I picked up one recently. I agree,mit was cut green and roughly finished in some area's. It's It's triple AAA grade neck and still in good shape with extra low action. The frets are sharp but I can easily fix that. This one has a multiple piece body but has a natural/ black burst finish. Out of all the Squier and starcaster guitar's which is about 15, this one made the cut in spite of its flaws because the setup is so low and has a bone nut. I filed the neck where there was a knot, lol. I mean, it has the perfect story of what it's been through and I feel so darn lucky to have this one in like a thousand or maybe less. I also found another one with just a fine of a neck as the other but filled with Birdseye and quilting throughout. The body was disappointing as it was particle board. As I went to source the body I found the one Ina thousand for 70 dollar's. I wanted a poor man's guitar and I knew they made a few good one's. It just takes many sad and not so nice one's to get to this one. I could have just gotten a Fender stratocaster. Lol
I’ve looked at some others since this one. The ones with the Swinger headstocks seem to have nice bodies, but I will avoid the ones with painted Strat headstocks.
Hey! I hope I’m not to late to get an answer but is the neck pocket standard? I’m hoping to get a made in Mexico neck for my starcaster so that I can upgrade the old thick neck
Neck measured 2.19" at its widest point, so that's pretty standard. I imagine an MIM neck would have fit that body. Be warned though, not all Starcaster bodies are the same thickness, so there may be other differences.
@@hacksguitarhobby hey, thanks! I believe it should fit my starcaster just fine then I have a full thickness body with a beautiful silver burst finish.
A cheap Starcaster saved me in a pinch. I was a sked to come into studio and play the lead to a RR HOF band. They remove the guitar trackes and just wanted to see hiow a compared playing if I had to fill in for a legendary. ( I have been playing guitar for 51 years. The day before the recording they gave me the song.... I had lent out my only guitar that is cut out enough to reach the high frett riffs. I ran to Rossi music and grabbed the first guitar the was cut to play.. it was a starcaster I ran the guitar parts, rythm and lead. They sent the file to the management team and they thought no tracks were cut out and it was just the original guitarist. Recording studio verified to them it was me.. Playing with a cheap $100 guitar duplicating the exact sound. I was immedsiately called into their offices but I said just call, not flying. They said they wanted to sign me for a 3 year tour deal.. which means i would be just waiting and always playing in rehersals and studio. Told them I was not interest in touring.. I play guitar for fun, not for money and the tour is way to much like work. They said they would be in contact with an offer..... Next email was a halt to a deal... Seems the lead singer wanter to replace all band member and have all the controll.... The tour was stopped 1 week later. the starcaster was great in a bind.
You need to tighten the claw screws. You can detune slightly, put a turn in each one, retune, and repeat until you get everything level to your liking. If the claw gets tight all the way and the tremolo still rises, you may want to add a spring or get stiffer springs. This video provides another method that is quicker using a wood block: th-cam.com/video/KeptrLSidx4/w-d-xo.htmlsi=Baf3C885jJ0PkszX
This is only video showing the teardown of this guitar. And what's this guy do? He fast forwards through the very thing I wanted to see. Where the bridge wire go to.
I’m guessing this came out before Fender thought of resurrecting the ‘70s semi-hollow body Starcaster? 🤔 Brand®Names do tend to get repurposed (Bullet, Squire, etc.). Never heard of this one, so it was kind of interesting. Thanks.
