Same mine was red and black, I later upgraded to a 2004 Squire 51 (it was in pretty bad shape) however though it's built for sustain I got that after my second gig at Scotts Valley one day (plus an amp).
This guy further proves that it's not the instrument, but the player that makes all the difference in the world. Never heard a Starcaster play so good.
Yes... But also it can be sabotaging. I.e It would be messed up to give a beginner student a $25 guitar with a one inch action. Is it playable? Yes. Can everyone? NO. Granted I feel like this is a pretty okay beginner guitar with some small set up?
I bought one at a Pawn Shop for $50 and put a loaded pickguard HSS for $70, mine is Tobacco Burst and I put a tortoise shell pickguard on it. The neck is Flame Maple and seems way too nice to be on this guitar, it looks and plays great.
Hey, I thought I was the only one! I got a gorgeous birds eye maple fret board on mine. The wood on this thing is really high quality, ... you'd swear the body is one piece of wood, though I'm sure it can't be ... so I upgraded the hardware to match it.
My brother found one, at the curb, on a stand, just like the one in the vid. The pearloid stuff on the pickguard was coming off, so I peeled it away. It's actually fairly heavy, to me. I'm planning on modding it out with a new loaded pickguard. I'm thinking of putting tri-sonics on it. New tuners, bridge, trees, and output jack. Not sure how big the block is. Once all that is done, it's not going to sound like a fender at all, lol. Or...maybe I'll just put something else besides tri-sonics on it. The guitar was free, so any investments are the cost of the guitar.
They have one of these at a local pawn shop for $60 I've been eyeing. From what I understand these have the same body dimensions as real Fender strats (MIA and MIM) - squires, although great guitars in their own right, do not. It's not a guitar you'll resell for much, but if you put $100 in parts and a couple hours labor in proper setup and swapping out hardware in this thing you have a great playing partscaster for a working musician.
I have one was given for free. It sounds fine. A better could make it sound amazing. Point being, the instrument, unless in poor tune, doesn't make the musician.
I have a crappy starcaster that was given to me and I completely rebuilt it and now it is one of my favorite guitars. I replaced the pickboard with a loaded one, replaced every plate, tuning peg, string trees, replaced the bridge saddles and input jack. Painted it with black spray can truck bed liner, adjusted the truss rod, set the intonation and man it plays just as well as my fender jaguar and as well as any Stratocaster I’ve played. The only thing I need to do still is file the frets, there’s just a little bit of fret buzz on the G but it’s not terrible. Rock on!
Tamago 4929/valkyrie nice. I’m just getting into building and really enjoying it. Next is a kit, just trying to figure out what kind and what company. Leaning towards solo music gear’s spalted top maple LP..
I took my starcaster and upgraded the heck out of it. Roasted maple neck, full block tremolo, locking machine head tuners. Bone nut. Added humbucker to the bridge position. Sounds amazing. Intonated it. My bridge sits flat still.
This was my first “Fender” when I was 13 I was so excited and I knew as I progressed in skill, it could be better. I did a lot of work at home to convince my dad to let me buy upgrades for it. Finally he let me buy a used set of Texas special pickups for $100 and paid a luthier to put all fender electronics in it and set it up . Ever since it has been my go to guitar and now has a 60’s reissue neck. In my opinion it didn’t save me too much money but it was fun putting it together over the years!
I'm dyslexic and I totally bought this for $60 the other day thinking it was a strat! Hahaha. It's definitely an upgrade from my other electric (and that's saying something! Ha!) I've always had cheap-o instruments, but they are good for traveling. It's nice not to worry about getting ripped off and just enjoy having music wherever you are. I've definitely had a lot of music equipment stolen over the years... and it sucks. But when I finally get that 6,000 dollar P-bass I always wanted I'll lock it up! I also think I might want one of those Rory Gallagher replicas one day! RIP Rory. :(
Because Starcasters use ceramic pickups instead of alnico I find the tone naturally warmer and is good for some jazz pieces. Now that rosewood necks are hardly found anymore the neck alone is worth getting if you can get the guitar at a cheap price and re-building it with new parts.
