Starfire setup help needed. 5 questions.

lungimsam

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I have a Newark Street Starfire and the strings are too close to the pickup (overdriven sound and strings almost touch pickup).
However, on the other end of the instrument, the action is already too high as the nut is pretty tall.
If I raise the bridge to clear the strings from the pup, that will raise the action even more, which I don't want. So I have a few questions before I start changing things.

1. Can the pup body be lowered any into the body cavity?

If not, I will then raise the bridge to get the strings further away from the pup. But then the action will be too high on the nut end of the instrument, which means:

2. I should cut the nut slots to lower the action down by the nut?

It feels sorta like I have to tilt the strings along the face of the instrument the opposite way of what it is. Like I need to raise the strings at the bridge and lower them at the nut. The neck looks straight.

3. Where can I buy replacement wooden string saddles? My low E keeps popping out.
4. Where can I buy metal saddles, so I don't have to deal with changing wood surfaces anymore?
5. Where can I get brass nuts to replace the bone, if I ever want to do that?

Thanks for your help.
 

fronobulax

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I have a Newark Street Starfire and the strings are too close to the pickup (overdriven sound and strings almost touch pickup).
However, on the other end of the instrument, the action is already too high as the nut is pretty tall.
If I raise the bridge to clear the strings from the pup, that will raise the action even more, which I don't want. So I have a few questions before I start changing things.

1. Can the pup body be lowered any into the body cavity?

If not, I will then raise the bridge to get the strings further away from the pup. But then the action will be too high on the nut end of the instrument, which means:

2. I should cut the nut slots to lower the action down by the nut?

It feels sorta like I have to tilt the strings along the face of the instrument the opposite way of what it is. Like I need to raise the strings at the bridge and lower them at the nut. The neck looks straight.

3. Where can I buy replacement wooden string saddles? My low E keeps popping out.
4. Where can I buy metal saddles, so I don't have to deal with changing wood surfaces anymore?
5. Where can I get brass nuts to replace the bone, if I ever want to do that?

Thanks for your help.

Dunno. I have been happy with the factory setup on mine although I did tweak things a bit when I changed strings. It might be worth comparing some measurements but my knee jerk reaction is your nut is out of spec and I would work on it first. By the way, are you sure it is bone?

http://www.guildbassparts.com/alaskawildernessriverfishingguides.com/Home.html belongs to a sometime poster who has sold replacement saddles, wood and brass. As far as I know he is still making them.
 

wisconsindead

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Have you tried lowering the pole pieces yet? That'd be step one. I will say my Starfire has very little clearance between the strings and pups at the bridge. I'm also surprised your string keeps popping off. Do you typically play right at the bridge? I'd suggest deepening the groove for that saddle, but thats not helping your other problem.
 

lungimsam

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1. Lowered the pole pieces. That helped eliminate distortion.
Thanks for the tip. My first SF and didn't realize the pole pieces also recess into the cover!!

2. The nut:
The low E and A strings are higher then the d and g down by nut. The low strings aren't sitting all the way down in the nut slots so I think I'll widen the slot sides just enough so the strings can nestle into the intended slot bases. Teeny file. Hopefully only a couple strokes.

3. Action is good where I like it at 17th fret. So with getting the E and A strings into the nut slot bases I'm hoping all will be well at that point. The d and g are sitting well in theirs and feel fine to play.
 

lungimsam

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UPDATE:

The nut slots have been filed so the left hand action feels great now.
The black pickup ring has also been filed ~1 mm lower so clearance is much better now between strings and pickup (E and G strings were rattling on the pickup, seemed to grow closer as bass aged). Plenty of room now.

Can't believe my Starfire is almost two years old now. Waiting for a sunburst version to some out one day.

Found source for wood, aluminum, and brass Starfire bridges.
 

fronobulax

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Found source for wood, aluminum, and brass Starfire bridges.

This one? If so apologies are in order since peteybass has posted here in the past and if I had realized you were looking for saddles I could have pointed you there so there was nothing to look for. A source was already found.
 

lungimsam

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That's the one. I'm thinking of brass to brighten up the bass a bit.
No need to apologize, frono. You have so many man-hours of helpfulness logged on this forum that if I had searched harder I would have surely found the link in another thread.
 

fronobulax

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That's the one. I'm thinking of brass to brighten up the bass a bit.
No need to apologize, frono. You have so many man-hours of helpfulness logged on this forum that if I had searched harder I would have surely found the link in another thread.

I seem to recall that someone else tried the brass saddles and posted about their experience. I remember things that didn't happen but I seem to recall that the change was not as dramatic as hoped for. Looking forward to an update ;-)
 

Minnesota Flats

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"I have been happy with the factory setup on mine although I did tweak things a bit when I changed strings."

For the most part, I have too, at least as far as the bridge, nut and neck relief go. Lowered the entire bridge just a hair after I swapped on flats. However, the pole piece heights I tweaked quite a bit.
 
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