Starcaster by Fender

"Starcaster by Fender" Stratocaster
Manufacturer	Fender
Woods
Body	Basswood
Neck	Maple
Fretboard	Rosewood or Maple
Hardware
Bridge	Tremolo
Pickup(s)	3 single-coil or 2 single-coil + bridge humbucker
Colors available
Black, white, Torino red, Candy Apple Red, Black Cherry burst over flame top maple, metallic black, three-colour sunburst, metallic blue, silver burst.

The Starcaster by Fender (not to be confused with the older Fender Starcaster) is a range of instruments and accessories aimed at beginners, from the prominent guitar company Fender.

Electric Guitars

The electric guitars in this range are manufactured in the Far East and typically sold in the USA as part of a starter package with a Squier SP-10 practice amplifier (e.g. "Starcaster Strat Pack") at Best Buy, Target, Sam's Club, BJ's Wholesale 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 The range was withdrawn from the Fender website in 2007.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.

The Starcaster guitar is a solid body electric, usually with 3 single coil pickups, a five way selector switch and a floating tremolo bridge. It is similar to the Stratocasters made by Squier, although the headstock may be painted to match the guitar body. The quality of the guitar is a little lower than a typical Fender Stratocaster and is made of basswood and maple. Other minor changes such as a lower grade tremolo have also been made to bring down the cost, as well as the Starcaster being manufactured in China. The cavity under the pickguard is also changed. It is configured to have an HSH pickup setup, which allows for easier replacement of pickups, but also loses some of the tonal quality. Although most feature the classic Stratocaster configuration of 3 single-coil pickups, one model uses the American Deluxe Stratocaster S-S-H pickup configuration with a humbucker in the bridge position. It is not considered a Strat copy because the Starcaster brand is owned by Fender (much as Marauder is owned by Gibson).

Acoustic/Electric Guitars

The following steel-string acoustic/electric guitars have been seen under the Starcaster by Fender name:

• A single cutaway acoustic/electric guitar with solid spruce top, built-in pickup and pre-amp. A picture of the packaging of this guitar accompanied the description of the Dreadnought version on Amazon.com, 13-Mar-2008.

• A dreadnought acoustic guitar with laminated spruce top, available also as an acoustic/electric with built-in pickup and pre-amp, and a third version adding built-in tuner, with the following details: Frets: 20; Scale length: 25.3"; Width at nut: 1.69"; Width at heel: 2.24"; Body depth: 3.94" - 4.92" (Target.com, 13-Mar-2008)

• A 3/4 scale "Starcaster Colt" acoustic guitar (Target.com, 13-Mar-2008)

Drum Set

Fender also markets a drum set under the Starcaster by Fender name. Its shells are made of hardwood. The set features a floor tom, two rack toms, a kick drum, snare, hi-hat and crash cymbals, stands, pedals, a drum chair, tuning key, and drum sticks. In the UK these were sold by Tesco and Argos.

Amplifiers and Effect pedals

In late 2007 Fender introduced a low-priced amplifier and range of effect pedals under the Starcaster by Fender name. These included a blue "Distortion/Eq" pedal, a green-yellow Chorus pedal, an orange Flanger pedal and the "Starcaster 15G" 15W amplifier.

External links

• Starcaster by Fender range pages from Fender.com at archive.org
• Pointy-headstock Starcaster by Fender guitar image at Overstock.com