From Leo: I had one come into the shop for a complete set up and strings. I did not know anything about it, but I did like the 12 inch fret board. I had to shim it and file a couple frets, but I did get it to play right. Thanks for showing the one you have.
I won a Starcaster by Fender in 2011. It looked just like a Strat black with white pickguard. It didn't have the big 70's style headstock. Since it's by Fender, it's not considered a Strat Copy. It's my number 1 guitar. I got into guitar repair and modding right around the time I won that. It's nothing like the guitar I won, an upgraded, handmade pickguard, paint stripped off. The body on mine was basswood but a poor quality basswood. The neck however was a super nice maple neck. I absolutely love mine.
I also modded one of these, I found the neck to be very good, but the pickups and pots to be complete crap. swapped the pick guard with one loaded with EMG pickups. It played very well, and my niece has it as her number 2 guitar.
I found one with the Strat type headstock at a thrift shop . Put Hipshot locking tuners , CTS pots , Tonerider Alnico II pickups , Switchcraft input jack . Also found a Made in Korea Fender Telecaster there and swapped out everything as mentioned above .Tonerider pickups are awesome !
People have said Starcaster is lower quality than Squier. Bottom of the Barrel. I've had a few Starcasters (with the standard strat headstalk,) and there's really no discernable difference.
@@benwright6330 yeah I’d argue that they are of the same quality, if anything maybe slightly better. It’s definitely made better than my squire bullet strat
I have a thing for these, have about 25, trying to get every model/color headstock and fret board maple & rosewood. I have the Starcaster J bass sunburst and looking for the bass amp and a better condition 15 watt guitar amp. Bass was latest acquisition and most expensive. Some folks think these are $400- $500 guitars, they are not. I also do the 2014 Gibson lower end melody maker's and looking for a 2014 SGJ.
@@baronoflivonia.3512 it’s hilarious to me that they made Starcaster basses. I’ve never seen one in the wild but I think it’s neat. I agree, not worth more than 200 but great for mods
I have 2 of these. The S-1 was the exact same as the one you have. And The S-2 is the maple cap black body. Ive set up and modded them both to be (imo) really good guitars for the initial price and the subsequent updates of each.. I would like to get my hands on the S-3 eventually with the painted headstock and keep it as the original.. Very cool wal-mart guitars... (Edit).. The neck pocket on the S-1 was routed larger and the holes were offset to a 2019 player strat neck I was going to put on it.. Not sure if thats on all S-1's. If you ever do a neck swap i would love to see that video!
Fender and Squire did re-release the original hollow body Starcaster quite a few years ago, I bought the Fender version, which was similar to the original.
Yes, back in the 2005 to 20012 timeframe, I remember visiting a music store that had a few limited run, reissue Fender Starcasters. Even 1 or two bass versions! The store manager claimed that it was a limited run & only certain stores around the country got deals on them. Only those stores had them. I would've loved to have gotten one but, I'm a lefty & there ain't no lefties for that model!! 🤷♂️😂
They came out with fender branded chinese starcasters(the hollow body) around 2013-2014 and it lasted about three years at the time they also re released the coronado sids by side with the hollow body starcaster , I'm pulling this from memory so i might be off a year or so with the dates of re release.
A very complex and competitive guitar. Of the many years made, I like the 05. Some were not even dry when they hit the floors. I have a triple flamed neck on mine but I've owned 6 or so and had to sell them. Lots of secrets in them.
@@ranman58635 oh cool, I think this one is a 2002, not entirely sure though. that’s really neat, I enjoy hearing about these guitars. Thank you for the info. Have a good day.
So I recently bought a Squier Bullet at a pawn shop and noticed it has pick ups that's poles are different heights so this is a good thing I'm pretty sure right?
Mine is a 2004, great bones but all electronics suck! Each color tells you what dept. store it was purchased at. They came with a guitar, gig bag and 10w amp. Mines a 3-color sunburst that were sold at Walmart. I paid $100 this year for the whole kit, like new, from the original owner. I plan on modding the electronics, tuners and bridge.
