1970 JS Bass w Bisonic & Mini Humbucker

very heavy coat of the very dark walnut we have seen on other instruments from this time period. In most light from any distance away, the body looks black. But it is dark brown.






the volume knob for the bridge pickup and tone knob for the neck pickup need to be swapped. How does one remove those? just turn it back past zero? i'm a little scared to touch it, has probably been that way a long time.







The Bisonic and mini-humbucker sound fantastic. i'd like to switch to flat strings though. Not sure If I should switch to the original-type rosewood saddles. but i'd like to. I think the bridge is original. If not, it's close enough to original for my purposes.

There is a little piece of plastic missing from the bottom of the briidge pickup mounting ring, this is barely noticable. There is also a small piece of plastic missing from the back cavity cover, and a small area of scotch tape/residue that needs to be cleaned in this area.




The neck appears to me to be a one-piece mahogany neck. If it is a 3-peice, it is matched so well that I can't even tell. It is round and chunky (for a Guild bass), and the neck joint area is completley different than my JS1 w/mahogany-maple-mahogany neck and/or my SF2 w/3-piece mahogany neck. This 1970 JS does not have the "maple stripe," and there is an extra piece at the neck joint where it all joins together, it definetly looks stock. It is basically impossible to show this neck joint area details in online pictures, but it's different than any Guild bass i've ever seen.



The body of the bass has a few stories to tell but the neck and frets are in amazing shape.

The bass came to me in a vinyl gig bag that to me, is undoubtebly the original gig bag for a 1966 4-in-line headstock Jetstar bass...I have every confidence in the world it was sold as new with this 1970 JS bass, as a set, but it really does not fit perfectly, and at this point I am quite confident it is for a 66 4-in-line...



If Mgod or anyone else with the 66 4-in-line headstock Jetstar bass wants the gig bag, please send me a message. Today is your lucky day!

1-piece neck, or 3?

Hey Mav, well done mate ! Those JS2`s with that pickup configuration don`t come around too often.
How does the bridge pickup compare to the standard Guild humbucker on your JS1 ?
To remove the knobs just pull up gently from the bottom and they should come off.
Sometimes they can be a little stubborn so you might have to spray some WD40 on there to help.
The bridge saddles are obviously missing but if the strings are not popping off, and if it plays
well without the saddles, you would get more sustain with the string being on the metal than
you would with the rosewood saddles. If it has no skunk stripe, I would guess that it`s a one
piece neck, but Hans would know for sure.
Congrats & Enjoy !
Cheers :wink-new: :applause: :excitement:

Gosh, cool bass! Congratulations, Sir.

Thoughts on the missing bridge saddles:

I've owned two JS Basses, two Starfires and two M-85s. All of them have had the Guild/Hagstrom bass bridge like the one on your axe. In all that time, I've never seen a bass with the strings directly on top of the metal saddle inserts (like on your bass). That's a new one for me!

Of course, I have seen Guild basses with a single missing and/or cracked saddles before. I bought an M85 last year that used a AAA battery for a G string saddle (not a good sound, by the way). So I guess it's possible that one or two saddles broke and the rest were pulled off to get an even bridge height for a prior owner.

Another thing to consider though, is that JS Bass necks, like their Gibson SG counterparts, have a tendency to 'fall into' or 'warp into' the body. When that happens, it's very hard to get the action down low enough with the wooden saddles on. So, if the neck on your bass has torqued into the body, somebody may have taken the saddles off to get the action low enough to allow the bass to be played.

A way to check on that is to look at the bridge plate of your bass from the side and see if there is any room to adjust the bridge height lower than it is now. If your bridge plate is already all the way down and the action is on the high or medium side now, then the addition of wooden saddles (which will raise your overall string height by an 1/8th or 1/4 of an inch at the bridge) may well make your bass difficult to play.

Anyway, your bass's action height and bridge plate height may be just fine, so I apologize if I'm raising a false concern. If you do have room for the increased height of your bridge with the addition of saddles, I think I would get some of the wooden ones first. My luthier/repairman said it's pretty easy for a guitar shop to knock those out quickly, but there is a place on the net that sells both wooden and metal saddles. I have no financial interest, etc.: http://www.guildbassparts.com/alaskawildernessriverfishingguides.com/Home.html

Best of luck to you and your cool bass. I'd love to hear some tracks with the bass, by the way!

HH

Not much to add, but then I have had several emails about this bass.

I can image it as being originally (and currently) a walnut finish. Some of the lighter shots look like dark shots of my bass so there is no basis to question the finish that I can see.

As noted I think the knobs are friction fit so it is just a case of prying them off without breaking the plastic flange.

