Starfire tinkering continued

[mellowgerman]

Opened the case this morning... and it has sprouted 2 new knobs! Anybody know how to cure this condition?!
In all seriousness though, this has been something I've thought about for some time. The filter electronics are very delicate and complicated, so things can always go wrong, plus a battery change mid-session could be a hassle, so my solution: add an alternate, passive circuit! It's a push/pull volume pot and normal tone control. With the push/pull in the down position, the active filter preamp is being used. When you pull the knob up though, it grabs the signal from the neck pickup and sends it through the passive harness. Aside from a quick fix for any time-consuming filter incidents, this also allows me to quickly tap into the classic, passive single-neck-pickup Starfire bass tones that this bass offered when I first got it 4 years ago. It just keeps getting more and more versatile. Looking forward to the day that it can toast a bagel and brew coffee for me!

 

[Guildedagain]

It's growing and mutating but it's not malignant ;]

 

[mellowgerman]

It's growing and mutating but it's not malignant ;]

Indeed! The extra knobs come in peace.

 

[Guildedagain]

Stain control board cherry?

 

[mellowgerman]

Stain control board cherry?

I thought about it but I really like it just the way it looks with the clear TruOil I had on hand. It's walnut but relatively close to the rosewood of the saddles and fretboard, just a bit lighter. I also like the contrast between the cherry finish and control plate. Its kinda like a little stage for the preamp controls

 

[Guildedagain]

You could always have different plates, for your many moods, the modular concept. A red plate, a black plate would look nice too.

A slightly concave shape paralleling the bridge on that side, on the other I would contour it to follow the F hole shape, might be visually very pleasing, the way the old Guild pickguards jell with the shape of the guitar they're on near the edge of the body. It's a Guild trademark basically, the contour in the pickguard matches what's near it.

 

[mellowgerman]

Here's a dead-on straight shot (same as my avatar photo) so you can get a better visual of how the shapes gel. I actually just cut it that way as it was the smallest grouping I could fit the controls into. I figured the smaller the hole, the better. Also did not want to mess with those stunning F-holes. End of the day, i think it all fits together in a simple, natural, pleasant way. I'm not too big on super ornate stuff. Best thing is that the control layout is functionally very user friendly this way (at least to my brain).

 

[tsarter]

Fascinating thread to me. Loved reading about your mods. I don’t have the same modify it gene, but certainly appreciate the fact that you do!

 

[Guildedagain]

Looks really good actually. Being unique really sets a guitar apart from the rest ;]

 

[Nuuska]

Naturally this question is too late - much too lte - but did you contemplated between having an opening in the back to get to them pots instead of cutting a hole into top?

Only thing that REALLY matters is the end result - if/when your tool is better now - that's the only important thing.

I do undestand that cutting an opening into top instead of back leaves you with more freedom for future changes. In case you ever should wish to do sany.

 

[Happy Face]

Next you will tell me that your favorite color for cars is BEIGE! Liven things up, Mellow One!

Though that Starfire is a beauty not begging for any change. .

 

[Guildedagain]

My little Ricky?

Only those that raised little girls will get this joke....

 

[Happy Face]

My little Ricky?

Only those that raised little girls will get this joke....

A propos since we just finished a studio session with three elementary school girls adding some voices to a music video we are finishing up. I'll have to ask their dads about that one.

They were great - fearless, on task and in pitch. Done in two or maybe three takes. Unlike the 20 I often require.

 

[Happy Face]

Just a quick prologue: I feel like I have a good practical grasp of these filter preamps (ACG, Alembic, etc.) from experience, but I'm no sound engineer or electrician, so I know my watered-down, layman's explanations may not be the best. These thoughts and pointers all come from what I hear with my ears, corresponding with what my fingers did to get there, typically based on my general interpretation of complicated write-ups I've studied, penned by people who fully comprehend these things in a scholarly sense. So if anybody spots any questionable statements or potential misunderstanding on my end, please feel free to set me straight!

