I bought a Starcaster-Strat By: Fender (said it right on the head stock) about 4 years ago specifically to do an extreme mod/upgrade to my specs. I stripped it completely and repainted the body and head stock in a stars and planets space theme to go further out with the name and theme . using paray cans and airbrushed detailing and hand made a custom extended stainless steel pick guard to cover the extended control cavity that i need for all the extra controls loaded in the pock guard including 3 quad rail/coil humbuckers and the 6 500k pots adorned with Tele style chrome knobs and switch tip for the Fender 5-way blade switch. that replaced the import PCB switch. wired like a '50's Les Paul with coil splits with the volume pots are 500k P/P an 2 normal and the bridge tone pot also a P/P to activate the bridge and neck pickups together regardless of the other controls all tyhe pots are audio taper. I used .047 orange drop caps in the detailed circuit. the humbuckers have 4 smaller bobbins and coils in pairswith 5 wires , one braded main ground and the 4 others fo no. and so. of each pair of coils in the humbuckers. the output jack is also mounted in the pick guard just behind the bridge to make a little more room for the 6 pots. I oriented the pickups with the active soils when split are toward the bridge for a bit brighter tone and it all works as designed. the bridge got a full size brass sustain block and roller saddles. The head stock got a titanium nut, roller string tree and locking tuners. Strung with 9-46 set of strings and tuned to E-Flat standard with the bridge floated for more control with the whammy bar. This unique guitar sounds out of this world and feels nice to hold as I play. It all worked out better than I expected for my very first ever guitar build/mod project. i learned why guitars cost what the do and learned many new skills along the way. total cost including the guitar price of $100 USD plus all the parts and materials ended up at about $500 including a few tools i needed for the build. less than 1/0th the cost of a custom shop version made to the same specs. but I have the pride of having done it all myself. and have a guitar to be proud of and enjoy . the next guitar will be an Esquire built to original design and classic wiring as well. Wanna Play???
I love how these very affordable guitars from years ago are now being reevaluated - and appreciated anew. Picked one of these up at Goodwill and could not have been happier with it. Much the same could be said for several of these Squier student offerings.
I just picked up a starcaster, same shape headstock as yours, for $40 from FB. The trem arm threads were crossed threaded, the jack was buzzing even after tightening and the guitar just sounded weak and tinny. So I ordered a new fender block and a pre wired Fleor alnico 5 pickguard, new jack, new tremolo arm, and some new tuners . All said and done with the cost of the guitar included I dropped $158. Plays much nicer, sounds heaps better and stays in tune. If you can grab a starcaster online or at a pawn shop/garage sale on the cheap I l say give it a go, with some upgrades and under $200 you will have a decent player.
Yes, you are correct... These are generally very good... and they are compatible with any fender parts that you'd care to add to them. If you want the trem to work, you'll really have to either deck it (not use it) or at very minimum, put a nice block into it. Since this video, I upgraded the pickups again to alnico 5 and rewired it with nice pots and a switch... I haven't done anything else to the trem (it's still the original one that I decked). It really has made a nice instrument... I should do an update to this older video. Thanks for watching!!!
Most of them are really bad, but this one is an anomaly. I really like it and will probably keep in my collection. It was a gift and I only spent $20 for the loaded pickguard from TEMU.
That model was rare if good. I almost gpt one that was too. I went through many arrowhead versions. They were all great. I was lucky. We has a slump qnd all the kids got them up for sale. I still have my baby. Fretzilahhh !
I've had some really good experiences with parts and things from TEMU and Ali Express. I've been selective and tried to pick stuff that I think would be good. Recently I bought a t-style body from Ali Express for $30 and a generic neck from TEMU for $42 and the build turned out really well... I'll do a video on that one soon, I've been out for while, but will be back with some new content soon... Hope you subscribed!
The originals looked and sounded exactly the same as the ones from TEMU... Since they were so much like the originals, I just used the loaded TEMU pickguard and the whole finished product turned out really sweet... I really like it... They're ceramics!!! ...and I've used a lot of TEMU guitar stuff and so far, it's all been good!
