Grateful Dead Music Forum

Seems kinda quiet around here. What's new with y'all?

Yes, we're due for a good build thread to watch and drool over.

I'd love to post pics of my Guild Starfire that Alembic is modding, but they've hardly touched it in over a year...... I'm told there will be action by February. We'll see......

On a positive note, I found that putting Thomastik flatwounds on my Rickenbaker v63 has given me the closest tone to early 70's Phil I've ever had. I was stunned.... there were moments where I was hearing Bertha tone, both with fingers and with a pick. I'll definitely be putting them on my Starfire!

moonliner wrote:I'd love to post pics of my Guild Starfire that Alembic is modding, but they've hardly ouched it in over a year...... I'm told there will be action by February. We'll see......

It will go like that for a while and then all of a sudden, boom. When the were overhauling my Series I, it was 18 months before it got touched. I think they had to cogitate for a while about how to go about cutting the omega. Finally, an old employee returned and they made him do it (or he volunteered.).

Let's see... I blew up my Ashly power amp recently. Shorted the speaker terminals accidentally? Not sure, but wow I really torched one of the boards to hell. I have now joined the Tubeworks crowd with a MosValve MV-942 I picked up on the cheap. No change in the sound that I can detect, although the Presence can add very subtle coloration. I leave it at about 1:00.

tigerstrat wrote:Let's see... I blew up my Ashly power amp recently. Shorted the speaker terminals accidentally? Not sure, but wow I really torched one of the boards to hell. I have now joined the Tubeworks crowd with a MosValve MV-942 I picked up on the cheap. No change in the sound that I can detect, although the Presence can add very subtle coloration. I leave it at about 1:00.

Those are nice amps the difference between it and my Mac are pretty darn subtle

Thomastiks are killer strings! Had them on my starfire for a while and will again soon, and they're on my fretless. I wish they made 34" scale in .45-.105, that's my only complaint.

All my builds lately have been non-phil related... Got a nice Warmoth-body, Fender AM-Standard necked J-bass with EMG JVX pickups (exposed pole pieces, very classic tone but zero hum) an an Aguilar OBP-3 band preamp that rocks pretty hard. It's a killer classic J with some tone shaping. No real reason for building it, just acumulated the body and then the neck came my way, so I had it finished up.

Also built the Disco Bass, my 3rd try at the Ultimate John Kahn bass. Fender AM-Standard maple neck, Warmoth swamp ash P/J-body, natural finish with a black PG and a Badass II bridge - looks like a stock 70's Fender with the classic 70's mods, but I also managed to fit in an ACG with a by-pass switch.

Rusty Wrote:
"Also built the Disco Bass, my 3rd try at the Ultimate John Kahn bass. Fender AM-Standard maple neck, Warmoth swamp ash P/J-body, natural finish with a black PG and a Badass II bridge - looks like a stock 70's Fender with the classic 70's mods, but I also managed to fit in an ACG with a by-pass switch."

This sounds awesome. Can we hear it?

How's the EB3 build going?

Haven't gotten a really good recording yet... It's been on one gig since the ACG went in and it's a terrible room for bass - just a big cube. Not sure I'm totally sold on the classic Ceramic-magnet EMG in there either, might try Ceramic/Steel or Alnico instead. Sounds awesome at home but may not translate to live the way I like. Really my black/white/maple P with the EMGs and Michael Pope is probably still the best for big rooms.

EB3 has stalled thanks to me being lazy.... finally got the bridge and tailpiece done, just need to modify the shims my dad made for the Dark Stars, clean up the corrosion off the frets, and wire it up. One good Saturday should have it playable, then I have to figure out some cool electronics for it. It's really going to be pretty awesome... totally not sharing pics for now...

I look forward to seeing how the EB build goes..... time permitting.

I'm kind of excited about the reissue Guild M85. A few years ago I passed on buying a vintage M85 because I was saving up for a Starfire. Usually when I practice restraint I end up regretting it later. This Newark Street M85 could help me get over not buying that vintage one..... and could help with the waiting for the Starfire to come to fruition.

I saw those! Glad they're putting out new stuff, finally. A friend pointed out that they screwed up the horns on the new Starfire - not the imported ones, but the ones built in CT have really weird rounded horns.

The Newark Street ones are fine, but yeah, the fancy American made ones look like Gibsons. Doh!

Oh! I got the model names mixed up. I really like my Korean-made DeArmond Starfire... it's pretty far from stock electronically but the neck and body are untouched and it's a really good bass. I bet the new ones will be even better.

On another random bass topic... I'm pretty close to pulling the trigger on one of these:



http://www.musiciansfriend.com/bass/pal ... 0431415387

I'm decent enough at upright to do a basic Garcia/Kahn type show but would like to get more into it, learn thumb position, etc. I have a pretty nice carved Czech upright that my father in law either gave or long-term loaned to me (I'm not really sure which) but it's so inconsistent and needs some serious repairs. It's like trying to learn to drive with one of your car's wheels halfway falling off. If tomorrow night's acoustic duo gig goes well, I'm ordering it on Thursday.