Before my career as a professional trombonist, I had illusions of being a guitarist and this instrument was my choice to make the journey that never happened. Once I knew that my trombone-playing career was well under way, the Starcaster sat in its case and I never looked back. The Starcaster was bought used and is in the same condition as I purchased it. The two small imperfections are clearly shown in the attached photographs : A belt scrape on the back directly below the serial number plate and a small chip on the back of the neck directly below the headstock. The belt scrape is more of an indentation than a scrape to bare wood and the neck looks like the previous owner never moved from first position [and should have trimmed his thumbnail !]. I did my best to ascertain that all the controls were working correctly by hooking up to a vintage Fender "Deluxe Reverb" amp. The string set is a lightweight set and even I can tell that they are not appropriate strings for this instrument. They were installed simply for testing purposes. To the best of my limited guitar knowledge, all the controls work as intended. The case with the instrument is absolute junk [chipboard case ?] but will function well enough to wrap the guitar with bubble wrap and hold it for shipping. Local pickup would be preferable for such a valuable instrument but if shipping is necessary it will be done in a 1" thick corrugated box by a mutually agreed shipper only to addresses in the CONUS. It is an excellent example of Leo Fender's foray into the hollow-body guitar world and should provide many years more enjoyment to its new owner.
Fender launched the Starcaster in 1976 as an attempt to break into the semi-hollowbody, humbucker market. Like the earlier Coronado, the Starcaster was a commercial failure. The Starcaster was distinguished by it offset body style and unique headstock.
