Gibson Dark Fire

Started by RoC1909, November 29, 2008, 09:54:49 PM

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willo

#25
 :)

Any of you legends got advice for setting up the GR for a Dark fire.

I assume you use the general piezo setting but what about the distance from the bridge setting.  Minimum is 10mm but the p/ups are actually in the bridge?  So I am not sure.

Also any other advice gratefully accepted.

If this has been discussed elsewhere just point me to the thread (I had a look but couldn't find it).

Thanks in advance

Willo

Zummooz

Hi willo

I have a DF, waiting on GR, but when using DF with a VG.
Inside of VG I use (piezo L) as the pickup setting type.

The distance setting, dose NOT come into account...... No need !

I see that the GR-55 has the same piezo settings as the VG.

So all should be good  ;D Cheers

*Piezo L
*NO distance setting
The  Fact  Is......"We  are  all  tactile  creatures  &  physical  interaction  has  always  been  a  big  part  of  making  music"

willo

Thanks Zummooz,

will give a try.

btw this is the second time you have helped me out (good onya)

willo  :D

admin

#28
BigVern wrote
QuoteHi there, since starting this thread I have found a great site - www.futureguitarnow.com  It has answered virtually all my questions regarding the DF and the VG-99 and lots more besides, Great bunch of guys, very helpful, you ought to check it out.

FWIW - "Those guys" at FutureGuitarnow.com" are "us guys" at VGuitarforums.com



Some trivia  -


In late 2008, many of us here purchased the Gibson Dark Fire
https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?action=downloads;sa=view;down=23

Here's mine:




http://www2.gibson.com/Products/Electric-Guitars/Les-Paul/Gibson-USA/Dark-Fire.aspx

which was a Les Paul with high integration of high tech  -


with Tronical Robo Tuners,







and assignable PU coil splits and active EQ ( Chameleon mode),






and multichannel ( one string per channel) Firewire Audio Interface,




and GK13 adapter cable for driving Roland GK-13 gear
https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?action=downloads;sa=view;down=80

and only $2800 cost ( After you shopped around and negotiated your best deal ! )


The entire journey is archived over at our sister site - which MCK , ShawnB and myself created because Gibson Forum back in 2009 was deleting/ hiding all posts older than 6 months

www.futureguitarnow.com -

https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?board=403.0


Side note  - www.futureguitarnow.com was created summer 2009 after we discovered Gibson Forums were blocking user access to all Dark Fire posts older than 6 months. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibson_Dark_Fire


But many of the forum concepts for VGuitarforums were cultivated 2009-2012 at www.futureguitarnow.com

Futureguitarnow is now an archive  - and all new discussions should occur here at www.VGuitarforums.com


http://forum.gibson.com/index.php?/topic/76907-count-me-out/

 

Elantric

QuoteHi there, since starting this thread I have found a great site - www.futureguitarnow.com  It has answered virtually all my questions regarding the DF and the VG-99 and lots more besides, Great bunch of guys, very helpful, you ought to check it out.

FutureGuitarNow is now a dead forum - only remains as an online archive
Good news - is the same folks who were there are now all members  /Admins here at VGuitarForums 

More about the Gibson Dark Fire is here:
https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=1371.msg102299#msg102299

Gibson RIP to GK-13 Adapter cable
https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?action=downloads;sa=view;down=80

Gibson / Tronical Restring procedure
https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?action=downloads;sa=view;down=74

Gibson May 2009 Blog
https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?action=downloads;sa=view;down=23

stormblue

#30
the piezo blend / neck -bridge toggle switch on my Dark Fire does not work
it does not switch pick ups nor does it blend the piezo . ..

I I have been everywhere I can think of on the web to try to find a replacement switch ..
and I have not been able to find it anywhere

I don't know if it's because it's just not available or if I don't  search for it with the proper name ...
but for whatever reason I can't find anything as to where to buy one ? or how to repair mine ..

I can't even find it at gibson.com

any help  with this would be greatly appreciated

thanks

Elantric

If it actually did still exist  - it would be listed here
http://techstore.gibson.com/dark-fire/

Suggest contact

Gibson

or

Tronical


shawnb


Pretty common problem back in the Darkfire days.  Many of us fixed it ourselves.  Usually there was pretty clearly a broken wire in there.  Some of those wires clearly get worked back & forth A LOT & fatigue/break over time.   If you're brave & solder it, after successfully soldering it, use a hot glue gun to melt some glue over the solder joint to minimize the repeated bending.  I had a replacement switch sent out at one point, & the new switch had exactly that fix upon arrival. 

