Starfire II basses with Bisonics are discontinued for 2026

lungimsam

lungimsam

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Can only get the Pbass pickup style this year according to Sweetwater.

Can still buy the BS-1 pickup itself though.

“The bass is now discontinued though. You can only get the P style pickup in the Starfire this year.”
 
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Hmm maybe they'll wanna sell off their extra harp bridges now? I wouldn't mind grabbing a backup for my parts bin. Have been casually checking on occasion to see if they happen to relist them in the Guild store.
 
Sad to see, but I'm already adequately equipped in that regard, so will not personally suffer unduly as a result of this development.
 
I think they have been doing well with the smaller one, which has the P-bass looking Bisonic. It does sound great.

They will bring the big one back, sometime down the road. Could be a more limited thing, possibly even w Novak pickups, if Guild stops manufacturing their own reissue pickups.
 
mavuser said:
I think they have been doing well with the smaller one, which has the P-bass looking Bisonic. It does sound great.

They will bring the big one back, sometime down the road. Could be a more limited thing, possibly even w Novak pickups, if Guild stops manufacturing their own reissue pickups.
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Since we are doing nothing more than speculation I'll speculate that when the stock of Guild BS-1 is exhausted we will not see them ever again unless or until Guild has a MIA Starfire bass, in which case I agree that the Novak makes more sense.

"P-bass looking Bisonic"

Can't recall a lot of conversation but to the extent that you can describe a Bisonic as a different sound/tone than a P bass PU are you suggesting that the "P bass" PU sounds like a Bisonic?
 
mellowgerman said:
Hmm maybe they'll wanna sell off their extra harp bridges now? I wouldn't mind grabbing a backup for my parts bin. Have been casually checking on occasion to see if they happen to relist them in the Guild store.
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I forget. Is the NS bridge a drop in for a vintage bridge?
 
fronobulax said:
Since we are doing nothing more than speculation I'll speculate that when the stock of Guild BS-1 is exhausted we will not see them ever again unless or until Guild has a MIA Starfire bass, in which case I agree that the Novak makes more sense.

"P-bass looking Bisonic"

Can't recall a lot of conversation but to the extent that you can describe a Bisonic as a different sound/tone than a P bass PU are you suggesting that the "P bass" PU sounds like a Bisonic?
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the one in the current Starfire bass, yes. more than suggesting, it sounds pretty good
 
fronobulax said:
I forget. Is the NS bridge a drop in for a vintage bridge?
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yes, mounting screw layout and general dimensions are the same as far as I understand (have not tried a swap myself), though we do know the replacement saddles and the metal paddles they attach to are slightly different than the vintage ones but can be made to fit without too much trouble

It's the 90s Guild/Dearmond bridge with the Fender Mustang bass style saddles that has a slightly different mounting screw hold pattern, so that one does require some filling and re-drilling
 
Why not a Pilot Tractor bass?

That would seem to be a no-brainer to me. You have a unique, good sounding pickup, combined with a common type, on a solid body, which is cheaper and easier to build than the hollowbody.
@Industry Shill ?
 
mellowgerman said:
It's the 90s Guild/Dearmond bridge with the Fender Mustang bass style saddles that has a slightly different mounting screw hold pattern, so that one does require some filling and re-drilling
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^This.

Figuring this day might come, and being a huge Starfire Bass fan, I laid in a couple of spare pickups, a spare bridge and some spare saddles awhile back. Also have a brass nut, just for shirts and giggles, but have never bothered to install it.
 
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Why not a Pilot Tractor bass?

That would seem to be a no-brainer to me. You have a unique, good sounding pickup, combined with a common type, on a solid body, which is cheaper and easier to build than the hollowbody.
@Industry Shill ?
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they would need to make a new Bisonic with the right pole spacing for a long scale, or people would totally freak out; even if Berry Oakley used the short scale one
 
I base the idea on the Squier telecaster I saw that had lb-1s in the neck position. I don't think the scale length mattered as much as the string spacing.
 
I always thought string spacing increased with scale length, hence the "F spaced pickups" for Fender instruments. Pretty sure Novak makes Bisonics like that
 
mavuser said:
I always thought string spacing increased with scale length, hence the "F spaced pickups" for Fender instruments. Pretty sure Novak makes Bisonics like that
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3 spacings available:

www.curtisnovak.com

BS-DS

Bisonic / Darkstar / Starfire pickup made to vintage specs.
www.curtisnovak.com www.curtisnovak.com
 
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mavuser said:
I always thought string spacing increased with scale length, hence the "F spaced pickups" for Fender instruments. Pretty sure Novak makes Bisonics like that
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Novak does offer at least two different spacings. I thought the bridge and the nut determined the best spacing and not the scale length. You could certainly have narrow spacing on a long scale bass, but you might have to make some plucking hand adjustments.
 
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That's why I suggested Pilot, instead of P bass. Aren't Pilots narrower than Fenders? 🤔
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The Fender jazz pickups are drop in replacements for a Pilot, so the string spacing i'd guess is similar.
Can't speak to nuts and bridges, or neck profiles, but generally the strings taper out as they go towards the bridge, so in that sceanrio
the longer scale should result in wider string spacing, and a wider bridge (or saddles at least) all other things equal, than if it were short scale. On a bass it should be noticable.

On a guitar, maybe not as much of a game changer, but again, I don't really know. Quick google search suggests on a 6-string guitar, F-spaced picups are only for the bridge position, and neck is irrelavant- explains the HB-1 in the neck of a Squire, and also my long scale/taper towards the bridge explination, above.
 
Fender standard saddle spacing is 19mm. Frono is correct that bridge and nut spacing dictate the required pickup pole spacing.
For example, I had a Fender frankenstein that consisted of a jazz bass body and 57 precision bass neck - the neck was 34" scale and the nut was a wide 1.75" but because I chose to use a narrow spaced bridge it was a perfect fit for narrow spaced pickups like og Hagstrom bisonics and a dimarzio model one.
There are of course also short scale bassed with 19mm spacing, it's just not common per se. There was also the Gibson long scale EB bass, which had the usual narrow Gibson bridge and pickup spacing, even though it was a 34" scale
 
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