Tom Delonge Signature Starcaster

[scole]

I’ll throw this in but the guy at Fender who made these guitars says that he’s just responsible for 1 offs and artist guitars so these guitars don’t necessarily mean anything yet in terms of a signature guitar for the public. It’s probably coming but obviously specs will change when that happens.

[garyptaszek]

I like the colours. If they offered some of these colours in the Squier Starcaster line I probably would buy one. Not sure if I'd go for a single pickup version, as much as I love simplicity.

[Johnny Alien]

I like the normal headstock on this. The inlays are bad but if there is a production run I am sure it will be standard dots.

[JSett]

All that effort and no matching headstock? Fail.

[garyptaszek]

All that effort and no matching headstock? Fail.

Tom's taste is clearly as bad as his fan's...

[Lobsterdeth]

well on the bright side we might get a mark hoppus jag bass soon enough though

[HNB]

I think the unstickered and unsmileydotted ones look cool. I appreciate when an artist signature is different than a stock guitar with a special color. Having unique features will always put someone off, but that is what makes it different and worth making. If you want a more traditional Starcaster, there are options out there with the Squier ones and the Fender reissues. Granted they don't have the correct body, bridge, or controls to match the original one, but they are out there.

Tom knows what he like and what works for him. There are probably others, aside from just fans, who might enjoy a bare bones workhorse guitar. Just a volume knob and bridge pickup. Simple meat and potatoes.

I think of this model just like another (equally disliked) signature. The Jim Root Jazzmaster. Most would argue if it is even a Jazzmaster due to the tele switch, active humbuckers, single volume, and tele toggle. The body shape and neck is very much a Jazzmaster. Just different specs that work better for him. Having seen videos of his collection, he also loves traditional Jazzmasters. They just don't do what he needs for Slipknot so he has his version that does.

I feel like these odd guitars are neat ways for people who otherwise wouldn't pick up a Fender or an offset guitar, to give it a try and maybe find something they love. It is another thing that brings awareness to Starcasters beyond the stupid budget Strat models that make finding Starcaster stuff a pain in the ass.

A gateway drug to offsets.

Think of this possibility. Some of the Delong fans who have been liking his Gibson sig try out the Fender one and then decide to try out a more typical Starcaster if they like HH semi hollow guitars. Sort of like someone liking the Jim Root Jazzmaster maybe getting interested in trying a traditional one. Hell even if they don't want to, if this guitar is something that inspires them or excites them, I think that is fucking cool.

I like the variety and the trying something new. (Even if it isn't too different from his Gibson sig.)

[Mechanical Birds]

This looks like shit

[seenoevil II]

A gateway drug to offsets.

Respectfully, I think you may have the cart before the horse. Offsets are enormously popular in pop punk scenes and have been for a decade or more. If you went to a PP/HC show tonight, most guitars would be offsets.

As for this garnering support for SC in the way that the JRJM did for JMs, I don't think that will happen. The key difference being that JMs had been in continuous production for over a decade when that guitar came out and that JMs aren't that different to the rest of fenders line up.

Fender literally couldn't make a vintage correct starcaster right now if they wanted to. It would require pretty substantial capital investment.

1. They have no active lamination presses. They've outsourced that to China.

2. They have no supply or supplier of large figured maple veneers. Say what you will of the vintage SC, the grain was spectacular.

3. They seem incapable of independent, in house hardware fabrication. They couldn't make that OG bridge if they wanted to. Much of/ most of their hardware is outsourced and standardized as well. An oddball, small batch run of hardware seems to be beyond their capabilities these days.

[Steadyriot.]

A gateway drug to offsets.

Respectfully, I think you may have the cart before the horse. Offsets are enormously popular in pop punk scenes and have been for a decade or more. If you went to a PP/HC show tonight, most guitars would be offsets.

As for this garnering support for SC in the way that the JRJM did for JMs, I don't think that will happen. The key difference being that JMs had been in continuous production for over a decade when that guitar came out and that JMs aren't that different to the rest of fenders line up.

Fender literally couldn't make a vintage correct starcaster right now if they wanted to. It would require pretty substantial capital investment.

