Guild Starfire Bass Replacement Parts?

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Hello everyone.
My uncle gave me a Guild Starfire bass (circa 1974-'75) a while back and it is simply amazing.
It sadly doesn't have the Hagstrom Bisonics, but it's in fantastic condition for a 30+ year old instrument. (he left it in a closet for about 25 of those years)
Anyways, recently one of the rosewood bridge pieces broke and I had to superglue it back together. It seems like I did a pretty solid job, and it sounds pretty much the same as it did before the break, but I would rather find a place where I could buy new rosewood bridge pieces, maybe even brass or stainless steel ones (though I am unsure how this would affect the tone)
Unfortunately, the Guild site scarcely even mentions the Starfire, and I have been unsuccessful at finding a place that makes replacement bridge pieces.
Any suggestions?
Thanks, Nick
Apologies if this is repeating another thread.

I tried to get help at Alembic Club, and i don't feel like posting the pictures again, so here's
the link: http://alembic.com/club/messages/449/59 ... 1230571431
 

mellowgerman

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it's gonna be really tough to get replacements for a starfire bridge. your choices are basically either crafting your own saddles or buying a starfire bridge the next time one pops up on ebay... but the last one of those went for something like $250 if i'm not mistaken.
sadly fender seems to deny that any guilds besides their current acoustic line ever existed... they don't offer any info, replacement parts, etc. in my opinion, fender has killed the Guild (though they will always live on in our hearts). R.I.P.
 

gilded

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Nick,

Congrats on the bass. I have two Guild basses with that type of bridge piece, so I'm familiar with the problem. The original StarFire basses used plastic pieces (I have one of those. I think mellowgerman does, too!). A couple of years into the run, they changed to wood, probably because they stopped buying the bridges from Hagstrom. I've seen guys make those pieces out of brass, too.

I don't think you are going to 'find a place that makes replacement parts', because the market for those parts isn't big enough.
I do think you can take your part to a luthier and get some made. What part of the world do you live in? Do you need a reference to a luthier?? I can ask my guy if he wants to make some, if you like. Heck, he might do it, you never know........

By the way, check out the Thomastik Enfield Jazz 32" flat wound bass string set. They are my all time fave set for short-scale basses and fit perfectly on a StarFire. I've heard them on a cheapo Epi Beatle bass, a 90's StarFire reissue bass and my basses; every thing sounded better. Thomastiks have a whole lot less tension than the Hofner Bass string set. They're expensive, but they'll last a long time.

Welcome to LTG. Good luck with the bass!!
 

fronobulax

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Welcome.

When one of my saddles split several years ago, I looked around for replacements. Jay at New Hope didn't have any then and suggested I find someone with a woodshop to make some for me. I ended up getting some made by a luthier named Brian Bowdren who was in Maryland at the time. Alas, he died quite suddenly a couple of years ago. His replacements were actually 1/8 too tall or thereabouts, but they worked because the bridge had enough room to drop and still keep the action low. Next time around I'm just going to find a local luthier or woodshop knowing that I currently have intact examples that could be used for measurements.

To touch on a couple of points made at the other forum, the mini-toggle was marketed as a "bass boost" switch although from a pure electronics standpoint it was actually a treble cut. The feature showed up about 1967 on Starfires and M-85's and the switch from a push button to a toggle was about '71 when the Guild humbucker was introduced. The humbuckers have their fans but they are not the Hagstroms.
 

shadowcastaz

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I have a starfire II project getting dusty in my shop. A guy on another forum sent me 2 8" long rosewood saddle blanks. Ill dig them out and cut you some if you like . PM me.
 
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