DeArmond Starfire II vs guild Starfire II

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Hi

I've just seen a deArmond from the 90s up for sale for £400,is it worth it? How does it compare to a guild starfire II?

Thanks!

Taran
 

fronobulax

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Welcome. First I think £400 is about 600 USD and that is what my comments are based on. It has been a while since I priced DA Starfires but my recollection is that 400 USD was reasonable and 500 USD was the high end. So 600 USD may be reasonable given the time lapse and Europe vs USA pricing. On the other hand that is getting close enough to the price of a Newark Street Starfire I (especially used) that it might be worth saving instead.

As for DA vs Guild my recollection is that no one has complained about the fit and finish of the DA compared to the Guild but almost everyone wants to upgrade the pickups. My sense is that people who have DAs are happy with them but they are what they are - a bass to use until a Guild becomes affordable or a cheap bass to take to places and gigs where the Guild would be at risk of damage or theft. For me personally, the Newark Street fills that niche.
 

mavuser

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Even a Newark street Guild SF II bass will be 2-3 times the cost of the 90s Dearmond SF II bass. (Same or more for a 90s USA Guild SF II bass). the Dearmond bass is a good bass. You can always change the pickups.

a used Newark Street SF I bass could be found for closer to a Dearmond price. And those are very nice, and have the "bisonic reissue" pickup. I'd try to play one of those before buying anything
 
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Thanks guys! I have played a Guild starfire and loved its warm, earthy tone. I haven't used a dual pickup starfire yet. So the obly difference really are the pickups? The starfire II has bisonic humbuckers right? Whats a dearmond got?
 

mellowgerman

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The price of used Dearmonds has gone up a bit over the last few years, in correlation with increased interest in Guilds. It looks like they usually go for $550-650 in the US at the moment. Of course that might go down a bit considering that more and more Newark St. Guilds will be popping up used... I think I saw one used on guitarcenter.com for $559 the other day
As I remember it, my Dearmond that I used to own felt bigger and more solid than the Newark St Starfires I've tried. I think the neck was just chunkier, the string spacing was definitely wider, and it was definitely a bit heavier. I'd be hesitant to say that one or the other is the better instrument. Granted, one has the Guild logo on the headstock, but both are good quality Korean made instruments. Also, though I would probably prefer the single coils in the Newark St Guild to the humbuckers in the Dearmond, I think it's safe to say that if somebody wants the vintage Hagstrom Bisonic or DarkStar tone, an upgrade will probably be in order in either scenario.
I would say, if you have the option to try it out and it feels good to you, then yes, it's worth it, especially if it comes with a case.
 
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fronobulax

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For the record if you are looking for the vintage Starfire tone the NS is probably closer than the DeArmond and both are not so close that a difference cannot be heard...
 

wisconsindead

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I think it should be noted that the euro and dollar are about the same now. So its just over $400. And if so thats a good deal. Bisonic pickups are single coil. Not sure what the dearmonds come with. I'd say check it out, because the price is pretty good.
 

mavuser

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bottom line is the NS SF I is the only reissue that has one pickup. That one pickup, to me sounds pretty good, but, if you are going to replace...in this scenario you will only need to buy one new pickup, not a pair. If you wanted to go nuts and do mods like Mgod, Mellow German and Happy Face, those guys might tell you to get a 2-pickup bass. but im not sure how much extra $ id pour into the already signifcant cost of a 2-pickup Korean bass.

It seems I am in the minority, but I prefer single-pickup basses, and guitars, for several reasons- above and beyond only replacing one pickup. But that's just me. I like dual pickup guitars and basses too, just prefer less hardware, less electronics, and less weight; most of the time. also if one pickup is turned off, it is still pulling signal from the strings, you just can't hear it- so what you do hear is technically not the entire string signal from just one pickup, in a 2-pickup scenario (with one turned off). If you just have one pickup, that one pickup "picks up" the entire string signal, every note you play, no matter what. also depending on where your fingers are on the strings (and where the pickup is located) you can get different tones (playing near "where the neck pick up would be if this bass had one" will sound closer to a neck pickup tone...)

if I had a 2-pickup Dearmond SF II bass, I would not rule out putting classic Guild humbuckers or Newark Street "Bisonic Reissues" in there, if there were a need to make any change (or experiment) at all. Bass amps have a come a long way, and those pickups can be made to sound quite good. If you are truly just going for the real thing though, maybe just buy a beat up one from the 60s. They are out there too! I just wouldnt go too nuts (moneywise) on a Korean one. They are worth what they sell for, but dont double your investment swapping pickups on those (unless you are going to swap them back out and have a better use) just my 2 cents. A few years ago those Dearmonds were a hot ticket, but now theres a ton of Korean SF options, new and used, plus the vintage stuff 60s/70s- with a little patience that stuff is attainable as well.

I dont think you will find a bad Guild or Dearmond SF bass (that hasnt been unreasonably abused), just depends on the details of your situation, which will work best...or possibly if any one of them at all will do...and maybe just tweak your amp.

Here is a clip of MellowGerman demoing the Dearmond SF II bass with Dark Star pickups:

 

mavuser

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and yes if you can get a Dearmond SF II bass from the 1990's, in reasonable condition, in Europe, for $400 US dollars ...to me that sounds like a home run (unless the Euro is crumbling and it will be $250 in 3 weeks...which I know nothing about, either way...) good luck!
 
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I wonder if the DA Starfire, tjhoal93 was talking about is the same sunburst one that is a BIN on eBay and about to run out of time with no bids priced at £399.99? That is about $600 to our friends across the pond.
The seller states it's medium scale, but surely all Starfires were short scale 30" unless someone knows different. Whilst I love the look of this bass and have been wondering whether to make a lower offer, the scale worries me having only played long scale 5 string basses for the last 10 years or more, would this just feel alien?
 

fronobulax

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I wonder if the DA Starfire, tjhoal93 was talking about is the same sunburst one that is a BIN on eBay and about to run out of time with no bids priced at £399.99? That is about $600 to our friends across the pond.
The seller states it's medium scale, but surely all Starfires were short scale 30" unless someone knows different. Whilst I love the look of this bass and have been wondering whether to make a lower offer, the scale worries me having only played long scale 5 string basses for the last 10 years or more, would this just feel alien?

Since you already know the joke about Great Britain and the United States being two countries separated by a common language...

My experience has been that when you try and convert a description of scale length into a measurement you don't get consistent results. This generally becomes important when buying strings. There are also different ways to measure and some of them actually depend upon how the instrument is set up and what the intonation is.

Most often "long" scale is 34" but I have seen the term used on 35" scale instruments as well.

Most often "short scale" is 30"-32" but this is less consistent and there are some "short scale" strings that fit Hofners that are too short for Guilds.

That, of course makes "medium" scale 32" to < 34"

AFAIK the Guild and DA Starfires are both 30.5" scale but if you measure wrong and round up you might think that is a medium scale. Or if you have a lot of experience with Hofners...

That said... My experience is I can't play a 5 string because the fingerboard is too wide so I would expect you to have the opposite problem. I don't know whether you can adjust or not. My primary bass is a Starfire but I play the 34" scale Pilot enough that if I remember to make the adjustments for scale I can cope.

If I had $600 and patience I might watch for a used Newark Street Starfire rather than grab a DA Starfire. Some of that is snobbishness but some of that is remembering when a DA Starfire could be had for $300.
 
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