Guild M-85 II

[Basvarken]

Finally scored one last night!
After years of gassing for those.
They don't pop up very often on Ebay and if they do they're usually way out of my league price wise.

This one needs some serious TLC, but I'm quite sure it will be a most enjoyable bass after that.
The most structural issue is a badly executed neck repair, that needs to be redone.



I'm pretty psyched!

[Iome]

Thats one damn beauty. Congrats Rob. Are those the old Guild Pickups that blackstar are reproducing?

[Basvarken]

Yes, Fred Hammon's DarkStars are built as a replacement for these.

[gweimer]

I wish I still had mine.  I had a semi-hollow body version in black that was dead mint.  I paid $225 for it in 1979.  It was my "Ronnie Lane" bass for "Every Picture Tells A Story".

Nice score!

[Dave W]

Thats one damn beauty. Cograts Rob. Are those the old Guild Pickups that blackstar are reproducing?

The Darkstars are reproductions of the earlier Guild single coil made by Hagstrom. These are the later Guild humbuckers.

[chromium]

Yes, Fred Hammon's DarkStars are built as a replacement for these.

You should give those sludgebuckers a chance first, though.  Great for melt-your-face-thru-an-overdriven-tube-amp blues/rock sound!  There heavy on the mids (mine metered out ~33K), but not as much sub-bass as a mudbucker.

The Darkstars sound and respond completely different, with more of a broadband frequency response.  So you'll really need two Guilds in the long run! 

Congrats- nice bass!

[Pilgrim]

Dang, that looks MEGA-cool!

[Basvarken]

You should give those sludgebuckers a chance first, though.  

I am not planning on putting DarkStars in. I like the M-85 sound just the way it is.

[Pilgrim]

I am not planning on putting DarkStars in. I like the M-85 sound just the way it is.

BRAVO!!!!  Good choice.

[hieronymous]

Nice! Looks a lot like mine:



Looks like yours has one more knob than mine - didn't they add a master volume or something? Mine is early, looks to be a '71 or so.

I love the "sludgebucker" term - is that recent?

[Barklessdog]

Nice score. I always had a thing for those basses, my favorite guild.

[chromium]

I love the "sludgebucker" term - is that recent?

I thought I remember that as a term-of-not-so-much-endearment for those pickups at the old forum. 

I kinda wish I hadn't sold the ones from my bass.  My plan was to get a 70s Starfire, move the DSs to that, and put sludgebuckers back in the JS-II.  Years later, though, I find my Starfire GAS fading...

[Dave W]

IIRC Fred called them ho-humbuckers. To each his own, I'm not a huge fan but I do like the sound of them better than Dark Stars. YMMV.

[gweimer]

My M-85 wasn't muddy at all.  It had a great warm sound.  In a large room, you don't want to boost the lows.  I usually keep the deep lows suppressed a little, and favor the low mids, then boost the volume a little.  Brian Rome (McCartney) gets a great live sound from his.

[Hornisse]

I saw The Knack way back when and Nigel was playing one but it had DiMarzio Model G replacements.  Sounded good too.  I had a black one I bought in the late 1980's for $200.  Someone had replaced the original bridge with a Badass I.