Does this 73 Starfire look legit to you?

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Hello good people who know stuff about Guild!!!


Need advice on this Reverb listing:
https://reverb.com/item/9610265-guild-starfire-ll-1972-73-red

The guy guarentees it's 100% original...
Claims to be first owner...
Something seems off... considering most Minty vintage Starfire are listed for alot more...
Also it seems to be front Red back Cherry burst...
And the finish looks kinda shiny, does it look correct?

Help?? :)
 

hansmoust

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The guy guarentees it's 100% original...
Claims to be first owner...
Something seems off... considering most Minty vintage Starfire are listed for alot more...
Also it seems to be front Red back Cherry burst...
And the finish looks kinda shiny, does it look correct?

Hello Heroinsheep,

Welcome! Looks completely legit to me! The ones that sell for more are the ones with BiSonic pickups.

Good luck!

Sincerely,

Hans Moust
www.guitarsgalore.nl
 

walrus

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Welcome! Is it "Hero in sheep", or Heroin Sheep"??

walrus
 

mavuser

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Hans, the back and neck look like standard Black Cherry Burst, but the front...I dont even see the modest burst, just looks like "cherry?" am I missing something?
 

fronobulax

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As Hans says. Legit. One driver to Starfire prices is the pickups. By 1971 all Starfires had the Guild humbuckers which are not as prized in the marketplace as the vintage Bisonics.

I have never seen a back only burst although there were cherry bursts.

Kurt's 1970 (hollow body) M85 with a Bisonic.

1970aM-85Hollow.jpg
 

mavuser

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I don't question that the finish is legit and original. i've just never seen straight "cherry" on the front and what is clearly Guild "black cherry burst" on the back- if even a slightly non symmetrical example. the warrantee card says "Cherry."

it is definitely in excellent rarely played condition, and we have seen some oddball stuff from Guild for sure, but the red ones seem to sell for the least, and it just seems like someone was getting trained to paint black cherry burst on this one, and the teacher did not have the confidence to let them do the front. It's in amazing condition but that's still alot of money for this, just my opinion.
 

mellowgerman

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Considering the humbuckers (instead of BiSonics) I wouldn't pay more than $1800 for this one... unless maybe if I picked it up at a store, it played 100% flawlessly and every single not rang out like a grand piano.
Sure is gorgeous though!

EDIT: I should add that those humbuckers are great pickups in their own right, they just don't have that BiSonic magic that so many of us here crave. I'm sure there are players out there though that may prefer the humbuckers
 
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Welcome! Is it "Hero in sheep", or Heroin Sheep"??

walrus
Must it be one or the other?:)

Thanks for the info guys.
Does anyone have any recording or link to a video demonstrating the difference in sound of the BiSonics vs the Guild humbuckers?
I actually youtubed a 73 Starfire Bass and found a demo that shows some really nice sounding pickups (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ofv55oVblA&t=94s).
Although it may be a trick because he could be using a guitar amp, so that's what may be giving the warm saturated sound rather than the pickups.

Cheers!!:)
 

fronobulax

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You might as well continue on YouTube looking for a pre-1970 Starfire demo.

I would describe the humbuckers as "muddy" at the low end. In a bass amp with every available control on the amp and bass set to maximize bass and minimize treble the result is an indistinct "thump" at an almost un-discernible pitch. That was my go to tone in cases where I had no clue what I was doing because no one really knew whether I played a wrong note or not. Moving away from the extreme I'm not sure I have words to describe the tone. I can tell you what it doesn't sound like (a Bisonic or a P or a J) but not what it does.

You need to take my opinion with an entire shaker of salt. I have only heard the humbuckers in a solid body and some of my Bisonic comparisons have shown me that there is a "woody" component to the sound that I like that comes from being in a hollow body (vs. solid) and not necessarily from the PU. The "deep/hard" switch is still intact and in the circuit in my humbucker equipped bass. People who have rewired have been very impressed with the results.

If you are looking for buying advice, any Starfire is better than none. Beyond that, it's up to you. Deciding whether you need one or two pickups (or don't care) effects your choices. "Minty" effects your budget. For example, if sound trumped minty then I might spend $2300 on a vintage Starfire I that has seen better days but had the vintage Bisonic intact. At some price point, the Newark Street basses become viable candidates.

I have a vague recollection that someone who had a 70's Starfire with humbuckers, really, really liked it, but they were also explicit about not striving for or caring about the "Bisonic" tone and Jack Casady and Phil Lesh were not among their tone heroes.
 

sailingshoes72

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Didn't know that Nora Jones played electric guitar. That sounds cool! Sorta like "Scotty Moore on Sun Records" embellishments on an acoustic song with bass guitar.
 

mellowgerman

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For what it's worth, if you're looking at 70's Starfire basses with humbuckers, there's a nice looking '76 at Guitar Center Hollywood for $1899. It says black, but I think it might actually be a very dark Emerald Green finish, as we have seen in the past. The nice thing with GC, as spotty as their evaluations of used gear can be, they do have a no questions asked return policy, where you can even just return the instrument to a local store. On "vintage" gear they only give you 3 days after receiving it, I believe, but that's still plenty of time to make sure everything checks out
http://www.guitarcenter.com/Used/Guild/Vintage-1976-Starfire-II-Electric-Bass-Guitar.gc
 
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