These are the OLD Starcasters, the Squire Starcasters are the replacements to these. These were made from 2000 to 2011 as far as I know and were sold in big box retail stores then in starter packs, especially at Christmas time in North America from my experience.
The full block vintage style fender plated saddle tremolo helped tremendously with sustain and intonation. It stays in tune no matter how I use my wammy with the locking machine head tuners. Music Lilly Brand.
My first guitar was a star caster and I put some emg single coil pickups in it with some fender locking tuners and a hip shot bridge and it sounds amazing. Obviously not Stratocaster amazing but for a cheap guitar it sounds about as good as you could make it.
My son has one. I had no idea they'd put the name Fender on such a P.O.S.. But he only traded an old skateboard for it (yeah right, he traded an old stick and a sack for it. I ain't dumb.) Anyway I fix beat up guitars so I belt sanded about a half an inch off the thickness of the neck, which is actually some really pretty maple with some dark wood fretboard. Then put low gloss clear on it and some old Ibanez smooth tuners from a blazer on it, not good but way better. I made a taller nut out of fire hardened elm, dressed crowned and polished the frets and oiled the fretboard. Whammy bar was busted off in the bridge so I just hammered a block behind the bridge raised the action up to wtf height and put a Jackson ceramic, C50-J slap dab in the middle, between the joke stock pickups and it's now the Walmart sleeper slide that stays in open D or G or A or C. The Jackson makes it a beast and even sound good with the $5 crap stock pickups.
The Starcaster was? A semi hollow thing. That did get a reissue. Now found under the Squier brand. If I was not on a guitar buying ban I would bag me on of those.
i just recently learned how to properly set up a strat style trem. you probably just need to crank the claw in a bit for the strings you've got on it. Or put some lighter strings on it.
I have the sunburst body. Its heavy like a true stratocaster. The new neck I installed improved its performance by far. Made it feel like a real guitar and not such a short neck either. Now full length neck.
Okay, so I have the same hair, same cuffed jeans, same tucked shirt, and basically the same guitar... How come when I play it doesn't sound as amazing as this?
They style never gets old, but depending on the neck profile shape is the big reason a lot of people once they know how to play and choose to be shreaders want a thinner neck profile. Strats and Teles range from baseball bat D down to modern C.
I bought one of these off facebook for a hundred bucks and I thought it was a strat and got so exited 😂 After I got it I figured out it was a starcaster
All together the cost over time was roughly out of pocket 65 bucks The neck was 68 bucks and had a bone nut installed already. Roasted maple neck. I bought this with a christmas gift card I received. The whammy bar was like 8.00 bucks. Okay I spent 73 pitta pocket to upgrade it. Not bad. Made a huge difference in performance and sound.
I kind of wonder if these we originally built by what has become Donner or Glarry. I have 2 Donners and love them for what they are they play really well.
Just bought one for $50. I knew nothing about guitars but seems like I got a fair deal. Mine is basically just like yours except I have a dual bridge pickup. Not sure why but I can't seem to find another starcaster like mine
The guitar looks and sounds great. And you can be the greatest guitarist in the world, but if the guitar isn't made or assembled correctly, then playing like we see here in this video would be very difficult, if at all possible. I wish beginner guitars like this had been available in the early 70's.
just got into guitars was lucky enough for good friends got given an acoustic. Learned a lot in rehab actually. Then another friend gave me an amp and a starcaster. I have been aboslutely loving it but I hear its a bad guitar compared to many others. So hear I am to hear the difference. It forsure sounds muted but I love it and it makes me happy. Cant wait till I upgrade of course.
Just bought a neck off this because A. The grain was better than high end USA made necks B. It's actually real rosewood because it's from 2005 C. It's from Indonesia and that's one of the greatest feeling necks I've ever played . £42 can't go wrong 👍
i just got one of these and it sounds damn good for the 70 bucks i paid for it lol. gonna replace the pickguard on it and swap out the pickups for a little better one. id upgrade the tuners too. but i really enjoy tha twang you can get from those cheap fender squier tier guitars. anyways buddy guy says its not how good the guitar because a good guitar player can make any old guitar sing if hes got it in em.