Brings back memories...  More here... 
https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=32124.msg239955#msg239955
Address the process rather than the outcome.  Then, the outcome becomes more likely.   - Fripp

Elantric

#33



Verify a wire did not come loose  - typical problem

https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=31367.msg239403#msg239403

Thanks for the replies about my problems with the piezo blend/pu selector noise. I tried ohming out the selector to the guitar output ground connection, zero ohms was my result, same as MCK. Then I pulled off the rear cover and pulled out the selector switch to inspect for loose connections. This was easy, if your carefull because there was enough slack in the wiring to manuever the switch out and upright . I found that all connections looked great with good clean solder joints. So I hit the lower part of the selector with a small blast of canned air then DeoxIT and put it back together and I'm happy to say, PROBLEM SOLVED! I had tried DeoxIT with selector still mounted in the guitar but it did nothing. Hope this may help others because my DF had this bug right out of the box and I was going to send it back to Gibson RMA.











Elantric

http://www.gibson.com/News-Lifestyle/Features/en-us/Five-Ways-I-was-Wrong-About-Automatic-Tuning.aspx?utm_source=iContact&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Gibson%20Brands,%20Inc.&utm_content=Editorial+eBlast+-+October+7%2C+2014

I first became seriously involved with Gibson because of the HD.6X Pro hex guitar, and even put a two-piece band together based on it. Then one day Henry Juszkiewicz, Gibson's Chairman and CEO, called to say if I liked the HD.6X Pro, I was really going to like Gibson's latest development—the Robot Guitar. "Craig, it's a guitar that tunes itself!"

I was unimpressed. "Henry, I know how to tune a guitar...I guess beginners will like it, though." But then he added "It does alternate tunings." Well, I wasn't impressed with that either; I seldom used alternate tunings because they're a pain. I'm also the kind of guy who was even reluctant to put a battery in a guitar. But he was insistent, so I figured I should at least try it out.

Ooops. Here are the five main aspects where my initial assumptions were wrong.

I know how to tune a guitar, so there's no real point in having a guitar that tunes itself. But there is a point—automatic tuning tunes all six strings to pitch within seconds. As a card-carrying humanoid biped, until I grow an extra five hands that ain't gonna happen by myself. Time is money in my world; reducing tuning time dramatically is a big deal.

I wouldn't use the alternate tunings anyway. Once I found it was possible to dial up alternate tunings in seconds, my slide—which had been gathering dust—gathered dust no more. Open and other tunings can add entirely new textures.

Really, how often do you tune a guitar anyway? You know the story: you tune up and you play; it's not a big deal. Except...it is a big deal if you're in the studio, and subsequent parts reveal the guitar wasn't quite in tune—so you have to re-cut it (or hope Melodyne's polyphonic pitch correction mode can fix it). It's also a big deal because I create sample libraries of guitar sounds and the tuning for every single note has to be perfect. When doing my first library, I spent at least a third of my time tuning. With automatic tuning that shrank to a couple percent of the time, because it was a no-brainer to take a few seconds and tweak the tuning before every series of takes.

I'd be hosed if the battery died. I assumed that, but even with the original Robot guitar you could tune manually if you disengaged the tuning heads from the gear mechanism (klunky, but functional). Gibson G FORCE™ is an improvement because the tuners also work manually—if you forget to replace the battery before a gig, you're no worse off than if you didn't have G FORCE™.

Automatic tuning is a one-trick pony. Once I delved further into the features, I discovered lots of other useful functions...like the "string up" and "string down" modes that make it easy to replace strings, and the option to create "sweetened" tunings with some strings set slightly sharp or flat. And in the studio, I sometimes like to slow the tracks down a half-step, and play guitar with the half-step-down alternate tuning preset. Raising the tracks back to normal pitch gives the guitar a brighter, more "pop" timbre.

Yes, in many ways I was wrong about automatic tuning. Then again there's my daughter, who was raised on the Dark Fire guitar (which had automatic tuning). She thinks it's odd to play a guitar that doesn't tune itself. And after years of using automatic tuning, I see her point.


Elantric

#35
https://www.gearnews.com/custom-shop-rumours-whats-going-gibson/
Custom Shop Rumours: What the hell is going on at Gibson?
Where's Edwin?


Gibson Custom Shop rumours 2017. Where's Edwin?  ·  Source: Gibson
Now, I'm not one to gossip (okay, I am, as it's actually part of my job), but I keep hearing all these rumours about Gibson, their Custom Shop and the state of this once great American guitar maker.
Custom Shop exit?

