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Club Dark Star

#761
RDagBasses said:
I don't know if it will change anything but I just finish a pickup for a bassist of a famous band . it's a "dagstar" in a PAF disguise... (first picture is a computer simulation)

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Click to expand...

They look good to me, and your orignal look really good on a jazz bass. What I meant earlier was that the magic sauce is not in the look itself but in the history of the look. Imagine if Fred made pickups, called them Darkstars, but he did not make them look like the original bisonics. They would not have sold as much, certainly not for these prices, and this club would not have existed. All this regardless of the sound.

As I said, judging from the soundclips, your pickups sound fantastic to me, perhaps even better than Darkstars. But sadly people also "hear with their eyes", me included.
 
#762
Tupac said:
Juan Alderete had Dark Stars on a bass (Lakland?) that bit hard. In fact, you can see them right here! Hard to hear though, what a shame. Surely these sexy things cost a fortune?
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Thanks for posting that link! In this "Day of the Baphomets" clip of The Mars Volta on The Henry Rollins' Show,
Juan Alderete is playing a Fender, at least I'm pretty sure that's what the headstock says. He might have a Lakland, but there's several times in the video where you get a good glimpse at the headstock (hey, it's a video, you don't get "looks", only glimpses of any one thing). A Fender Jazz, with what looks like a Badass bridge, stacked V/T V/T pots. Yes, sadly yes... just as hard to hear him in the mix as to see him. Ever notice the camera rarely shows the bass player in ANY video (unless the BP is on vox, too).

This thread/club is a dangerous one. I should never have read it. Now I need a Black Jack Casady Bass, ditch the fugly cream pup and pickguard, Darken it up with a Star-Novak-Bisonic – whatever I can get my hands on – black speed knobs and replace the cream binding with chrome binding and add same chrome binding to the ff-holes, yank out the frets... :hyper:
 
#763
Juan did have a Lakland Joe Osborne with Dark Stars as seen here:

Link Removed

He modeled the fender after it. The bass is actually a modified geddy lee model, which acted as a platform for developing a "signature" bass with fender. if you look closely, you can see the bridge pickup cavity extending past the dark star. The necks were switched from the original geddy lee neck to a custom shop '64 neck. The bridge is actually a hipshot b-style bridge:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v371/Hammon/DSC00705.jpg

Trust me, I spent countless hours examining photos in an effort to build one exactly like his (with the exception of a jaguar switch plate). I eventually sent Juan a facebook message regarding the bass, to which he replied some facts and mentioned that one of his friends now owns the bass.

Here's the one I built:
darkstar23.jpg

darkstar1.jpg


Sound Clip:


I'll add that its the best sounding bass I own. Imagine a vintage Jazz sound, with more balls. It has emphasis on a really tight bottom end (not woofy) and a really crystal clear top end. Sounds great with distortions.
 
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#764
vinnydbass said:
Juan did have a Lakland Joe Osborne with Dark Stars as seen here:

Link Removed

He modeled the fender after it. The bass is actually a modified geddy lee model, which acted as a platform for developing a "signature" bass with fender. if you look closely, you can see the bridge pickup cavity extending past the dark star. The necks were switched from the original geddy lee neck to a custom shop '64 neck. The bridge is actually a hipshot b-style bridge:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v371/Hammon/DSC00705.jpg

Trust me, I spent countless hours examining photos in an effort to build one exactly like his (with the exception of a jaguar switch plate). I eventually sent Juan a facebook message regarding the bass, to which he replied some facts and mentioned that one of his friends now owns the bass.

Here's the one I built:
darkstar23.jpg

darkstar1.jpg


Sound Clip:


I'll add that its the best sounding bass I own. Imagine a vintage Jazz sound, with more balls. It has emphasis on a really tight bottom end (not woofy) and a really crystal clear top end. Sounds great with distortions.
Click to expand...


Very cool! That Juan Aldrete Lakland was for sale here maybe 18 months ago. I was sorely tempted. Great job and nice video.
 
#765
Hey group,
I've been thinking about swapping the pickups in my eb-3. I'm going to put a Duncan ric neck pick up in the bridge, and have been considering getting one of Curtis' Eb's for the neck.

Does anyone have any info / opinions:
On the pickup pairing?
Or on how these sound on longscale basses potentially with low tunings?

I apologize for not thoroughly reading the previous 39 pages before posting.
 
#768
Muziekschuur said:
There are now Curtis Novak Bisonics and some others too... Could they be added to this thread too? Nusonics.. and a french maker too....

Wadayasay...
Click to expand...

Nusonic is british. Those are made by a luthier and pickup maker called Lawrence Born. Fred Hammon helped him out when he started making his versions.

Lawrence has got a 5-string version as well. He also makes different sizes of the mounting rings so they can for instance be dropped into the mudbucker caveaty of a Gibson EB2/3 or to cover the route of a split coil Precision. Here is his site: Link Removed Check out the link with the video from Landing on his site. They compare the Nusonic with the Darkstar.
 
#769
Yep. Nusonic is out of the UK. Really slick that they are offering a 5-String and the option of different mounting rings. The Novak Darkstar would cover the route footprint of a J neck pickup at 91mm. Darkstar route is 79mm in length. Mounting ring is 6mm more on each side, so it just barely covers. Don't know about Precision route though, haven't tested that.

Absolutely loving this pickup though!
 
#776
Darkstar route based on the template is 79mm in length, 49mm in width. The chrome ring that surrounds the pickup is roughly 6mm larger on each side. So a P route would get covered if the existing footprint is less than 91mm = Length, 61mm = Width.
 
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#777
Mungi said:
Love that bass!! I have to build me a Tractor one of these days.
Click to expand...
Thanks Mungi! I'm pretty happy with it. The bridge pickup is a Fralin 5% overwound. Works well with the Darkstar, but thinking of actually do a double jazz similar to the Tractor, but instead of having two J's apart, cut the ears off one of each side and glue the covers together. Either thinking about going with a Nord, Novak, or even Aero J's in the bridge position. I can get Aero's where I work at a good price, but that also means having a custom pickup mfg. Tried a Nord, Fralin, and a Duncan, but haven't tried Curtis's J pickups, nor have I had an Aero.
 

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