Fender Starcaster Natural

1976

The Starcaster, in my opinion, is a great example of Fender’s ability to make excellent instruments in the 70s. It was designed as a high-end instrument, a semi-hollowbody offset, a sort of response to the equally excellent Gibson Les Paul Signature, which was its contemporary. Fender was clearly not known for its semi-hollowbody models, and yet they succeeded in their gamble in my opinion. The craftsmanship is impeccable, including the body’s routing to accommodate the neck, which can be quite loose on other models at that time, is perfect here. The woods are very well chosen and absolutely magnificent, especially here in its natural version. The missing pickguard could even be a coherent aesthetic choice, as the maple is so beautiful. It is equipped with two wide-range humbucker pickups designed by Seth Lover, quite simply the inventor of the humbucker. A man to whom the modern electric guitar owes a lot. This instrument plays perfectly. The Starcaster has been a frequent performer for several decades by major rock bands such as Radiohead, notably on OK Computer, and with Arctic Monkeys. It has also been occasionally used in jazz fusion, although this isn’t what makes it so well-known to the general public; it’s a guitar capable of many different things. It comes with its original hardshell case.