Starfire bass

saemola

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hello guys,

just discovered this awesome forum, plenty of info here.
I thought I would ask you guys a question:
I'm looking for a Guild Starfire bass (either vintage or 90s reissue) and was wondering if you guys knew of any website which deals with used/discontinued/vintage instruments (besides ebay, craigslist, gbase, guitarcenter, talkbass...).

this guys are hard to find.
can you help me out?

cheers!
 

fronobulax

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saemola said:
hello guys,

just discovered this awesome forum, plenty of info here.
I thought I would ask you guys a question:
I'm looking for a Guild Starfire bass (either vintage or 90s reissue) and was wondering if you guys knew of any website which deals with used/discontinued/vintage instruments (besides ebay, craigslist, gbase, guitarcenter, talkbass...).

this guys are hard to find.
can you help me out?

cheers!

Welcome.

I am not aware of any other website that you might check for a Starfire. I have noticed that they are becoming relatively scarce. I track vintage prices and they have fallen from a high of over $2,500 a couple of years ago. I suspect a lot of owners are just lying low and not selling because there aren't that many around at the moment.

Olivia's has a 1972 SF I for just under $2500 that looks pretty sweet although at that price I would be paying a premium for my impatience by buying one now.

Why a Starfire? Depending upon what you want, a JS with Hagstroms (very scarce) or adding Dark Stars will give you the sound and the feel. But if you are channeling your inner Casady or Lesh or need the hollow body vibe then patience is probably your best bet.

You might be interested in this thread and the related Starfire p0rn here.
 

saemola

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hey, thanks for the reply.

so, what I'm looking for is a Starfire II (sorry, I didn't specify).

what I'm looking for is that "phat-dead-flats-with-pick sound".
maybe "dead" is not exactly the best way to desctibe it, but I think you understand.

I'm looking for a Guild, although I have no idea how DeArmonds sound.
any experience with those?

although I'm burning inside, I think I'll wait for the right one to pop-up.

that Starfire po®n gallery is just plain evil...
I could die for one of these:

BA-0993.JPG
 

fronobulax

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saemola said:
hey, thanks for the reply.

so, what I'm looking for is a Starfire II (sorry, I didn't specify).

what I'm looking for is that "phat-dead-flats-with-pick sound".
maybe "dead" is not exactly the best way to desctibe it, but I think you understand.

I'm looking for a Guild, although I have no idea how DeArmonds sound.
any experience with those?

You're welcome.

See this thread. I refer back to it every time I consider upgrading from a (stock) SF I to a (stock) SF II. But not everyone agrees that the bridge PU is not adding much.

I'm search challenged but LTGer mellowgerman put Dark Stars in a DeArmond and was happy for a while. His channel at Youtube has a few clips that might be of interest. Same player, same amp (I think) but different basses. I'd ask if he remembers the Dearmond "before and after".
 

saemola

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thanks so much for helping me out man (I didn't even notice there was a FS/FT area here... although I did look for it!).
I think I'm gonna pass on that though.
I don't know enough about DeArmonds to buy them blindfolded.
as you said, patience is probably going to be my best bet.

again thanks a lot!

I'm going to check the sale section out daily now... beware Starfire seekers! :mrgreen:

P.S. is there one of those options to be notifie when a certain topic with a certain title pops up? not exactly the ordinary "subscribe" option.
 

capnjuan

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saemola said:
P.S. is there one of those options to be notifie when a certain topic with a certain title pops up? not exactly the ordinary "subscribe" option.
Hi saemola and welcome to LTG; there's a 'Search' function in the upper right-hand corner of the screen. You can search by keyword but, past that, nothing other that subscribing to the FS/FT Forum which will send you notices that somebody has either posted there or a new thread has been started.
 

mikko

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C: those are humbuckers. Hagström pick up look like the bridge pup in the photo in your earlier message in this thread. Of course you can always acquire a pair of Dark Stars. They look the same and people say they sound pretty similar compared to original Hagströms.
 

fronobulax

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saemola said:
thanks everyone for your precious insights.

just spotted this on ebay: http://cgi.ebay.com/1971-Vintage-Guild- ... 45f6e27289

but it's:
A- fretless
B- in my opinion TOTALLY overpriced
C- do 71's have Hagstrom pickups?

Fretless wouldn't do it for me, but then neither would a long scale, even if it were a Guild.

I'd be a little more comfortable discussing the price of a specific item in the Members Only area. Watch for comments there.

The switch from Hagstroms to humbuckers occurred in 1971 and the bass in question has the Guild humbuckers.

I had rounds on my Starfire (Hagstrom) and flats on my JS (humbuckers). I pretty much stopped playing the JS because the tone was fat and indistinct. However, I recently put new flats on the SF and moved the rounds to the JS. The Starfire is awesome but the JS now sounds enough like the SF used to that I don't mind playing the JS as much as I once did. If I only could have one PU it would be the Hagstrom but I suspect there is more I could do with the humbucker than I have. Tone, of course is personal, and there are folks that really like the humbuckers and I have to admit they are not as crazy as I thought.

