Fender CS Guild reissue suggested.

[lungimsam]

On their forum someone was asking about if the CS would consider reissueing Guilds and Gretches.

I suggested a mid-'60's Guild Starfire II :wink:

Would be cool. But I can't see the CS doing anything other than Fender stuff.
I guess the challenge would be getting the bisonics correct.

 

[fronobulax]

On their forum someone was asking about if the CS would consider reissueing Guilds and Gretches.

I suggested a mid-'60's Guild Starfire II :wink:

Would be cool. But I can't see the CS doing anything other than Fender stuff.
I guess the challenge would be getting the bisonics correct.

CS? What does that stand for? "Corporate Suits"?

There is certainly an opinion that the 90's reissues were not up to the standards set by the vintage Starfires.

I note with amusement that a recent warranty card includes Guild electrics as well as Guild acoustic basses. If that is a teaser of what to come rather than a reuse of paper printed 10 years ago, my bet would be the electric bass would be whichever one had the corresponding guitar reissued.

Maybe the reason Fred Hammon is so hard to find is that he is trying to make enough Dark Stars to support factory levels of production, one way or another?

 

[Default]

"CS"=Custom Shop

 

[mgod]

Fender borrowed a couple carcasses from me about 9 yrs ago to study. One was a 67 or so mahogany Starfire, one was a 68 M-85. But the project was abandoned. IMO there's too much turnover there for them to ever see the project through - its not a coherent division, and certainly not a priority.

The M-85 is back with me awaiting restoration, the Starfire went to Marko Ursin.

They did buy some pickups from Fred, but as far as I know, only two got used. One bass was completed but I'm not allowed to talk about it.

 

[bassmyf]

They did buy some pickups from Fred, but as far as I know, only two got used. One bass was completed but I'm not allowed to talk about it.

Now thats just cruel, Dan............

 

[griehund]

Could be wrong but I think Gretsch has a stateside CS. They usually end up on the market after the shows.

 

[griehund]

Could be wrong but I think Gretsch has a stateside CS. They usually end up on the market after the shows.

Rockystreetsounds on ebay
http://www.ebay.com/itm/GRETSCH-G6196-1 ... 43aa613e6b

 

[idealassets]

There is certainly an opinion that the 90's reissues were not up to the standards set by the vintage Starfires

There's no doubt that the 1965 through 1970 Starfire basses are highly covetted, especially at the present time. But the workmanship on the re-issue Starfires is extremely good. It has perfect joints, and a high gloss finish; compared to the "old sheen" of the earlier finishes.

Also the case is a wonder to behold. It is definately a notch up from the original Starfire case, with the guitar laying in it "bottomed out" toward the lower side of the case, due to the off-center design that's built into it. Also the plush case interior on the reissue is very thick and plush, inside a heavier case material. The older case is thinner, a bit more centered in the design, and the guitar has a bit of room to bump around, if you are not careful when carrying it.

If Guild were to make a current re-issue- why not just make the Dark Stars the standard pickup?

Craig

 

[idealassets]

The M-85 is back with me awaiting restoration

Is that the famous Phil Lesh guitar? I was just wondering- wasn't the M85 a lower production model, and not widely used? Who played one other than the one Sheryl Crow used (uses)?:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqiypMz5xGo

the Starfire went to Marko Ursin

Pardon my persistence, but what Starfire is "the" Starfire, and who is Marko (ie a player, or a luthier) So that means there's a change in the family portrait of Starfires that I refer to periodically?

Thank you,
Craig

 

[fronobulax]

There is certainly an opinion that the 90's reissues were not up to the standards set by the vintage Starfires

There's no doubt that the 1965 through 1970 Starfire basses are highly covetted, especially at the present time. But the workmanship on the re-issue Starfires is extremely good. It has perfect joints, and a high gloss finish; compared to the "old sheen" of the earlier finishes.

Also the case is a wonder to behold. It is definately a notch up from the original Starfire case, with the guitar laying in it "bottomed out" toward the lower side of the case, due to the off-center design that's built into it. Also the plush case interior on the reissue is very thick and plush, inside a heavier case material. The older case is thinner, a bit more centered in the design, and the guitar has a bit of room to bump around, if you are not careful when carrying it.

If Guild were to make a current re-issue- why not just make the Dark Stars the standard pickup?

Craig

Since I am quoting the opinion of others I will let them explain their comments about the reissues. The re-issues do not have Bi-sonics which is certainly a strike against them.