Thanks for posting the video. I have the arrowhead Starcaster like this, except mine is the HSS2, meaning it has a humbucker in the bridge. The other difference is mine has a painted headstock, and the knobs are chrome. The paint looks like gun metal, but up close you can see it has metal flake in it.I hear alot of bad things about this guitar, but it plays and sounds very nice to me. And yes, i know this is Squire like, but im amazed how it sounds and plays I changed out the electronics and installed a prewired pickguard from Amazon for 25$. Sounds pretty good but not good enough. im gonna upgrade to some Symour Duncans. Once that is done, it will be one of the best guitars I've ever owned. I wish there was more information on these! Im thinking mine might be rare because i cant find ANY info on this particular model. Fender does not even acknowledge these.. even knowing that they pulled them from the shelves due to the stores not officially being a Fender dealer. Made in Indonesia, the serial # is IC 050804383 anyone can find any info would be great thank you.
@@allen9102 that sounds pretty rad man, I’ve never seen a combo like that. If you ever post a video of it, try to mention me in the comments so I can check it out!
The Starcaster BRAND (that's the word your looking for) was, when it came out, a "cheaper than Squire" Fender brand that were really horrible guitars. A rosewood fingerboard isn't a big deal, the laws weren't really in place at the time, no need for Pau Ferro or Laurel (nothing wrong with those anyway). These ahd plywood bodies like the cheaper strat styles at the time, some squires and low prices Kramers to name a couple. When the real actual Starcaster guitars came out Epiphones were pretty horrible guitars too, the great Gibson built ones a thing of the past. This was before before Japan started sending us their good stuff; Ibanez and Yamaha were just starting to give us some pretty good stuff. Suddenly; BOOM! The Yamaha SG2000 and Ibanez Artist series came out followed by first gen Squires (great guitars). Years later you got the good Epiphones.
I bought a starcaster By: ender user for under $100. at my local Music-Go-Round in order to do an extreme mod/upgrade. I replaced the pcb 5-way with a fender blade switch . replaced the single coils with quad rail/coil humbuckers that measure at 18,5K average and about 9.5 split. I wired it all like a '50's Les Paul with coil splits.. yes that means 3 each Vol. and Tone. added a P/P in the bridge to activate the bridge and neck pickups together regardless of other controls. The pickups, switch and pots are all loaded in the custom hand made brushed stainless steel pick guard. oyher upgrades include roller saddles in the bridge that also got a full size brass trem block. the head stock got a titanium nut, roller string tree and locking tuners. the repaint of body and head stock in a stars and planets theme lends to the further out from Starcaster to It's new name .The "Stellarcaster" ... It looks great and sounds out of this world, feels nice in your hands and plays well too. everything functions as I designed . cool looking guitar that reflects it's new name. I floated the bridge and tuned it to E flat standard, like any good Strat should be. Wanna Play???
I have one, sorta. I have the 2004 starcaster arrow neck like that but it's on a Aria (no name) body. I love the neck feel and everything feels to think to me, but the neck helps get an old school SRV sound, I think. My frets are mid jumbo I would say, they made them using whatever was laying around the fender plant I was told. That would be how they were affordable but still fender quality. I have a maple arrowhead.
I picked up one of these from a friend awhile ago and it was actually my first guitar. With some work it has played really nicely and I've been able to play with mods on it as much as I like, given its low value. Mine is a 2007 S2 with a maple capped neck/fretboard with a 3-tone sunburst body. I plan to mod it to 70s Vintera specs with a black pickguard, cream pickup covers, and all that. Glad to see these getting more coverage, as they're a weird little anomaly in the Fender lineup that most people ignore. There's a whole wikipedia article dedicated to them: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starcaster_by_Fender
Why make these when they had the Squire line? I guess it was to differentiate the big box store guitars from the production for other markets (Guitar Center, etc.)?. Very odd headstock, but if it plays well and sounds good, cool!
From what I've been able to gather through some research is that these were almost like factory partscasters. Just slapped together with whatever was taken from the parts bins and shipped off with a cruddy little amp. Allegedly there were some that were blessed with decent electronics, but most of what I've seen online is the usual ceramic pups with little pots.
I have one, bought for my son in 2004. Maybe it's a branding thing; keep Squier their budget line and make this Starcaster as a beginner model. It was cheaper than a squier, $200 with amp, strap, cord, etc. I like it, mine is made in Indonesia, set-up well out of the box, and I plan to change the pick-ups.