I bought a Starcaster-Strat By: Fender (said it right on the head stock) about 4 years ago specifically to do an extreme mod/upgrade to my specs. I stripped it completely and repainted the body and head stock in a stars and planets space theme to go further out with the name and theme . using paray cans and airbrushed detailing and hand made a custom extended stainless steel pick guard to cover the extended control cavity that i need for all the extra controls loaded in the pock guard including 3 quad rail/coil humbuckers and the 6 500k pots adorned with Tele style chrome knobs and switch tip for the Fender 5-way blade switch. that replaced the import PCB switch. wired like a '50's Les Paul with coil splits with the volume pots are 500k P/P an 2 normal and the bridge tone pot also a P/P to activate the bridge and neck pickups together regardless of the other controls all tyhe pots are audio taper. I used .047 orange drop caps in the detailed circuit. the humbuckers have 4 smaller bobbins and coils in pairswith 5 wires , one braded main ground and the 4 others fo no. and so. of each pair of coils in the humbuckers. the output jack is also mounted in the pick guard just behind the bridge to make a little more room for the 6 pots. I oriented the pickups with the active soils when split are toward the bridge for a bit brighter tone and it all works as designed. the bridge got a full size brass sustain block and roller saddles. The head stock got a titanium nut, roller string tree and locking tuners. Strung with 9-46 set of strings and tuned to E-Flat standard with the bridge floated for more control with the whammy bar. This unique guitar sounds out of this world and feels nice to hold as I play. It all worked out better than I expected for my very first ever guitar build/mod project. i learned why guitars cost what the do and learned many new skills along the way. total cost including the guitar price of $100 USD plus all the parts and materials ended up at about $500 including a few tools i needed for the build. less than 1/0th the cost of a custom shop version made to the same specs. but I have the pride of having done it all myself. and have a guitar to be proud of and enjoy . the next guitar will be an Esquire built to original design and classic wiring as well. Wanna Play???
@KennethCrickmore-sl8jl Wowwie! I would really like to see that... can you email me a couple photos? rjlandis63@gmail.com
I love how these very affordable guitars from years ago are now being reevaluated - and appreciated anew. Picked one of these up at Goodwill and could not have been happier with it. Much the same could be said for several of these Squier student offerings.
Yes, I was amazed how nice the one I acquired actually stands out in my collection. I would have trouble parting with it!
I just picked up a starcaster, same shape headstock as yours, for $40 from FB. The trem arm threads were crossed threaded, the jack was buzzing even after tightening and the guitar just sounded weak and tinny. So I ordered a new fender block and a pre wired Fleor alnico 5 pickguard, new jack, new tremolo arm, and some new tuners . All said and done with the cost of the guitar included I dropped $158. Plays much nicer, sounds heaps better and stays in tune. If you can grab a starcaster online or at a pawn shop/garage sale on the cheap I l say give it a go, with some upgrades and under $200 you will have a decent player.
Yes, you are correct... These are generally very good... and they are compatible with any fender parts that you'd care to add to them. If you want the trem to work, you'll really have to either deck it (not use it) or at very minimum, put a nice block into it. Since this video, I upgraded the pickups again to alnico 5 and rewired it with nice pots and a switch... I haven't done anything else to the trem (it's still the original one that I decked). It really has made a nice instrument... I should do an update to this older video. Thanks for watching!!!
They used to sell for 20quid at my local pawnshop
Most of them are really bad, but this one is an anomaly. I really like it and will probably keep in my collection. It was a gift and I only spent $20 for the loaded pickguard from TEMU.
That model was rare if good. I almost gpt one that was too. I went through many arrowhead versions. They were all great. I was lucky. We has a slump qnd all the kids got them up for sale. I still have my baby. Fretzilahhh !
That's really cool, I played it today and it stays in super good tuning too... Very stable! Thanks for watching... Stay blessed!
Very unique because I remember in 1970s the Starcarcaster was a hollowbody like an ES335 !
Im waiting on a loaded pickguard from Temu. Im dropping it in an old Harmony strat. I hope it goes as well as yours did.
I've had some really good experiences with parts and things from TEMU and Ali Express. I've been selective and tried to pick stuff that I think would be good. Recently I bought a t-style body from Ali Express for $30 and a generic neck from TEMU for $42 and the build turned out really well... I'll do a video on that one soon, I've been out for while, but will be back with some new content soon... Hope you subscribed!
@@RaymondLandis i did subscribe. Thanx for the good words.
pickups from Temu!? have you try the original pickups sound first? I bet they play better
The originals looked and sounded exactly the same as the ones from TEMU... Since they were so much like the originals, I just used the loaded TEMU pickguard and the whole finished product turned out really sweet... I really like it... They're ceramics!!! ...and I've used a lot of TEMU guitar stuff and so far, it's all been good!
Always thought it was weird that this Starcaster shared the name of the semi-hollow Fender Starcaster of the 1970s and modern Squier model of today.
Yes, that history is a strange one... thanks for watching!