Cool Rics on eBay / Reverb / Craigslist

[Denis]

It sure doesn't seem to be attracting much in the way of interested parties.

[Dave W]

It's Rickenbacker's redheaded stepchild.

[ilan]

The famous Darkstar Laredo is on eBay.

[Dave W]

The famous Darkstar Laredo is on eBay.

Is Jeff Rath the seller?

Why is this famous? I remember  that Norris (Hillsidebass) bought a new 4004 in the Pit v.2 days and had Dark Stars put in almost right away. Is this his former bass?

[ilan]

I think so. It has changed several hands (at one point it was owned by Steve Barr) and was discussed in the bass forums more than once. I don't think there's another one like it. Everybody seems to think it looks great but no one ends up keeping it.

[Dave W]

That must be it, then. People jumped on the Dark Star bandwagon, irreversibly modified their basses, then before you know it, they were selling them. Guess they weren't as amazing as they thought.

A modified bass should sell for well less than an unmodded one, but I guess there are still enough folks on the bandwagon to keep the prices up. Sooner or later that will change.

[gearHed289]

Yeah, I remember talking about my '73 Guild JS II at the old Pit - the thing is totally unmolested, yet people are like "cool, put some Dark Stars on it!" F*ck, I like the way it sounds as is! I mean, it's what, an $800 bass tops? But still.....

[Dave W]

It doesn't bother me at all that some love the Dark Star, what irritated me is the fervor about it being the perfect replacement for just about anything. It was the perfect P replacement, the perfect Tele Bass humbucker replacement, the perfect Rick replacement et al. No matter that these pickups sounded very different from each other, the Dark Star was said to be everything they sounded like and more. 

I heard ad nauseam about how the DS is such a full range sound. That's why I don't like it. What makes various pickups interesting is that they're not full range, they each have their own distinctive frequency ranges, peaks, valleys, etc.

[hieronymous]

It doesn't bother me at all that some love the Dark Star, what irritated me is the fervor about it being the perfect replacement for just about anything. It was the perfect P replacement, the perfect Tele Bass humbucker replacement, the perfect Rick replacement et al. No matter that these pickups sounded very different from each other, the Dark Star was said to be everything they sounded like and more. 

I heard ad nauseam about how the DS is such a full range sound. That's why I don't like it. What makes various pickups interesting is that they're not full range, they each have their own distinctive frequency ranges, peaks, valleys, etc.

Interesting analysis! I've never played a Dark Star equipped bass, but it seems like the whole point was to tap into the magic of the early bass sounds of Jack Casady and Phil Lesh, who were not only using Bisonic-equipped Guilds but heavily modifid proto-Alembic electronics, the whole point of which was to use filters to emphasize certain frequencies. So I don't think the point was the full-range sound by itself, it was to mold that full range sound with filters (whether lo-, band-, or high-pass). That seemed to fly over a lot of people's heads...

I wonder too (and this is just a thought) how much of the "magic" of Dark Stars is in the name - even if you aren't familiar with the Grateful Dead, it's kind of mysterious and magical sounding...

[ilan]

I think that part of the appeal was that they look good, and very different from the P/J/MM/soapbar pickups that you see all the time.

[Dave W]

Interesting analysis! I've never played a Dark Star equipped bass, but it seems like the whole point was to tap into the magic of the early bass sounds of Jack Casady and Phil Lesh, who were not only using Bisonic-equipped Guilds but heavily modifid proto-Alembic electronics, the whole point of which was to use filters to emphasize certain frequencies. So I don't think the point was the full-range sound by itself, it was to mold that full range sound with filters (whether lo-, band-, or high-pass). That seemed to fly over a lot of people's heads...

I wonder too (and this is just a thought) how much of the "magic" of Dark Stars is in the name - even if you aren't familiar with the Grateful Dead, it's kind of mysterious and magical sounding...

That made me wonder too. If Casady and Lesh weren't just interested in the full range sound, why emphasize that? Then there's the fact that neither of them used these for long.

Whatever. If you put these in a Rick, you lose the the Rick sound. And you make your bass look ugly.

[hieronymous]

I think that part of the appeal was that they look good, and very different from the P/J/MM/soapbar pickups that you see all the time.

Just looked at the pics of the DarkStarLaredo again - looks like it didn't sell. I have to agree with you Ilan, I think the look is definitely another factor. And I have to disagree with Dave - I think this bass looks great! I was actually tempted to buy it back when it sold the first or second time on the 'Pit. Some people don't like the control setup - Vol, Tone and Pup selector switch, but that's all I need! But I must pass...

[Hornisse]

I'm with Dave on this.  I think these pickups work best for the hollowbody Guild basses such as the Starfire's or early M basses that were fully hollow.  I had an early JS bass with an original Bi Sonic in the neck position but to me it did not sound as good as with the hollowbody bass.

[hieronymous]

I'm with Dave on this.  I think these pickups work best for the hollowbody Guild basses such as the Starfire's or early M basses that were fully hollow.  I had an early JS bass with an original Bi Sonic in the neck position but to me it did not sound as good as with the hollowbody bass.

That's a good point as well - I've got a late-'60s Starfire with just the neck Bisonic that sounds great, and an early-'70s M85-II solid-body fretless with Guild Sludgebuckers (at least I think that's what we're calling them) - been considering swapping them out for Dark Stars, but maybe I'll keep that as-is - that's the lazy-inertia method that I favor anyway, though I still need someone to look at it because the bridge pickup by itself hums...

[chromium]

That's a good point as well - I've got a late-'60s Starfire with just the neck Bisonic that sounds great, and an early-'70s M85-II solid-body fretless with Guild Sludgebuckers (at least I think that's what we're calling them) - been considering swapping them out for Dark Stars, but maybe I'll keep that as-is - that's the lazy-inertia method that I favor anyway, though I still need someone to look at it because the bridge pickup by itself hums...

My 2-cents is that I would keep them as-is, since you have both sounds covered there (assuming you like both sounds).  The DSs and the Guild pickups are polar opposites, and both sounds have relevance.  I do miss the sludge sometimes in my JS-II.