@@marcraygun6290 could very well be based off of that as well. I never knew about the katana. However I’m sure that headstock was based off the swinger as all three are pretty similar. Thanks for the comment
@aquaneeds I think you are right and I posted this before you mentioned the swinger , when I was in Japan in 2012 was shocked to see a company had created there own reissue swinger!
I have the exact same guitar as Music is Win and I have to say this guitar is a massive flaming pile of crap. I bought it new back in the day and I ended up changing pretty much everything on the guitar. The only redeeming quality is the body, made by Cort. Unless you can find one for dirt cheap and plan to use it as a project, stay away.
when i saw we were heading down the path of costco special and not cool hollow body i got concerned. those of us who have had experience with these know this guitar HAS to be modded biggest pile of trash ever with the "fender" branding ill tell you whawt 😂
@ hey it is what it is, it’s inexpensive. Of course you ain’t gonna get a nice guitar, but the beauty of these is that you CAN modify them and any guitar that plays great in my mind is worth it.
Good tube - I dig oddball gits. You were getting some nice tones out of it!
@@hendersonbradshaw3098 thank you! I really appreciate the words. It’s quite the oddball indeed
I picked one up from Goodwill for about 35 bucks and gotta say…I enjoy playing it. You can also use the headstock as a weapon if needed
@@Dilla4life hahah yeah you can indeed! I have seen a lot of these on shop goodwill.com
😂👍
The headstock looks like someone just gave up when designing it, but the logo looks cool.
@@gregcissell345 haha yeah, to be honest the guitar is just a mashup of parts it seems like
Were these not the guitars that came in the starter pack with a little amp, strap, bag etc.? I had one of these at one time.
@@richs7362 yessir, I forgot to say that in the video but you are correct.
From Leo: I had one come into the shop for a complete set up and strings. I did not know anything about it, but I did like the 12 inch fret board. I had to shim it and file a couple frets, but I did get it to play right. Thanks for showing the one you have.
@@barbmelle3136 wow that’s cool! Guess I never thought of Leo seeing these before he died. Thanks for watching
@@aquaneeds LOL not that Leo....
@@barbmelle3136 haha I guess I’m out of the loop. Is this someone you knew?
a really good tech
Leo died in 1991. These are made in Asia. Your comment is one of the most idiotic statements I have ever seen on the internet for guitars.
I won a Starcaster by Fender in 2011. It looked just like a Strat black with white pickguard. It didn't have the big 70's style headstock. Since it's by Fender, it's not considered a Strat Copy. It's my number 1 guitar. I got into guitar repair and modding right around the time I won that. It's nothing like the guitar I won, an upgraded, handmade pickguard, paint stripped off. The body on mine was basswood but a poor quality basswood. The neck however was a super nice maple neck. I absolutely love mine.
@@yago23s17 they’re great guitars man. Always felt the black with the white pickguard was a sweet look!
I also modded one of these, I found the neck to be very good, but the pickups and pots to be complete crap. swapped the pick guard with one loaded with EMG pickups. It played very well, and my niece has it as her number 2 guitar.
@@rhythmandslide haha yes, pickups are super bad on mine but definitely plan on upgrading at some point. That’s awesome!
Starcastic! Interesting subject matter.
I found one with the Strat type headstock at a thrift shop . Put Hipshot locking tuners , CTS pots , Tonerider Alnico II pickups , Switchcraft input jack . Also found a Made in Korea Fender Telecaster there and swapped out everything as mentioned above .Tonerider pickups are awesome !
@@bxsoup oh cool man! I feel like these were amazing modding machines
People have said Starcaster is lower quality than Squier. Bottom of the Barrel. I've had a few Starcasters (with the standard strat headstalk,) and there's really no discernable difference.
@@benwright6330 yeah I’d argue that they are of the same quality, if anything maybe slightly better. It’s definitely made better than my squire bullet strat
I have a thing for these, have about 25, trying to get every model/color headstock and fret board maple & rosewood. I have the Starcaster J bass sunburst and looking for the bass amp and a better condition 15 watt guitar amp. Bass was latest acquisition and most expensive. Some folks think these are $400- $500 guitars, they are not. I also do the 2014 Gibson lower end melody maker's and looking for a 2014 SGJ.
