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My budget is a max of 450 bucks
No discussion on this. I don't even have 450 bucks, I need to borrow. I'm poor. I can't 'bump it up'. 450 bucks is what it is. Period.
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01-15-2015 04:40 PM
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I have a Classic Thinline Tele Deluxe with WRHB and I found if you replace the pots with 500k or higher the stock pickups are fine for what they are. OTHO, I replaced my neck pup with a Lollar Regal and there's a real difference, though I don't think it was worth the $200
Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
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I prefer the Sheraton. You might try replacing the pickups. Stewart Mac Parsons Streets would be good and rather cheap.
I don't see why you would catch grief for a Sheraton. Quite a popular guitar these days in the alt-rock, alt-country arena, and of course was John Lee Hooker's go-to axe.
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I've never liked the Starcaster, the headstock looks like a discarded sock!
I have tried the Coronado and thought it was nice with its filtertrons buckies.
How about tracking down one of those Korean made Framus Billy Lorento archtop, single coil heaven!
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Buying a guitar to get rid of ass-hats cracking jokes doesn't seem the best reason, but I can actually understand it.
If you like the Starcaster, just get it. Maybe test it again in different circumstances to convince yourself it sounds right? (Personally, I think the mahogany neck and the Gibson humbuckers play a big role in the ES-335's sound, but I never played the Starcaster, so I have no idea how close that comes.)
Otherwise: sell everything and get a Gibson!
Since I got my ES-333 all other guitars are gathering dust (including my Sheraton), except for a cheap Fender Modern Player Tele Thinline Deluxe P90 aprox. $400, that's a great guitar as well.
But the ES-333 does it for me, always and under all circumstances. It cost me $1200, but it's the best $1200 ever spent.
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I do want a 335 but don't have the money and won't have the money for quite a few years, but I've got a lot of studio gigs and thing in the meanwhile
Uh, apparently my dad sold one of his Vox amplifiers to pay for half and reserved the Starcaster for me while I was in school. No going back now?
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Well, enjoy it for what it is...Fender's somewhat quirky answer to the 335.
What kind of studio gigs, by the way?
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If that's your situation, I doubt you'll find a better semi than what you already have. At 450 + what you'd get selling one or both, that would get you into slightly fancier territory, but it's not going to be radically different. You might do better buying a couple of sets of pick-ups and a soldering iron. Sheratons and Dots are pretty nice, and if people are ragging on you because they don't have a more expensive logo, well, I mean ... I'd just tell 'em to go f*ck 'emselves, but then again I don't always work and play well with others :-). Originally Posted by Marwin Moody
My experience with original Starcasters (as others have said, the new ones have very different pickups), is that they're pretty Tele-like. Maple fingerboard + 25.5" scale definitely won't feel like a 335. Listen to something like the original recordings of Cissy Strut or Look a Py Py to get the flavor. There's later Meters/Neville's/Funky Meters stuff where Nocentelli gets a fatter sound, but I think by then he had switched to 335's. But in the end, you can generally make any two electric guitars sound very much alike given the right signal chain. And if you're any kind of player, your feel, and your approach to getting a tone out of a guitar/effect/amp combination is what people are going to hear, not the logo. If you can't get a good sound out of what you have, I doubt the problem is in the guitar.
John
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Did you bring in your usual amp to play it with?! I am absolutely unrepentant and insistent about lugging in my amp and sometimes 2/3 guitars into a store to A/B an instrument. Guitars are too expensive and too quirky to base a purchase on "I kind of remember what my other instrument sounds like....and I think (hope) this is going to be better (different)." There usually are some people who actually play music even in the worst (least cooperative) store that will understand your rationale. Just make sure you identify whatever else you're bringing in so they know you're not trying to pull a fast one as you walk out with a guitar case in your hand carrying your (own) instrument. Originally Posted by Marwin Moody
Tried one of these today, liked it very much but couldn't get much sound because the music store in question was terrible. Could it work as a 335 substitute for the poor man?
My ex-wife made fun of me when I insisted on rolling up a 10 x 14 rug, and carrying it around to various furniture stores when we buying new living room furniture and I wanted to match a particular shade in the rug...in the end, she agreed it was the right thing to do....amazing how many shades of light blue there are in the world of upholstery fabric, that didn't just quite work...and we finally found one (1) that did...it looked great for years...and it would have irked me every time I went into that room, if I had "settled on" something that was not right---to my eye....you're going to be in the situation, and if money is a little tight...you need to be sure you're getting what you want and need, rather than making an expensive mistake.
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Well, turns out he traded in his new amp so they knocked it down to 220 bucks and are holding it for us. Still not 100% sure, I'll try to give it a whirl using my own amp. The store in question is rather tiny and uncomfortable, but the chain has a total monopoly unfortunately.
Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
Anything really. Looking for a versatile guitar. Going to record a cover of "Blame it on the boogie" in a few weeks. I'm a small-time session musician, and am willing to play anything as long as it gets my name out.
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For $220? Enjoy the Starcaster!
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Ok, for $220 just get it! Hell, I got fuzz boxes that cost more than that! Originally Posted by Marwin Moody
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So think it's a good buy? 220 is half my paycheck as of now... It'll get better after I start bringing some dough in with a string of concerts to be held in the near future(including the gala opening of a blues clup) but I need it now.
Last edited by mr quick; 01-16-2015 at 05:07 PM.
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Only you know the state of your finances. Only you can determine if it's an undue financial hardship. If you REALLY actually need it, you might see if you have a friend that can spot you the money while you pay them back over time. I've sold gear to friends and let them pay me back over a 3 month period -- but I knew where they lived and am their band leader Originally Posted by Marwin Moody
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Alright.. I'll get help from my father to pay for it and owe him back, as we have done before. He is a fantastic guitarist, by the way. I keep trying to get him to join the forum. All in good time.
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Take a listen to the sound this guy gets from a Starcaster.
Great playing!
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Don't Starcasters come with maple necks only? Originally Posted by Moonray
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Could be a Coronado.
Anyway, I'm going to go for it. Tomorrow is NGD! See ya then!
e: this will also be the first brand-new guitar I own =)
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You're right, that's a vintage Fender Coronado. Originally Posted by jazzbow
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yeah....sorry guys....a Coronado it is....
BTW....well worth checking out this player's You Tube channel.
Some challenging ideas.....and a bit of Thunk.
Check out that he's removed the bridge p/u.
Along with what sound like flats, that is a staunch approach.
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It's in!
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How do you like it compared to the epiphone 335?
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Originally Posted by Marwin Moody
It's in!
Ooo! I loves me some NGD! I'm all giddy for ya!
It's great when your Dad gets you something cool (me Dad got me my first bass, a WEM rapier plus WEM amp,happy days).
I got my son a Hagstrom Viking and a s/h Ovation Baladeer.
Have fun.
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This guy can really play. Just subscribed to his youtube channel, cheers. Originally Posted by Moonray
By the sound, I'd say he's playing a vintage (fully hollow) coronado - the new ones have a centre-block like a 335.
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First of all, since it ended up costing me just 120 bucks after a trade-in, I like the price. Originally Posted by nick1994
the humbuckers aren't as tinny as I was fearing that they may be. They give a rich tone and are a lot bigger than those on the dot. The main difference is clarity, even with the distortion box maxed out, the notes have a zing which simply cannot be reproduced on an Epiphone. It's much more comfortable to play because of the offset waist as well. Really diggin' the sound. So clear, but not tinny.
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