Anyway, since the internal phillips head mini pot is essentially just a pan control, allowing you to blend from which pickup(s) you're sourcing your high frequencies, there's a lot to explore. To get the more Casady-ish sound like in the video, I set the HPF 100% on the bridge pickup, using only lows and low mids from the neck pickup.
That said, at first I really enjoyed sourcing and boosting the highs from the neck pickup (not boosting anything on the neck LPF) and pushing only nice, tight lows from the bridge pickup. It's a unique punchy sound that retained a lot of the tonal character of the neck pickup, but boosted the nice even lows and low mids coming from the bridge.
As for feeding the HPF from a blend of both pickups, I found that a lot less useful, since any kind of blending between two pickups inevitably results in some frequency cancellation and a corresponding scoop. When wired passively, blending two Bisonics results in a bit of a scoop, but it's still a very useable sound. However, since the ACG preamp doesn't have a "band pass" stack (like an Alembic SF-2 unit does), which would translate to a kind of mid-boosting tool, the mids already need to be compensated for in dialing in the ACG preamp. That's not to say that you can't get mids out of your bass once you install an ACG filter preamp, just that you want to avoid creating a mid-scoop by boosting both highs and lows. Of course, I'm not saying these are just your run of the mill, active boost preamps. There's a whole universe of tones to explore since you can dial in your resonant peak frequency. The smallest adjustment of these knobs can make a big difference, which is another reason why communicating these settings in words is tricky. Again, hope that makes sense!

I just reread this older post in the thread.

THANKS again for that articulate writeup on the sweep screw. I guess I gotta fish out the Phillips head from my gig bag and give that thing a twist.

 

[mellowgerman]

Naturally this question is too late - much too lte - but did you contemplated between having an opening in the back to get to them pots instead of cutting a hole into top?

Only thing that REALLY matters is the end result - if/when your tool is better now - that's the only important thing.

I do undestand that cutting an opening into top instead of back leaves you with more freedom for future changes. In case you ever should wish to do sany.

Yes, I did debate going through the back, but I worried that having a cover there would be uncomfortable when playing standing up and I didn't want to make the most comfortable bass I've ever played any less comfortable! Of course, that might be a different story if it was a recessed cover, but I'm not very talented in the woodworking department, so that would have likely been an exercise in biting off more than I can chew and a recipe for disaster. Additionally, having the control plate in the front, makes the internal phillips head adjustments much easier too, since I can pluck the strings while adjusting the trim-pots. If it were a back-door only, that would get tricky, which is something that I quickly learned with the Warwick Starbass I fitted with an ACG filter preamp some years ago. Of course, I also always liked the way that Casady's Starfire looked with the front-mounted control plate, so there's some inspiration there too.

 

[mellowgerman]

Next you will tell me that your favorite color for cars is BEIGE! Liven things up, Mellow One!

Though that Starfire is a beauty not begging for any change. .

Living in Florida, my favorite car color is anything but black! In all honesty though, I've never had much preference when it came to car aesthetics. I view them purely as transportation tools. Good gas mileage, the ability to haul a 1x15 cab and a bass simultaneously, and a decent CD player were really all I ever asked for... until I got my Jetta, which happens to have a turbo... didn't realize I needed one of those until I had it. My wife also just got a Nissan Frontier which immediately proved its worth when we made our first trip in a truck for soil and mulch. The useful Jetta is grey and the useful Frontier is red, so I guess those are my favorite car colors
That said, I've always thought that the white w/ black Ricks are a thing of sheer beauty! Not sure I personally would opt for the colorful adornments (reiterating my boring appreciation of subtle color schemes), though admittedly I do remember a time not long ago when I really wanted a 68/69 pink paisley Precision bass. If they made them in short scale, I still would want one... hmm.... maybe a future project idea there

 

[fronobulax]

Living in Florida, my favorite car color is anything but black! In all honesty though, I've never had much preference when it came to car aesthetics. I view them purely as transportation tools. Good gas mileage, the ability to haul a 1x15 cab and a bass simultaneously, and a decent CD player were really all I ever asked for...

<veer>
A tree fell on Mrs. Fro's car. The insurance company declared it totaled. While we often bought used, her car had some issues so there was an agreement that the replacement would be new. I figured this was her chance to get a color she wanted, but No. She picked a car that was in stock, on the dealer's lot, and immediately available. I still see it as a lost opportunity.