@@baronoflivonia.3512 it’s hilarious to me that they made Starcaster basses. I’ve never seen one in the wild but I think it’s neat. I agree, not worth more than 200 but great for mods
I have 2 of these. The S-1 was the exact same as the one you have. And The S-2 is the maple cap black body. Ive set up and modded them both to be (imo) really good guitars for the initial price and the subsequent updates of each.. I would like to get my hands on the S-3 eventually with the painted headstock and keep it as the original.. Very cool wal-mart guitars...
(Edit).. The neck pocket on the S-1 was routed larger and the holes were offset to a 2019 player strat neck I was going to put on it.. Not sure if thats on all S-1's. If you ever do a neck swap i would love to see that video!
@@freethinkradio that’s awesome, always welcome to more info on these. If I ever do one I’ll definitely post it here! Thanks for watching
Fender and Squire did re-release the original hollow body Starcaster quite a few years ago, I bought the Fender version, which was similar to the original.
@@Blue_Ridge_Ranger yeah I realized that during the editing process lol. I added a correction during the video.
Yes, back in the 2005 to 20012 timeframe, I remember visiting a music store that had a few limited run, reissue Fender Starcasters. Even 1 or two bass versions! The store manager claimed that it was a limited run & only certain stores around the country got deals on them. Only those stores had them. I would've loved to have gotten one but, I'm a lefty & there ain't no lefties for that model!! 🤷♂️😂
@ that’s a cool story! Yes I imagine it sucked hearing there wasn’t any lefties. Hell it’s hard enough finding regular left handed strats lol.
Cool looking guitar
@@BlueberryStinkFinger62 thanks man! I think so too!
They came out with fender branded chinese starcasters(the hollow body) around 2013-2014 and it lasted about three years at the time they also re released the coronado sids by side with the hollow body starcaster , I'm pulling this from memory so i might be off a year or so with the dates of re release.
@@REX-ks1os thanks for the info, I don’t know much about these
A very complex and competitive guitar. Of the many years made, I like the 05. Some were not even dry when they hit the floors. I have a triple flamed neck on mine but I've owned 6 or so and had to sell them. Lots of secrets in them.
@@ranman58635 oh cool, I think this one is a 2002, not entirely sure though. that’s really neat, I enjoy hearing about these guitars. Thank you for the info. Have a good day.
@aquaneeds , the date is in the first two numbers of the SN.
@@ranman58635 thanks for letting me know!
I found an arrowhead bass could not get the out of town shop to ship it to me. They did start to get the smaller body thickness later in production .
@@MeekSith777 that’s interesting, I didn’t know they started getting thinner. Pretty good deal for a full size body honestly
So I recently bought a Squier Bullet at a pawn shop and noticed it has pick ups that's poles are different heights so this is a good thing I'm pretty sure right?
@@aarongrooms8881 yeah it could mean they are a non-squire set. Most squires I own/seen are flat but with the newer ones I’m not exactly sure.
Mine is a 2004, great bones but all electronics suck! Each color tells you what dept. store it was purchased at. They came with a guitar, gig bag and 10w amp. Mines a 3-color sunburst that were sold at Walmart. I paid $100 this year for the whole kit, like new, from the original owner. I plan on modding the electronics, tuners and bridge.
@@donrepcon7704 I’m thinking about doing this as well, kinda split on it though. Good luck though, that sounds fun.
@aquaneeds 👍🏻
the S1 model was the highest quality. I have a maple/maple S1
@@charlesdeal771 the S1 model should’ve been the only Starcaster model.
Thanks for posting the video. I have the arrowhead Starcaster like this, except mine is the HSS2, meaning it has a humbucker in the bridge. The other difference is mine has a painted headstock, and the knobs are chrome. The paint looks like gun metal, but up close you can see it has metal flake in it.I hear alot of bad things about this guitar, but it plays and sounds very nice to me. And yes, i know this is Squire like, but im amazed how it sounds and plays I changed out the electronics and installed a prewired pickguard from Amazon for 25$. Sounds pretty good but not good enough. im gonna upgrade to some Symour Duncans. Once that is done, it will be one of the best guitars I've ever owned. I wish there was more information on these! Im thinking mine might be rare because i cant find ANY info on this particular model. Fender does not even acknowledge these.. even knowing that they pulled them from the shelves due to the stores not officially being a Fender dealer. Made in Indonesia, the serial # is IC 050804383
anyone can find any info would be great thank you.