Looks like a stock bridge with no saddles. In addition to the link Gilded posted (maker used to post here as peteybass) I would expect the Newark Street saddles to fit, once we know parts are available.

I'll look at the neck and joint on my JS II since it is between your two.

Thanks guys. And thanks Frono for the emails and assistance on this.

Hagmeat, the mini Humbucker sounds nice! It is trebly as expected in the bridge position. My 1972 JS1 does not have a bridge Humbucker but my 1998 SF2 does. Overall the mini Humbucker has a similar tone but "a little less of everything". No real mud, is still a warm round tone but more bright than punchy. For a bridge position short scale bass Humbucker it sounds nice! It still sounds very "vintage" though. The middle position is a completely different sound than either the bridge or neck pickup on their own. Just a very cool and versatile set up with a lot of tonal options. Also no suck switch and/or deep hard switch. Funny there is a spot for one inside the cavity but there is nothing there. I should mention the bridge Bisonic on my 1968 SF2 sounds pretty cool too, different than all of them. Just a trebly, fat, Bisonic tone. Great for the higher frets...Also, I swapped the knobs as you directed, very easy job- thank you! Wish I'd done it before I posted all the pictures.

Gilded, actually the action is relatively low and bridge is pretty high. I can almost fit my entire pinky under the bridge. And the neck is not warped at all, that I can tell. She plays fantastic. Never occurred to me the "metal saddles" are actually the bones of the rosewood saddles. Couldn't say why they were removed, part action and part someone not liking them I guess (and some laziness), but there are no neck or action issues. It plays fine as is (it plays awesome!) but this bass will ultimately need to be set up with medium scale flats and the RW saddles. It has a brand new set f D'addario rounds on it now, but they are long scale strings. It actually plays pretty good with them but the tension is not right.
when my 1972 JS1 arrived at my door it already had a neck reset, the saddles were shaved down and the bridge was all the way down, and the action was/is medium/a touch higher than this 1970 model. So by comparison this 1970 JS is in as great of "set up shape" I've seen and actually appears it was recently set up professionally with the new, albeit long scale, strings. Thanks for the saddle link, will consider that and potentially the Newark Street variety, if available.

Frono, curios if your bass has the maple stripe, and/or the extra "chunk of wood" at the neck joint/heel area. Mine definitely looks like a 1-piece neck. This is just one of those very obscure Guilds. But a very awesome one as well.

i am happy to acquire this bass locally through yet another very positive Craig's list experience. I am enjoying it for the moment but may choose to pass it off to another forum member or otherwise musician when it warms up a little (the weather). I am not sure if I am worthy of permanent ownership of this bass. Happy to hang onto it for now though. My 1968 SF2 bass likely falls into the same category, and id be open to transferring either bass to an appropriate new owner. It is unlikely I'll keep both, although they are very different monsters. Just to be clear this 1970 JS2 bass cost a fraction of the 1968 SF2 Bass. Also the 70 JS2 will likely have a brand new Epiphone SG bass hard case in short time.

Aha! I see it now...looks to be a tone beast! Congratulations Mavuser!!

I can't wait to land one. Let the hunt begin!

An interesting beast. And, in my uninformed opinion, the "holy grail" of JS-IIs.

Happy Face said:

An interesting beast. And, in my uninformed opinion, the "holy grail" of JS-IIs.

Click to expand...

Am I completely out to lunch in recalling that there were a few JS II's with two Bisonics? If that memory is correct, would that be more Grail like?

As for uninformed, you are gigging with your JS and that gives your opinions some weight ;-)

Happy Face it looks like your JS2 w/Darkstars has the rosewood saddles. That's what I should do, right?
should it have the tall ones or the flat ones (from guilded's link)?

mavuser said:

Happy Face it looks like your JS2 w/Darkstars has the rosewood saddles. That's what I should do, right?
should it have the tall ones or the flat ones (from guilded's link)?

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Right now I have brass saddles on. For no particular reason. I'll probably switch back to the wooden ones.
They were bought from the gent Frono referenced.

Thousand words time.

I looked at the neck joint on my '71 JS II. Imagine the bass lying on its front (strings down, control cavities up) with the headstock on the left. The neck joint looks to have four distinct pieces. One is the neck, which includes the heel (but does not have a separate heel cap). One is the body. One is what I will call a shim and one is the fingerboard. The neck and the body come together with a long seam that is "up and down". On the left side, you have the fingerboard on the bottom and then the neck. On the right side is the fingerboard then the shim then the body. The shim is maybe 1/4" thich (as viewed from the side) and is presumably shaped so that the neck and fingerboard fit the body. The shim is about 3" or 4" long and extends from the joint to the end of the fingerboard.

