School me on Starfire hollowbody wood care...

mgod

Gone But Not Forgotten
Gone But Not Forgotten
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I have never humidified my '67.

I have never had a reason to adjust the truss rod.

I have never paid attention to the effect of string gauge in the sense of too much tension. I have, however, kept the same strings on the bass for more than 30 years. That was a set of RotoSounds that peaked at .105, I believe.

In general, my electric basses, solid or hollow, do not get the same kind of care and pampering that my acoustic basses do. In that regard the Starfire has more in common with the JS than the B-50.
What he said.
 

edwin

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With respect to climate, I'll just say that my '67 Starfire has been on the road with me for years, going from Pacific Northwest humidity to desert conditions within days, as well as enduring severe weather events like in the video below. After the storm at Delfest, we hastily packed all the gear into the trailer and then left around midnight from Maryland to central Illinois to play our set at Summer Camp the next afternoon. We went to the hotel before the set and took all the gear out of the trailer to assess the damage. When we opened some of the racks, up to a quart of water came out. When I opened up the Starfire case (a nice Calton, but the bass suffered the brunt of the storm before I was able to get it in the case), the finish had a weird, milky white haze over it. It cleared up within a half hour as the bass dried out. Despite the massive drenching, the only piece of gear that suffered any permanent damage was a Mesa Boogie Mk. II and started acting weird and then spit flames a few weeks later.

Long story short, the Starfire (at least the 60s ones) are very robust instruments. Mine is gigged all the time. I only adjust the truss rod when changing string gauges or types.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIu5iZJxbTI
 

Happy Face

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Man, the crew sure earned their bucks in that video! Great story. And a testimonial to Guild quality.


(BTW Edwin, I've PM'd you here & on TB with a question. TNX.)
 
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edwin

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Edwin, AWESOME VIDEO!!! Mother nature is .... formidable!! Great footage.....

Yeah, it was nuts. We were scheduled to play from 5 to 6:30. When we arrived around 3:30, it was a beautiful day, mid 80s. I changed into shorts and short sleeve shirt and then we got set up on the side stage. Around 4:50 it started looking like might get a sprinkle, so we decided to hang out to see if it would blow over. At 5:05, all hell broke loose, it dropped 20 degrees and all of a sudden hail flew at us sideways at 70mph for twenty minutes. Then it reversed direction and then again, over and over for a total of close to 90 minutes. After about an hour of it, it felt like we had always been on that stage, clinging to our gear, and we would always be. It was our entire reality for all eternity. The area behind the stage became a torrent of frozen water, with our singer up past his knees in it, trying to keep the amps from blowing off the back of the stage. By the time it was over, he was blue practically all over and shivering uncontrollably. The whole campground was devastated, but weirdly we were the only band that missed their set entirely, as it all moved indoors to one of those big fairground buildings. At first we were told there were tornados just over the ridge, but we found it out it was a series of microbursts. Luckily, no one was killed or seriously injured, even with lightning strikes on trees that were sheltering people and a partial collapse of the main stage.

Here's a photo of the Summer Camp gig the next day.

https://scontent-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc3/4313_86809078772_7532606_n.jpg

The Starfire also had a run-in with Hurricane Ike in Arkansas (and again further north) and a number of other notable weather events.
 

Happy Face

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"The Starfire also had a run-in with Hurricane Ike in Arkansas (and again further north) and a number of other notable weather events."

Hey, maybe that guitar is jinxed!!


(Thanks for the PM! Awesome amount of information.)
 

fronobulax

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I have a vague recollection of a discussion of a Starfire bass that had been underwater for some time in New Orleans during Katrina. No one wanted to trust the electronics but the body apparently held up pretty well.
 

edwin

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"The Starfire also had a run-in with Hurricane Ike in Arkansas (and again further north) and a number of other notable weather events."

Hey, maybe that guitar is jinxed!!


(Thanks for the PM! Awesome amount of information.)

Oh, no, it's blessed!
 
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