My uncle was 6' 4", played tuba and played a lot of Dixieland gigs. His car of choice was a 60's VW Beatle because somehow both he and the tuba fit comfortably. When he did go car shopping he walked into the showroom with his tuba and the conversation very quickly focused on cars that could carry him, the tuba and one passenger.

My gigging amp for the last several years has been 2 x 5" so while it is nice to have room for a 1 x 15" it is not as necessary as it used to be. Carrying multiple guitars and two people is a more common requirement since Mrs. Fro. has been known to want both a 6 and a 12 string acoustic.

The interesting requirement, if you stay at the compact or smaller end of the spectrum, is whether the equipment being carried is visible or not.

</veer>

I cringe a little at the modification but aesthetically it is well done and does invoke some iconic Guild Starfire modifications. It does make more sense on the front, and for reasons that hadn't occurred to me.

 

[mellowgerman]

<veer>
A tree fell on Mrs. Fro's car. The insurance company declared it totaled. While we often bought used, her car had some issues so there was an agreement that the replacement would be new. I figured this was her chance to get a color she wanted, but No. She picked a car that was in stock, on the dealer's lot, and immediately available. I still see it as a lost opportunity.

My uncle was 6' 4", played tuba and played a lot of Dixieland gigs. His car of choice was a 60's VW Beatle because somehow both he and the tuba fit comfortably. When he did go car shopping he walked into the showroom with his tuba and the conversation very quickly focused on cars that could carry him, the tuba and one passenger.

My gigging amp for the last several years has been 2 x 5" so while it is nice to have room for a 1 x 15" it is not as necessary as it used to be. Carrying multiple guitars and two people is a more common requirement since Mrs. Fro. has been known to want both a 6 and a 12 string acoustic.

The interesting requirement, if you stay at the compact or smaller end of the spectrum, is whether the equipment being carried is visible or not.

</veer>

I cringe a little at the modification but aesthetically it is well done and does invoke some iconic Guild Starfire modifications. It does make more sense on the front, and for reasons that hadn't occurred to me.

During college when I still had my Juzek upright bass I used to fit it in my Hyundai Elantra -- it was a "1/2 size" bass (see chart above for what exactly that means in the DB world). I would have to slide the passenger seat all the way back and reclined, then the bass would slide carefully in through the passenger door, across the center console and into the back seat on the driver side. There wasn't room for any passengers unless they didn't mind riding in the trunk, but I was impressed at what could be fit into that car. Not positive if that would work with the Jetta. Either way, this is part of the reason why I don't intend to buy another upright until I buy a home I plan to reside in long-term. Our current house is nice, but we do plan to sell and move closer to my family well before 2030.

In regard to equipment being visible inside the car, I almost never have to worry about this due to my potentially over-the-top paranoia of temperature damage to my instruments. Again, Florida plays a large part in this, but I would be just as worried about cold back up in Buffalo! Granted, it would take some extremes to do direct damage, but even just having to wait for an instrument to acclimate after it spends time in the car is stressful for me, so I tend to just carry mine around with me the whole time they are not in my music room at home. I have "beater" instruments where this isn't much of a concern but rarely find myself going anywhere I would want to bring a beater. I've become very spoiled by my favorite gear, to where I have a hard time enjoying playing anything else. The beaters are more for back porch or bonfire playing and those scenarios typically involve just enough drink to make my instrument standards fade into oblivion.

When it comes to amps though I'm a lot less concerned about temperature, so I suppose the visibility factor can come into play there... head goes in the trunk for sure, but if someone really needs my big heavy, gnarly old Gallien Krueger 1x15 cab so badly that they find a way to extract it from the backseat of my locked car... well...

 

[fronobulax]

We have been known to run an errand before or after a guitar event when the temperature is such that we are not worried about thermal shock. Examples include going out to dinner with our teacher after lessons or playing or rehearsing and stopping for a beer on the way home.

 

[Happy Face]

Outside of the visibility issue, the Honda Element is the ideal rockers car. The footprint is not huge, but with the back seats removed, it offers a lot of space. You cd probably fit 3 Marshall stacks in it.

Very usable space if you are carrying band sound gear along with your own rig. That said, a covered trailer works even better since you can step right into it.