You could upgrade it by buying a USA Strat...! Seriously, the whole guitar is fine as a package, if you had a set of pickups and electrics to hand you could put those in, that's the biggest effect on a guitar's tone, but generally speaking I would put the money towards just a whole higher quality guitar.
Bought one on 10 or so years back for $75 new, on sale from $99. I don't think they're made anymore, if they were they'd be $150 new at today's prices. It's got a thin headstock which is why I decided to get it (not a fan of the fat ones). No perloid design, which is good cause I think it looks silly. It was good to have when I needed something to practice on when getting back into guitar. It's fine. I still play it sometimes. If I decided to use the vibrato I'd do some mods first so it has at least a chance of staying in tune.
I bought one not looking close enough. Have to continually tune with the cheap keys. It's great to practice on. 80 bucks. I'm wanting to upgrade the hard wear. Not bad other then that. You do some great picking. Subscribed. Very impressive demo.
It's a "Starcaster Strat by Fender". Basically the same thing as a "Squier Strat by Fender". For some reason Fender decided to sell Asian-made Strats under both the Squier and Starcaster labels, but they're essentially the same instruments and made in the same factories. You can save yourself a few bucks by picking up one of these used for less than their Squier equivalent.
hello Good video. Thanks for sharing. I have a question. Are Starcasters equal in body and neck lenght as the squier affinity or the SE? Or, are they as thin as the Bullet strats?
I have 2 Starcasters with an 'arrowhead' headstock (from 2001) and Shaman single coils in one to keep. Starcasters never took off and are not Mexico Strats and about like a good Affinity Squier. They are NOT like a Squier Standard or Classic Vibe Series ....
I bet if you slap some new pups for about 200 bucks machine heads for another 70 and a bone nut and you'd be cooking with gas probably 10 times better than most guitars the people buy for 800 bucks
This was my first guitar.. never stayed in tune. And to this day when I see a 70s style headstock I get a sinking feeling. As this guy said a squire would be better than this junk .
This is my first guitar and even though it’s cheap, I couldn’t be happier to have a working guitar
Same mine was red and black, I later upgraded to a 2004 Squire 51 (it was in pretty bad shape) however though it's built for sustain I got that after my second gig at Scotts Valley one day (plus an amp).
This guy further proves that it's not the instrument, but the player that makes all the difference in the world. Never heard a Starcaster play so good.
indeed. a good guitar player should be able to make any guitar sing if its in him.
Exactly my thoughts this guy Damm English people are incredible.
Yes... But also it can be sabotaging. I.e It would be messed up to give a beginner student a $25 guitar with a one inch action.
Is it playable? Yes. Can everyone? NO.
Granted I feel like this is a pretty okay beginner guitar with some small set up?
He made it sound pretty good, try a Silvertone.
Dorks all of ya
I bought one at a Pawn Shop for $50 and put a loaded pickguard HSS for $70, mine is Tobacco Burst and I put a tortoise shell pickguard on it. The neck is Flame Maple and seems
way too nice to be on this guitar, it looks and plays great.
Dude flame neck? That’s pretty rare isn’t it? Flame necks look so sweet
Hey, I thought I was the only one! I got a gorgeous birds eye maple fret board on mine. The wood on this thing is really high quality, ... you'd swear the body is one piece of wood, though I'm sure it can't be ... so I upgraded the hardware to match it.
My brother found one, at the curb, on a stand, just like the one in the vid. The pearloid stuff on the pickguard was coming off, so I peeled it away. It's actually fairly heavy, to me. I'm planning on modding it out with a new loaded pickguard. I'm thinking of putting tri-sonics on it. New tuners, bridge, trees, and output jack. Not sure how big the block is.
Once all that is done, it's not going to sound like a fender at all, lol. Or...maybe I'll just put something else besides tri-sonics on it. The guitar was free, so any investments are the cost of the guitar.
