Is there really a huge switch to flatwound strings going on?

[dadagoboi]

Then values fell. Not that there's anything wrong with Darkstars, but the hysteria was hard to understand.

I sold one on Talk Bass for $300 two years or so ago...in 15 minutes.  That was after Novak came out with his @ $300 and before Guild intro'd their reissue Bi sonic for less than $100.

Now all the yahoos are calling the Guilds 'Dark Stars' and I'm sure the price of an original Hammon isn't what it was...tulips anyone?

[Happy Face]

I sold one on Talk Bass for $300 two years or so ago...in 15 minutes.  That was after Novak came out with his @ $300 and before Guild intro'd their reissue Bi sonic for less than $100.

Now all the yahoos are calling the Guilds 'Dark Stars' and I'm sure the price of an original Hammon isn't what it was...tulips anyone?

I'm surprised as well, but try and find a Darkstar for less now. And I am surprised again, but it sure seems like the new Guild 'stars don't cut the mustard. Hype? Maybe.

Full disclosure -

My primary recording bass is a hollow M-85 equipped with Bisonics and TI-Jazz flats. The engineer at the studio we are using told me "I have never heard a bass that sounds so fat yet articulate." 

On some songs my Rick sounds better, but no one at the studio or in the band ever asks me to play my Fender instead of the Guild, though I offer the option on every song. Maybe there was something to all that hype, eh? I am sure glad I fell for it.

[Psycho Bass Guy]

I think Carlo was attesting to the hype that Darkstars had more than dissing Bisonic tone. More than once I remember Darkstar fans proclaiming them to be superior to just about everything, including the Bisonics they were modeled after. I was curious about what all the fuss was over, but not enough to make a huge rout in anything I already had. I've played plenty of old Guilds and found them to be nice, but not for me. Steve Barr also likely coined the term "mudbucker" in reference to Gibson Sidewinders. There were quite a few folks who spent copious amounts of money based on the recommendations of members there back in the day and most were pretty happy for awhile and then moved on to the next trend when it arose. The whole TI flats thing caught my attention, but I WANT higher tension strings when I use flats, so I decided that they probably weren't for me unless the tone was just unreal. The neatest strings I ever played were on some import Italian bass from the 60's (can't remember the brand) that was short scale. They were "flatwounds," but unlike any I have seen before or since with the strings themselves having a rubberized coating, like modern tapewounds, but looking to have literally been dipped in liquid rubber. I still rolled the tone knob off. 

[Dave W]

I sold one on Talk Bass for $300 two years or so ago...in 15 minutes.  That was after Novak came out with his @ $300 and before Guild intro'd their reissue Bi sonic for less than $100.

I wasn't talking about the price of the pickups, but about the value of the DS-modded basses. Pickup prices were bound to increase after Fred disappeared. But back then, guys were modding new expensive basses with Dark Stars and asking the price of the bass plus the price of the pickups and labor to mod them, and more. That lasted for a while, until they ran out of willing buyers.

Now all the yahoos are calling the Guilds 'Dark Stars' and I'm sure the price of an original Hammon isn't what it was...tulips anyone?

Yeah, I don't get that either. A Dark Star was Fred's hotrodded version of the original Bisonic. No one should expect the reissue Bisonic to be a Dark Star.

[Dave W]

I think Carlo was attesting to the hype that Darkstars had more than dissing Bisonic tone. More than once I remember Darkstar fans proclaiming them to be superior to just about everything, including the Bisonics they were modeled after. I was curious about what all the fuss was over, but not enough to make a huge rout in anything I already had. I've played plenty of old Guilds and found them to be nice, but not for me. Steve Barr also likely coined the term "mudbucker" in reference to Gibson Sidewinders. There were quite a few folks who spent copious amounts of money based on the recommendations of members there back in the day and most were pretty happy for awhile and then moved on to the next trend when it arose. The whole TI flats thing caught my attention, but I WANT higher tension strings when I use flats, so I decided that they probably weren't for me unless the tone was just unreal. The neatest strings I ever played were on some import Italian bass from the 60's (can't remember the brand) that was short scale. They were "flatwounds," but unlike any I have seen before or since with the strings themselves having a rubberized coating, like modern tapewounds, but looking to have literally been dipped in liquid rubber. I still rolled the tone knob off. 

Yep, the Pit always had lots of bandwagon-jumping and then later moving on. Dude's following became a cult of personality, although he never intended it that way, he just wanted to sell product and promote others (e.g Fred Hammon) whose products he liked.

The operative phrase about Dark Stars was that they had "wide range tone," as if that made them superior. Well, you can get wide range tone with EMGs, too. The question should be whether or not you like the tone. I like the original Bisonics okay but liked the later Guild humbuckers better. The Dark Stars did nothing for me.

[Aussie Mark]

All my basses have worn flats only for the past 20 years.  Recently I bought a used bass with rounds on it, and have kept those on it, because when I first owned one of those basses in the 1980s it had rounds on it, so this one felt quite familiar.  Otherwise, it's flats for me - all my other basses are wearing a selection of Pyramids, TIs, Chromes and EB Flats.