Starfire reissue bridge flaw / problem?

[zbassman]

I found a natural flame maple starfire II bass and fell in love and had to buy it despite what I think is a a flaw in the bridge set up. I noticed that the front of the bridge (towards the head of the bass) does not sit flush to the body. The back of the bridge sits flush. It appears that there are 4 protrusions underneath each of the grooves in which the saddles ride in causing it to be about 1/8th of an inch up off the body. Intonation and medium action are fine. The problem is that I can not lower the action any lower than it is. Is this normal or is this a design flaw or a manufacturing goof up where they forgot to rout out grooves in the body to accommadate the protrusions? Any thoughts / advice out there in Guild land?

 

[fronobulax]

I found a natural flame maple starfire II bass and fell in love and had to buy it despite what I think is a a flaw in the bridge set up. I noticed that the front of the bridge (towards the head of the bass) does not sit flush to the body. The back of the bridge sits flush. It appears that there are 4 protrusions underneath each of the grooves in which the saddles ride in causing it to be about 1/8th of an inch up off the body. Intonation and medium action are fine. The problem is that I can not lower the action any lower than it is. Is this normal or is this a design flaw or a manufacturing goof up where they forgot to rout out grooves in the body to accommadate the protrusions? Any thoughts / advice out there in Guild land?

Pictures? I have never seen the front of any Starfire bridge sit flush with the body unless the action is deliberately as low as it can go. On some basses that actually is too low and the strings hit the neck. Similarly I have never seen routing in the body to accommodate the bridge. My hunch is that your expectations might need to be reconsidered. But...

 

[The Guilds of Grot]

Sounds like he's missing the two adjustment screws that lift the front of the bridge off the body.

Notice the two screws that are located behind the saddles. These are what set your bridge height. There should also be a small rectangular plate mounted to the body unerdneath the bridge for the two screws to bear on.

If someone took the screws out and the bridge is sitting on the body, it sounds like the bass might need a neck reset. They might have tried to compensate for this by removing the screws to lower the action as much as possilble.

 

[fronobulax]

With all due care and respect, I thought the bridge was NOT flush with the body which suggested to me that the screws were present.

 

[The Guilds of Grot]

With all due care and respect, I thought the bridge was NOT flush with the body which suggested to me that the screws were present.

The way I read the post is that he thinks the front of the bridge should be flush to the body. But because of the sliding saddle "tangs", the bridge is sitting up off the body. This is why he asked about grooves for the "tangs".

My point is that the bridge shouldn't be sitting on the "tangs" at all, and it should be up off the body on the adjustment screws.

 

[fronobulax]

he thinks the front of the bridge should be flush to the body.

Got it. I think it is incorrect to expect the front of the bridge to be flush with the body so I'm not sure whether there is a real problem with the bridge or just a problem with what he expects. Pictures :wink:

 

[chefothefuture1]

Hi folks-
Long time lurker...
I think the question is regarding the re-issue (90's) tailpieces.
I have two 90s Starfires and both tailpieces set on the protrusions for the "height screw tracks".
Might have been an oversight in the re-design of the tailpiece, but I gather that this is normal.
With the neck adjusted with little relief, I have more than enough adjustment room to lay the strings on the neck.
You might want to check the relief (concave bow) in the neck before getting too worried.

cheers,
chef

 

[The Guilds of Grot]

Thanks chef!

Yeah I don't know anything about the reissues.

 

[zbassman]

Hey guys, thanks for the input.... it sounds as this may be normal....I just have nothing to compare it to.... that's why I posted this. I took some pictures for your final diagnosis but do not know see any thing to attach them. Gez... I need help with that too?

 

[fronobulax]

Hey guys, thanks for the input.... it sounds as this may be normal....I just have nothing to compare it to.... that's why I posted this. I took some pictures for your final diagnosis but do not know see any thing to attach them. Gez... I need help with that too?

Short answer - host the pictures elsewhere and link to them here.

Long Answer.

 

[fronobulax]

Hi folks-
Long time lurker...
I think the question is regarding the re-issue (90's) tailpieces.
I have two 90s Starfires and both tailpieces set on the protrusions for the "height screw tracks".
Might have been an oversight in the re-design of the tailpiece, but I gather that this is normal.
With the neck adjusted with little relief, I have more than enough adjustment room to lay the strings on the neck.
You might want to check the relief (concave bow) in the neck before getting too worried.

cheers,
chef

Welcome.

I'm not sure I follow. The vintage and reissue bridges were both mounted with four screws, so I thought, but the spacing was not the same. I'm not sure how your protrusions fit in.

Thanks.

 

[chefothefuture1]

Hi folks-
Long time lurker...
I think the question is regarding the re-issue (90's) tailpieces.
I have two 90s Starfires and both tailpieces set on the protrusions for the "height screw tracks".
Might have been an oversight in the re-design of the tailpiece, but I gather that this is normal.
With the neck adjusted with little relief, I have more than enough adjustment room to lay the strings on the neck.
You might want to check the relief (concave bow) in the neck before getting too worried.

cheers,
chef

Welcome.

I'm not sure I follow. The vintage and reissue bridges were both mounted with four screws, so I thought, but the spacing was not the same. I'm not sure how your protrusions fit in.

Thanks.

The fundemental difference between the vintage and re-issue tailpieces is although both
are anchored by two large screws, the height adjustment on the re-issue is for each string saddle; the vintage has two screws that adjust the whole bridge.
On the re-issue bridge, there is a groove for one height screw on each string to sit in.
This is to prevent sideways travel of the saddles.
Since these are simply stamped in the plate, there are "bumps" resulting on the
bottom.
The vintage bridge plates do not have these.


Hope that's a little clearer.....

Cheers
Chef

 

[zbassman]

Chef, yes, you are clear and the bumps on the underside cause the bridge to be up off the body about 1/8" (sorry, I tried to attach pix but it hasn.t worked). It only has 2 screws holding it down ..... This 1/8" space is normal / designed that way?

 

[ukulelelab]

The bridge on my reissue Guild Starfire Bass II has the same gap:

And the bridge on my Dearmond Starfire Bass II appears to be identical but sits flush on the body. Design flaw then?

 

[chefothefuture1]

It looks like a production issue.
I don't have a DeArmond to compare to, but either the guys in Asia routed the bodies to fit,
or the bottom of the plate is different.
So- on the US instruments, this seems to be the way they were built.
As I said earlier, a neck adjustment took care of any action issues, and now both of mine could have the strings laying on the
board with more adjustment room to go down....
If that doesn't work, then you might want to get out the Dremel....
Had to do that to put proper Klusons in place of the Grovers......

 

[zbassman]

Chef, u d man... thanks for the pix... that is what the gap on my bridge looks like. So I guess it is normal but it just doesn't seem right to me. If the original vintage bridges were flush, why not the reissues? Just a thought.... Z

 

[chefothefuture1]

Hey Z-
Actually, those weren't my pics, but they did explain a lot.
The original bridges are very different in that instead each saddle
being individually adjustable for height and intonation, and the plate being fixed, as on the re-issue,
the entire plate "floats" and it's height is adjusted by the two forward screws. The two screws in back
are the anchors.
So resting flat against the body was not an issue.