bassmanpatsfan18
Member
Hey Guild fans,
I'm new here. I've been the proud owner of a Guild Starfire II bass for almost 4 years and I thought that some of you might like to see it/hear about it.
According to its serial number, my bass is from 1969. Over the years it's gone through many changes and modifications, none of which I have performed (avert your eyes, Guild purists!). I bought the bass at Cambridge Music in Cambridge, MA when I was still in high school. It played and sounded so beautifully from the moment I touched it that I knew I had to have it. Some might not like its looks, but I think it's gorgeous.
Anyway, the bass is fretless and I'm not sure if it came out of the factory like that or not. Someone on here might be able to clue me in on that. There seems to be a thin layer of epoxy-like coating on the fingerboard. Additionally, the pickups were swapped out for 4 (yes, 4!) Bartolini jazz pickups, which are housed in wooden blocks as you can see. The bridge was changed to an original Badass and it appears as if the entire neck was raised ever so slightly to accommodate the extra height of this bridge compared to the original guild one. The tuners have also been swapped for some standard Schaller keys that must date from the late 80's or so because they say W. Germany on the back of them. The headstock seems to have been covered with a plain, black wooden overlay and I'm not 100% sure why. It doesn't look like the headstock ever broke, so I think this is again to accommodate the size of the new(er) tuners. I had the bass rewired by Jim Mouradian (Boston area guys probably know him--he's a gear magician) and it sounds pretty damn good in my opinion. I've been playing it with D'addario chrome flats for the past few years and couldn't complain one bit about anything.
Here are some pictures of my bass:
Now I have another question for you. When I bought the bass, it came with the original case and the following set of Guild humbuckers:
I was told that Guild switched from Hagstrom pickups to these in 1970. Since my bass is from '69, is it possible that these are the original pickups? Either way, might these be worth anything if I were to sell them? I'm quite satisfied with the way my bass sounds now and since restoring the bass back to its original condition is practically impossible at this point, I might as well get rid of the p'ups if I can. What do you think?
Thanks for reading,
Alex
I'm new here. I've been the proud owner of a Guild Starfire II bass for almost 4 years and I thought that some of you might like to see it/hear about it.
According to its serial number, my bass is from 1969. Over the years it's gone through many changes and modifications, none of which I have performed (avert your eyes, Guild purists!). I bought the bass at Cambridge Music in Cambridge, MA when I was still in high school. It played and sounded so beautifully from the moment I touched it that I knew I had to have it. Some might not like its looks, but I think it's gorgeous.
Anyway, the bass is fretless and I'm not sure if it came out of the factory like that or not. Someone on here might be able to clue me in on that. There seems to be a thin layer of epoxy-like coating on the fingerboard. Additionally, the pickups were swapped out for 4 (yes, 4!) Bartolini jazz pickups, which are housed in wooden blocks as you can see. The bridge was changed to an original Badass and it appears as if the entire neck was raised ever so slightly to accommodate the extra height of this bridge compared to the original guild one. The tuners have also been swapped for some standard Schaller keys that must date from the late 80's or so because they say W. Germany on the back of them. The headstock seems to have been covered with a plain, black wooden overlay and I'm not 100% sure why. It doesn't look like the headstock ever broke, so I think this is again to accommodate the size of the new(er) tuners. I had the bass rewired by Jim Mouradian (Boston area guys probably know him--he's a gear magician) and it sounds pretty damn good in my opinion. I've been playing it with D'addario chrome flats for the past few years and couldn't complain one bit about anything.
Here are some pictures of my bass:
Now I have another question for you. When I bought the bass, it came with the original case and the following set of Guild humbuckers:
I was told that Guild switched from Hagstrom pickups to these in 1970. Since my bass is from '69, is it possible that these are the original pickups? Either way, might these be worth anything if I were to sell them? I'm quite satisfied with the way my bass sounds now and since restoring the bass back to its original condition is practically impossible at this point, I might as well get rid of the p'ups if I can. What do you think?
Thanks for reading,
Alex