1967 Starfire bass rescue!

mellowgerman

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About a week ago I was browsing the guitarcenter.com used database as I do more or less out of habit these days and I came across a "vintage 60s modified starfire bass." Intrigued, I called the store and requested some more photos. It was a cosmetically bruised and battered, had the following mods:

-Schaller Fender-ish bridge installed crookedly
-Schaller replacement tuning machines
-the bisonic was gone and replaced with a bartolini :'(
-additional pickup routing for a second bartolini humbucker that had been installed in the bridge position
-mini-toggle pickup selector switch had been installed
-input had been moved to the top of the bass

The thought of having an already-modified, cosmetically-worn, vintage starfire to tinker with is sort of a dream come true, so my housemate/bandmate and I decided to split the cost (which was very fair) and hope for the best in terms of playability and structural integrity... I've learned that you can never really take a GC employee's word on these things, but after confirming the 30-day return policy I figured we had little to lose. So the wait had begun.
Fast-forward to yesterday when the bass arrived! We were super jazzed to find that the bass played wonderfully; neck was flawless and the frets were in pretty good shape, with just a little bit of wear in the first few positions. Bartolinis sounded pretty good, but we had an extra vintage bisonic and one Novak bisonic, so it was clear what we had to do...

-we replaced the crooked Schaller bridge with a black Hipshot B-style bridge with .669 string spacing
-the Novak bisonic went into the neck position
-the vintage bisonic went into the bridge position, which required some additional routing and the original thumb-rest had to be removed
-re-glued a bit of the binding that had come loose
-fresh set of D'Addario chrome flats
-fresh set-up

Couldn't be happier with the results! She plays like a new bass and sounds monstrous. We just have to iron out a few kinks with the bridge pickup... seems to have a bit of a grounding bug, but it doesn't seem like anything too serious. Future plans include an ACG EQ-01 to get a little farther into the Jack/Phil territory. The bass also didn't come with a case, so we decided that we'll probably sell off some of the knobs, the thumbrest, and the Bartolini bridge pickup to raise some funds and get a nice case to protect our new baby.

Anywayyyy, here are some photos of the process and the finished product (so far anyway):





 
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mavuser

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Nice work? Did it come from New Jersey? Saw that on CL. Glad u wound up with it mello.
 

mellowgerman

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Thanks for the kind words guys! And yup, it was from a NJ guitar center. Must not have been there for long because it definitely wasn't posted yet two weeks ago
 

mavuser

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Was first posted on CL 18 days ago, he prob gave up and went to GC after a week or 2. looks a lot better now! Nice work
 

wisconsindead

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F-YEA! Awesome score.

After you get to know it and play it some please give me your impression of the A string boominess issue we've talked about please.
 

mellowgerman

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Actually already paying attention to that as I've been playing around with it. I noticed that with this one the E and A were what I would consider a normal output level, whereas (for most even output across the board) the D pole pieces had to come up a bit higher, and the G pole pieces had to be lowered a bit. Makes me think every slab of wood has its own resonant character, though yours and Edwin's may be similar by coincidence... but that's just a guess based on my experience and this first impression, so if I notice anything change as the strings break in (still a fresh set of flats) I'll be sure to let you know
 

mellowgerman

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First gig with the Starfire last night. It's a great bass, but I must say, my first love is still the Epiphone Casady bass... 34" scale, overall heavier, and the neck is much thicker... totally a matter of personal preference though. None the less, it will be killer to have the Starfire as an option for recording and jam sessions. Hopefully I'll have some demo clips soon to showcase the Novak bisonic in the context of a vintage Starfire

 

mellowgerman

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haha what can I say... suppose I'm bound to pick up a few habits from my main teacher... even if we've only ever met once
 

mavuser

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that is awesome mello! give that thing a chance. when u get used to it u may prefer it over the cassady. you certainly look good playin it and im sure it sounds killer!
 

fronobulax

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that is awesome mello! give that thing a chance. when u get used to it u may prefer it over the cassady. you certainly look good playin it and im sure it sounds killer!

Considering that is what, mellows third? vintage SF, I suspect he is following his teacher's lead and viewing the JC Signature as an evolution/improvement :)

How's that for putting words in someone elses mouth?
 

mellowgerman

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I think the main selling point on the Casady bass is that it is big, especially the neck on mine which feels quite a bit deeper/rounder than any other Casady I've played. Also, the long scale feels just right with a nice heavy, high-tension set of flat wounds. After playing long-scales predominantly for about 4 or 5 years now, I just feel more at home on a 34" scale.
None the less, I will say that there is room for improvement on the Casady bass. The 3-point adjustment Gibson bridge is pretty terrible (planning on getting the Hipshot upgrade for it eventually) and the pickup IMO should have either adjustable pole pieces or a curved bobbin to mirror the fret-radius... the flat top of the pickup results in a slight inconsistency in output (A and D strings are just a bit quieter/thinner) but I was able to remedy that for the most part by filing the A and D bridge saddles a bit and with the help of my MXR bass compressor. Lastly, I wish it had a Nitro finish! But those just minor complaints, I love the Casady for what it is, though it's all a matter of preference; I certainly wouldn't say it's objectively a superior instrument to a vintage starfire
 
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