First off, I've been hearing a lot of whispered rumours recently from dealers here in the UK and on the other side of the Atlantic. What is particularly interesting is that conversations on both sides of the pond seem to be circling around the same issues.
My sources tell me that the founder of Gibson Custom Shop, the man that started it all off, has been outed. The man in question is Edwin Wilson, 'the man' at the renowned Custom Shop. He founded it, ran it and is generally considered to be the father of the whole department.
The rumour also popped up on various guitar forums like thefretboard (my boys in the UK) and then repeated over in the US at mylespaul. It makes you wonder: is there any truth to it? The old adage that there is no smoke without fire seems apt, as for a rumour to emerge on two highly respected guitar forums frequented by a lot of people in the industry is more than coincidence.
There are even now rumours that the Gibson Custom shop has stopped reissue Historics, Relics and Reissues!
Official statement

Although Gibson has not made any announcement about Edwin Wilson's departure, there are underlying developments at Gibson that might be relevant. When Mike Eldred left the Fender Custom Shop it was a big deal for some, and there were similar rumours floating around before it all became official. What seems relevant to this new rumour is that Gibson has been in financial difficulties for a while now. I even wrote an article about this last year.
Speculation

Yes, this is all speculation and some of that is being whispered on guitar forum threads. But we believe that it's not just background noise. After all, we know that there have been questions raised over Gibson's financial performance, including their downgrading by Moody's Investor Services. That could be an important context for these new rumours. Could be.
My opinion? Gibson are making some very cheap and not-so-great guitars that they have been trying to 'box shift' on Amazon. Below I have added the YouTube review of the Gibson Firebird Zero by online guitar reviewer Agufish. This honest review pulls no punches and gives quite a damning view of this model.
It appears that Gibson are trying to sell poorly thought-out guitars, rather than concentrating on what they do best, which is not helping their reputation. The Gibson Custom Shop instruments are still considered amazing guitars and perhaps they should be concentrating on those instead of giving us cheaply made Firebird knock-offs?
Robot tuners and Firebird Zeros...

Gibson attracted a lot of criticism for the 2015 line-up (super-wide necks, robot tuners, holograms and crayon-like signatures). Then there was the Firebird Zero mentioned above, which seemed a poor match for what customers were expecting. Maybe they deserve some credit for at least trying to innovate. But some Gibson dealers were, it seems, stuck with stock they could not shift, and Gibson further alienated them by discounting these guitars in blow out sales on Amazon, in effect undercutting their own dealers.
https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=10208.0

For those of you that don't know Edwin, I have added a video interview with him from 2013 with German YouTube channel Session, as you can see Edwin knows his stuff, so it would be a great shame if he has gone. If you have an opinion or have heard something I have not, then please comment below.
https://www.gearnews.com/custom-shop-rumours-whats-going-gibson/
https://www.gearnews.com/gibson-2017-les-paul-standard-painted-series-beaten/
from r/Guitar

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-et-ms-gibson-brands-guitar-henry-juszkiewicz-20170618-htmlstory.html

Elantric



FWIW - several Gibson Dark Fires are poping up in up the used market


https://reverb.com/marketplace?query=dark%20fire


GuitarBuilder

Quote from: Elantric on June 16, 2017, 11:49:53 AM


FWIW - several Gibson Dark Fires are poping up in up the used market


https://reverb.com/marketplace?query=dark%20fire

$1,900 sounds like a decent deal!
"There's no-one left alive, it must be a draw"  Peter Gabriel 1973

Tony Raven

$1,800-$2,000 (delivered, with OHSC) seems to be the going rate.

Anyone know what the SRP was? I can't locate this.

admin

#39
In December 2008 the MSRP was $3400 for Dark Fire



admin

QuoteSomeone mentioned in a thread to ask about your experience with the dusk tiger?
Was considering buying one of these...main thing was how was the tracking for the 13 pin?
thanks!
Myself ( aka Elantric) and Shawnb own Gibson Dark Fire guitars  - which is basically same electronics as Dusk Tiger - just different firmware

they track only fair - exhibit high crosstalk in the piezo bridge and have poor dynamic range due to the analog multiplexing scheme to get 7 audio channels out of the guitar over one TRS cable to the RIP (Robot Interface ) box co developed by Echo Audio

Not recommended in 2019


Adrian Bryan

Hi Guys,

Just registered here - used to be active on the futureguitarnow site.

I have two Dark Fires - one with the original firmware and one that I changed to DT. My old computer with the Chameleon Tone editor and
the various firmware versions is dead. Does anyone know anywhere that I can find replacements?

Cheers,
Adrian.