Here's my little NAMM review of the
Newark St.™ Collection Starfire™ Bass.
Newark St. Collection models are handcrafted instruments with authentic Guild electric tone and superior feel. Premium features include authentic Guild body shapes, arch radii and neck profiles; authentically vintage-style pickups and hardware; improved playing action ideal for today’s alternative styles; and more.
The whole series can be seen here:
https://guildguitars.com/guitars/electric-guitars/newark-st-collection/
Mike Lewis (FMIC project leader for the Newark St.™ Collection) explained to me that he purchased a mid 60ies bass and sent it to their factory in Korea with the task to exactly reverse engineer all used materials and construction. No change in materials and construction was allowed. The task was to recreate the original as good as possible.
However Mike said it is important to understand, that they are not re-issues of the old models, but the 2013 version of them. They are very close copies but not 100% "copy exactly" copies. (see little differences like different label, different TRC, different fret size, different finish,...)
The official specs can be found
here.
Some details that I noticed at NAMM:
The Top and back use Arched Laminated Sapele (a version of Mahogany), as was according to Mike also used in the original.
Body finish: Gloss Urethane (Mike said since made in Korea no nitrocellulose was possible)
Nice "Aged-look" binding (ivory white)
Neck Shape: Vintage Soft "U"
Fret Size: 6105 tall vintage (.055" Tall x .090" Wide)
Fingerboard Radius: 12" (305 mm)
Nut Width: 1.5" (38.1 mm)
Scale Length: 30.75" (781 mm)
Strings: D'Addario® EXL165 Nickel Wound Bass, Custom Light, 45-105
Now to the Pickup. It is now called
Guild® "Bi-Sonic" Bass pickup.
A second factory in Korea (a close supplier to SPG) was responsible for all metal parts and the pickups. They also had the task to exactly re-create the original provided pickup. Again no change in material, magnets, wires, windings and so on was allowed. So the pickups should be an almost identical recreation of the original Hagström made "Bi-Sonic" pickup.
Here are some detail pictures I took at NAMM:
The TRC is not "period correct" but it was a decision to use the same 50ies style Guild TRC on all Newark St. models. I think it looks cool!
Serial number and "Handcrafted in Korea" stamped on back of headstock.
Quality Grover® Tuning machines.
The Cherry red is really good looking!
Guild® Combo Bridge-Tailpiece with Rosewood String Saddles, Knobs with Tone and Volume from 1-9.
Cool detail: A version of the "Ghost label" is used for the Newark St.™ Collection models! That is one of the things Guild decided to change from the original.
Now a sharp eye might spot that the serial number on the label is slightly different from the serial number on the headstock! SPG used "KS" (Korea, SPG) as starting letters and the headstock shows "KSG" where G seems to stand for Guild.
The label however only shows the KS at the moment.
I asked Mike Lewis about it and he said those are the little things that still need to be fixed for serial production, that is only the prototype.
Video of the new Starfire Bass together with the new Starfire IV (played by Mike Lewis):
Ralf