Modifying a Guild Starfire bass... that's how it all started, right? So I just placed an order with Alembic HQ, or to be completely accurate -by way of
Will Gunn Guitars- for some Alembic circuitry to be put in this DeArmond Starfire II. Welcome to my second D-I-Y Alembic project.
I got this bass a little while back... it was my $300 entry into the world of hollow-body basses. From what I've been able to find online, these were only available for a few years between 1996-99 while Fender had both the Guild and DeArmond brands... these were Korean factory-made, patterned somewhat after, but not exactly like the old Guild Starfire basses. Most of them are red or black, but this one is finished in my favorite of all finishes...
SUNBURST!
They came with stock DeArmond USA humbuckers, 2 × Volume and 2 × Tone controls, plus a 3-position pick-up selector switch. The sound... not too bad as-is, playbility was already great when I got it, and it had that nice thumpy hollow-body sound too, especially with the flatwound strings stretched over the 30.75 scale. The quartersawn maple set neck is a very comfortable profile, if a little smaller than I'm used to, and I have to say, the fretwork is darn nice. All in all, a very good quality import build... bottom line, a solid platform for modification without chancing an expensive blunder while cutting on an old Guild. Trying also to remember, the innards about to go in this bass exceed its value considerably. Still, it
is a 20-year-old bass in almost perfect condition, so I really don't want to make a mess of it.
It also came with pretty decent hardware... the tuning machines are Gotoh, (I think) and the stock bridge is a fully adjustable model made to resemble the vintage Guild counterpart. I had thought about replacing it with a Hipshot Supertone or something more substantial, but since the functionality is acceptable, will leave that possible upgrade for later.
First, I'll be switching out the pickups with Alembic's new drop-in replacement for these, (see Hieronymous' Alembicized Guild M-85 thread) and installing a simple Volume/Pan/Bass/Treble circuit, like on Epic & Orion basses right to the existing 4-hole drill pattern. In the future, I may add a Filter and 3-position Q-switch for the full East-Meets-West package, but for now I'll be sending the output through a Broughton Audio Resonant LPF pedal on its way to the amp. That ought to get me close.
The real 'work' will be retro-fitting the new electronics to the bass. I've been back and forth on the best way to do that... if space for more complicated circuitry were an issue, I'd probably do a larger front mount plate. (like on 'The Godfather' and others) Since I'm hoping to use all the existing mounting holes and routes, I finally decided the best/simplest solution is to cut a hole in the back, fabricating in a fully shielded electronics cavity and battery compartment inside. Of course then I'll need to provide a means for mounting a backplate. Not sure if I'll be able to use the dropout piece like Alembic does for 'continuous wood', but it's worth a shot. If it doesn't work, I'll probably just use a standard brass plate, or maybe make one from some pretty wood. I've enlisted the help of my old mentor a'luthierie, Ward Elliott for coaching on the more tedious parts.
So not too big of a job here... not nearly a full Alembicizing, just some (way) above-average upgrades. Hopefully if nothing else, this will be a good learning experience that will end up with a cool bass I'll play more than I currently do. Stay tuned for more pictures and updates as they happen, and by all means - chime in with advice and commentary.
~Ed of H.