@@allen9102 that sounds pretty rad man, I’ve never seen a combo like that. If you ever post a video of it, try to mention me in the comments so I can check it out!
The Starcaster BRAND (that's the word your looking for) was, when it came out, a "cheaper than Squire" Fender brand that were really horrible guitars. A rosewood fingerboard isn't a big deal, the laws weren't really in place at the time, no need for Pau Ferro or Laurel (nothing wrong with those anyway). These ahd plywood bodies like the cheaper strat styles at the time, some squires and low prices Kramers to name a couple. When the real actual Starcaster guitars came out Epiphones were pretty horrible guitars too, the great Gibson built ones a thing of the past. This was before before Japan started sending us their good stuff; Ibanez and Yamaha were just starting to give us some pretty good stuff. Suddenly; BOOM! The Yamaha SG2000 and Ibanez Artist series came out followed by first gen Squires (great guitars). Years later you got the good Epiphones.
@@deanallen927 thanks for the info, have a good day.
I bought a starcaster By: ender user for under $100. at my local Music-Go-Round in order to do an extreme mod/upgrade. I replaced the pcb 5-way with a fender blade switch . replaced the single coils with quad rail/coil humbuckers that measure at 18,5K average and about 9.5 split. I wired it all like a '50's Les Paul with coil splits.. yes that means 3 each Vol. and Tone. added a P/P in the bridge to activate the bridge and neck pickups together regardless of other controls. The pickups, switch and pots are all loaded in the custom hand made brushed stainless steel pick guard. oyher upgrades include roller saddles in the bridge that also got a full size brass trem block. the head stock got a titanium nut, roller string tree and locking tuners. the repaint of body and head stock in a stars and planets theme lends to the further out from Starcaster to It's new name .The "Stellarcaster" ... It looks great and sounds out of this world, feels nice in your hands and plays well too. everything functions as I designed . cool looking guitar that reflects it's new name. I floated the bridge and tuned it to E flat standard, like any good Strat should be. Wanna Play???
@@KennethCrickmore-sl8jl dude that’s awesome! Glad you’re enjoying it. I think these guitars are great.
now all he has to do is to learn to play it lol.
@@Tboyhoot777 thanks for watching
I have one, sorta. I have the 2004 starcaster arrow neck like that but it's on a Aria (no name) body. I love the neck feel and everything feels to think to me, but the neck helps get an old school SRV sound, I think. My frets are mid jumbo I would say, they made them using whatever was laying around the fender plant I was told. That would be how they were affordable but still fender quality. I have a maple arrowhead.
@@Ro-Bucks that’s cool, I have seen the arrowhead maple ones on reverb but they are harder to find it seems
For not wanting to talk about the “real” Starcaster, from the ‘70’s…you sure talked a lot about it…I hope you get one some day!
Peace
@@StarshipTrooper2050 haha yeah I suppose I did. I guess I meant not wanting to talk about its history or specs. Would be cool to own one though
I picked up one of these from a friend awhile ago and it was actually my first guitar. With some work it has played really nicely and I've been able to play with mods on it as much as I like, given its low value. Mine is a 2007 S2 with a maple capped neck/fretboard with a 3-tone sunburst body. I plan to mod it to 70s Vintera specs with a black pickguard, cream pickup covers, and all that. Glad to see these getting more coverage, as they're a weird little anomaly in the Fender lineup that most people ignore.
There's a whole wikipedia article dedicated to them:
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starcaster_by_Fender
@@wesleykoch550 I agree, these kinda are a weird gem. With the right setup any guitar can play good.
It looks like a strat with a malformed headstock. I'm waiting on the mindbender to come out.
@@philwood9760 I’m into the odd stuff, thanks for watching.
