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mekhem wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 16, 2024 10:19 am

I believe that the mexico plant produced the Modern Player Starcaster?

China. I remember that causing a minor (or maybe not-so-minor?) controversy at the time.

Ceylon wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 16, 2024 10:52 am

mekhem wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 16, 2024 10:19 am

I believe that the mexico plant produced the Modern Player Starcaster?

Mexico plant may not have had the capacity and/or would have pushed the price up.

I have no reason to - but this does appeal to me. If i can actually play one i might pick one up

Wasn't all Modern Players made in China?

Yeah but I was able to find them way cheaper than $1200.

The modern player semi hollow instruments were all MIC Fender. I think they were the same factory/group that did the initial classic vibe runs.

The lack of pressing machines for semi hollow bodies is likely the primary reason for the MII origin.

How much of that $1200 do y'all reckon goes to Delonge? I remember hearing the Cobain Jag netted something like £100-150 per piece to the Cobain estate or something like that.

I'm sure he gets a nice bit. The roasted maple neck, locking tuners, and actual SD pickup add a good bit to the total as well, I'd think.

I've been hoping for a new Fender Starcaster for a long time. I've been looking for a Modern Player but they're very hard to find around here (and online ones are usually ridiculously overpriced, mostly from Japan). The Squiers didn't do it for me. This TDL one even less so.

I quite like the gold. The roasted neck looks amazing with that color, and it has silver hardware.

these are terrible. the neck is the coolest part.
who the hell is tom delonge ?

I tried to find something positive.

1) at least TDL is not a Youtuber or other kind of infl***er
2) Shoreline Gold is nice

Ehh, that's it, I'm out.

dinosaurkale-> wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 16, 2024 8:22 pm

these are terrible. the neck is the coolest part.
who the hell is tom delonge ?

Blink 182 guy and alien enthusiast.

A reminder that PRS and Ibanez have been building $1000+ electrics in Indonesia for many years now. Strange to see everybody get weird about this. Quality isn't an issue for these factories, it's only limited by the guitar company's outlay cost.

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail ... sic-silver

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail ... gold-burst

ugly as hell

vistavision wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 16, 2024 10:28 pm

A reminder that PRS and Ibanez have been building $1000+ electrics in Indonesia for many years now. Strange to see everybody get weird about this. Quality isn't an issue for these factories, it's only limited by the guitar company's outlay cost.

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail ... sic-silver

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail ... gold-burst

i think in this case specifically, it's the fact that fender already make a bunch of starcasters in indonesia, with the squier branding for about 600-1000 euro less (depending on retailer atm). my cv starcaster is a very nice, high quality guitar, and i'm sure this one will be too, so it's not that there's anything wrong with building it there.

but it raises a bunch of different questions: companies outsource production to indonesia to save on labor cost. this is a model that's somewhat a cross between the contemporary and affinity, but frankly, even more simplified, and thus more simple to make.

• what exactly makes this a fender model that makes it cost more than twice as much as the other more complex squiers?

• what is the mark up for said fender decal and tom delonge branding? i'm betting that they're making a lot more profit here than from the squiers.

• why couldn't it just have been a squier? 20 years ago we had a simultaneous run of squier and fender TD strats. a markup for a signature artist is to be expected, but, wouldn't this just be a lot more affordable if they chose that decal instead? wouldn't more people buy the model if that was the case? or did they do enough market research to realise that aging blink fans were less likely to buy something with a squier logo?

I kinda like the model other than the removal of the cool headstock, but that's tom's imo questionable taste. so to me, it just seems incredibly cynical to make these decisions, and i would like to understand them.

Original Starcaster (and vintage-style remakes) is a smooth looking instrument where every part counts and even slight changes can throw off the whole vibe completely. This TD variant strips everything that is beautiful about Starcaster and now it looks like a guitar from DIY kit - very bland and goofy looking. To each it's own but the price is an utter disappointment. Have nothing against Indonesian guitars, my Squier Starcaster CV is made there and it's one of the best guitars I own (minus electronics).

vistavision wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 16, 2024 10:28 pm

A reminder that PRS and Ibanez have been building $1000+ electrics in Indonesia for many years now. Strange to see everybody get weird about this. Quality isn't an issue for these factories, it's only limited by the guitar company's outlay cost.

I don't have anything against Asian made instruments, but there's a reason why they're made there. Cost/Profit. Pay the right luthier or builder in China/Indonesia/Korea the right money and they can probably make an instrument MUCH finer than any out of the USA or UK...but Fender, PRS, Ibanez et al only make them there for one reason and it almost always shows.

Sanguine wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 17, 2024 2:19 am

Have nothing against Indonesian guitars, my Squier Starcaster CV is made there and it's one of the best guitars I own (minus electronics).

I'd argue that the electronics are the most important part of how a guitar sounds so, if the electronics out the factory are sub-par, then the 'guitar' in general is inherently the same. If you replace the electronics, cool, but its not the same guitar anymore and can't be used as a qualifier or example for the quality of Indonesian guitars.

I've had a few Asian Fenders/Squiers and most have been exactly the guitars I expected at their price-point. 'Great for the money' is a phrase I hear a lot but it's massively meaningless because it's almost always followed by a long list of desired or already done mods