Starcaster, anyone?

[Woody Sound]

These seem to be a rarity among semi players, I wonder why. I always thought they at least looked cool. I never played one, so I wonder what the neck is like.

[BigDaddyLoveHandles]

I wonder how different the reissue (middle pic) is from the original.

[Woody Sound]

I wonder how different the reissue (middle pic) is from the original.

Obvious changes, Gibson style bridge/tail, bound f-holes, and no more master vol. (But I *like* a master vol.) And that sunburst is awesome.

[helios]

One viable and possibly better quality alternative to the Starcaster (first introduced as Fender's 1970's failed attempt to compete with the ES-335) is the Warmoth Mooncaster:

[citizenk74]

I always thought they were pretty hip looking. I get the feeling they are hefty. Wouldn't mind having one or two.

[BigDaddyLoveHandles]

Obvious changes, Gibson style bridge/tail, bound f-holes, and no more master vol. (But I *like* a master vol.) And that sunburst is awesome.

The pickups are different under the hood, the original bridge was string-thru, the neck contour is probably different as is the fret wire.

[Gilpy]

I thought they were kind of ugly and weird, but my friend had an original one and he loved it. He sold it during a time of need for big $.
He recently got a reissue, which I have played. Not a particularly good guitar. Certainly playable, but heavy and nothing special tone-wise.

[neatomic]

the original fender wide range pickups (designed by the great seth lover) were slightly larger than a normal humbucker..and used a magnet formula that's very expensive to reproduce today

it's primary user was leo nocentelli of the funky meters



cheers

[BigDaddyLoveHandles]

You might want to consider the Eastman Romeo.

[John A.]

These seem to be a rarity among semi players, I wonder why. I always thought they at least looked cool. I never played one, so I wonder what the neck is like.

I haven't played one in ages, but my recollection (bolstered by videos), is that they sound much more like a tele than a 335 due to the "wide range" pickups, which dims their appeal to most semi users. The reissues shade more toward a 335 sound (at least in videos) because they use standard humbuckers (in wide-range style covers), but not quite -- maybe more sort of Casino/330-ish. The purists kvetch about them, but I think the demos sound OK. I think they look pretty goofy, though.

John

[Greentone]

I don't recall how many times I have seen the Meters (lots), but every time I saw them Leo Nocentelli sounded fantastic on his Starcaster.

I always wanted one because of that association, but I never came across one. I'd like one now, but it would have to be an original.

[mr quick]

I had the reissue. I quite liked it at the time, but after sending it back to Fender twice because it was impossible to intonate, it was concluded that the bridge had been misalligned during production, and the instrument would never be usable. Luckily, this meant a $600 store credit which meant I could get my beloved ES-139.

The guitar was surprisingly heavy and had an unremarkable neck and sound. In all honesty, I can't really tell apart the new Squier Starcasters from the Fender RI I had.

[Cunamara]

Trey Anastasio's Languedocs were based on the Starcaster.

[palindrome]

the original fender wide range pickups (designed by the great seth lover) were slightly larger than a normal humbucker..and used a magnet formula that's very expensive to reproduce today

Apparently there is a brandnew reissue of these, following (correct me if I'm wrong) quite some _decades_ of unavailability.

Fender CuNiFe Wide Range Humb. Neck – Thomann UK

[Rhythmisking]

I love my '77.

It's a substantial guitar; size and weight-wise like a 335 but more comfortable to hold. The Seth Lover Wide Range pickups are one of my favorite humbuckers and I have them in the Starcaster and a '75 Tele Deluxe. They're a bit microphonic as they're unpotted. I feel their sound better suits 'now' than 'the '70's', because they're not just about fat midrange. "Wide Range" is an apt name. They sound quite different in the semi-hollow Starcaster than they do in the solidbody Deluxe. Much airier in the Starcaster; they make me want to play with more articulation and care than the Deluxe does. Complex chords sound great on both, but they're meatier and edgier in the solidbody and lighter, prettier and more compressed sounding in the semi Starcaster so it seems like theres more even harmonic balance and content.

The neck is also substantial. A very slight V shape at the nut end that rounds out pretty quickly. I don't remember precisely what the depth is, but it's right around .9 at the first and as I recall about .98 at the 12th. Big flattish frets on mine; not quite the wide/flat of that era's "fretless wonder" Gibson frets, but going in that direction.

The original Starcasters are quite idiosyncratic and have a LOT of character and they really aren't 'like' any other guitars; even other Fenders. Mine is beautiful and I got a great deal on it, but the prices they're fetching have mostly to do with their collectability. In the '70's Fender QC was all over the map. To me these are killer $2K guitars but not killer $5K guitars.