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Guild Pilot bass club?

#821
Okay, time to de-lurk and get my number. The girls:

Fretless '84 is #437, fretted maple '90 is #3964.

These are actually my 2nd and 3rd Pilots. The first was bought at a tent sale in the parking lot of the GC in Arlington, Texas back in the summer of '92. They brought a bunch of stuff that hadn't sold and marked it down by ungodly amounts, so I picked it up brand new for about $350 including a gig bag. Made the mistake of loaning it to an alleged friend to do some recording. He packed up in the middle of the night and moved to Florida, taking the bass with him. Ah, the mistakes of youth...I wasn't alone though. He ran off with with gear belonging to several other people.

Always missed it, so when I got my first Real Job that actually paid me enough to have money left over after paying bills, I went eBaying and managed to snag the '90. (No BIN and at least 2 bidders; those were some tense final moments....)

The '84 just arrived earlier this week after several months of searching for a factory original fretless. It needs a little work. Seems to have some rough pots and it needs a good setting up, but so far it's a joy. Like the old Pedulla Buzz ad: Sounds like 500 lb. bumble bee.
 

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#826
Symplegades said:
Okay, time to de-lurk and get my number. The girls:

Fretless '84 is #437, fretted maple '90 is #3964.

These are actually my 2nd and 3rd Pilots. The first was bought at a tent sale in the parking lot of the GC in Arlington, Texas back in the summer of '92. They brought a bunch of stuff that hadn't sold and marked it down by ungodly amounts, so I picked it up brand new for about $350 including a gig bag. Made the mistake of loaning it to an alleged friend to do some recording. He packed up in the middle of the night and moved to Florida, taking the bass with him. Ah, the mistakes of youth...I wasn't alone though. He ran off with with gear belonging to several other people.

Always missed it, so when I got my first Real Job that actually paid me enough to have money left over after paying bills, I went eBaying and managed to snag the '90. (No BIN and at least 2 bidders; those were some tense final moments....)

The '84 just arrived earlier this week after several months of searching for a factory original fretless. It needs a little work. Seems to have some rough pots and it needs a good setting up, but so far it's a joy. Like the old Pedulla Buzz ad: Sounds like 500 lb. bumble bee.
Click to expand...
Congrats.

Enjoy.
 
#827
Sitting here enjoying this thread. I'm pretty blown away at the "cult following" Pilots have. Back in the 80's when I bought mine I would not have predicted it. Mine is still in very good shape and the stories I have with that Bass are priceless. I live about 40 minutes from where the plant was i. Westerly, RI. Its a shame to see what eventually happened. I had a relative who worked there, they took a lot of pride in what they produced there.
 
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#828
franvarin said:
Sitting here enjoying this thread. I'm pretty blown away at the "cult following" Pilots have. Back in the 80's when I bought mine I would not have predicted it. Mine is still in very good shape and the stories I have with that Bass are priceless. I live about 40 minutes from where the plant was i. Westerly, RI. Its a shame to see what eventually happened. I had a relative who worked there, they took a lot of pride in what they produced there.
Click to expand...

I bought my first Pilot around '86 and it quickly became my "ultimate" bass...Had a few since then...Sold a few back in the 90's but now I buy any and every genuine Guild Pilot I can get my hands on - not an easy feat here in Europe...LOVE the Pilot - easily the single most underrated bass on the planet...Fender killing it off was simply because they did not want competition against their P & J basses.
 
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#834
Does anyone in this thread have any experience upgrading preamp and pickups in a Dearmond Pilot Plus (see pictures several posts up)? I swapped out the pups with some Seymour Duncan Basslines passive pickups, and in turn, my "luthier" at the time couldn't make the stock active preamp work with the pickups, so he gutted it and just used the passive pickups for the electronics. I have an EMG BTS active preamp sitting around collecting dust. I'm not electronically-inclined at all, so forgive my ignorance, but would this preamp work with my pickups in the Dearmond Pilot Plus? Thanks in advance.
 
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#835
Symplegades said:
On a more serious note, anyone have any idea why on these early instruments they decided to put the strap button on the back of the upper horn rather than the end?
Click to expand...
No, but my 1985 is that way.

zacharybass76 said:
Does anyone in this thread have any experience upgrading preamp and pickups in a Dearmond Pilot Plus (see pictures several posts up)? I swapped out the pups with some Seymour Duncan Basslines passive pickups, and in turn, my "luthier" at the time couldn't make the stock active preamp work with the pickups, so he gutted it and just used the passive pickups for the electronics. I have an EMG BTS active preamp sitting around collecting dust. I'm not electronically-inclined at all, so forgive my ignorance, but would this preamp work with my pickups in the Dearmond Pilot Plus? Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
I think it will work, but if you want it to sound like a Guild Pilot a set of EMG original active p&j pickups and no pre-amp would have gotten you there far more than the Duncan Quarter Pounder pickups.
 
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#836
Back in the early 2000s, I went through a "deactivate everything" phase, but regretted it with my Pilot 5. I had put a set of Duncans in and wired it vol/vol/tone, passive. Kind of lackluster, even through my Sadowsky pre-amp. I just put EMGs back in and all is good again. You might want to do the same. They are incredibly easy to wire and come with good instructions.
 
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#837
gearHed289 said:
Back in the early 2000s, I went through a "deactivate everything" phase, but regretted it with my Pilot 5. I had put a set of Duncans in and wired it vol/vol/tone, passive. Kind of lackluster, even through my Sadowsky pre-amp. I just put EMGs back in and all is good again. You might want to do the same. They are incredibly easy to wire and come with good instructions.
Click to expand...
Are you still using the Sadowsky Pre with the EMG's or are you running the active EMG's by themselves?
I have a two band EMG pre that keeps looking at me from my parts drawer but I'm not sure there is any real reason for me to change a stock 1985 Pilot.
 
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#839
gearHed289 said:
No, I turn off the Sadowsky for my active basses. I installed an EMG BTC Control onboard the bass. vol/blend/stacked bass and treble.
Click to expand...
The Sadowsky is outboard, got it.

I have a BTC stacked two band pre/pot here but I'm not sure it will improve anything.
My Pilot is EMG active P pickup only and sounds so good the way it is.....but I'm always curious.
I don't even change the strings, it has a well broken in set of DR Black Beauties coated roundwounds.
Does the BTC change the stock sound when set to center?
 
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#840
58kites said:
No, but my 1985 is that way.

I think it will work, but if you want it to sound like a Guild Pilot a set of EMG original active p&j pickups and no pre-amp would have gotten you there far more than the Duncan Quarter Pounder pickups.
Click to expand...

I bought those quarter pounders via a suggestion from a valued musician buddy of mine, and I bought them about 4 years ago with hopes that they would work with the stock active preamp. Had I known it wouldn't work, I would've went with active pickups instead. I may still go that route, and sell these quarter pounders. Thanks for the suggestion.
 
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