They have one of these at a local pawn shop for $60 I've been eyeing. From what I understand these have the same body dimensions as real Fender strats (MIA and MIM) - squires, although great guitars in their own right, do not. It's not a guitar you'll resell for much, but if you put $100 in parts and a couple hours labor in proper setup and swapping out hardware in this thing you have a great playing partscaster for a working musician.
I have one was given for free. It sounds fine. A better could make it sound amazing. Point being, the instrument, unless in poor tune, doesn't make the musician.
I have a crappy starcaster that was given to me and I completely rebuilt it and now it is one of my favorite guitars. I replaced the pickboard with a loaded one, replaced every plate, tuning peg, string trees, replaced the bridge saddles and input jack. Painted it with black spray can truck bed liner, adjusted the truss rod, set the intonation and man it plays just as well as my fender jaguar and as well as any Stratocaster I’ve played. The only thing I need to do still is file the frets, there’s just a little bit of fret buzz on the G but it’s not terrible. Rock on!
@@ryangiesbers I'm working on mine just need to put the pickup in the pickgaurd and wire it up and im done basically.
Tamago 4929/valkyrie nice. I’m just getting into building and really enjoying it. Next is a kit, just trying to figure out what kind and what company. Leaning towards solo music gear’s spalted top maple LP..
you could do that, but id recommend going for either a used mexican strat, or a squier strat (squier has gotten very good throughout the years now)
I took my starcaster and upgraded the heck out of it. Roasted maple neck, full block tremolo, locking machine head tuners. Bone nut. Added humbucker to the bridge position. Sounds amazing. Intonated it. My bridge sits flat still.
Great playing brother. This is one of the few times I see a demo with someone that’s has a really interesting playing.
This was my first “Fender” when I was 13 I was so excited and I knew as I progressed in skill, it could be better. I did a lot of work at home to convince my dad to let me buy upgrades for it. Finally he let me buy a used set of Texas special pickups for $100 and paid a luthier to put all fender electronics in it and set it up . Ever since it has been my go to guitar and now has a 60’s reissue neck. In my opinion it didn’t save me too much money but it was fun putting it together over the years!
I swear ever pawn shop has one of these😂
Like the Squier Bullet, they can buy them buy the pallet load
😂😂🤣dont sleep on the bullet though
Lol that’s where I got mine but now I got my strat still have the star because I’m sentimental asf but yea I live the strat I got a vid of it
Damnim looking everywhere and cant find any, didnt even consider pawn shop lol duuuh
And it is exactly the place where I bought mine from 😅
I'm dyslexic and I totally bought this for $60 the other day thinking it was a strat! Hahaha. It's definitely an upgrade from my other electric (and that's saying something! Ha!) I've always had cheap-o instruments, but they are good for traveling. It's nice not to worry about getting ripped off and just enjoy having music wherever you are. I've definitely had a lot of music equipment stolen over the years... and it sucks. But when I finally get that 6,000 dollar P-bass I always wanted I'll lock it up! I also think I might want one of those Rory Gallagher replicas one day! RIP Rory. :(
the Indonesian made one are the best ones of the starcaster line
Just happened to me today
I got one today with a 100 dollar hard case for 90 dollars. After I set it up......nice! The tuners are kinda the suck, but the sound is really good.
I got mines for exactly £0 when I was 12, now being a bit older I still have it and I plan to mod the living hell out of it 😎
Because Starcasters use ceramic pickups instead of alnico I find the tone naturally warmer and is good for some jazz pieces. Now that rosewood necks are hardly found anymore the neck alone is worth getting if you can get the guitar at a cheap price and re-building it with new parts.
These are the OLD Starcasters, the Squire Starcasters are the replacements to these. These were made from 2000 to 2011 as far as I know and were sold in big box retail stores then in starter packs, especially at Christmas time in North America from my experience.
This is my second guitar. My first guitar was an XBOX Power Gig Six String
The full block vintage style fender plated saddle tremolo helped tremendously with sustain and intonation. It stays in tune no matter how I use my wammy with the locking machine head tuners. Music Lilly Brand.
My first guitar was a star caster and I put some emg single coil pickups in it with some fender locking tuners and a hip shot bridge and it sounds amazing. Obviously not Stratocaster amazing but for a cheap guitar it sounds about as good as you could make it.
