NAMM 2013: Newark St. Collection Starfire Bass

[mellowgerman]

Any word on these yet? Weren't they supposed to go out in mid-late March? Or am I having a moment of memory lapse?

 

[SFIV1967]

There was a recent Guild e-mail newsletter where they say that "selected models" of the Newark St. series start to appear at "selected dealers" by April. Means the volumes in general are still low and so it might take a while until we actually see one. Keep an eye open for e-bay or the usual big Guild dealers webpages for them to show up. I am sure one of us will inform after spotting the first!
Elderly for instance shows: "expected arrival date 05/30/13".
Ralf

 

[fronobulax]

Any word on these yet? Weren't they supposed to go out in mid-late March? Or am I having a moment of memory lapse?

Memory lapse or rather a failure to read multiple threads and draw inferences from them.

Depending upon the model, dealer and geoloc folks are hearing anything from "April" to "December". My local dealer said he was going to order a bass and I had first crack at it. Maybe I should drop by and remind him of my interest and see what ship date they are telling him?

 

[SFIV1967]

Depending upon the model, dealer and geoloc folks are hearing anything from "April" to "December".

I just quickly checked Thomann here. They show "shipment due to arrive on 5/30/13" for the M-75, S-100, X-175, X-175 w/Bigsby, SF IV and A-150 AB.
However they show "not yet available" for the SF Bass, the SF III and the A-150B.
Ralf

 

[lilyguilder77]

Not mine but I figured these pics should be on here. So it's official, they've started shipping.

 

[ukulelelab]

That finish is beautiful and the attention to details is brilliant. Mine has the same tiny nail heads as knob position markers

 

[twocorgis]

That finish is beautiful and the attention to details is brilliant. Mine has the same tiny nail heads as knob position markers

So does my '68 and ex '67 ukulelelab! That pup looks like a dead ringer as well. That, the beautiful fit and finish, and the pup being in the sweet spot is giving me some serious GAS...

 

[mellowgerman]

Excellent photos and a video demo here... with flatwounds! Sounds good to me. Not quite as warm as my '66 was... but then perfection is difficult to reproduce
http://www.johnbiscuti.net/2013/04/25/2 ... fire-bass/

 

[Yggdrasil]

Re: Newark St. Collection Starfire Bass

...at least until Starfire II re-issue possibly and hopefully see the daylight someday.

What a fickle lot we are :lol: We have just one hands on report and we are already waiting for a SF II. Next someone is going to say they are going to wait to see what other finish options are planned for the future.

Hah hah...that's me. I'm waiting for a brown SF II to appear. You know, I have to make all kinds of excuses for myself or otherwise I'll pre-order one from Thomann....it's already on my wishlist there.

Yeah - I need a Newark burst SF II to go with my 67 Burst SF I...

 

[ukulelelab]

and the attention to details is brilliant

actually I'll take that back, this is really bad

 

[fronobulax]

actually I'll take that back, this is really bad

Just to be sure I am seeing what you are seeing...

The tuners don't appear "straight" compared to each other, Correct? I have been going back and forth about whether this is real or an illusion cause by the photograph, the angle and an assumption about the tuner shapes. If they work the headstocks the same way as they do in New Hartford, the holes to mount the tuner are drilled by machine and the manufacturing process was designed to make it extremely difficult to drill the holes in the wrong place. So if they are wrong, it would be interesting to see another sample to determine the root cause. In particular, is this likely to occur on several basses or is it "hit and miss"? Or are the E and A tuners different from the D and G tuners and this shows an A used where a D was required (or visa versa)?

The finish on the edge of the fretboard appears to have some issues? I have seen photos that appear to show something similar but it is really an image artifact, but there is too much of that going on for me to try and blame this one on the camera.

I'll say this though, even if those are factory flaws it still could be a very good bass, just not an excellent one

 

[Happy Face]

Well.... we shall see. Perhaps these early examples will become "collectors items" ?

But you'd think they would have sent the business to the same folks who built the D'A Starfires. Speaking from the experience of only one, so not a large sample, they were well made.

That said, they prolly "dismissed" the skilled workers once the D'A contract ended. And then attempted to train youngsters to fill the new contract. Mind you, this comment is baseless speculation.

