The Big (?) Vintage Starcaster Thread

Discussion of vintage Jazzmasters, Jaguars, Bass VIs, Electric XIIs and any other offset-waist instruments.
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The Big (?) Vintage Starcaster Thread

Post by 46346 » Tue Jul 26, 2022 11:02 pm

Hey Gang,

one of my last frontiers of classic Fender offset-ism is the beloved Starcaster. a big reason for this must be their rarity. i have wanted to try one for many years, yet even living and working in Los Angeles, i've never come across one in a shop, or among player-friends. of course, for decades i had been distracted by Jazzmasters and Jaguars and Mustangs, even Firebirds, SG-3's, Dohenys...

finding info/photos/experiences with Starcasters is surprisingly scant online. but in recent years an inflated vintage market seems to be taking them as even more rare to share.

yes, it was Jonny Greenwood who hipped me in the first place. i was right up front for the Hail to the Thief tour when i finally connected the Starcaster to the sounds on the records. i've been able to get some of that sound with my '74 Tele Custom and its WRHB in the neck, i always though that's what he was playing, until i actually saw it happening in front of me.

anyway, after some dormant years of not seeing much posting on the vintage Starcaster here, it seems we've had a little action on the topic lately, perhaps asking prices are coming down to something reasonable? and stoking a little more interest here?

is there a Starcaster in your future? or in your stable already? have you moved on from one?

Show us, and tell us all about it! i mean how Big (?) can this thread really get...?
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Re: The Big (?) Vintage Starcaster Thread

Post by Pacafeliz » Wed Jul 27, 2022 1:17 am

I feel discriminated. I don't have one and guess I'll never have one, either.

I let about 3 pass, back then when they were affordable. It hurts. :'(
i love delay SO much ...that i procrastinate all the time.

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Re: The Big (?) Vintage Starcaster Thread

Post by simonhpieman » Wed Jul 27, 2022 3:59 am

Mine moved to a fellow OSGer. I did really love it but needed to sell it during lockdown (THANKS Sunak).

The neck was utterly glorious. 10" radius. I won't go on about it too much as the current owner deserves to share its glory.

I did try and pick up another when I was in New York but the guy in the store showed me so much contempt I walked out of there.

I'm sure I've told this story 100 times but I saw one in about 2000 for £599 in my local music shop in Bournemouth (Boscombe, to be exact). Beautiful condition. I loved it on sight. Sadly £599 was like a million pounds to me back then, being 15 or so. My mate was a bit older, 19 or 20, and he'd seen it as well on a seperate visit. He genuinely wanted to buy it but the shop owner just fobbed him off and said "bah, you don't want that, it's a load of rubbish". I mean, it might have been but he wouldn't have gone wrong for 600 quid. That same shop had a 335-TD in beautiful walnut for £899 at the time as well. Bargain central!

But I digress. I'm big time into semis and a natural Starcaster is pure perfection for me, so over-engineered and unnecessary but just awesome from top to bottom.

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Re: The Big (?) Vintage Starcaster Thread

Post by Rob » Wed Jul 27, 2022 4:49 am

I expect almost everyone that posts here will have their own story about one (or more) that got away.

In my case, it was the summer of 1997 and a local shop (The Castle Jewelry & Pawn) had one for $450. I'd never seen one before, and had no idea what they were all about. All I knew was that it looked huge. I'd never seen anything like that used by any of my guitar heroes at the time, and I was about a month away from my first Jazzmaster, so the poor Starcaster got dismissed as "I guess Fender was really getting desperate and trying ANYthing back in the 70s..."

At the time, $450 would get you just about any vintage Fender you wanted, as long as it wasn't a Strat. Oh if only we knew...

It wasn't until a few years later in 2000 or 2001 that I'd learned enough about them to appreciate their potential, but I didn't find another one out in the wild again until about 2009. I was traveling for work and found one at a Guitar Center in the Atlanta suburbs. They wanted $2,750 for it, which seemed absurd -- considering they were $450 just a dozen years prior. Weeks went by and no one touched it, so I told myself that if it was still there at the end of the summer when I got paid, I'd buy it.

