Newark Street Starfire Pickups

Zelja

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Aha! I'm sorry if I missed a post where you perhaps elaborate on this, but are you happy with the result? Did they come out sounding close to the real deal?

And - "narrower" as in shorter?
Narrower in the width. See pics below of a 50s Franz from my X-5- & one from the re-issue:

Franz%20Vintage%20magnets_zpseknk2stk.jpg
Re-issue%20Franz%20magnets_zpsclbj5gk2.jpg


The re-issues are much wider & have to have an effect.

I wasn't really going for an exact vintage sound on the M-75 but they do sound good. The neck PU sounds pretty close to what I get from my 50s X-50, DC resistance is similar at around 7k. The bridge PU is tapped - full tap is similar to a standard P90 - about 9k, while the tapped coil is about 7.3k. Both work well with the neck & I will buy a push-push switch such that I can have both sounds on tap (pun intended).

Now I also tried the bridge PU on my '63 CE-100D (currently still in that guitar). The vintage pickups on these are both at around the 5.5k mark . I love the neck posn but find the bridge too thin for the same amp settings. The 7.3k tap sounds really good, though maybe still a little more mids than what you would go for. I sent another re-issue pickup to get rewound at 7.3k & with a 6.3k tap to get a more vintage 60s tone, to see which one I like best. Only just got it but it's likely I'll wire it up to get both sounds available.
 

Walter Broes

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Thanks for elaborating!

Those magnets in your old pickup look odd - I don't have a single old Franz with magnets that narrow. I guess they went with whatever they could get.

None of my oldies measure over 6K - but they're all from the same period, early 60's. The bridge position on my CE100D is a little thinner sounding than on the X175's, but that's the guitar's body size and depth more than the pickup, I'm sure. bridge pickup sits closer to the strings on the CE too.
 

Winnie Thomas

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So I called Guild (Cordoba) and asked if I could buy a Newark Street Neck pickup. The one in my Starfire IV is 7.27K, The bridge is 4.99K

The poles are nearly the same so It should be okay to put a neck pickup in the bridge position. Well they had one and I expect to receive it by Wednesday.

I'll keep you informed of progress.

Winnie
 

Zelja

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Those magnets in your old pickup look odd - I don't have a single old Franz with magnets that narrow. I guess they went with whatever they could get.
Could be Walter. The original bridge PU in my CE100-D has wider magnets.

The guy that redid them seems to use narrower magnets on the neck pickup of his lower wind P90s which are supposed to generally be used for hollow-bodies, so I'm assuming there's some advantage to that.
 

TVeye

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So I called Guild (Cordoba) and asked if I could buy a Newark Street Neck pickup. The one in my Starfire IV is 7.27K, The bridge is 4.99K

The poles are nearly the same so It should be okay to put a neck pickup in the bridge position. Well they had one and I expect to receive it by Wednesday

I'll keep you informed of progress.

Winnie

Does that mean the Guild Store is open for business?
I was told I would be notified.
 

Default

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So I called Guild (Cordoba) and asked if I could buy a Newark Street Neck pickup. The one in my Starfire IV is 7.27K, The bridge is 4.99K

The poles are nearly the same so It should be okay to put a neck pickup in the bridge position. Well they had one and I expect to receive it by Wednesday.

I'll keep you informed of progress.

Winnie

I suspect that you will be a LOT happier.
 

Synchro

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So I called Guild (Cordoba) and asked if I could buy a Newark Street Neck pickup. The one in my Starfire IV is 7.27K, The bridge is 4.99K

The poles are nearly the same so It should be okay to put a neck pickup in the bridge position. Well they had one and I expect to receive it by Wednesday.

I'll keep you informed of progress.

Winnie

I'll be very interested in how this works out. May I ask what they charge for a pickup?
 

Synchro

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After reading the entire thread and the Guild blog post a number of things come to mind. They are 100% right regarding DC resistance as being only one factor in the output of a pickup. Over the years, in reading innumerable posts on Gretsch-Talk regarding pickup output one could easily get the impression that most players think that DC resistance is the only salient measurement, but it is only one factor in impedance, not to mention output. So, I will take their point that DC resistance is not the only issue, but there are still unresolved issues in my mind.

My Starfire III and my CE 100 Capri sound fine and I'm quite satisfied with the pickups in both. Perhaps I just caught a lucky break with both and the production tolerances stacked in my favor. My T-400, OTOH, has a noticeable problem and I find that a bit hard to swallow considering the price of the instrument. If there was an aftermarket pickup supplier out there I'd consider that as a solution, but I'm not aware of anyone making copies of Guild mini-hums.

