Author Topic: Alembicized (sp?) Starfire (Read 793 times)

battlescars · « **Reply #15 on:** July 09, 2009, 03:07:35 PM »

I cleaned up the pic a bit. Still waiting on the last few parts...

battlescars · « **Reply #16 on:** July 13, 2009, 09:03:14 PM »

I completed the project Saturday. Included in the bass is one Bartolini EZQ per pickup wired into a DTAR Eclipse that Mr. Turner harnessed and modified for me. Along with the Freq and Variable Q it has a passive tone for each pickup, a master Vol, and a pickup blend knob. I played it out Sunday and got a lot of compliments on the tone. I'm very happy with the results.

dadabass2001 · « **Reply #17 on:** July 14, 2009, 06:55:49 AM »

Hi Ben,
Did everything fit through the f-holes, or do you have an access cutout on the back? Show us the whole job, my man.
What strings are you running on her?

Mike

battlescars · « **Reply #18 on:** July 14, 2009, 12:37:01 PM »

Mike,

I cut a hole in the back for a double 9v batterly box, and fished everything thru there. it was a bit tricky, but doable.
there are a few snap shots of the process here:

http://s51.photobucket.com/albums/f383/h60tweet/DAGHDHA/

I'm thinking about geting some copper mesh (painted black) to complete the shielding. It's not noisy so far (thanks Edwin) but it's a thought...
For strings, I've gone with nothing but TI Jazz flats on Starfires since i first played a set on them. I'm not saying I won't try anything else (the new DR Flats are making me ccurious) but I really like the feel and sounds these TI's produce.

(Message edited by battlescars on July 14, 2009)

edwin · « **Reply #19 on:** July 16, 2009, 01:45:01 AM »

I love the DR flats (I'm an endorser, in the interest of disclosure), but the E string doesn't feel quite right in a short scale context. It's too bad as they strike a great balance between the TIs and other flats like the Chromes.

Great looking bass! I bet it sounds wonderful. I'd love to hear more about the D-TAR mixing board. I use their Solstice as an A/B box to go between basses and it's just a superb piece of engineering.

Edwin

battlescars · « **Reply #20 on:** July 16, 2009, 03:20:39 AM »

Hi Edwin. The D-TAR eclipse is a pretty interesting little Buffer/Mixer Preamp. I purchased it direct from D-Tar. During my research for this project I emailed Rick Turner to ask about the circuits in those famouse Alembic modded Guilds. He said a bipolar buffer operating at +`-9 volts would be the modern equivilent to what was attached to the pickups back then. Then he suggested the Eclipse. While it is mainly used in acoustic electric guitars and basses to mix peizo and magnetic signals, the imedance load place on each pickup can be adjusted by adding a resistor to each channel solder pads. I decided to use 5 Mega ohm trim pots so I could vary the load to find the pickups sweetspot. Right around 1mega ohm as it turns out.
The cicuit has beakouts for passive tone controls for each channel and switched power for an eq or effect. It also has gain trim pots for each channel. When I hooked it up initially, I was shocked at how loud the bass became. The dark stars are pretty high out put as is but wow. And alone it is beautifully transparent.
If there is a down side it is that since it is a bipolar system and the ezq is not 1 battery will run low faster then the other. I hooked it all up externally and when I heard it, I decided I could live with that. It sounds awesome.