Grateful Dead Music Forum

The viking IS hollow..
http://uk.shopping.com/hagstrom-hagstro ... ss-wh/info

Big question seems to be are the pick ups anything like the bi sonics..

Ah, ok. I thought you were referring to the solid HB as the Viking since it was pointy. My fault for incomplete googling, I just expected it to be on Hagstrom's website, and it isn't. That does look promising! I suspect the pickups will be similar to but different from Dark Stars.

Lakland used to offer their semi-hollow with either Chi-Sonics, which look very similar to the pickups on the Viking or Dark Stars, and there used to be a really good site of sound comparisons between the two with rounds, flats, pick, fingers, etc. Somebody on Talkbass might know the link still, it's gone from the site but the Archive should have it.

So Scoob,the obvious question is how would a guy like me quietly obtain a dark star pickup.I'm standing here with money in my hand and I can't get a reply from him.I have not pestered him at all,but I did read after much googling that he isn't making them any more.Brian B.

I have a '67 maple Starfire II. It's a great bass, but the headstock suffered a bad fall and was repaired in a sloppy fashion. I'm still debating about what to do with it. So, I might be persuaded to sell it. My luthier, who installed my Alembic parts into my other Starfire, said he could rebuild the headstock including graphite stringers, but it won't be cheap, $800-1k. So, repaired, I'd have to sell it for $2k. I know he'd do a great job. It's got the original Bi-Sonics with a pair of Rick Turner magnet upgrades. It's got the original case (including outlines of where someone wrote Peace and Love on it way back in the day). It also has the most lovely rosewood fingerboard I've ever seen.

I wouldn't mod it, I'd get it in as good condition as possible and play the heck out of it!

EEEE. This is probably way out of my price range.But could pm me with price and info about the head?

I might be able to help you get a DarkStar if you're still headed that way.

I am having a crisis trying to decide on what direction to go.. On one hand I am thinking starfire w/ DS. On the other and for the same price or less..I could go with a hand made 32" scale 6 string with hand made Lane Poor pick ups..

You should probably play my DeArmond before you make any decisions. I was going to just ride the motorcycle out some night this week and pick up the preamp but we should really do this right. It just oozes Phil even though there are a lot of things "wrong" with it - korean made, maple construction, modern electronics, etc. It should help settle your mind one way or another.

seanc wrote:I am having a crisis trying to decide on what direction to go.. On one hand I am thinking starfire w/ DS. On the other and for the same price or less..I could go with a hand made 32" scale 6 string with hand made Lane Poor pick ups..

That sounds really nice, who made it? Lane Poor pickups are very cool and Lane used to be in charge of remagnetizing Jerry's pickups way way way back in the day. He was part of the greater Alembic family. I got to visit the factory a couple of times. Sadly, I had sent my pickups in for re-evaluation of some noise issues when he went out of business.

I have to say, that right now I think I have a great setup with my red starfire. The combination of the Alembic style hardware with the Series pickups and the ACG dual filters really nails the '72 tone and far beyond. I'm looking forward to installing the Series II electronics, but still need to round up some parts. I love Dark Star pickups, but the Alembics are in an another world completely. It just nails that vibe and it becomes obvious how much touch can influence the tone. I'm going to have to mix some stuff from this past weekend and post it. I got an Earth Drive last week and with just a slight bit of drive, it gives me the Dual Showman slight overdrive sound perfectly for the 68-71 sound. Of course, it can be driven harder for some great over the top sounds.

I guess I don't really have any definitive advice to you, though. This has been a journey for a specific tone that I started when I started playing back in 1974 and these things are very personal.

eeeeee wrote:

seanc wrote:I am having a crisis trying to decide on what direction to go.. On one hand I am thinking starfire w/ DS. On the other and for the same price or less..I could go with a hand made 32" scale 6 string with hand made Lane Poor pick ups..

That sounds really nice, who made it? Lane Poor pickups are very cool and Lane used to be in charge of remagnetizing Jerry's pickups way way way back in the day. He was part of the greater Alembic family. I got to visit the factory a couple of times. Sadly, I had sent my pickups in for re-evaluation of some noise issues when he went out of business.

It is looking like the bass will be made by John Toon, in the Stanley Clarke/ Les Claypool/ Carl Thompson 32" scroll bass style.

I have had these sitting around for the better part of 20 years, and it just seems a real shame to not make use of them:




And yes, in the old days I was in close contact with Lane, Eric and the boys. He truly was (should say is) a mad scientist, crazy genius and all around great guy. These are 6 string pick ups number 3+4 ( i think). Numbers 1+2 went into the fretted campellone but had an issue and were replaced by these. I pulled them out of that bass to put Alembics in. The Alembics really were what I wanted for that bass. But, Lane's pick ups really were pretty spectacular. Much more natural, big and woody sounding.
I saw him and his wife a few years ago up at LL Bean.