I’ll always associate it with Sam’s Club, where I saw them for sale new for around $100, give or take. 🎸
@@konradhof7318 yeah I’ve heard that was a popular place to get them. Thanks for watching
Bought one in cosco for 169 with amp strap and jack in 2007.
Oh sick man! I wish I had got one of these when they were new
Why make these when they had the Squire line? I guess it was to differentiate the big box store guitars from the production for other markets (Guitar Center, etc.)?. Very odd headstock, but if it plays well and sounds good, cool!
From what I've been able to gather through some research is that these were almost like factory partscasters. Just slapped together with whatever was taken from the parts bins and shipped off with a cruddy little amp. Allegedly there were some that were blessed with decent electronics, but most of what I've seen online is the usual ceramic pups with little pots.
@@LeftyF2003 that’s exactly right man. I’m a strat guy but I’m kinda into the odd stuff. Not exactly sure why they made these haha
@@wesleykoch550 I believe you hit the nail on the head. I’ve also read that as well.
I have one, bought for my son in 2004. Maybe it's a branding thing; keep Squier their budget line and make this Starcaster as a beginner model. It was cheaper than a squier, $200 with amp, strap, cord, etc. I like it, mine is made in Indonesia, set-up well out of the box, and I plan to change the pick-ups.
@@GerarddeSouza-yt3fc glad you like it dude! These deserve some more attention
If I’m not mistaken, I saw these for sale in a Toys R Us back in the day…
@@StarshipTrooper2050 wow! That would’ve been crazy. Too bad that’s all gone now
Also this guitar has a three ply pick guard. white/black/white
The bridge and tuners are it's only weak Points as far as I can see.
@@aarongrooms8881 that’s awesome man. My 2016 bullet squire is 1ply so it sounds like you got a good deal.
Fender Electro-Caster
@@trevorgwelch7412 would be a cool name lol
Sounds damn good 12:39
I gave one away. It had a normal headstock though.
I should've kept it.
@@HappyHermitt luckily there’s quite a few around
So fender katana headstock...
@@marcraygun6290 could very well be based off of that as well. I never knew about the katana. However I’m sure that headstock was based off the swinger as all three are pretty similar. Thanks for the comment
@aquaneeds I think you are right and I posted this before you mentioned the swinger , when I was in Japan in 2012 was shocked to see a company had created there own reissue swinger!
@@marcraygun6290 that’s pretty neat man! Japan has some killer reissues.
I have the exact same guitar as Music is Win and I have to say this guitar is a massive flaming pile of crap. I bought it new back in the day and I ended up changing pretty much everything on the guitar. The only redeeming quality is the body, made by Cort. Unless you can find one for dirt cheap and plan to use it as a project, stay away.
@@rlyman5302 I agree it would be more for a project guitar but I find I actually enjoy mine.
when i saw we were heading down the path of costco special and not cool hollow body i got concerned. those of us who have had experience with these know this guitar HAS to be modded biggest pile of trash ever with the "fender" branding ill tell you whawt 😂
@ hey it is what it is, it’s inexpensive. Of course you ain’t gonna get a nice guitar, but the beauty of these is that you CAN modify them and any guitar that plays great in my mind is worth it.
Bullet = plywood
@@matthewotremba9230 you referring to the squire bullet series guitars?
@aquaneeds no , the Performer series , could not recall the name
Google it or odd Fender models , cheers
that is either a cool semi hollow or a costco special stratocaster😂
@@1-eye-willy more like the Costco special lol
That sounds truely awful! Fun and unusual guitar for a collection, though.
@@wilhelmhagberg4897 either way, yes it’s definitely a fun guitar to have around.
You are supposed to finish the headstock by yourself to the shape you prefer
@@postoffice146 hahaha yeah something like that
Ummmmm , these were the boo boo necks
Miscut headstocks
Reshaped to this
Like that guitar they did , yet the body as well
Cut from miscut bodies
@@matthewotremba9230 yes sir, I was told they were parts guitars. In my opinion they kinda work!
oddball
@@djizzah indeed it is
It’s a guitar you d a
@@RjBenjamin353 indeed it is, thanks for watching
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starcaster_by_Fender
Also this guitar has a three ply pick guard. white/black/white