Gibson dominated the semi-hollow guitar market from the 1950s onward, spurring Fender to try and gain market share in that segment in the 1970s. To do that, they developed the Fender Starcaster, a short-lived offset semi-hollow guitar with dual humbuckers. A loyal fan base grew for decades after production ended, and finally, in 2012, Fender heard the calling and reissued the guitar as the Modern Player Starcaster. The model is built in China to keep costs and pricing affordable, but offers the same essential design elements as the original.
The guitar is in excellent condition throughout. There are a couple of marks on the body: one light scratch on the side (photo 16) and a small black mark on the binding (photo 18). Further there are pick marks to the scratch plate. Other than that it is pretty immaculate. The frets are in great shape and show very little signs of use at all.
James Dean Bradfield of Manic Street Preachers, who has two Starcasters, one original 1970s and a 2013 Modern Player, told Guitarist Magazine:
"Starcasters have one of the best fretboards, Fender or otherwise, I’ve ever played, and a great sound. They’re an anomaly of a guitar, aren’t they? They probably should have sold better than they did. I’ve only ever seen (Radiohead’s) Jonny Greenwood, (Morrissey’s) Boz Boorer and (The Killers’) Dave Keuning play them otherwise.”