I asked the people at Guitar Center about it. They said some older local brought it in and sold it to them for $1,650, so they marked it up to $2,750 and were just happy to see someone showing interest. At some point, someone decided they didn't like the painted blade on the headstock and cut it off to make it look a little more traditional-Fender. They speculated this was indicative of it being sort of prototype.

Of course, it wasn't. The pickup stamps are 1977, the neck stamp is 1978, and it has an S7 serial number (under the pickguard), but I didn't know any of that at the time. All I knew was that (1) I regretted ignoring the one in the pawn shop, (2) I loved the Fender Wide Range humbuckers, and (3) work was giving me a big chunk of money that I could spend on something stupid like this.

So I did, and I love it. The neck is nice and flat -- it's the only maple fretboard I've ever enjoyed. Pickups are the best. Surprising comfortable for its size, and feels good sitting or standing. Much lighter than my other 70s boat-anchor Fenders. It doesn't get much stage time, but it's a recording workhorse.

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Re: The Big (?) Vintage Starcaster Thread

Post by simonhpieman » Wed Jul 27, 2022 9:24 am

Oh my god, have you got a picture of the headstock?? :wacko:

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Re: The Big (?) Vintage Starcaster Thread

Post by gishuk » Wed Jul 27, 2022 10:10 am

No story about one that got away from me, but I now own the '76 that simonhpieman had, and it really is as amazing a guitar as he says.

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I've used this photo before and for some reason don't have any good natural light ones of this guitar, will have to remedy that.

The neck really is incredible, a bit bigger than my Jazzmasters but very comfortable. I'm not sure if it was refretted, but the frets are getting on towards jumbo sized, which suits me perfectly. In fact after playing this guitar for a bit I had my 61 JM refretted with similar size jumbos.

I've never played another Starcaster but if they're anything like this one its really surprising there isnt more of a following for them. I know they were a commercial flop at the time, but WRHBs have become very popular recently and with the Starcaster being, in my mind at least, the quintessential WRHB guitar, you'd think there would be more attention on them.

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Re: The Big (?) Vintage Starcaster Thread

Post by Rob » Wed Jul 27, 2022 4:55 pm

simonhpieman wrote:
Wed Jul 27, 2022 9:24 am
Oh my god, have you got a picture of the headstock?? :wacko:
Here you go. It's really not that bad -- or maybe I'm just used to seeing it this way. But most people don't even notice until I point it out and then they're like "OH MY GOD WUUUUT!?"

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Re: The Big (?) Vintage Starcaster Thread

Post by simonhpieman » Thu Jul 28, 2022 1:56 am

But the wave is the best bit! But I guess given it is (or was, I guess they're a lot more recognisable thanks to the new Squiers) nobody really knew how it SHOULD look.

Interesting redish colour, not sure I've seen one quite as red as that before!

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Re: The Big (?) Vintage Starcaster Thread

Post by CCOffset » Thu Jul 28, 2022 4:52 am

I too love the Starcaster and couldn't figure out why their reputation was so poor. Sometime pre-covid, I went down a rabbit hole about Gene Fields who was one of the designers on the project. He went on to found GFI (Gene Fields Industries) but passed away almost a decade ago. The website for the company had some mention of the Starcaster and even a very curious photo of what appeared to be an early version if not prototype of the model which had no master volume.

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So I set out to find that guitar. I made a YT video about it and petitioned the whole of Instagram to help me find it. Gene's son in law said that Gene sold it to Guitar Center in Dallas in the 1990s. A friend on IG said he saw it hanging up on the wall in GC with a plaque underneath describing it as the prototype. I asked my friend at GC Vintage about it but they had no record or knowledge of it. Dead ends everywhere.

About a year later, this guitar popped up on Reverb and I bought it. It is the exact guitar from the photograph. Cool features include: solid Maple top and back, foam mounted pickups with custom cut rings, no model name, Coronado style neck side strap button, super low serial number for a three bolt (likely and R&D plate), and two sets of string ferrules. I believe that the neck pocket angle and second set of ferrules indicates that this tall bridge was not the original bridge they intended to use.

