A 1999 DeArmond Starfire bass in for a custom Alembic-style bridge and tailpiece installation.

The tricky part of this installation requires routing the tone block of the bridge into the arched top. The photo above shows my custom saddle slotting jig modified with guides sized to rout the mating pocket in the top.

You can see the original DeArmond factory routs extending outside of the new bridge. The player and I considered various cosmetic options to hide them. In the end we decided to just let them show as they are not that much of an eyesore and fit the vibe of this player-grade workhorse.

This bass is decked out with a crazy amount of wiring ala Phil Lesh. The pickups are Fred Hammon "Dark Star" pickups that are based on the Hagstrom BiSonics. These pickups are recreations of the originals that were popularized by Jack Casady (Jefferson Airplane) and Phil Lesh (Grateful Dead) in the late '60s. Note if you are interested in these pickups, check out Curtis Novak as Fred has stopped producing them.

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1960's Silvertone 1488 Silhouette [7.4 lbs] :: bum switches & broken truss rod.

A bunch of work went into this guitar. The removable truss rod was broken (and missing the adjustment nut), a small crack near the nut between the neck and the fingerboard, the original rocker switches were shot and the pickguard had shrunk and become distorted.

First the truss rod was repaired and the neck crack glued. The switches were replaced with a Jaguar setup, and the pickguard mounting holes in the body were plugged and the guard re-mounted with new screws (I also added a few screws between the pickups and the neck to hold down the puffed up pickguard). The tuner bushings were replaced as I could not source a replacement for one that was missing. A neck shim along with a new bone nut finished off the setup. These DeArmond Silverfoils sound incredible.

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on the bench

New custom Alembic bridge :: 1999 DeArmond Starfire Bass [9.7 lbs]

1960's Silvertone 1488 Silhouette [7.4 lbs] :: bum switches & broken truss rod

Made in Mass, not mass made.

LYNN, MASSACHUSETTS