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Fender Starcaster
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Fender Starcaster | |
|---|---|
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| Manufacturer | Fender |
| Period | appr. 1976 — 1982 |
| Construction | |
| Body type | Semi-hollow |
| Neck joint | Bolt-on neck |
| Woods | |
| Body | Maple |
| Neck | Maple |
| Fretboard | Maple |
| Hardware | |
| Bridge | Fixed |
| Pickup(s) | H-H: Fender Wide Range |
| Colors available | |
| White, Natural (Blonde), Sunburst, Tobacco, Mocha Brown | |
The Fender Starcaster was an attempt by the Fender company to enter the semi-hollowbody electric guitar market, which was (and still is) dominated by Gibson's ES-335 and similar designs. The Starcaster of the 1970s and early 80s is not to be confused with the guitars from the recent Starcaster by Fender range, aimed at novice guitarists.
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The Starcaster was a high quality instrument (designed by Gene Fields) manufactured at a time when Fender's standards had lowered considerably. It was commercially unsuccessful, perhaps because of a public notion that Fender was a "solidbody, single coil brand" and Gibson was the "semi-hollow, humbucker brand". Although the Starcaster was semi-hollow and had humbucker pickups, it retained Fender's bolt-on neck design (using a somewhat trouble-prone three-bolt joint that it shared with other Fenders of the time), which may have added to its unpopularity. As a result it was only in production from 1976 or 1977 to 1980 or 1982, depending on sources. An advertisement from 1977states that the Starcaster's first creation was in 1975. While Fender has found a significant market for period-correct (and sometimes artificially "aged") reissues of some of its classic instruments (from the mainstay Telecaster, Stratocaster, and basses through lesser-known models such as the Mustang and 12-string Stratocaster), the company has never created a Starcaster reissue, nor an updated version of the model. There was evidence that at one point Fender were toying with the idea of Starcaster basses, though they possibly were not going to be marketed as Starcasters. The Starcaster name was, however, recently revived for a range of "value-priced" Starcaster by Fender guitars and drums unrelated to the Starcaster of the 70's. The electric guitars in this range were manufactured overseas and sold as part of a starter package (e.g. "Starcaster Strat Pack") at Best Buy, Target, Sam's Club and Costco outlets starting in the early 2000s. The range was withdrawn from the Fender website in 2007. Different finishes were available exclusively from each outlet. Most of these guitars were Stratocasters but some had a pointed headstock similar to the Fender Swinger.
Starcasters are very rare, but are worth less in today's vintage market than many other semi-hollow guitars from the same period to collectors because of their unpopularity and lack of name endorsers at their time of manufacture (although prices have been rising since the 1990s). Despite (or possibly because of) their modest vintage investment value, several modern high profile guitarists use the Starcaster as a preferred instrument. Jonny Greenwood guitarist of Radiohead can frequently be seen playing a Starcaster on stage. Sammy James Jr. guitarist and front man of the Mooney Suzuki uses a natural finished one and appeared on Late Night with Conan O'Brien with it June 21st 2007. The guitar can also be seen in the music video to Morrissey's single "You Have Killed Me". Dave Keuning of the Killers also started using one shortly before the release of the album Sam's Town. He could be seen playing his Starcaster during the Killers headline slot at Glastonbury Festival 2007 and in the video for For Reasons Unknown.
It had a unique headstock design, with a painted bottom curve matching the color of the guitar body, that no other Fender guitar has had before or since. It was also unusual for a semi-hollow guitar in having an asymmetrical ("offset") body, a maple fretboard, a bolt-on neck, and Fender's traditional six-on-a-side tuning pegs. The original Starcaster is completely unrelated in design to the guitars from the "Starcaster by Fender" range.
The "Fender Wide Range" humbucking pickups were designed by Seth Lover and appeared first on various Telecaster Custom and Telecaster Thinline models in the early '70s. They are still available as reissues, although the construction of the reissued Pickups has significantly changed. Regardless, they are still labeled "Wide Range".
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This section does not cite any references or sources. Please improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. (July 2007) |
- Wes Borland of Black Light Burns[citation needed]
- Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead (can be heard extensively on Kid A and Amnesiac)[1]
- Wayne Hussey of The Mission (band)[citation needed]
- Dave Keuning of The Killers[citation needed]
- Steve Mazur of Our Lady Peace[citation needed]
- John Roderick of The Long Winters[citation needed]
- Jesse Tobias of Morrissey[citation needed]
- Chris Walla of Death Cab for Cutie[citation needed]
- Bob Weir of The Grateful Dead[citation needed]