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Dearmond Starfire bass


Roger2611
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Hi,

Anyone out there own and play a Dearmond Starfire bass? I like the look of a semi acoustic bass, I tried an Eastwood Classic 4 but was not impressed with the build quality. I also tried the Gretsch Electromatic and was very disappointed with the one I played.

I own a beautiful Dearmond MT77 guitar which is as well built as any Gibson or Fender I have ever played so I am hoping the Starfire will have the same kind of build quality and hopefully sound decent as well?

Cheers
Rog

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[quote name='Roger2611' timestamp='1440944611' post='2854878']
Hi,

Anyone out there own and play a Dearmond Starfire bass? I like the look of a semi acoustic bass, I tried an Eastwood Classic 4 but was not impressed with the build quality. I also tried the Gretsch Electromatic and was very disappointed with the one I played.

I own a beautiful Dearmond MT77 guitar which is as well built as any Gibson or Fender I have ever played so I am hoping the Starfire will have the same kind of build quality and hopefully sound decent as well?

Cheers
Rog
[/quote]

A lot of love for the Guild reissue here:

[url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/248927-nbd-guild-starfire/page__st__30__p__2811583__hl__guild%20starfire__fromsearch__1#entry2811583"]http://basschat.co.uk/topic/248927-nbd-guild-starfire/page__st__30__p__2811583__hl__guild%20starfire__fromsearch__1#entry2811583[/url]

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[quote name='gareth' timestamp='1441032587' post='2855491']
Short scale = bad sound
[/quote]

Even this one? :)

[url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/264839-fender-mustang-bass-1967/page__p__2849944__hl__mustang__fromsearch__1#entry2849944"]http://basschat.co.uk/topic/264839-fender-mustang-bass-1967/page__p__2849944__hl__mustang__fromsearch__1#entry2849944[/url]

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[quote name='Roger2611' timestamp='1440944611' post='2854878']
... Dearmond Starfire bass ..
[/quote]

Just to clarify ... the 1990s Dearmond Starfire, like the 1990s reissued Guild Starfire, was fitted with the 1970s style Guild humbuckers (these where sometimes known as Dearmond Gold Tone humbuckers).

Many people replaced the Dearmond/Guild humbuckers with Hammon Dark Stars which were a re-engineering of the original 1960s Guild/Hagstrom Bisonic pickups. Both the Dark Stars and the Bisonics are single coils, not humbuckers.

The recent Guild reissues have a (different) re-engineered single-coil Bisonic.

The point of course is that not all Starfire basses are the same. It's probably the case that most, although not all Starfire users, preferred the Bisonics/Dark Stars to the humbuckers.

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[quote name='EssentialTension' timestamp='1441056930' post='2855797']
Just to clarify ... the 1990s Dearmond Starfire, like the 1990s reissued Guild Starfire, was fitted with the 1970s style Guild humbuckers (these where sometimes known as Dearmond Gold Tone humbuckers).

Many people replaced the Dearmond/Guild humbuckers with Hammon Dark Stars which were a re-engineering of the original 1960s Guild/Hagstrom Bisonic pickups. Both the Dark Stars and the Bisonics are single coils, not humbuckers.

The recent Guild reissues have a (different) re-engineered single-coil Bisonic.

The point of course is that not all Starfire basses are the same. It's probably the case that most, although not all Starfire users, preferred the Bisonics/Dark Stars to the humbuckers.
[/quote]

Ah, I stand corrected - there is a lot of flexibility in the use of the two brand names out there by various dealers, with some using both names for the one bass.

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[quote name='EssentialTension' timestamp='1441059342' post='2855821']
I wasn't meaning to correct you, merely to clarify.

The Dearmonds were/are sometimes refered to as Dearmond By Guild too.
[/quote]

Without this turning in to a thread of apologies and counter apologies, I hadn't taken umbrage :)

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[quote name='Meddle' timestamp='1441133278' post='2856363']
Dear Mond, I'm sorry I ever set foot in this thread. :D

Some eagle eyed bassists have noticed that the Dearmond Starfires have a different body shape to the original Guild versions. To counter some perceived gospel, some commentators from [i]back in the day [/i]don't have a nice thing to say about the original Bisonic pickups, including the bassist of minor league US prog legends Happy The Man. In their defense, Fred Hammon covered his website with pictures of Phil Lesh and Jack Casady, yet both modified their Starfires well beyond stock, and Hammon changed some of the key specs.

Perhaps the biggest issue with Bisonic pickups is the odd design of the pickup adjusters. There is a French builder that makes accurate Bisonic pickups, minus the weird adjuster mechanism, that look a bit like P90 pickups with four poles instead of six. People would rather have the cumbersome black square pickup like the originals, even if it means paying a heftier price tag purely to offset the development costs of some fairly idiosyncratic and pointless flatwork. :lol:
[/quote]
... also a factor in the development of the Lakland Chisonic pickup.

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[quote name='Paul S' timestamp='1441042880' post='2855605']


Even this one? :)

[url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/264839-fender-mustang-bass-1967/page__p__2849944__hl__mustang__fromsearch__1#entry2849944"]http://basschat.co.uk/topic/264839-fender-mustang-bass-1967/page__p__2849944__hl__mustang__fromsearch__1#entry2849944[/url]
[/quote]now sold

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