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Guild starfire bass3/30/2023 I've seen these used as cheap as $600-$700, but generally for a bit more. Can be top-loaded or strung through, so compatible with a wider range (short/medium scale) of string sets. More "modern" sound (and appearance), more punch and a broader tonal palette than the re-issue BiSonics. Humbucker and "split" coil pup configuration. Also short scale and semi-hollow body construction. This could be another option, depending on what you're after. If you are looking for a mellow sounding shortscale bass, then the Bisonic Starfire is where it's at. If I was looking for a punchy, clear, powerful sounding shortscale bass, I would get the Gibson Les Paul Double Cutaway Tribute bass currently produced by Gibson. 2011 Gibson SG bass - plays like a dream, looks great, mine sounded awful. Mustangs sound (like a Pbass) and play great, too. But then I like a more aggressive tiger growly tone. It has all the plusses of a shortscale bass and tonally blows away my Starfire I. My shortscale Gibson Les Paul Tribute Double Cutaway Bass in worn brown sounds like half way between a 4003 and a Pbass. Hard to intonate low estring as the saddle doesn't have enough travel. It will definitely make it easier to play difficult passages with it's closer string spacing and shortscale. However, it plays on the left hand like a dream even way up above the 12th fret. It needed to be heavily modded to silence the RF and AC noise for recording and live DI to board playing. It has a much mellower, softer spoken, less aggressive tone. It can sound good, but doesn't have the punch and clarity of a (industry standard) Pbass or a 4003 (non-industry standard) bass if that is what you are looking for. This is in reference to playing clean with fingers, and not an overdriven sound. I’m not trying to imply that any of these differences make one bass “better” than the other, just pointing out that there are some differences of which you should be aware.īest thing to do is to try to play examples of as many of the different variations as you can find in order to discover what feels most comfortable and sounds best to you. One other thing worth mentioning about the new, Indonesian-made Starfires (with the “P”-type pickup) is that the neck seems to be set deeper into the body than that of either the vintage, US-made and Korean-made reissues, which affects easy access to the upper frets. Note also that not all Mustangs feature the same fretboard radius or fret size: many vintage ones as well as the Japanese reissues have “vintage”-sized (narrow) frets and a 7.25” fretboard radius while many later (Mexican) ones have medium-jumbo frets and a 9.5” fretboard radius. the SF’s 21) and partly to do with it having a much smaller, thinner body. This has partly to do with the Mustang having only 19 frets (vs. At that point, I found the Mustang to be ergonomically comfortable.Īfter moving on to playing Starfires, I found the Mustang felt rather "toy-like" and awkward to hold. I found the pickups to be rather lackluster so swapped in some Nordstrand NM4s, which yielded a noticeable, though not world-changing improvement. When I first started transitioning from playing mostly guitar to playing mostly bass, I bought a Mustang (MIJ). All have a body which is quite similar in size to a Gibson ES 330/335 or Epiphone Casino/Riviera/Sheraton (though the scale length is obviously longer). I've played both the Newark Street (Korean) Starfire I & II and a DeArmond Starfire II as well as a Westerly (USA) Starfire II. There are threads about converting a new Starfire I from P style PU to Bisonic and one about shielding a Bisonic Starfire I because it was too noisy for the owner. but if you don't want to mess with that you may want to consider something with humbuckers. I can easily address it - turn off the cell phone, don't play when the clothes are washing or dinner is being cooked, roll of the volume, etc. Since you said "record" all my Bisonics pick up RF interference to some degree or another. Nothing compares to my '67, including the reissues, but you would pay significantly more to get one. The Newark Street one pickup Starfire with Bisonic seems to have been dropped from the lineup but used ones should be available. The new Starfire I with the P style pickup has comparatively low price and all indications are that it has some of the Starfire characteristics. All the Starfires are short scale which is a choice not everybody wants to make. There is a hollow body tone that any Starfire will get that any solid body won't. Your budget and preference for new, used or vintage would help focus the answer.
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