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Guild Humbuckers somebody must know something

#41
Thanks you.I have a couple inspection mirrors that I used during my previous employment. Worked perfectly for peeking inside the Star fire.

So then, you believe the deep setting is full on output of the pup. But the switch is before either of the controls. (The pic of the outside of the bass) It will be interesting to hear after the 74 Jet star pup is installed.
I will be dropping this off with a trusted luthierwithin a couple weeks. I wouldn't dream of attempting this install myself.
I own a reissue M-85 that is just amazing. Can't wait to hear the Star fire after being set up and a fresh set of strings.
 
#42
wold said:
So then, you believe the deep setting is full on output of the pup. But the switch is before either of the controls. (The pic of the outside of the bass) It will be interesting to hear after the 74 Jet star pup is installed.
I will be dropping this off with a trusted luthierwithin a couple weeks. I wouldn't dream of attempting this install myself.
I own a reissue M-85 that is just amazing. Can't wait to hear the Star fire after being set up and a fresh set of strings.
Click to expand...

I suppose your other option is to put the M-85 pickup in the Starfire and the Jet Star pickup in the M-85! :laugh:

I'm not sure exactly where the switch is in the circuit. It might be before or after the controls. This might make some difference in the 'Hard' setting (caps are funny, and I don't fully understand this element of their function as they interact with potentiometers). The 'Hard' setting appears to simply be the straight signal of the pickup, through the controls and to the output jack. Guild simplified the circuit from the '60s by 1972. In fact I didn't know they still made Starfire basses into the '70s! This has been a learning curve for me.

The guys on the Lets Talk Guild forum could probably solve your query in thirty seconds. :D

Did you remove the cover from the pickup? It isn't the first time I've seen it done. The bassist from The Knack did the same to his Guild bass.
 
#43
Oh good Lord don't tempt me!! Biotic in Star fire umm.
The guild site has been a wealth of info for the dating.
I haven't posed pup questions yet though.
I did not remove the cover. It seems to be a mystery , but since it has only had two previous owners and I know them both personally i will find the answer.
 
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#44
I asked both previous owners of my Star fire about the missing pup cover. Neither seems to remember taking it off! I can't believe something like that being forgotten. I thought that no one had a memory worse than mine!
 
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#46
wold said:
I could not for the life of me find a front on picture of Prescott playing a Star fire. I would love to see that.
Click to expand...

Prescott had an M-85... at least I think it is. I've been calling every Les Paul-shaped Guild bass an M85. No photos, but he shows it in this video:



He's removed the covers, added a Badass bridge and a big long thumb rest. Definitely a player's grade instrument.

In an earlier guise:

791004-the-knack.jpg
 
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#48
wold said:
I asked both previous owners of my Star fire about the missing pup cover. Neither seems to remember taking it off! I can't believe something like that being forgotten. I thought that no one had a memory worse than mind!
Click to expand...

Players took the covers off quite a few instruments back then from what I can gather. In the first iteration of King Crimson, Greg Lake told Robert Fripp to take the covers off the pickups on his Les Paul Custom, and Fripp duly did it! He did the same to his backup Les Paul a while later. In that instance Greg advised that it would improve the tone of his guitar. I've seen videos of David Gilmour playing a Strat with the covers removed from the pickups (San Tropez 1970) and a Telecaster with the cover removed from the neck pickup. In some instances removing the cover will do *something* tonally, but it is a bit of a gamble! Metal pickup covers can have a subtle influence on the tone of the bass, but a plastic one does nothing.

As you've discovered, a Guild Starfire doesn't turn into a growling monster once you remove the cover.

In the case of your Starfire it might not have been too much of a momentous event, and the owner might have just done it at the kitchen table and been done with it. Cover becomes and ashtray, or thrown in the back of the toolbox and slowly scratched and dented to oblivion.

Somebody had a similar naked Guild humbucker on here a few months back. It was attached to a Peavey Fury bass and, minus the cover, just looked like a mystery cream humbucker.
 
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#50
wold said:
Thanks you.I have a couple inspection mirrors that I used during my previous employment. Worked perfectly for peeking inside the Star fire.

So then, you believe the deep setting is full on output of the pup. But the switch is before either of the controls. (The pic of the outside of the bass) It will be interesting to hear after the 74 Jet star pup is installed.
I will be dropping this off with a trusted luthierwithin a couple weeks. I wouldn't dream of attempting this install myself.
I own a reissue M-85 that is just amazing. Can't wait to hear the Star fire after being set up and a fresh set of strings.
Click to expand...
finally here it is with the cover from a 74 Jet Star neck pup. Had the heel repaired as well.
IMG_5616.JPG
IMG_5614.JPG
IMG_5612.JPG
 
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