Clear as mud?

Neck shows no signs of being anything other than a one piece neck. If the headstock was made from three pieces then the joints are well hidden.

Thanks Frono. I'd like to see your bass ultimately. Maybe at the next LMG. Mine appears to have a 5th piece, a chunk at the heel, but I hesitate to call it a heel cap, for my thinking that is something else (that this bass doesn't have). Or if so than this is a funky one. They are all similar but as per Guild, to an extent all different. I look forward to a real comparison. Still need to compare a couple other basses too, to those of forum members' that live a little closer. Hopefully when it warms up in the spring or summer.

no real update on the tone or anything with the recent acquisition, as unfortunatey I'm having issues with my orange bass amp, that will not begin to be diagnosed or addressed until mid-march at the soonest. my Guild thunderbass amp has needed new speakers since before I got it, so that's not ready to go either.

I initially heard the bass at the guys house I bought it from, through a very small and cheap looking ibanez amp. It sounded fantastic for such a small and cheap looking amp. Quintessential Bisonic but definately no Starfire, at least not at that volume. Same tone but different resonance. Totally different monster but of the same species. Not so much apples and oranges more like apples and pears (Really made me appreciate the Starfire) I could hear the tone which was great but at very low volume, not like I am used to. Got it while on a ski trip. Then I came home to my amp problems. Now I'm going skiing again so it must wait. I may bring it to the store and plug into a rig if I have time before this weekend. Hopefully the amp thing is nothing major, but it just can't be addressed for a couple weeks.

the bridge Humbucker Also sounded fantastic at the guys house, and I can currently play that one a little, very quietly, at home. She sounds very very nice (especially for a bass bridge pickup)

happy to report there is absolutely nothing wrong with my Orange bass amp. the "problem" I was having was quite silly, actually a couple of vintage Guild amps with blown speakers too close to the bass amp, so the combonation of the bass amp and the (unplugged) vintage guitar amps vibrating, buzzing, and whatever else, all in sync just made it sound like the bass amp had taken some bad drugs. It really just sounded like the one bass amp until I got right down there w/my ear at the unplugged guitar amp(s). I could not believe they could be that loud just vibrating from the bass. I guess they were pretty close though. But I moved the other amps into a different room, and problem solved. amazing, I know. So back at full blast the JS w/ Hagstroms sounds fantastic but truthfully I think it needs flatwound strings. Will get around to it soon.

Hey Mav,

That's a good ending to the amp story! A few years back I was in a hurry to get my rig up & running for the sound check. (As always, I was busy setting p the PA while the gitards were noodling around...) I plugged in my bass and heard a nasty buzzy rattling sound.

I said "Oh gosh darnit" or something like that, "I have a blown speaker. I have to run out to the truck and haul in my backup cab." Our keyboard player started laughing and then moved away a plastic bag that was leaning up against the cab. Voila! NO more buzz or rattle!

Should I get the flat saddles or the tall saddles?

According to this page: http://www.guildbassparts.com/alaskawildernessriverfishingguides.com/Saddles.html

the flat ones go with the Hagstrom pickups, and the tall ones go with the Guild pickups, or at least that is my interpretation of it.

it says the tall saddles are 1/32 wider than the flat ones.

also the flat ones are lower, and the bass is already set up pretty good with the strings on the posts, with low action and room for the bridge to go down, so im thinking the flat ones can be absorbed into the big picture with minimal adjustments, and possibly without any addition filing if I get the notched ones. im leaning towards the flat/60s saddles but I dont want to get the wrong ones. Any info appreciated!

Ask the seller. Peteybass, right? He knows.

I didn't even recall there being two sizes available until you mentioned it. As I remember, he steered me right. He knows these basses. And he was really a straight up and helpful guy.

hagmeat said:

Those JS2`s with that pickup configuration don`t come around too often.

Click to expand...

So was this a factory option? The 1970 brochure does only show the version with two big humbuckers. I wonder if anything like "Special" is written in the electronics chamber on the label.
Ralf

Peteybass messaged me back the 60s/flat saddles are correct.

Ralf, there is no label. This version is jetstar/JS transitional w factory Bisonic and mini Humbuker. Possibly one of the very first "JS" shaped Guild basses but technically a "Jetstar." (To us it is a "JS"). They are out there but not many. It is not a special edition.

i also have a 1972 "JS1" however that one does have a label and all it says is "jetstar bass" no mention of "JS" or "1". That one has a guild Humbucker w deep hard switch. The 1970 has no deep hard or suck switch.