I could equate guitars to restaurants… if you go expensive you are more likely to get better ingredients and service, but it’s not like you can’t have a good experience at a fast food place. Some of the ingredients are the same. You can eat multiple times at fast food for every one time you go to an expensive restaurant. Sometimes you’ll have a better experience at fast food, but many people enjoy the expensive places more. The best fast food place will never reach the level of the best high end restaurant to a discriminating customer. To each their own. :)
I picked up one recently. I agree,mit was cut green and roughly finished in some area's. It's It's triple AAA grade neck and still in good shape with extra low action. The frets are sharp but I can easily fix that. This one has a multiple piece body but has a natural/ black burst finish. Out of all the Squier and starcaster guitar's which is about 15, this one made the cut in spite of its flaws because the setup is so low and has a bone nut. I filed the neck where there was a knot, lol. I mean, it has the perfect story of what it's been through and I feel so darn lucky to have this one in like a thousand or maybe less. I also found another one with just a fine of a neck as the other but filled with Birdseye and quilting throughout. The body was disappointing as it was particle board. As I went to source the body I found the one Ina thousand for 70 dollar's. I wanted a poor man's guitar and I knew they made a few good one's. It just takes many sad and not so nice one's to get to this one. I could have just gotten a Fender stratocaster. Lol
I’ve looked at some others since this one. The ones with the Swinger headstocks seem to have nice bodies, but I will avoid the ones with painted Strat headstocks.
Hey! I hope I’m not to late to get an answer but is the neck pocket standard? I’m hoping to get a made in Mexico neck for my starcaster so that I can upgrade the old thick neck
I don’t have that body anymore, but I do have the neck. I should be able to measure it later today.
Neck measured 2.19" at its widest point, so that's pretty standard. I imagine an MIM neck would have fit that body. Be warned though, not all Starcaster bodies are the same thickness, so there may be other differences.
@@hacksguitarhobby hey, thanks! I believe it should fit my starcaster just fine then I have a full thickness body with a beautiful silver burst finish.
is this alder ?
Difficult to say for sure. General consensus is that they are Agathis or Basswood.
A cheap Starcaster saved me in a pinch. I was a sked to come into studio and play the lead to a RR HOF band. They remove the guitar trackes and just wanted to see hiow a compared playing if I had to fill in for a legendary. ( I have been playing guitar for 51 years. The day before the recording they gave me the song.... I had lent out my only guitar that is cut out enough to reach the high frett riffs. I ran to Rossi music and grabbed the first guitar the was cut to play.. it was a starcaster
I ran the guitar parts, rythm and lead.
They sent the file to the management team and they thought no tracks were cut out and it was just the original guitarist. Recording studio verified to them it was me.. Playing with a cheap $100 guitar duplicating the exact sound.
I was immedsiately called into their offices but I said just call, not flying. They said they wanted to sign me for a 3 year tour deal.. which means i would be just waiting and always playing in rehersals and studio.
Told them I was not interest in touring.. I play guitar for fun, not for money and the tour is way to much like work. They said they would be in contact with an offer.....
Next email was a halt to a deal... Seems the lead singer wanter to replace all band member and have all the controll.... The tour was stopped 1 week later.
the starcaster was great in a bind.
Great stuff!
@@hacksguitarhobby A little clue.. My first guitar teacher was Kevin Cronin
I got my niece one of these and the bridge won't stay down
You need to tighten the claw screws. You can detune slightly, put a turn in each one, retune, and repeat until you get everything level to your liking. If the claw gets tight all the way and the tremolo still rises, you may want to add a spring or get stiffer springs. This video provides another method that is quicker using a wood block: th-cam.com/video/KeptrLSidx4/w-d-xo.htmlsi=Baf3C885jJ0PkszX
This is only video showing the teardown of this guitar. And what's this guy do? He fast forwards through the very thing I wanted to see. Where the bridge wire go to.
This guy, here. :) Tremolo claw to the back of the volume pot.
I’m guessing this came out before Fender thought of resurrecting the ‘70s semi-hollow body Starcaster? 🤔 Brand®Names do tend to get repurposed (Bullet, Squire, etc.). Never heard of this one, so it was kind of interesting. Thanks.
Probably, and I am not sure they are made anymore. Definitely not made with this headstock anymore.
The real morale of the story is that people pay thousands of dollars for the same worthless guitar when they call it Fender. ;)
I could equate guitars to restaurants… if you go expensive you are more likely to get better ingredients and service, but it’s not like you can’t have a good experience at a fast food place. Some of the ingredients are the same. You can eat multiple times at fast food for every one time you go to an expensive restaurant. Sometimes you’ll have a better experience at fast food, but many people enjoy the expensive places more. The best fast food place will never reach the level of the best high end restaurant to a discriminating customer. To each their own. :)