Three of the potentiometers are under the cans so I couldn't check the date code. One of the cans fell off of a tone pot, but there is too much solder covering the date code. I've not been able to find a date for when this guitar was made. The serial number is 275782.

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Re: The Big (?) Vintage Starcaster Thread

Post by gishuk » Thu Jul 28, 2022 5:32 am

Thats amazing! So cool that you were able to track that guitar down.

Is that solid carved top and back then instead of the laminate pressed top and back of the production models?

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Re: The Big (?) Vintage Starcaster Thread

Post by 46346 » Thu Jul 28, 2022 2:38 pm

Pacafeliz wrote:
Wed Jul 27, 2022 1:17 am
I feel discriminated. I don't have one and guess I'll never have one, either.

I let about 3 pass, back then when they were affordable. It hurts. :'(
Pat, i'm imagining you fretting like Dr. Smith on TV's Lost in Space

"Oh, the pain, the pain"

https://youtu.be/v2PUfNQxVRM?t=87


i totally understand Rob's notion, too. but somehow i never even encountered one that could get away. i think i've been aware of them for about 20 years now, i don't know how they have eluded me.
not that i was looking that hard until the last several years.

i enjoyed playing the Fender CP version, and considered picking up a used one down the road, but then i found my 70's Tele Custom and realized the joy of a true WRHB. so i decided to wait for the real thing to come along. that was nine years ago!


because of the reputation of this era of Fenders having a sloppy neck pocket, i've been passing on
occasional fair deals online in favor of something i can try in person.

but i may have to re-think that strategy!
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Re: The Big (?) Vintage Starcaster Thread

Post by 46346 » Thu Jul 28, 2022 2:44 pm

CCOffset wrote:
Thu Jul 28, 2022 4:52 am

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Holy Smokes, CCOffset - that is a fantastic nugget! exactly some of the history i was hoping to get from this thread.

i was wondering along with Gish - is the top arched?
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Re: The Big (?) Vintage Starcaster Thread

Post by CCOffset » Thu Jul 28, 2022 4:58 pm

gishuk wrote:
Thu Jul 28, 2022 5:32 am
Thats amazing! So cool that you were able to track that guitar down.

Is that solid carved top and back then instead of the laminate pressed top and back of the production models?
Thank you! And yes it does have a solid carved Maple top and back. I've no idea how they did that instead of pressed laminate but it is definitely solid. I wish I had more information on the guitar but I'm not sure to reach out to for Fender information from this time period.

I will definitely stop by GFI to ask about it the next time I'm in Marshfield, MO....

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Re: The Big (?) Vintage Starcaster Thread

Post by 46346 » Thu Jul 28, 2022 11:57 pm

CCOffset wrote:
Thu Jul 28, 2022 4:58 pm
gishuk wrote:
Thu Jul 28, 2022 5:32 am
Thats amazing! So cool that you were able to track that guitar down.

Is that solid carved top and back then instead of the laminate pressed top and back of the production models?
Thank you! And yes it does have a solid carved Maple top and back. I've no idea how they did that instead of pressed laminate but it is definitely solid. I wish I had more information on the guitar but I'm not sure to reach out to for Fender information from this time period.

I will definitely stop by GFI to ask about it the next time I'm in Marshfield, MO....
rad. do you still own it or did you sell it?
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Re: The Big (?) Vintage Starcaster Thread

Post by 46346 » Fri Jul 29, 2022 12:25 am

Rob wrote:
Wed Jul 27, 2022 4:55 pm
simonhpieman wrote:
Wed Jul 27, 2022 9:24 am
Oh my god, have you got a picture of the headstock?? :wacko:
Here you go. It's really not that bad -- or maybe I'm just used to seeing it this way. But most people don't even notice until I point it out and then they're like "OH MY GOD WUUUUT!?"

Image
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i've seen a few such violations to the headstock over the years (online) and that's the nicest one i've seen. it actually looks legit, very Fendery.

i very well might have gone for it as well, except in the interim dozen years, i've become a bit fascinated with the original headstock's role in the overall balance.
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