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NBD - Guild
- Thread starter Jeff K
- Start date
In my experience, the GHS Precision Flats; the LaBella DTF's; and the DR Legends sound great right out of the pack. Never used the TI's, but the Chromes take WAY too long to "break in". Once they DO, they sound great, but I don't have the patience to wait...
These have been on my radar for way too long and especially since I put a Novak bisonic in a pbass.
Congratulations! It's beautiful. I have always loved the grain on these.
For owners, for strings - do you just order the regular length LaBellas or D'addarios? I love the 760fls.
Congratulations! It's beautiful. I have always loved the grain on these.
For owners, for strings - do you just order the regular length LaBellas or D'addarios? I love the 760fls.
From everything I've read, you need to order the Medium Scale strings. I'm not sure who all makes the Medium Scale flats, but I know that LaBella and several others do.
Great to have TB back online! Looks like it somehow lost one of the original photos during the downtime. But that's okay. Here are a couple pics after I put on the Black Nylon Tapewounds and conditioned the rosewood. Those tapewounds made a huge difference for the better!
I use La Bella black Tapewounds on a few of my basses! Love them!
Yeah, these are the D'Addarios. I've had them on several of my basses in the past and loved them on everything I put them on. This one is no exception!
For a month or so, have I been thinking about getting the single pick up version now.
I've never tried the two pick up one but imagine it must be a very fun and useful bass too!
Nice!
I've never tried the two pick up one but imagine it must be a very fun and useful bass too!
Nice!
Nice bass. I have a 2017 in red. The stock rounds were not so great for it of course.
I tried the La Bella LTF medium scale and Pyramid gold flat short scale. The latter just barely fits. Intonation was a little problem. I would have to notch the D and G saddles to get them back quite enough as the post gets in the way.
La Bella LTF sounds very nice right out of the box, that warm smooth plunky sound somewhat like a double bass. Pyramids took a little break in to get rid of the excess twang on the G string. They have a bit more “hair” on the tone vs the LTF, but very warm and smooth. Especially with the Pyramids you can hear a lot of those old Phil Lesh and Jack Casady tones. The hollow body gives it a throaty sound even with some overdrive.
I like the neck pickup on full a lot, lots of dynamics, and set up the bridge pickup with tone well rolled off to get a more mellow sound just by switching the pickup selector. It’s a bit too many options but I’d recommend getting the two pickup version because the neck pickup sounds great.
I tried the La Bella LTF medium scale and Pyramid gold flat short scale. The latter just barely fits. Intonation was a little problem. I would have to notch the D and G saddles to get them back quite enough as the post gets in the way.
La Bella LTF sounds very nice right out of the box, that warm smooth plunky sound somewhat like a double bass. Pyramids took a little break in to get rid of the excess twang on the G string. They have a bit more “hair” on the tone vs the LTF, but very warm and smooth. Especially with the Pyramids you can hear a lot of those old Phil Lesh and Jack Casady tones. The hollow body gives it a throaty sound even with some overdrive.
I like the neck pickup on full a lot, lots of dynamics, and set up the bridge pickup with tone well rolled off to get a more mellow sound just by switching the pickup selector. It’s a bit too many options but I’d recommend getting the two pickup version because the neck pickup sounds great.
Since there seems to be quite a few Starfire owners following this thread, I have a question. I have a Starfire II and I noticed when I have the switch set to the middle, both pickups position and I turn down the volume on one pickup, the volume goes down on both pickups. This doesn’t seem right or I’m doing something wrong here.
Yes, it’s not at all like a Jazz bass. Wired differently. I was surprised.
With the pickup selector in the middle, turning down the volume knob for either pickup most or all the way cuts the overall volume.
Also unlike a Jazz, both pickups on full doesn’t produce much or any comb filter “scooped” tone. Sounds more like just a straight blend of the two sounds.
With the pickup selector in the middle, turning down the volume knob for either pickup most or all the way cuts the overall volume.
Also unlike a Jazz, both pickups on full doesn’t produce much or any comb filter “scooped” tone. Sounds more like just a straight blend of the two sounds.
You can blend them, it's just that if you turn one of them down too much, you'll lose all volume. Where that line is will become easy to find.
Yeah, I still want one if these. I have a Guild M-20 acoustic that has the sound. Guild just knows how to make an instrument.
Just got a new Starfire II, and have a question for the brain trust: it seems I only get a decent signal when the Master volume is all the way up — if I roll it back even a bit (to 8 or so) it basically disappears. Same with the individual pickup volume knobs. Is this typical, or sign of a problem? Needless to say, it makes mixing and matching the two pickups pretty tough. Thx.
Cave Puppy
"Humph Bo, he's wond!" - John Lennon
I’ve also tried TIs - twice. They’re not for me. They feel like ice picks under my fingertips.
Rolling back the master volume to less than 8 should not cause the signal to disappear. If you're using both pickups, you'll need to have the volume of each turned up high enough as you'll lose signal if one volume is set too low. When I first started using my new-to-me Starfire II, I also initially thought something was wrong but it turned out to be me not understanding how the controls all worked together.
If you have both pickups selected, both volumes turned all the way up and then lose most or all of your signal when turning the master volume below 8, then you may well have an issue. What that could be, I have no idea.
Yes that sounds odd. Maybe a weak signal somewhere along the line, could be your amp too, is there a gain cut, like as for an active bass, turned on? Make sure the gain knob on the amp is up enough too.
I normally leave both pickup volumes on full, and often cut the master to maybe 7 or 8. They’re hot pickups so cutting the master gives a more natural sound and tames some excess bass.
