Grateful Dead Music Forum

I don't know man ,that sounds pretty good in that clip.

With the resurgence of semi hollow popularity.. I really wish they'd come back with the DeArmonds.
Or a reasonable Guild. $3400 is just WAY too much money compared to other offerings.

When you can get a lakland or a warwick (or a hand built custom) for less money that says a lot.
and the lower cost instruments out there Ibanez, Gretcsh.. Not sure what they were thinking with the pricing here.

Hopefully, this will be a limited run and come out with a mass market/ cheaper version.

Actually,compared to what they used to sell them for,$1100 list is pretty good.

Im gassin for one bad. If the pickup dont cut it theres Novak for an exrta $250.

http://curtisnovak.com/pickups/BS-DS.shtml

At least the "bi-sonic" pickup supplied appears to be the correct size and look.
I found this old Vintage guitar article re the originals.
Appears they were 1 pickup up until 67 or so. It looks like they went back to the originals for the asthetics on the re-issue.

http://www.vintageguitar.com/8058/the-g ... fire-bass/

Lowest prices Ive seen is $1099, includes a case. Not much more than a Gretsch Electromatic by the time you figure a case.

I've got to unload a couple of surplus elec guitars then Im gonna bite I think.

Despite being semi-close to a dealer that has one of these, I've yet to see one. If you do bite please report back!

Sparechaynge wrote:Despite being semi-close to a dealer that has one of these, I've yet to see one. If you do bite please report back!

Picked it up yesterday! Fit and finish is excellent. Bi Sonic growls and spits fire. Got some Labella 760FLs on order, should tame her just right.
Neck is skinnier than my P/J by quite a bit, will take a bit of getting used to but I play guitar too so not gonna be a problem. Thinnk I'll need to install some straplocks as well. Its very light and comfortable but will neck dive, and the button on the back of the heel makes me nervous.
Time to get my inner Phil on!

Nice! I played did get to play one at the Guild factory tour a few weeks ago, sorry I forgot to post.

I agree the pickup is pretty great, and the neck is much nicer than my EB-0.

If only it had more knobs....

Nice bass!

I'm a big fan of the recessed aka flush-mount Dunlop strap locks, by the way. I have them on my DeArmond and it does not neck dive at all. Only drawback is they require drilling and aren't really reversable.

Rusty the Scoob wrote:Nice bass!

I'm a big fan of the recessed aka flush-mount Dunlop strap locks, by the way. I have them on my DeArmond and it does not neck dive at all. Only drawback is they require drilling and aren't really reversable.

Not sure I know what these are. I've had a set of these Schallers on a couple of guitars for years and they work really well. THe only complaint I have with them is the strap attachment is kinda klunky and its easy to nick the finish of the instrument with em if the end of the strap happens to swing into it.


Do you mean these?


I may give a cheapo option a try first

After playing a good bit yesterday, the round wounds are growing on me. They are DiAddario 105-45s. They seem too growly and trebly with a pick but they are sounding really good with fingers, or the back of my nail. Possibly the pick may sound better with a band than they do at home. I think I'm gonna play these a while and at least get the life out of this set before I try my favorite flats.

Close. The ones I use don't stick out of the body at all. It's perfect for basses with a strap button on the back of the body. Big drawback is of course the drilling, if you want to go back to conventional strap buttons it requires some real work.



But looks really clean and works well. I'm gradually converting all my basses over, at least the ones I know that I'll never sell.

Thanks scoob. Nice clean look but I don't think I'll be modding to that extent just yet.

I don't blame you. I always cringe while I have the drill aimed at it. But then I never regret it, so I thought I'd pass it along.

Rusty the Scoob wrote:Close. The ones I use don't stick out of the body at all. It's perfect for basses with a strap button on the back of the body. Big drawback is of course the drilling, if you want to go back to conventional strap buttons it requires some real work.

I had this done to my '67 Starfire and it worked out really well on the strap button on the end of the body (it was one of those plastic ones that look like a big string pin from an acoustic, it had gotten loose) but for the one on the back of the neck, I decided not to drill in because it would have needed to go through the binding and the neck joint, which was too delicate an operation.

I have one of these Guild Newark St. Starfire basses.
I've also had a '76 Guild and a few DeArmonds.
Both the '76 and 2 of the DeArmonds got Darkstars.
Just my opinion, but the new Guilds are closer too the vintage ones in feel than the DeArmonds or FMIC US built ones.
In fact, last year at FPR, Jack played my new one and commented that they got the neck right.
My New one has a Curtis Novak Bi-Sonic in it now with a tapped coil.
Full coil gives more bass and overall more output. More Casady like.
Half coil is roughly the same as the stock pickup.

Now, I'm just hoping Guilds Sale to Córdoba brings a Burst and natural finish to the line.