Turning a Starcaster into wicked sweetness

SRVan_halen

I've got a crappy starcaster ( \" by fender\" ) and I'm looking into putting a new neck on it and putting in some hot new pickups . Is this a good idea? Any advice for what necks / singlecoils to try out? Thanks!!

LuredMaul

\SRVan_halen\ wrote:

I've got a crappy starcaster ( \" by fender\" ) and I'm looking into putting a new neck on it and putting in some hot new pickups . Is this a good idea? Any advice for what necks / singlecoils to try out? Thanks!!

Might be cheaper and more effective to just buy a Mexican strat first then just replace the pickups

shredd

I'm with those guys. While it's fun to mess w/your ax to imporove it, and the satisfaction of souping up your own rig is good, when it comes down to bux you're better off spending the $ you'd put into an inferior git'r into a better ax, and putting the old ax into someone's hands where it'll be satisfactory. been there, done it, that's my advice.
Plus you get the fun of git'r shopping and the thrill of having a new ax. 8)

SRVan_halen

Yeah, the way I saw it I would spend about 150$ on a neck, 150$ on pickups. I'd have a good-sounding, good playing axe for 300$ ( very cool ), and I could find anything close to that quality in a brand-new Fender ( I am looking for a strat). Selling the starcaster, I'd be ripping the guy off if it went more than $100.

shredd

That's what I'm talking about. Even if you put the bux into a nice neck and pups, it's not going to be worth what you've got into it. You might have a decent sounding/playing git'r, but it'll never be worth to anyone what you've got into it, which means you either keep it forever or take a bath on it when you sell it.
IMHO, you're better off putting the money toward a better git'r.

Terranaut

\SRVan_halen\ wrote:

I've got a crappy starcaster ( \" by fender\" ) and I'm looking into putting a new neck on it and putting in some hot new pickups . Is this a good idea? Any advice for what necks / singlecoils to try out? Thanks!!

Is that the semi-hollow body cutaway that they made for a short time?
Just curious, thanks.

SRVan_halen

Nah, this looks just like a strat but with a complete triangle for a headstock. It was a part of a starter pack my uncle had but never played, so he just gave it to me. What do people know about necks? Any good brands that are cheaper than Fender?

LuredMaul

\SRVan_halen\ wrote:

Nah, this looks just like a strat but with a complete triangle for a headstock. It was a part of a starter pack my uncle had but never played, so he just gave it to me. What do people know about necks? Any good brands that are cheaper than Fender?

AllParts is the Licsensed brand replacement for FENDER
Warmoth
tons of others I can't think of but those 2 are the main....

philflood

I got a neck that came off of the Aria Pro II strat copy. Its a decent neck and I'd sell it cheap ($35). If interested PM me.
I got some cheap pickups, too. They might be worth playing around with. I bought them in a lot of stuff just to get the pickguards and switches. If you decide to get the neck, let me know, if you want a set of pickups. I'll throw them in - no idea if they are any good.

Mike B

Terrenaut, The guitar you were thinking of was indeed called a Starcaster, and the guitar was made by Fender in the early 70's (I Think). Fender sold them as their answer to the Gibson ES-335. You are right they were a semi hollow body and had dual humbuckers. The bottom of the body was rounded like the 335 but the top bouts were offset from one another like a stratocaster. I remember them with a natural or sunburst finish.

SRV... I vote for rebuilding the other guitar if you have another to play. Right now I have an old Hamer Slammer I am refinishing. I have sanded off the 2nd finish, well 90 % of it, I had stripped once and painted it for practice. Now I'm debating on how to do the pick-ups. I'm thinking about making it a single coil neck and humbucker in the bridge, with no center pick up. It's interesting and you learn a lot about guitar stuff. But you need a space to do it and good hand tools.

Good luck
peace

Terranaut

\Mike B\ wrote:

Terrenaut, The guitar you were thinking of was indeed called a Starcaster, and the guitar was made by Fender in the early 70's (I Think). Fender sold them as their answer to the Gibson ES-335. You are right they were a semi hollow body and had dual humbuckers. The bottom of the body was rounded like the 335 but the top bouts were offset from one another like a stratocaster. I remember them with a natural or sunburst finish.

Thanks Mike. I remember seeing one ad for it, and thought it was pretty cool. It obviously didn't sell well, but probably has some collector value to it nowadays.

smegolas

from what ive heard the dimarzio area 61s sound awesome and they are humbucking to boot. i was thinking of going area 61 - area 61 - heavy blues (bridge) on my strat, but i actually quite like the stock pups it came with (2006 american strat).

SRVan_halen

Thanks to Philflood for the neck! Can't wait for it to get here.

guitar3456

I had Lace Sensors in my Strat and put EMG's in yrs ago. I like the EMG for the girth