Bisonic, different height chrome casing

[Mungi]

The bridge pickup on my Hagström Coronado has a tad higher chrome casing than the neck pickup. See attached pic. The neck pickup is the ”standard” height as far as I know from my other bisonics, darkstars and Curtis Novak bisonics. Anyone seen this on a Guildor anywhere else?

 

[mavuser]

have not seen that, but did have a 67 SF-2 bass and the black bezel on the bridge pickup was twice as tall as the one on the neck pickup, so, same idea. bridge pickup was way too close to the strings, so, I had my luthier sand/lower that bezel. sold the bass years ago

 

[mellowgerman]

I had never heard of this before our conversation about it! I'm pretty certain we've never seen any of these taller Bisonics on a Guild, but you never know... also, in the unlikely scenario that one of these ever comes up for sale, it's good to have a documented origin story here, so thanks for sharing publicly

Regarding the risers underneath Bisonic pickups on Guilds, I've had my struggle with those. Typically the neck pickup riser on Starfires is a bit too tall for a dynamic playing style. Digging in a bit often results in the string making contact with the poles and since Bisonics were not wax potted and always a bit microphonic, the resulting sound can be alarming. The interesting thing to note however is that the risers on the M85 bass are quite the opposite. The pickups were pretty far from the strings, requiring the pole pieces to be raised up quite high. I'm assuming there wasn't necessarily an exact reason behind this difference (Starfire vs. M85) and that the risers were just there to get the pickup into the general ballpark.

Mav, how was the neck angle on that '67 Starfire II? The riser being about twice as tall for the bridge pickup is pretty typical in terms of what I've seen on 60's dual-Bisonic Guilds (even the Newark Street specimens), but the harp bridges seem to be set higher on Starfires and M85s than they are on JS basses. Is it possible the bridge on your '67 was set uncharacteristically low for a Starfire or maybe the wood saddles were cut/filed low? If so, I'd wonder if the neck angle was set unusually shallow from the factory or maybe the fretboard had been replaced or planed down? Maybe even the neck joint itself was developing structural issues?

 

[lungimsam]

1. They probly made them that way like Gibson does because they are mounted to a pick guard and need different heights to attain the same distance from the strings on a flat top instrument due to neck angle and bridge height.

2. Are there any Hagstrom basses with black Bisonic pickup risers? Or did Hagstrom just make different metal frame heights specifically for their pickguarded instruments?

Just as a reference point:
Sanding down or not even using the black plastic risers on a Starfire works fine.
Sanding doesn't need to be done to the exact shape of the arched top of a Starfire, as the black risers conform to the shape when screwed down as they are very flexable.

Another interesting point: I wonder if Guild made the black pickup risers intentionally at their stock height so the end user could sand them down to their preferred level? There is speculation about some manufacturer's stock bass nuts being made too high for the same reason. I have found both my Starfires' Bisonics, stock, were over driven sounding, both neck and bridge, and strings too close , until I sanded/lowered the rings or just did away with the risers. Also, some stringsets are "louder" than others, with Bisonics, I have found, the TI Jazz Flats being the loudest among them. I think mellowgerman and I are a sample of two, and I haven't heard anyone else squawking about the pups being too close to the strings/physically too close/overdriven sounding, other than us. But there must be others out there...

 

[mavuser]

the 1967 SF-2 bass I had was pre suck switch and definitely one of the first double pickup basses Guild made. so they may have still been figuring some things out (or even trying to copy Hagstrom's raised bridge pickup?) The neck angle was fine, and the strings were not hitting the bridge pickup...that bridge pickup was just way too loud, so close to the strings, maybe 2-3x the volume of the neck pickup. Once it was lowered, everything was perfect. for sure the fretboard was not replaced, and the saddles were like new. that bass was barely played prior to (and during) my ownership.

Mgod once commented on the black bezels when I originally posted this "thats how they are designed." (to be sanded down over time)
I think he was like half-serious (basically saying he had done the same, regulary... It's the only way to lower the pickup. )

I had a 1958 Guild CE-100 I recently sold to a member here; the Franz bridge pickup had a much taller base, was much closer to the strings, and again 2-3x the volume of the neck pickup. That one the next owner is sorting out, and may have some caps/resistors/pots out of spec as well.