#1
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NGD: Starcaster by Fender
Well, now that I'm getting very enthusiastic about guitars, and music in general, I just had to buy an electric, because I wanted to really badly. Cool thing is, one of my cousins had a guitar to sell so she could raise money for college books. Sounds like a win-win situation to me.
It's a Starcaster, so it's not the most prestigious guitar out there by any means, but it sure doesn't sound or feel cheap. Very nice guitar. My best guess is that it was made in 2007, as that's the date stamped on the back of the amp, and I'd assume that the amp and guitar were originally purchased together. But, it's a good guitar, so for all I care it could be from the middle ages. I paid $80 total for the guitar, amp, gig bag, strap, stand, and cables. Not bad at all, in my book, especially for the guitar that $80 bought. Plus that amplifier's a 22-watt, which is more than I need, but I'm not arguing. Unfortunately, the audio cable that came with the guitar was junk, and one of the plugs broke pretty quickly. Thank goodness it was just the cable and not the amp or the guitar that broke, now I just need to buy a replacement tomorrow. So, my guitars now number two.
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It appears as if the signature's sole purpose is to advertise your guitars' awesomeness. Well, in that case: Hohner Limited Edition HG 310, nicknamed "Evelyn". Ibanez IJV50-NT 3U-01 dreadnought, nicknamed "Amber". Starcaster by Fender strat, nicknamed "Sylvia". |
#2
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A couple points of information:
If that amp is marked 22 watts on the rear of the chassis, along with certain other electrical specs in immediate proximity, viz.: 120V 50/60 Hz 3A 22W - or the like, then you're looking at the power consumption, not power output (which is sometimes provided, either in RMS watts or peak power). Hard to tell without a picture/description, but I'm thinking it's a small solid-state practice amp with an 8" speaker and about 10W (RMS) output, in which case it should be adequate for at-home practice, recording, and/or laying down an electric lead with a couple of acoustic players at the next open mic hight. If by 22 watts being "more than you need" you're thinking in terms of a tube amp like the Fender Deluxe Reverb/Super-Sonic or Bugera V22, both of these are capable of substantial volume in a club/studio setting and more than many players would find desirable for routine practice; however, my own hot-rodded V22 does double-duty for venues up to ~600-700 seats (easily keeps up with my Super Reverb) as well as home use (then again, I've been playing electric since 1964, so I qualify as one of the guys who invented loud ). As you progress, you'll want to consider one of these as a step-up... Inexpensive guitars like the Starcaster make great platforms for modifications, since the electronics are the weak link in virtually all cases; if you're handy and you have a few extra bucks floating around, Guitar Fetish makes a line of inexpensive, well-reviewed pickups that'll really goose your $80 axe into pro-tone territory. Since you're posting on the Acoustic Guitar forum I'm thinking (perhaps wrongly) that you're not really a dive-bomber kinda guy when it comes to whammy-bar use; adding a couple springs to the trem block and lowering the rear of the bridge flush to the body will yield a major improvement in tone and sustain, while still allowing use of the whammy for down bends (I use the same setup on my own Strat, Eddie Van Halen used this setup for years, and Eric Clapton achieves similar results by wedging a piece of wood between the trem block and the body - which unfortunately rules out use of the whammy). As an acoustic player, I'd also recommend going with a slightly heavier string gauge - it'll give you bigger tone, better intonation (especially if you use a wound G), and allow for easier transition between electric and acoustic during a set; although I prefer .012 flatwounds on my Strat (FYI, that's the way they came from the factory back in the day) I used to set up my students with D'Addario XL115W's (.011-.049/wound G) with great success... Good luck and good music... |
#3
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Quote:
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No, I don't plan on using that whammy bar at all. The overdrive switch on the amp also goes unused. I may as well remove the whammy bar and I'd likely never shed a tear, but I leave it on just in case. It's not getting in the way, might as well keep it. I actually did give it a good testing to try it out, that whammy bar sent the guitar out of tune so fast it was almost comedic. The strings sure do need to be replaced, that same set's been sitting on it for at least years, I'm planning a trip to a music store soon. Heavy gauge sounds like a great idea to me, being primarily an acoustic player I can see no drawbacks to going with heavy strings. Thanks for your advice, it sure helps me, being very new to the music world.
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It appears as if the signature's sole purpose is to advertise your guitars' awesomeness. Well, in that case: Hohner Limited Edition HG 310, nicknamed "Evelyn". Ibanez IJV50-NT 3U-01 dreadnought, nicknamed "Amber". Starcaster by Fender strat, nicknamed "Sylvia". |
#4
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Steve mirrors my philosophy to a tee. I completely replaced all the wiring, pots, pups, etc on my LP and it is very impressive sounding now. A set of .011's are a nice choice if you're used to playing at least lights on acoustic. I play mediums on my dread and tend to squeeze notes sharp on electric if I run .010 gauge or lighter. The other thing worth springing for is a good setup, and maybe have the frets evaluated for levelness. I've needed to have the frets leveled on every non-US built electric I've owned or worked on (a MIM Strat, a Strat clone, my LP, and an old 60's MIJ hollowbody) to get the action where I like it. Enjoy your new guitar!
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"You don't have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great." -Zig Ziglar Acoustics 2013 Guild F30 Standard 2012 Yamaha LL16 2007 Seagull S12 1991 Yairi DY 50 Electrics Epiphone Les Paul Standard Fender Am. Standard Telecaster Gibson ES-335 Gibson Firebird |
#5
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I had one of those Starcasters--I thought the pickups weren't bad.
Your money might be better spent on a better amp. Instead of sinking more money into the Starcaster, you might consider saving up for one of these: http://www.musiciansfriend.com/guita...lectric-guitar http://www.musiciansfriend.com/guita...lectric-guitar |
#6
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I had a student who had a starcaster for a while and I was both really surprised and not surprised at the same time.
The not surprises were what one would expect. The pickups were "eh." Not terrible, but certainly not good either. The hardware likewise was serviceable but all could be replaced and end up with a better guitar. The body wood was poor quality mystery wood. Here's the surprise... the neck was a very, very, very nice piece of quartersawn maple with an attractive rosewood fingerboard. I recommended to him that he never sell the guitar without first removing the neck and keeping it for later use in putting together a partscaster. All that said, it was a very nice guitar for someone learning electric or someone who plays acoustic and wants an electric just in case... The recommended GFS pickups would be a big improvement for not a lot of money. The next expenditure would be a better bridge or trem block. Again GFS has some good options for relatively low price but that would be not nearly as effective a change in performance as replacing the pups. And then there are the tuning machines. If you're using the trem much at all even for subtle stuff, a set of locking tuners would be a good expenditure. |
#7
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Hello Ryan, you have a nice Starcaster, it's a Silverburst, I had one like it. The Starcasters 'had' several 'grades', the Silverburst was the upgrade and was a little more expensive, you've gotten some excellent advice, lock the tremolo use a wound third an it will jive....
Have fun,
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Bud “Time flies, Love stays “ |