 

[fronobulax]

If I remember the propaganda, I think the factory doing the builds is the same factory that has been turning out such nice product for the Gretsch label. No idea how that relates to the D'Armond production. Again relying on press releases and the like, the folks who reverse engineered a '66 Starfire bass to spec this one supposedly have a positive reputation, internationally, for the quality of the reverse engineering. We shall see.

P.S. - Glad to see you found us. Stand by for the next URL change

 

[chazmo]

Hmm.... interesting flaws.

I hope they didn't rush out product before working through the teething flaws.

I just want to understand... ukelelab, is that yours or just some random pictures? I just want to make sure we're looking at a shipped product.

 

[fronobulax]

Hmm.... interesting flaws.

I hope they didn't rush out product before working through the teething flaws.

I just want to understand... ukelelab, is that yours or just some random pictures? I just want to make sure we're looking at a shipped product.

The pics are from a blog post (the link is upstream but I don't feel like looking for it. Sorry) and the blogger claims to be the owner of a new one. Not clear whether the blogger is anyone who posts at LTG or not although I am inclined to think not. The accompanying video is interesting although it does not answer the "sounds like the Bisonic" question for me.

 

[chazmo]

Looks like a prototype to me. So, I'm going to reserve judgement until someone here actually has one in his/her hands. I will say that if that axe was a shipping one, I'd be pretty upset.

 

[fronobulax]

Looks like a prototype to me. So, I'm going to reserve judgement until someone here actually has one in his/her hands. I will say that if that axe was a shipping one, I'd be pretty upset.

The original blog post at http://www.johnbiscuti.net/2013/04/25/2013-guild-starfire-bass/ stongly suggests a purchase at retail. It is always possible that the prototypes were sold at retail but that seems unlikely to me.

However...

UPDATE: Well, I decided to return the bass. After spending a few days with it, I found that I was having some trouble getting it set up quite the way I wanted it, and couldn’t seem to shake a nasty buzz on the E string, which in my estimation was due to the really big frets (harder to get low action) and a slight hump on the E/A side of the neck. The truss rod was also very tight & difficult to adjust, and the bridge wasn’t much fun to adjust either. Rather than risk getting saddled with it and eventually (most likely) lose money, returning it seemed to be the best option.
Boy, it does sound great though, doesn’t it? Looks totally cool too. I’ll be on the lookout for a moderately-priced vintage or 90′s reissue Starfire. I’m not ready to give up on these yet!

Interestingly the bridge adjustment will be the same on a vintage Starfire. If that is a driving factor then the poster is going to have to settle for a 90's reissue or non-original bridge. Poster seems perhaps blissfully unaware of the difference in sound between the Bisonic and the Guild humbucker so unless they go vintage (and "moderately priced" is not a term I would use at the moment for the vintage market if someone is concerned about selling a $1000 bass at a loss) they may find they are making a choice between tone and ease of setup.

 

[Default]

Is "blissfully unaware" the same as "completely clueless"? A little bird did tell me to wait until the second batch comes through the pipeline, so these little issues would get ironed out. The buzz he was comeplaining about could have been a bad nut slot, for all he seems to know.

 

[fronobulax]

For those of us "in the know" the real question about the Newark Street Starfire Bass is the sound. Does it sound enough like a vintage bisonic equipped Starfire to actually replace such a beast or will it just be another close approximation? The blogger's attitude seems to be that of someone who has discovered a neat bass rather than someone looking for a more available or affordable alternative to a vintage Starfire or a post-1970 Starfire (or D'Armond) and Dark Stars.

But, as with versions of Microsoft Windows and the first model year of a car, this may also be a case where being an early adopter is going to have a cost that those who are patient will not have to pay.

 

[Yggdrasil]

One of these is up on eBay right now from Rocky Street Sounds, which is where this one was returned to. The ad says "NEVER USED, NEVER DISPLAYED" , but i have to wonder if it isn't the same bass in the demos above. EDIT: since the serial #s are available both in the demo & in the ebay auction, the ebay bass is clearly a later serial # and not the same bass.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/290915756943?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649