Starfire Headless Bass

The "Overlord of Music"? Perhaps you've noticed a flood of instruments made in China and being imported under a plethora of brand names. Not just here but Europe and Asia as well. Factories are cranking out copies of American and now Japanese instruments in mind boggling numbers. The new wave of School of Rock kids looking for instruments their hereos play but the name on the headstock makes their parent's weep are now being filled by imports once again.

So how about a copy? Of course you have the standards like Epiphone for those seeking a Gibson and a zillion Stratocaster copies from manufacturers large and small. But what about everyone else? Enter the new wave of imports that not only copy the Big 3 (Fender/Gibson/Martin) but Ibanez, Steinberger, Rickenbacker, BC Rich and so on. Buy them finished or even as kits you can put together over a weekend. Either way the choice in the $100-300 price range is down right incredible! There are also the high end importers who sell guitars in exotic woods with upgraded hardware and pickups in the higher end of the range. Many are made in the same factories used by the name brands.

Back in the 70's, or what is referred to as the "lawsuit" era, Japanese manufacturers started tocreated their own designs and not just copies of American instrumens. My 1975 Ibanez Artist is an excellent example. By the time Korea became a player high quality copies had once again returned. The pursuit of cheap labor placed factories in China who in turn created their own industry and a flood of inexpensive copies. Since I have some experience with Chinese manufacturers and own several "sample" guitars of impressive quality I thought a "headless" instrument would be worth considering.

I've always thought the Steinberger headless bass and guitars were so cool. Played several but for whatever reason I never bought one. Purchased by Gibson (musicyo) and manufacturing moved to Korea they are back to a U.S. made line with, of course, a U.S. made price. Copies of the Steinberger headless design are not new as Cort and others have produced versions since the '80s. Now you can find various headless designs including those that stay true to the original like this month's G.A.S. attack a Starfire headless bass.

After stumbling on one selling for a Buy It Now of $169 on eBay I decided to check the seller's other items for sale. Sure enough they had one running as a regular auction with 2 days to go with the bid at $33. The seller had good feedback and the other headless basses they had sold all received positive comments. Certainly worth a bid but I didn't want to spend more than $100 so I entered $88. Now I really didn't think I'd win it for that price and I didn't. It was $10 less at $78! With shipping it came in at $103 and I had it within a few days.

Based on the pricing of the Chinese guitar manufacturer that I work with, this model probably cost between $70-80 plus shipping. Shipped via ocean freight would add $8-10 plus clearance costs, etc so $20 or basically $100. That means they lost money on this one since they had to ship it to me. Neiher a case or a gig bag was included for the $78 but I wasn't expecting one. So what did I actually get for my money?

A solid chunk of wood with a set neck, 24 frets (not including the zero fret), 2 passive ceramic magnet pickups and a headless tuning system. She's 38" in length and has a 34" scale. Locking nut and fine tuning type tailpiece. Finished in a heavy high gloss black my fingerprints are evident on the body photos. Basic white silkscreen Starfire logo could be any name. Pretty basic, nothing fancy and not a Steinberger but $78.

The neck is chunky however tapers towards the head...uh the place where strings end. The tuners are obviously not Steinberger quality and require an allen wrench unless you have incredible finger stength for the "fine" tuners. The bridge is fully adjustable and required a set up to get the guitar close to intonated however there were no buzzes or need for a truss rod adjustment. As for the action, it's decent at 3/16" for 12th fret but the 5/8" string spacing seems a bit wide to me.

The fit and finish are very good with minimal, if any, flaws. Wiring and soldering is neat and clean with plenty of room in the cavity for upgrading. The cavity itself is not shielded and the pickups a bit weak but pretty much noise free. Plugged into my Carvin bass amp I wasn't impressed with the tone as it lacks punch, growl and any mids but she's playable and ripe for some modiications.

So what's the verdict? She wasn't purchased to become a primary player as those spots are currently held by my trusty Ibanez EX and Chinese "sample" bass of much better quality. The aforementioned received an ARTEC SE3P-A Parametric EQ and Giovanni Custom J & P bass pickups. A tone monster but back to the Starfire. The potential is there to improve its tone with a pickup and eq upgrade and a set of better strings. The tuners, although not the best, will hold tune but an allen wrench is necessary for adjustment. Not exactly great for the stage. "Excuse me I need to find my allen wrench. It dropped somewhere around here!"

My experience with my Chinese sample guitar and bass have been positive. They do get played on a regular basis. Although a higher end product in comparision, they to required pickup upgrades as "factory pickups" tend to be low grade ceramic, anemic and not the best quality as with the Starfire. Of course for a bang around they'll do but if it plays well a pickup swap is worth the money. Why suffer with bad tone?

Starfire is just one of the many names out there on eBay. Since the names are not familiar many sellers leave them off opting for just something like "electric bass new in box". Search around and you'll find them. Make sure to check the seller's feedback and you'll be able to tell if it is complete garbage or something playable. Don't bother with the Buy It Now (unless the G.A.S. Attack is severe!) and with a fews bids plus a little patience you might just snag yourself a $100 headless bass, solidbody guitar/bass, hollowbody guitar/bass, lap steel, etc. Good hunting!