Bisonic bezel size, Guild, Curtis Novak

Mungi

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Two questions.

Guild has two bezels for their bisonic, one neck and one bridge. Width and length is the same as far as I understand (99 x 73,5 mm). Is there any difference in thickness between the two?

Will they fit Curtis Novacs bisonic?
 

mellowgerman

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They are both shaped for their respective positions, meaning arched for the general "belly" profile of the Starfire top from treble to bass side, but also from neck to bridge; the neck pickup ring is thicker on the neck side and gets thinner toward the bridge, whereas the bridge pickup ring is thicker on the bridge side and thinner toward the neck. So they are not easily interchangeable from one position to the other. That said, Novak rings fit Guild Bisonics and DarkStars alike, and vise versa. Hope that makes sense and answers your question!
 

Mungi

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They are both shaped for their respective positions, meaning arched for the general "belly" profile of the Starfire top from treble to bass side, but also from neck to bridge; the neck pickup ring is thicker on the neck side and gets thinner toward the bridge, whereas the bridge pickup ring is thicker on the bridge side and thinner toward the neck. So they are not easily interchangeable from one position to the other. That said, Novak rings fit Guild Bisonics and DarkStars alike, and vise versa. Hope that makes sense and answers your question!
Now that you explained it, it seems so obvious that they are arched for their respective positions. Novak’s ring costs twice as much. This is for a Tractor modded jazz bass I just bought. The bisonic sits too low.
 
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mellowgerman

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Now that you explained it, it seems so obvious that they are arched for their respective positions. Novak’s ring costs twice as much. This is for a Tractor modded jazz bass I just bought. The bisonics sits too low.

In that case, I'm certain Novak offers flat mounting rings too. His pickups, like Hammon DarkStars, often end up in flat-topped solid body basses, so I would send him an email and inquire. But yes, his will be more expensive than the Guild part, since they do much larger scale manufacturing. Novak's may also be made in the USA, but I'm not sure.
That said, it's also not too hard to make your own mounting ring if it's for a flat-top bass. I've done it a few times, by repurposing black plastic sourced from whatever I had on hand. The one I remember specifically came from the structural insert in the back of a 3-ring binder, was the perfect thickness for my project and I was able to cut it out with some heavy duty scissors, then filed it to look clean. Worked perfectly.
 

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Another source, which I read elsewhere, was to go to one of the office supply stores and look for a black plastic clipboard. Apparently they're made out of ABS, which is the same material that they make pickup rings and pick guards out of. A lot cheaper if you can make your own!
 

fronobulax

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My Novak BSDS was installed in a swimming pool.

12108096_1771167183117733_554051774667155196_n.jpg

Looking at pictures of the finished bass - because with a cat on my lap it is inconvenient to actually pull the bass out of the case -it seems to me there is no mounting ring. The chrome surround that is part of the PU rests directly on the body.

IMG_20160411_154633167.jpg

Seems to me if the goal is to raise the PU on a flat bodied bass, improvising a mounting ring should work and if you can measure twice and cut once, I like @defaults idea of a black clipboard as source material.
 

Mungi

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Another source, which I read elsewhere, was to go to one of the office supply stores and look for a black plastic clipboard. Apparently they're made out of ABS, which is the same material that they make pickup rings and pick guards out of. A lot cheaper if you can make your own!
Sounds like a good idea. I have made pickup rings for my Starfire in wood before. Haven’t seen any ABS clipboards here in Sweden though.
 

mellowgerman

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Sounds like a good idea. I have made pickup rings for my Starfire in wood before. Haven’t seen any ABS clipboards here in Sweden though.

How about an old scratched up vinyl record? Here in the states there are second-hand stores everywhere with hundreds of vinyls that nobody wants, that are mostly so scratched that you could never play them, for 50cents a pop. Practically an infinite supply of pickup mounting rings, just waiting to come into existence :geek:
 

Mungi

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How about an old scratched up vinyl record? Here in the states there are second-hand stores everywhere with hundreds of vinyls that nobody wants, that are mostly so scratched that you could never play them, for 50cents a pop. Practically an infinite supply of pickup mounting rings, just waiting to come into existence :geek:
That could work!
 
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