1976 Fender Starcaster in ebony

guitarz.blogspot.com:

The Fender Corporation do have this really irritating habit of taking the names of pieces of gear from their past (or else that of acquired companies) and then re-applying those names to some much less deserving budget-priced piece of kit.

A prime example was when Fender paired the name of the now legendary Sunn amps as acquired by Fender together with that of the Fender Mustang guitar which originally appeared in 1964. However, the resultant Sunn Mustang was just a budget Strat copy (early examples were made in India and seem to have their fans - but that's a discussion for another time).

Fender did the same thing with the Starcaster. It used to be a 1970s-era offset-body semi-hollowbody guitar (see above pic) - Fender's answer to Gibson's 335 but with a bolt-on maple neck, but AGAIN years later they have applied the name to yet another budget conscious Strat copy. Ask any teenager into guitars what a Starcaster is, and it is the latter-mentioned guitar they will be most likely be thinking of (unless they are really cool).

Anyway, here is an example currently for sale on eBay of a Fender Starcaster from 1976 in a rare ebony finish (most I've seen previously tend to have the natural finish or sometimes sunburst). Despite not being Fender's first attempt at a semi-hollowbody - that would be the Coronado from 1966-1972 - it is one of Fender's more intriguing lesser-known guitars. Such a shame they have to sully its name with a cheap Strat knock-off.

G L Wilson

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