I sold my Coronado reissue a couple of months back, but still had the itch for a big honking semi-hollow. My Jack Casady is still in need of a refinish, and my Aria TAB-66 has become a fretless Frankenstein's monster. As such, I needed a bass! I've been using two PJ Mustang basses for everything, but I've always wanted a Starfire. A Dearmond Starfire turned up locally for the equivalent of $465, so I think I got quite lucky, as I've only seen (typically rougher) examples go for more.
One owner from new, and still with the protective film residue around the neck pickup. This was his daily driver for a while, but latterly it has been living in the attic. As such the metal is a bit tarnished, and the frets are a bit green, but short of the odd scratch and one chip on the headstock it is in good condition.
Somewhat rashly I was thinking of dumping Guild BS-1 'Bisonic' reissue pickups into it, as I already have a bridge pickup, but I might hold back for the time being. The electronics didn't come out the attic storage phase unscathed; the potentiometers are very much on-off switches, and very crackly. Also, both volumes behave like master volumes in the middle setting. However the pickups sound ok. The neck pickup is very much into Chas Chandler or Paul Samwell-Smith country, and I quite like this! I'd read online that these 'Gold Tone' pickups sucked, but I haven't found this to be the case.
I'm going to do the boring stuff and restore the electronics and improve the cosmetic condition of the finish and metal work. The frets have a wee bit of roundwound chew, and maybe need a bit of a re-crown. I will then see if it actually needs Bisonic pickups, or whether I'm falling for faddy nonsense.
