The Fender Starcaster Strat and Amp Set – the answer to a tricky question?
| Posted in Guitar
The Fender Starcaster Strat and Amp Set might just be the answer to a question I find myself asked all the time. It can crop up at almost any moment, without warning, no matter whether I’m swaying woozily in a pub or playing conversational keep-up with friends at a party, and it is this: “My child / nephew / niece / cousin (delete as appropriate) really wants to learn the guitar. What should I buy them?”
Now that might seem like a harmless enquiry, but for someone like me it’s akin to asking what kind of music I’m into (my typical answer is everything that’s not rubbish, and it never gets a positive response). The range of instruments that are suitable for a beginner is vast in the modern music industry, taking in a tremendous amount of brands and guitars of a surprisingly good quality. But selecting which guitar and amp set-up would work best for the would-be guitarist in question depends on the kind of music that he or she is interested in playing. If I venture to ask that question however, then the response is generally a confused expression, a shrug of the shoulders and a meek suggestion of “Coldplay?”
Nor is it ever wise to bring up my own first electric six string, which was purchased second-hand in dubious circumstances. It was a black Les Paul copy with pickups that sounded like someone had strapped a thirsty cat to a plank of ply-board. Had I been presented with an instrument like the Fender Starcaster it all could have been so different.
Guitar history buffs such as our very own Marc Noel Johnson should note that just because this instrument carries the Starcaster name, it bears no relation to the semi-hollow bodied Starcaster of the mid 1970s. While that guitar was a high-end model with a price tag to match, the Starcaster Strat and Amp Set is a very different proposition, aimed firmly at beginners.
Boasting a Strat-style six string with the three single coil pickups, five-way selector switch and floating tremolo bridge that you would expect, the pack also includes a 10 Watt Squier SP-10 practice amplifier combo, plus a strap, a gig bag, a tuner, a set of strings and an instructional DVD. Naturally, the Starcaster itself is manufactured in China, a detail that would once have set guitar aficionados trembling. But the last few years have witnessed a substantial rise in quality control in far Eastern factories, and as a result this humble six string is the kind of first guitar I dreamed of back when I was getting started.
Best of all is the fact that the Starcaster carries the brand quality of Fender, which is enough to allay any doubts over musical styles, and to reassure whoever happens to be interrogating me in the pub that it’s a safe purchase. As such, whenever I now find myself cornered in a bar with someone wanting a quick and easy suggestion for a Christmas present, I’m going to reply that they can pick up the Fender Starcaster Strat and Amp Set for less money than I paid for my appalling ply-board and cat combination. Then, crucially, I will remind them that it’s their round.
About Barney Jameson
A contributor, editor and in some cases creator of more music and pro audio magazines than he cares to remember, Barney Jameson is a veteran of writing about gear, and a pretty keen singer songwriter to boot.
Having started his musical education reading old copies of the Melody Maker while riding the tube to University in the mid-nineties, Barney once sang in a band called Sugarstone, troubling record company chequebooks not quite enough to make it a career option. Instead, he achieved his goal of starting a music magazine of his own when he founded Playmusic in the early noughties. Later on, having exploited VIP access to as many festivals as possible, he wrote about the pro audio industry throughout Europe and the Middle East, travelling to far-flung destinations such as Dubai, Doha and Muscat (nice mountains).
As the latest addition to the DV247 team, Barney has big plans. But when he’s not plotting online domination of the musical instrument world, he keeps himself busy writing songs on a battered old acoustic guitar and playing them to audiences in his home town.
Tags: beginner guitar, Fender Starcaster, first guitar, Squier SP-10