kristo

It has a Shadow piezo and preamp fitted currently, but I’m really not too impressed with it at all. String inbalance, background noise, piezo ‘quack’ and feedback are all pretty prominent. I’m off to seethe luthier later today so will see what he thinks too. Thanks for everyone’s input 👍

It’s a bluegrass/blues/swing style band playing pubs/party’s so generally pretty relaxed.

That was my worry, the parts and luthier costs to fit put me off and why I landed at the Hofner pickup.

I hadn’t even considered another piezo, and didn’t know you could get better versions. I did think about a K & K Pure Archtop pickup but thought the feedback might be too much still.

At the end currently, about where the pickup on the right is.

I tend to play at the end of the fretboard already, and the helpful advice here is suggesting not right against the neck, so out of the two options below I think the one on the left. Cheers.

I do have one, the problem is getting it in the car for gigs with my wife's drum kit and the PA. I suppose the other big problem is I suck at playing it.

Thanks for the replies. I’m using TI flats, which I’m hoping will give some definition and less mud. The piezo fitted isn’t great and feedbacks too easily to make the bass giggable.

I’m interested in peoples experience with getting an upright like sound. I have a hollowbody archtop bass that I’m going to fit with a Hofner humbucker but I’m undecided on where exactly to fit it. I’m going to fit a volume and tone control too. My instinct is to put it right at the neck, but I was interested in if I’m missing anything. I guess there might be a sweet spot which might not actually be right against the neck…… cheers.

Thanks for the replies. I'm pretty sure from reading the Guild forum that the pickups are standard precision size under the covers. Being fairly green to all of this, I did wonder if the loom would change much, so I'll probably get that done first and see how it goes. I'm using TI Jazz Flats (I tried Labellas too) to get closer to the sound I'm after.

I have a Guild Starfire 1 bass that I love, however I’ve begun to speculate over if a pickup/wiring upgrade would make it sound even better. I have a KiOgun loom I’m planning to get fitted as I imagine it’ll be an improvement on the current wiring, plus stock it has a push/pull volume pot that I never use. However, I was wondering if people would recommend changing the pickup too? I play old soul and funk so was looking at a Fender Custom Shop ‘62 pickup. Does anyone think it’ll make a big difference? Another consideration is the pickup can only really get to within 4mm of the strings when setting up, so would another pickup be better suited…. These are just thoughts so any input/advice would be helpful. Cheers.

Yeah, they were 'Kaj_japan' and 'bigupspirit3'

I bought a couple of Japanese Fenders earlier this year. Both transactions were fine, delivery was only a few days each time. Fedex handled the import charges on my behalf and I paid them back (both times after the basses were delivered). As long as the seller is decent, does the correct paperwork and packs well it should be easy.