New 2013 Guild Starfire Bass Reissue - Page 3

SactoBass · #41 01-24-2013, 03:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by barroso

Wow.
Made in ?

Korea, I think.

MR PC · #42 01-24-2013, 03:55 PM

Nice.

walknbluez · #43 01-24-2013, 04:02 PM

If the quality is good, I want one of these! Are ones made in Korea generally good?

SturmUndDrang · #44 01-24-2013, 04:13 PM

This is madness. Has anyone heard the bass in the demo? While it sounds nice, it does not remind me of the sound of the original Hagstrom bi-sonic or Fred Hammon's version either. What's the point of having such a cosmetically identical re-issue without engineering the pickup the same way? It's like saying the Epiphone EB0 has a great mudbucker sound based on it's looks.

mellowgerman · #45 01-24-2013, 04:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SturmUndDrang

That pickup doesn't sound like such a great copy

I'm willing to bet it would sound a lot closer to "that sound" if there were flatwounds on it!

Zuhzuhzombie!! · #46 01-24-2013, 04:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SactoBass

Would anyone happen to know why this one is so dang expensive?......

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Guild-GSR-St...-/261149232230

Looks like it's from the Custom Shop issues they put out last year.

SturmUndDrang · #47 01-24-2013, 04:34 PM

It definitely seemed like alot of roundwound new string zing was going on there. I'd be surprised if these newer basses actually featured accurate replicas of the pickups. Hope you're right mellowgerman.

hdracer · #48 01-24-2013, 04:47 PM

That much for a MIK knock off with out real Bi Sonics???

You can find real Starfire II"s in nice shape for that much or slightly more.

timber22 · #49 01-24-2013, 05:02 PM

I'm not sure I'd be happy with that pickup position.

progrmr · #50 01-24-2013, 05:06 PM

I thought the demo sounded great...!

Johnny Alien · #51 01-24-2013, 08:11 PM

This bass hinges on them nailing the Bi-Sonic pickup. If they do that then the world is their oyster.

mellowgerman · #52 01-24-2013, 08:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by timber22

I'm not sure I'd be happy with that pickup position.

I played a bunch of different 60's starfire basses before buying my 66 a few years ago. In my opinion, this is THE position for a bisonic pickup. Check out this demo I recorded with my 66 (link below)... the pickup's frequency response is so wide that these pickups sound huge regardless of where they're placed (within reason). Of course, how you amplify/record will also have a lot to do with how the end-product tone is. In this video, I was running the bass through my 1968 Guild Thunderstar head (two 6L6 tubes, EQ set more or less flat) through a custom cab containing a vintage, full range EV 18" speaker. IMO, this setup fostered one of the best bass tones I've ever heard. Guild really had the right idea back in the 60's! Ha and maybe they do again. I'd love to play one of these reissues with flats through a nice tube amp.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0tF10YO91M

JoeWPgh · #53 01-24-2013, 08:35 PM

If they nail the bi-sonic, I hope they sell them seperately

Jim Carr · #54 01-24-2013, 10:06 PM

Mid 60's cherry burst finish is much needed, IMHO.

I had one and will buy one of these...really, if the finish is like my old one—anyone remember Steve Boone?

Such a finish matters for those who need to recapture our miss-spent youth, or need to miss-spend our current energies, regardless of age.

atomicdog · #55 01-24-2013, 10:15 PM

I played the one at NAMM. Can't give a lot of details (there were no specs available and no amplification was there), but played acoustically, it has a good neck and good action and a pleasantly resonant tone. I look forward to plugging one in.

JoeWPgh · #56 01-24-2013, 10:27 PM

I have to wholeheartedly second this. I found it interesting you used a 68 Guild amp. By my understanding, this had a solid state power supply. In the history of the electric bass, this changed everything more than anything. Amps could suddenly deliver low end. Prior to this, mudbuckers were a popular workaround. When I was a kid, I had a 66 with a bi-sonic in the bridge position, while my friend's older brother had a Guild with the bi-sonic in the neck position. By the time the amps with the SS power supplies came around, mine sang, while his sounded fairly muddy. Through modern amplification, the bridge position is THEE sweet spot, and very similar to where MM's voice their single pickup basses.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mellowgerman

I played a bunch of different 60's starfire basses before buying my 66 a few years ago. In my opinion, this is THE position for a bisonic pickup. Check out this demo I recorded with my 66 (link below)... the pickup's frequency response is so wide that these pickups sound huge regardless of where they're placed (within reason). Of course, how you amplify/record will also have a lot to do with how the end-product tone is. In this video, I was running the bass through my 1968 Guild Thunderstar head (two 6L6 tubes, EQ set more or less flat) through a custom cab containing a vintage, full range EV 18" speaker. IMO, this setup fostered one of the best bass tones I've ever heard. Guild really had the right idea back in the 60's! Ha and maybe they do again. I'd love to play one of these reissues with flats through a nice tube amp.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0tF10YO91M

dlenaghan · #57 01-24-2013, 11:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mellowgerman

I'm willing to bet it would sound a lot closer to "that sound" if there were flatwounds on it!

Someone get the man some Pyramids!!

Mungi · #58 01-25-2013, 01:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mellowgerman

I played a bunch of different 60's starfire basses before buying my 66 a few years ago. In my opinion, this is THE position for a bisonic pickup. Check out this demo I recorded with my 66 (link below)... the pickup's frequency response is so wide that these pickups sound huge regardless of where they're placed (within reason). Of course, how you amplify/record will also have a lot to do with how the end-product tone is. In this video, I was running the bass through my 1968 Guild Thunderstar head (two 6L6 tubes, EQ set more or less flat) through a custom cab containing a vintage, full range EV 18" speaker. IMO, this setup fostered one of the best bass tones I've ever heard. Guild really had the right idea back in the 60's! Ha and maybe they do again. I'd love to play one of these reissues with flats through a nice tube amp.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0tF10YO91M

You are so right. This is THE spot for a bisonic. If it were a single neck pickup, my GAS would die off. Two pickups wouldn't hurt though. Btw, mellowgerman, what strings do you use in the clip?

But I do wonder if this is an accurate replica of the original bisonic. I have both a Guild SF and a Dearmond with darkstars. I have had both flats and rounds on both. I play through a Bassman. It never sounds like in the demo clip of this new SF. The bisonic is not cheap to make. It got so many parts and it has unusual and more expensive thin thread. I would be very interested in knowing the specifics of this pickup. If it is only a cosmetic reissue, it is only interested insofar as one could perhaps have it rewound.

Avezzano · #59 01-25-2013, 01:46 AM

I like the bass. A lot. I understand the true spirit for a reissue of an old bass with modern technologies. What I don't get is the thumbrests!!!

They shoud supply them apart with the bass and if you just want you'll mount those at home easily... just talking....

T-34 · #60 01-25-2013, 02:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SturmUndDrang

That pickup doesn't sound like such a great copy

Sounds great to me! The only thing I'd change in this demo, I'd hit more low notes to better showcase the "bass" as it is. The guy is mostly noodling up high, which is fine but not enough

The few low notes he's hitting are sounding good though.