Author Topic: Alembicized (sp?) Starfire (Read 798 times)

moonliner · « **on:** February 09, 2009, 05:07:32 PM »

Hello Good People,

I'm wondering if anyone here knows what kind of wood the DeArmond Starfire is made of. I am looking for a mahogany body starfire, either Guild or DeArmond.
thanks for your time

David Houck · « **Reply #1 on:** February 09, 2009, 05:34:07 PM »

The reviews at Harmony Central suggest that it's a Maple body, Maple neck, and Rosewood fingerboard.

David Houck · « **Reply #2 on:** February 09, 2009, 05:44:48 PM »

The link above is for the guitar, the bass reviews are here and suggest the same, Maple with Rosewood fingerboard.

moonliner · « **Reply #3 on:** February 09, 2009, 06:15:14 PM »

thanks for the info. I guess I'll be waiting for the real deal :-)

edwin · « **Reply #4 on:** February 15, 2009, 06:51:26 PM »

Just so you know, for the most part, the Guild Starfire woods ran along color scheme lines. The red ones (and most other solid colors) were mahogany. The sunburst were maple. Like you, I prefer the mahogany, but the maples are pretty nice, too.

Edwin

dadabass2001 · « **Reply #5 on:** February 16, 2009, 05:46:02 AM »

Here's my 73 Guild Starfire, factory ordered with natural finish (mahogany) and stereo wiring

Mike

edwin · « **Reply #6 on:** February 16, 2009, 05:27:07 PM »

I had a natural mahogany for a while and like yours, mine was a Westerly RI model with humbuckers. Nice bass, but I like the ones from Hoboken a little better. With the Westerly ones, I like upgrading the pickups to either Dark Stars or the Bartolini Guild pickups.

Edwin

moonliner · « **Reply #7 on:** February 18, 2009, 12:03:59 AM »

Thanks for the posts. I pretty much thought the painted ones were mahogany, but I'm happy to hear it from another source.
Thanks!
PS: nice looking bass by the way!

jazzyvee · « **Reply #8 on:** April 17, 2009, 12:59:55 AM »

Here is an alembicised bass i stumbled across today.
Surprisingly the site says it has series I electronics which is a bit of a surprise to see that setup on a non Alembic bass.

Here is a link to the page.
http://www.janolofstrandberg.com/tools.htm
It's the eighth bass down from the top.
Jazzyvee

jacko · « **Reply #9 on:** April 17, 2009, 04:55:44 AM »

Jazzy.
I've played that instrument. Jan-olof brought it to the first manchester Bass day and let me try it out (unplugged) while we were chatting and drinking. When he was playing it onstage, it had that unmistakeable Alembic tone. He promised that if he was ever asked back he'd bring one of his Alembics next time.

graeme

battlescars · « **Reply #10 on:** May 27, 2009, 05:36:58 PM »

Interesting. Casady had a maple (sunburst) Starfire and it sounded quite nice to me. My understanding is his first Yggsdrasil was Mahogany. Alembicized none the less. I have a DeArmond Starfire that I purchased with the intention of making a Tribute to The prior mentioned basses. I put Dark Stars in it and I liked the tone so much I've started second guessing the electronics. I have a D-Tar dual discreet buffer/ Mixer board I want to put in, but I haven't completly decided on the EQ Yet. I have an idea, but if anyone else has input please let me know

dadabass2001 · « **Reply #11 on:** May 28, 2009, 05:54:14 AM »

It looks pretty nice, Ben.
I don't know about onboard preamps, so no help there. I've got a 73 Guild Starfire II with a Mahogany body and rosewood board (see above).
Is it possible to reverse the bridge pickup to place the pole pieces closer to the bridge? You might get even more tonal variation that way.
Mike

(Message edited by dadabass2001 on May 28, 2009)

battlescars · « **Reply #12 on:** May 28, 2009, 07:42:35 AM »

Is it possible to reverse the bridge pickup to place the pole pieces closer to the bridge? You might get even more tonal variation that way.

I havent tried it, but I've seen it done. I had a '76 Guild Starfire a few years back. I don't think I could bring myself to cut into a vintage Guild though so I went with the DeArmond for the project.

(Message edited by Battlescars on May 28, 2009)

battlescars · « **Reply #13 on:** May 28, 2009, 12:39:05 PM »

Well, Here it Goes...

While it doesn't have the total rang of the Alembic system, I found out that bestbassgear.com had some Bartolini EZQ's special ordered recently. They just got them in and I ordered one for each pickup. In a perfect world I can get my Buffer/Mixer board to run both of these. if not I may skip the Buffer/Mixer board and run Volume to a dpdt (passive/active) to either the EZQ or a passive tone then to a pickup select and a master Volume. Since the EZQ, as any other active preamp, has a buffer on the front end, I get some buffering benifits still.

battlescars · « **Reply #14 on:** July 07, 2009, 04:08:26 PM »

I'm waiting on a few knobs and a noll mixpot, but here is my layout plan as of now

(Message edited by battlescars on July 09, 2009)