Not sure what you are saying about the cases. My 1977 case is as snug as I would like for my '67 bass with no room to bump around. Any chance that what you are seeing could be due to age, case abuse or merely not being Original, in spite of what a seller told you? It is also possible that the case evolved from 1964-1977 as well.

At the moment the only source for Dark Stars is Fred Hammon who makes each pickup by hand. Someone reported rumors from TalkBass that a Swedish company is gearing up to produce a Bi-sonic equivalent and someone (Lakeland?) is making a Chi-sonic (?) which is supposed to be good enough to come in third after an original and a Dark Star. Bottom line, though, is that the Dark Star is not being produced in the quantities required to use it in a production line bass, at this time.

 

[fronobulax]

The M-85 is back with me awaiting restoration

Is that the famous Phil Lesh guitar? I was just wondering- wasn't the M85 a lower production model, and not widely used? Who played one other than the one Sheryl Crow used (uses)?:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqiypMz5xGo

[quote:26o77j8s]the Starfire went to Marko Ursin

Pardon my persistence, but what Starfire is "the" Starfire, and who is Marko (ie a player, or a luthier) So that means there's a change in the family portrait of Starfires that I refer to periodically?

Thank you,
Craig[/quote:26o77j8s]

I shouldn't put words into mgod's mouth and just stick to posting pictures for him.

However, I believe the two specific basses that he referred to were the ones that Fender disassembled and measured about 9 years ago.

M-85 has much lower production numbers than the Starfire. You have to be careful in the marketplace since there is a hollow body version up through 1970 or so and a solid body version from 1971 or thereabouts. The variations on pickups are somewhat straight forward with the Starfire. That is not the case with a M-85.

Sheryl Crow picked up her (solid body) M-85 because she heard someone else playing a (hollow body) M-85 and wasn't especially sensitive to the difference. So someone else played one before she did and I'll let him retell the story if no one searches for it first. :wink:

Marko is a teacher in one of the Scandinavian countries who builds and works on guitars for relaxation. He built a M-85 clone that I recall and brass, Alembic style, bridges that ended up on some Starfires. His name cam up recently on LTG but I recall him more from the now defunct DudePit.

 

[The Guilds of Grot]

Who played one other than the one Sheryl Crow used (uses)?

For what it's worth, Paul McCartney's bass player was playing a solid body model for a while. (Though you would have though he'd be playing a "hollow" bodied model to emulate Paul's Hofner.

 

[idealassets]

Not sure what you are saying about the cases. My 1977 case is as snug as I would like for my '67 bass with no room to bump around. Any chance that what you are seeing could be due to age, case abuse or merely not being Original, in spite of what a seller told you? It is also possible that the case evolved from 1964-1977 as well.

I'll explain the images shown here. All my Starfire cases are original Guild cases: 66 SFI bass, 97 SFII bass, and 97' SFIII 6 string. The 66' and 97' 6 string cases are very similar in dimensions and thickness. BUT the 97' SFII case has a "G shield" emblem on the top, it is very much more heavy duty, and has 7 latches on it, instead of 5 latches on the other 2, with a thinner hard shell to them.

97:

67:

The 97' SFII bass must have far exceeded the QC requirements of most guitar manufacturarers at the time, it is a thing of beauty (although with humbuckers, bass boost switch, etc). The wood grain is vey nice and the binding is snow white. Meanwhile my 97' SFIII 6 string looks like a normal quailty guitar and case.

I'm not saying the 66' bass is flying around in the case, but instead the 97' bass case is super deluxe.

Craig

 

[idealassets]

66'

 

[fronobulax]

Did you mislabel the older picture as 67 and then repost as 66?

My '77 case has 6 latches and just eyeballing pictures seems to be a little more substantial than your oldest case.

 

[idealassets]

Did you mislabel the older picture as 67 and then repost as 66?

Actually my mislabled picture did not take when I posted the first time, then I re-posted correctly only to see that eventually my second image DID post from the original attempt. Hmm, I've never seen that happen on LTG before.

You can't really see from these images, but looking directly down from the top, the 66 case is built symmetrical. The 97' case is built off-center. The neck groove is slighty to the side away from the handle, so the guitar fits snug against the lowest side, and it clears the upper side by about 1/2". It fits snug in there, and is bottomed out on that thick plush finish. That is impressive engineering of a guitar case. The dimesnsions are also bigger on the 97' case, deeper, wider, longer, etc.

Craig