My son has one. I had no idea they'd put the name Fender on such a P.O.S..
But he only traded an old skateboard for it (yeah right, he traded an old stick and a sack for it. I ain't dumb.)
Anyway I fix beat up guitars so I belt sanded about a half an inch off the thickness of the neck, which is actually some really pretty maple with some dark wood fretboard. Then put low gloss clear on it and some old Ibanez smooth tuners from a blazer on it, not good but way better. I made a taller nut out of fire hardened elm, dressed crowned and polished the frets and oiled the fretboard. Whammy bar was busted off in the bridge so I just hammered a block behind the bridge raised the action up to wtf height and put a Jackson ceramic, C50-J slap dab in the middle, between the joke stock pickups and it's now the Walmart sleeper slide that stays in open D or G or A or C.
The Jackson makes it a beast and even sound good with the $5 crap stock pickups.
Squier guitars still have" By Fender" on the headstock
mine doesnt say starcaster on the square metalic on back???
The Starcaster was? A semi hollow thing. That did get a reissue. Now found under the Squier brand. If I was not on a guitar buying ban I would bag me on of those.
is this the thinner body? i bought a thinner body one but didn’t know there was a thicker or regular size body one
Mine is maple fretboard model and I really enjoy playing it! Maybe mod it someday🤔
i just recently learned how to properly set up a strat style trem. you probably just need to crank the claw in a bit for the strings you've got on it. Or put some lighter strings on it.
converting to clean/distorted metal, should I go to a esp ltd with emg's? (From my current 06 starcaster)
I have the sunburst body. Its heavy like a true stratocaster. The new neck I installed improved its performance by far. Made it feel like a real guitar and not such a short neck either. Now full length neck.
Okay, so I have the same hair, same cuffed jeans, same tucked shirt, and basically the same guitar... How come when I play it doesn't sound as amazing as this?
How is it that Strats never look dated, yet the design dates back to, what, 1954? Or do other folks think they look archaic?
They style never gets old, but depending on the neck profile shape is the big reason a lot of people once they know how to play and choose to be shreaders want a thinner neck profile. Strats and Teles range from baseball bat D down to modern C.
@@OhioScot Playability aside, the look just doesn't say "1950's" to me. There is something timeless about it.
I bought one of these off facebook for a hundred bucks and I thought it was a strat and got so exited 😂
After I got it I figured out it was a starcaster
All together the cost over time was roughly out of pocket 65 bucks
The neck was 68 bucks and had a bone nut installed already. Roasted maple neck. I bought this with a christmas gift card I received. The whammy bar was like 8.00 bucks. Okay I spent 73 pitta pocket to upgrade it. Not bad. Made a huge difference in performance and sound.
I kind of wonder if these we originally built by what has become Donner or Glarry. I have 2 Donners and love them for what they are they play really well.
I want to see a rig rundown/ studio tour - is that an Edrum kit and new Marshall head I can see in the background? And id like a cup of tea! ;)
Hi Mr E (who he?) - a very good idea and I am currently uploading exactly what you have asked for. Except for the tea.
Just bought one for $50. I knew nothing about guitars but seems like I got a fair deal. Mine is basically just like yours except I have a dual bridge pickup. Not sure why but I can't seem to find another starcaster like mine
I’ve got one.
The guitar looks and sounds great. And you can be the greatest guitarist in the world, but if the guitar isn't made or assembled correctly, then playing like we see here in this video would be very difficult, if at all possible. I wish beginner guitars like this had been available in the early 70's.
Love Your demo great player 💪 review fluid style .I found a cheap used one I was thinking of getting for my granddaughter 😊 cool thanks
just got into guitars was lucky enough for good friends got given an acoustic. Learned a lot in rehab actually. Then another friend gave me an amp and a starcaster. I have been aboslutely loving it but I hear its a bad guitar compared to many others. So hear I am to hear the difference. It forsure sounds muted but I love it and it makes me happy. Cant wait till I upgrade of course.