Since Guild made a JS with Hagstroms and a Starfire with humbuckers I have often wondered about a comparison of all four variations to see how much was PU and how much was body. However I have not gotten an answer worth reporting. I also have to say the there are a couple of professionals who post here and they have convinced me that, at some point, the player's hands do as much or more for the tone than the equipment.
 

mellowgerman

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I would really really consider that dearmond if I were you. Since you mentioned you'd go for vintage or reissue, might as well give the dearmond a try. If you end up not liking it, you can easily sell it for that same price again. They are wonderful instruments and will give you plenty of fat flatwound sound. The stock pickups on the dearmonds are made in the USA and are actually very nice for humbuckers. I think I like them more than the 70's guildbuckers.... but as frono has stated, that's all a matter of preference
 

saemola

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arr... I'm not sure, it's really tempting me, but I don't feel comfortable spending those money completely blindfolded.
I'll stick with my patience I guess, hoping that something pops up sooner or later... :mrgreen:
 

Yggdrasil

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saemola said:

Looks like someone actually bought it!
Unless it was mint, that was a pretty high price(I found the price via a Google search - the GC page has "no longer available").
Looks a lot like mine - maybe i should sell the 67 :!:

On edit - Google searches indicated $3300 - 3900 . More elaboration 2 posts down.
 

mellowgerman

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$1200 is by no means a high price! SFB-I's with the bisonic and in decent shape frequently go for a good deal more than that these days.


Yggdrasil said:
saemola said:

Looks like someone actually bought it!
Unless it was mint, that was a pretty high price(I found the price via a Google search - the GC page has "no longer available").
Looks a lot like mine - maybe i should sell the 67 :!:
 

Yggdrasil

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mellowgerman said:
$1200 is by no means a high price! SFB-I's with the bisonic and in decent shape frequently go for a good deal more than that these days.


Yggdrasil said:
saemola said:

Looks like someone actually bought it!
Unless it was mint, that was a pretty high price(I found the price via a Google search - the GC page has "no longer available").
Looks a lot like mine - maybe i should sell the 67 :!:

Hello Mellow across the lake!

I found a price of ~$3300 reduced from $3900 on various sites pointing towards a bass with this title at GC - altho it looks like they may have also had a 66.My post was based on the assumption that the price was mid - high $3ks.
1200 would be a great price, granted (where did you find that?) - Never mind - in checking out a few more links in my Google Search, I found one page that had either the same bass or another one with exactly the same title, for ~$1200, both GC used. By the time I clicked on the OPs link, there was nothing there, so I googled the title in his post.

My search: http://www.google.ca/search?q=VINTA...&aq=t&client=firefox-a&rlz=1R1GGLL_en___CA400

P.S.- y'know that Electric Hot Tuna is coming to Buffalo Feb. 2?
 

mellowgerman

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not sure exactly what you mean...
when i click on the GC link saemola posted it takes me to a posting of a 1967 Starfire bass, listed at $1199.... that's a good deal IMO

P.S. i didn't know about the tuna show!! thanks for letting me know! they played here in august and i missed that show due to money problems... if this one's a bit cheaper than the last one, i'll probably go. always a good time with live hot tuna!

EDIT: just checked up on that Feb 2 show... $39 general admission! probably gonna have to sit this one out :/ can't really justify that kind of money for a show unless the ticket includes transportation back to 'Frisco, 1968 ;)
 

Yggdrasil

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mellowgerman said:
not sure exactly what you mean...
when i click on the GC link saemola posted it takes me to a posting of a 1967 Starfire bass, listed at $1199.... that's a good deal IMO

P.S. i didn't know about the tuna show!! thanks for letting me know! they played here in august and i missed that show due to money problems... if this one's a bit cheaper than the last one, i'll probably go. always a good time with live hot tuna!

EDIT: just checked up on that Feb 2 show... $39 general admission! probably gonna have to sit this one out :/ can't really justify that kind of money for a show unless the ticket includes transportation back to 'Frisco, 1968 ;)

That baffles me - when I click on saemola's link, I get a GC page that has no product, but says:

"We're sorry, but In Store Used VINTAGE GUILD STARFIRE BASS 67 CHY W/OHSC is sold out at this time, or is no longer available. For more information please contact customer service."
And if I enter "GUILD STARFIRE BASS" in the GC search box, I get a "0" results page.

Bizarre - unless it identifies my computer as being from Canada; that doesn't usually pose a problem, tho.

Yeah, Jorma/Tuna has become significantly pricier these past few years. Back 10 years ago or so, I used to do taping tours in my camper throughout the northeast (Buffalo to Boston to NYC to Philly to DC and many points between & beyond), where I'd catch at least a half dozen shows, both HT & JS (with Jack - which was always great, esp. the "Acoustic Explorer" iteration - bass was bassically the lead instrument on those shows).
 

fronobulax

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My opinion is worth what you pay for it. All of the comments below apply to stock Starfire basses or minor variations thereof that were made between 1967 and 1971.

The most expensive Starfire bass I ever saw advertised was a SF I at Chicago Musical Exchange at $4,500.

The most expensive sale price that I have observed was $3,500 for a '67 SF I on eBay. Picture here. 2007, I believe and buyer was collector in France.

My sense of the recent market is that a Starfire has to be pretty special (SF II, good or better condition or perhaps Green) to sell for $2,500 these days. I'm seeing M-85 IIs going for $3,000. I have seen SF I's not sell for $1,500 although there were definite problems. If I had to have a Starfire bass today, I'd budget $2,500 and expect to have one in a couple of weeks. If I needed to save money, I'd watch and wait, lower my expectations and expect to spend $1,500-$2,000. If I saw a bass under $1,500 I would either expect some problems or snap it up as a bargain. All prices include a HSC.
 

mgod

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I recently sold one of my sunburst SF-Is to a friend for $3500. 67, almost mint, so I never played it.

DS
 
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