Newark St. Starfire IV Electronics Specs

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I've owned a Newark St. Starfire IV for over a year now & absolutely love everything about it. The tone, playability, quality, looks, you name it. The one thing I can't find anywhere is the type of pots (CTS etc) and what type of wiring the volume/tone circuit is. First, I think both the volume and tone pots work really well together. I can blend pickups easily enough, do volume swells, the tone controls are really responsive. I understand they are audio 500K pots with .022 caps. But it confuses me is whether it is 50's style wiring. I have a couple of 50's wiring in other guitars and I can tell off the bat. However on the Starfire it seems like tone pots act somewhere in between 50's wiring & modern although it's got to be one or the other. Also, the toggle switch looks like a Switchcraft as the quality is high on that as well.

If anybody has any answers, I'd appreciate it. Curiosity is getting the best of me & there is nothing on the internet on the Newark St line. I know I can pull the pots, but being a hollowbody I don't want to mess with them just to get this info.

Thanks in advance!
 

Quantum Strummer

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Yeah, probably Alpha pots (I should check my T-bird). On my two NS guitars most of the volume pot action seems to happen in the top 25% of their travel while with the tone pots it's the opposite. I hear modern wiring rather than Gibson's '50s style.

-Dave-
 
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Yeah, probably Alpha pots (I should check my T-bird). On my two NS guitars most of the volume pot action seems to happen in the top 25% of their travel while with the tone pots it's the opposite. I hear modern wiring rather than Gibson's '50s style.

-Dave-

So Alpha brand/audio taper I believe that is what you are saying. But if the tone pots are reacting in the bottom 25% (1-3), that would point to 50's style wiring. I have two other guitars wired 50's style and they thin out a bit as you go from 10-5 on the tone & the volume drops as well. My NS Starfire IV does the same but it more subtle that my others which I really like. Any other thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks
 

fronobulax

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I just rediscovered this. It is a NS bass but someone here got it from Guild and posted. That suggests Guild may have what you are looking for.

pOo2GfdR4NHY_ySe70AWBpvTds8Rygs0hJQETXhdZmNrOGe3AfAnWrYJ_gZlBMh1sRT86i20KWXnSIn8B_b9lO02p8flsHMcMFl9CEopEVcUI69cZoAVgZnKwcKqyrVaZ7ecKR1x58iNJBi72f7ugTUNOV0PIoPCuNVwqlMOvUbk1mo4KnG3qhMrzL5U8KXnn7ccPxZ5iyxXJZewdC_TDBbLtkzEbKCFZ7S_S8ZkLg69euAfQrZh555lzIcol8uUDs-j-iByNy7zCozN_k51sjQkOumeM9PAS2q782ZB8Wx3g8xs-dx1Dr5BqfS0J5Ajt3vmivj3vn_py_gkyQV63KaeBRVq-AqBYZTgwGlw_C3XvLHKoerFJBgLIlqS2ETpQPgCg2Nqp7LeT00UAkoH5DDdWBhe1ZBF-S8Mam1X2sDX4JfJm_Yj_DR-np5atolV7IPHE67nj6xH1xn6e9vdBXfAlvFoiSARZTBPLkY9POVnxzSN72BsXUTlr-uCiWQHvP97jQhul5UXnaJFvA5lq4HnJwRI2URMPd1k-GlnQNSCxDCsmYFUzaTAfXZp66zOFtvfS_c0JWpIuoaPoSX8uv7FViFTkIjfzWE8guS-juJH9QpTMN6q=w1100-h850-no
 

Quantum Strummer

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This Starfire bass wiring is modern style, no? With a treble bleed cap/resistor network? With '50s wiring the tone cap should be wired to the output (middle) lug of the volume pot. That is, "backwards."

I don't hear a treble bleed setup with my Aristocrat or T-bird.

-Dave-
 
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This Starfire bass wiring is modern style, no? With a treble bleed cap/resistor network? With '50s wiring the tone cap should be wired to the output (middle) lug of the volume pot. That is, "backwards." I don't hear a treble bleed setup with my Aristocrat or T-bird.

-Dave-

Agreed, the bass is modern style wiring.

I was able to dig this up from a Guild Manual site. This is for an older Guild Starfire IV. It has (2) 200K tone controls pots but the new Starfire IV specs on the website says they are 2 x 500K tone pots. Also the linked schematic has 50's style wiring as the tone controls are on the middle connection of the pot. No treble bleed either & I did not hear that in my Starfire IV. So I assume this:

1) 4 x 500K pots all around per Guild NS specs on web site
2) 2 x.022 caps on the tone controls, however I am not completely sure but this would make sense with the 500K pots instead of the 200K's.
3) 50's style wiring - I played around with this today and it is definitely 50's style. The volume lessens as you turn down the tone & there is no appreciable bass roll off on the tone knob until 3-4 or so. This is consistent with my other 2 50's wired guitars.

https://www.manualslib.com/manual/272903/Guild-Starfire-Iv.html
 

SFIV1967

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That's the picture from the Guild webpage of the wiring harness used in the NS SFIV:

009-9120-049_starfire3_starfire4_ce100dcapri_wiring_harness.jpg

The wiring seems to be this one below (not the one you had in that manualslib link) but all 4 are 500k pots:

Starfire_IV_bright.jpg


Ralf
 
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