Just bought a neck off this because
A. The grain was better than high end USA made necks
B. It's actually real rosewood because it's from 2005
C. It's from Indonesia and that's one of the greatest feeling necks I've ever played . £42 can't go wrong 👍
10:12 he didn't cut it out
🤣
It’s weird seeing a lot of bad experiences with these. Mine plays pretty damn good and came w humbuckers.
i just got one of these and it sounds damn good for the 70 bucks i paid for it lol. gonna replace the pickguard on it and swap out the pickups for a little better one. id upgrade the tuners too. but i really enjoy tha twang you can get from those cheap fender squier tier guitars. anyways buddy guy says its not how good the guitar because a good guitar player can make any old guitar sing if hes got it in em.
This was my first guitar, I had a 2008 model that was black and gray.
So what do you think the body wood is? I have this same guitar and think its basswood but not sure
Could you upgrade the starcaster? Or would that ultimately do more harm than good?
You could upgrade it by buying a USA Strat...! Seriously, the whole guitar is fine as a package, if you had a set of pickups and electrics to hand you could put those in, that's the biggest effect on a guitar's tone, but generally speaking I would put the money towards just a whole higher quality guitar.
I hope Mrs Martin never watches these :) Nice playing, as always ...
No chance of that dude! It would bore her to sleep - in all seriousness that's one of my most useful talents!
Bought one on 10 or so years back for $75 new, on sale from $99. I don't think they're made anymore, if they were they'd be $150 new at today's prices. It's got a thin headstock which is why I decided to get it (not a fan of the fat ones). No perloid design, which is good cause I think it looks silly. It was good to have when I needed something to practice on when getting back into guitar. It's fine. I still play it sometimes. If I decided to use the vibrato I'd do some mods first so it has at least a chance of staying in tune.
sounds good and it seems to play well in your hands.
I bought one not looking close enough. Have to continually tune with the cheap keys. It's great to practice on. 80 bucks. I'm wanting to upgrade the hard wear. Not bad other then that. You do some great picking. Subscribed. Very impressive demo.
It's a "Starcaster Strat by Fender". Basically the same thing as a "Squier Strat by Fender". For some reason Fender decided to sell Asian-made Strats under both the Squier and Starcaster labels, but they're essentially the same instruments and made in the same factories. You can save yourself a few bucks by picking up one of these used for less than their Squier equivalent.
Bless them. I’m in the middle of a video at the moment love. Oh ok. 10 seconds later. Do you want a cup of tea 🤦🏼♂️
thanks for this video was super confused, just purchased a neck from a starcastor lol for my partscastor.
This dude could make a guitar made out of dirt and loose cable wires sound like a 3,000 dollar guitar.
The neck mine had was the arrow head point headstock. Didnt like it.
hello Good video. Thanks for sharing. I have a question. Are Starcasters equal in body and neck lenght as the squier affinity or the SE? Or, are they as thin as the Bullet strats?
Immediately gotta say my starcaster has flame maple neck and magical body
I'm loving the one I garbage picked. Plays like a dream.
I have 2 Starcasters with an 'arrowhead' headstock (from 2001) and Shaman single coils in one to keep. Starcasters never took off and are not Mexico Strats and about like a good Affinity Squier. They are NOT like a Squier Standard or Classic Vibe Series ....
For the Algorithm
Like a lot of other folks here, I have been eyeing one of these down at the local pawn shop.
How is the feel and playability? Is it worth getting one for modding purposes?
Tighten the claw screws!
I've pridely paid $25 for this guitar and I really love this chinese one
I bet if you slap some new pups for about 200 bucks machine heads for another 70 and a bone nut and you'd be cooking with gas probably 10 times better than most guitars the people buy for 800 bucks
wow,nice video and a good guitar!You have to practice!
Yeah I’d of cut it out see ya later
This was my first guitar.. never stayed in tune. And to this day when I see a 70s style headstock I get a sinking feeling. As this guy said a squire would be better than this junk .
this was my first guitar and it made me hate fenders. i never touched one for 10 years after i got rid of this piece of junk.
To be fair, fender has made guitars in China before, like the modern player.