Perhaps Winnie's idea will solve all of the problems and, if this is the case, I will be happy to spend the $$$ required to address this issue. If not, I guess I'll have to send the pickup to someone that does rewinding and see if we can't get the balance between pickups more in line with my expectations.
 

Winnie Thomas

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Well they have yet to ship, and the second time I was contacted they gave me a steeper price and wanted my card number again. They have yet to get back to me.

More will be revealed.
 

Synchro

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Well they have yet to ship, and the second time I was contacted they gave me a steeper price and wanted my card number again. They have yet to get back to me.

More will be revealed.
Amazing! One has to wonder if anyone is at the helm in some of these businesses.
 

griehund

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Now $119.99. Well played Guild. maybe you should be in the petroleum business

No disrespect, but, companies that give stuff away don't last very long. If you check after market pups, $120 isn't out of range.
 

fronobulax

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Companies that raise prices 140% in one jump tend not to be long lived either.

The honorable thing would be to honor the price at which a firm order was placed. But if there was no firm order placed there is nothing going on that cannot be explained by a simple error of the sort we all make. In fact I can imagine someone rushing to determine a price because Guild was trying to be responsive to a request and, in the rush, getting it wrong. Perhaps, for example, the quoted price was for an authorized repair dealer?

I'm with the greyhound on this one.
 

griehund

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Companies that raise prices 140% in one jump tend not to be long lived either.

I looked at the Dearmond Rythm Chief in the shop and it's priced at 119.99. That tells me that CMG is honoring their commitment to their retailers. Manufacturers must never sell for less than their dealers. I would suggest going through a local dealer if you want to try to get a lower price. You might even try FIXIT or Bing.
 

SFIV1967

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Manufacturers must never sell for less than their dealers. I would suggest going through a local dealer if you want to try to get a lower price.
Correct. I once was at the Martin factory in Nazareth and thought wrongly they might offer "factory outlet" pricing in their shop there but in reality they sold everything list price there and also told me if I want better pricing I should just go to the next Martin dealer in town. Guild is doing it correctly with their web shop.
Ralf
 

Synchro

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The honorable thing would be to honor the price at which a firm order was placed. But if there was no firm order placed there is nothing going on that cannot be explained by a simple error of the sort we all make. In fact I can imagine someone rushing to determine a price because Guild was trying to be responsive to a request and, in the rush, getting it wrong. Perhaps, for example, the quoted price was for an authorized repair dealer?

I'm with the greyhound on this one.

I looked at the Dearmond Rythm Chief in the shop and it's priced at 119.99. That tells me that CMG is honoring their commitment to their retailers. Manufacturers must never sell for less than their dealers. I would suggest going through a local dealer if you want to try to get a lower price. You might even try FIXIT or Bing.
When they accept an order at one price, then reneg in that offer and raise the price ex post facto that is, at the very least unethical, probably a violation of fair trade practices in the U.S. and could be considered deceptive advertising practices.

I'd be surprised if there are any parts in the supply chain right now. My impression is that CMG is just getting it together. This was obviously a very rushed purchase with little or no advanced planning. That's probably Fender's fault, as much as anyone's. They've been selling assets as fast as they can, of late, and their customers are left without a support channel.

I used to champion FMIC as an ethical company, but my faith in them has dwindled of late. Apparently the bean counters have a new alchemic theory of how to maximize profits and they are throwing all of their efforts in that direction. My guess is that they are trying to gain greater solvency so they can do an IPO and the employee/owners will be able to cash out. I expect big things from Fender in the next few years, big things, but not necessarily good things.

Still, that leaves us with the remains of Guild and, most likely, some ramp up time before we really see where CMG is going to take this thing. If they took charged Winnie's CC and then came back for more they are in violation of U.S. law regarding mail order business and, if that's the case, I see that as a sign of people that need to get their act together.

Frankly, while I agree that DC resistance is not the whole story in measuring pickup output, I still think that they are wimping out on this pickup issue, in which case I am disappointed. I've pretty much had my fill of corporate CYA BS.
 
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Winnie Thomas

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Update,

I received the pickup at the original price plus only $5 shipping. I'll install it this coming week and report back. It reads 7.17K and the package is from FMIC.
 
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