#82864  by Rusty the Scoob
 
New bass day for me! It's a DeArmond Starfire - made by Fender in Korea sometime in the 90's? 00's? I think.

My friend modified it with a D-Tar buffer which I believe was designed by Rick Turner and is now discontinued, two Dark Star pickups, and a Bartolini EZQ for each pickup, which according to their website is a: "parametric filter capable of low pass, band pass or high pass performance with adjustable frequency and Q - 9 volt or 18 volt" So I'm still a little bit confused by all the knobs but it sure sounds good!
Starfire.jpg
 #82878  by jackr
 
Congrats, it looks great. There sure are a lot of wires going on in that lower F hole.
 #82898  by tcsned
 
Sweet Rusty! Have you gigged with it yet? If so how'd she do? Our bassist has been thinking of getting one - he had a Guild back in the 60s but let it go when I was still in Kindergarten ;)

Is it pretty light? Slash (our bassist) sold me his '73 P-Bass and got one of those Sting signature P basses 'cause it was lighter - I think he replaced the pickup, had the frets dressed, and neck tweaked. Been trying to get him to sing "Roxanne" to no avail . . .
 #82908  by Rusty the Scoob
 
Thanks, all!

I did half a Fennario Wednesday on it last September when my friend came up and let me borrow it for a gig - which made my decision very easy when he offered to sell it to me.

Sounds great and plays great - neck is thin and easy, sound is big, warm, round and woody but still very clear and articulate, with better attack and note definition than my custom/Warmoth bass - and that was before I even touched the filters.

It's right around the weight of a regular 4-string P-bass, I think... my custom bass is 13.5 lbs so everything else feels light to me. :lol: I'll put it on the bathroom scale tonight.
 #82909  by tigerstrat
 
tcsned wrote:Sweet Rusty! Have you gigged with it yet? If so how'd she do? Our bassist has been thinking of getting one - he had a Guild back in the 60s but let it go when I was still in Kindergarten ;)

Is it pretty light? Slash (our bassist) sold me his '73 P-Bass and got one of those Sting signature P basses 'cause it was lighter - I think he replaced the pickup, had the frets dressed, and neck tweaked. Been trying to get him to sing "Roxanne" to no avail . . .
Sting has a signature P-bass? Weird, because I have rarely seen him play anything but that beautiful sunburst Tele bass.
 #82914  by jeffm725
 
love the starfire, that is awesome! Great get!
 #82918  by tcsned
 
tigerstrat wrote:
tcsned wrote:Sweet Rusty! Have you gigged with it yet? If so how'd she do? Our bassist has been thinking of getting one - he had a Guild back in the 60s but let it go when I was still in Kindergarten ;)

Is it pretty light? Slash (our bassist) sold me his '73 P-Bass and got one of those Sting signature P basses 'cause it was lighter - I think he replaced the pickup, had the frets dressed, and neck tweaked. Been trying to get him to sing "Roxanne" to no avail . . .
Sting has a signature P-bass? Weird, because I have rarely seen him play anything but that beautiful sunburst Tele bass.
Yeah, I'm not sure if the Tele bass was a Fender name or just what it got called by everyone and it was originally called the "P" in the 50s or what but I believe Fender sells it as a Precision. I seem to remember them making those things in the 70s too. It's a MIJ bass not super expensive but Slash has it sounding really good though with some set up work.