you posted, if he doesn't have them in his database already.

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I'd rather not attribute anything to anyone without their permission, but yes I think Hans has my bass on file and we've spoken about it. I also know a really great luthier who worked in the guild factory for five years who told me it he thought it was original.

I wondered if it was a conversion because the vast majority of factory 2 PU basses did not have the thumb and finger rests whereas many of the conversions do. However my knowledge is strongest for Starfires and I have learned that what is true for Starfires does not necessarily hold true for M-85's.

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Based on what I've been told, essentially they ARE conversions, just done at the factory - presumably, since the rests were already on there, they kept them on. To be honest I wasn't really convinced that mine was original (even though i was told it was) until I saw the black one. Other than the finish, it's EXACTLY like mine. Also, the fact that every one I've seen is from 1970 is the strongest case for this, along with the pickups always being a bisonic in the front and either a hagstrom soapbar or a guild humbucker in the back. Also as to the M-85 vs Starfire question - perhaps this was performed on more m-85s because it was a far less popular bass and they had more unsold 1 pickup versions lying around when they'd get an order in for an m-85 II. From what I know they made a few thousand Starfire basses in the 60s but less than 300 m-85s.

bklynbass said:

Based on what I've been told, essentially they ARE conversions, just done at the factory - presumably, since the rests were already on there, they kept them on.

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I'm in agreement. Given all the weird things that came out of Guild in 1970 - weird with regard to actually matching catalog specifications, that is - it makes a whole lot of sense that M-85 I's were factory converted to IIs. I will note that they had to move the treble finger rest towards the neck, but that is a case of drilling one more hole. Grot's and every other M-85 I I have seen has the rests staggered.

No problem with protecting your authorities. I was asking just because the number of real authorities is vastly smaller than the number of people claiming to be authorities. You have consulted with people who should know what they are talking about.

Thanks.