1. They have no active lamination presses. They've outsourced that to China.

2. They have no supply or supplier of large figured maple veneers. Say what you will of the vintage SC, the grain was spectacular.

3. They seem incapable of independent, in house hardware fabrication. They couldn't make that OG bridge if they wanted to. Much of/ most of their hardware is outsourced and standardized as well. An oddball, small batch run of hardware seems to be beyond their capabilities these days.

1. They've made a few Custom Shop Coronado's in 2019 so I bet they could make a Starcaster too (which they did in 2021). Mass production may be harder though. Hell they even could make the Chinese factories press them plates and send them over to the US. They're a giant corporation. They can make it work if they want to.
2. No clue about their wood supplier's; I wonder what your sources are for this.
3. They make the RSD bridge; they can make a run of OG bridges. Hell they even could have any which metalworking factory make them a (small) batch. If BILT can do it; Fender sure as hell can.

[garyptaszek]

A gateway drug to offsets.

Respectfully, I think you may have the cart before the horse. Offsets are enormously popular in pop punk scenes and have been for a decade or more. If you went to a PP/HC show tonight, most guitars would be offsets.

oh 100%
I don't think I've played a gig in the passed 5 years where there hasn't been at leave one person playing an offset guitar. It's funny cos I remember years ago the majority of people asking me wtf my guitar was.

[Jan Deal]

This is just the definition of gatekeeping. Let people enjoy the shit that they enjoy.

100%

[HNB]

I know that Jazzmasters and Mustangs are super popular, I was more referring to the Starcaster. Sort of like Dave Grohl's signature making a boost to Trini Lopez Gibsons.

If there is a demand for more Starcasters because of a sig like this, there could be new things because of it.

As always, people vote with their money. Don't like it? Don't buy it.

[seenoevil II]

1.
2.
3.

1.
2.
3.

I feel like we're saying the same things with these bullet points, that is, that the fender CS doesn't have the facilities to make a 70's spec starcaster right now. That's all.

The entire proposition is contingent on the original molding dies not having been lost or sold for scrap in the lean and turbulent years of the 80s. While the new Asian silhouette isn't bad (I'm a huge fan of the holeless contemporary model), it is not close enough to the OG for me consider any guitar made with it a true reissue. They changed it a lot. Some of these changes may have been "improvements" but I'll reckon most were designed to cut down on the failure rate for large scale production. The clearest instance of this IMO are the f-holes (routed I know).

Do we "need" new starcasters though? Any reissue fender does will be compromised is some way or another. How many years did it take to get non-vintage-line offset reissues that weren't deeply wrong in some respect or another. For people likely born around the same years these designs were initially made, they sure love to "fix" them for us.

As for the wood supplier. Well, I don't work for FMIC and it's hard to prove a negative. However, I have no reason to believe they do have such a supply.

[fuzzy_man_peach]

A gateway drug to offsets.

Respectfully, I think you may have the cart before the horse. Offsets are enormously popular in pop punk scenes and have been for a decade or more. If you went to a PP/HC show tonight, most guitars would be offsets.

As for this garnering support for SC in the way that the JRJM did for JMs, I don't think that will happen. The key difference being that JMs had been in continuous production for over a decade when that guitar came out and that JMs aren't that different to the rest of fenders line up.

Fender literally couldn't make a vintage correct starcaster right now if they wanted to. It would require pretty substantial capital investment.

1. They have no active lamination presses. They've outsourced that to China.

2. They have no supply or supplier of large figured maple veneers. Say what you will of the vintage SC, the grain was spectacular.

3. They seem incapable of independent, in house hardware fabrication. They couldn't make that OG bridge if they wanted to. Much of/ most of their hardware is outsourced and standardized as well. An oddball, small batch run of hardware seems to be beyond their capabilities these days.

This is what infuriates me with fender nowadays, they have become such a lazy company! Like the pawnshop and squier bass vi’s still don’t have the correct bridge but the Japanese could do both the correct bass vi and xii bridges! Sorry but the size of fender and they still can’t do dies or anything for special designs but smaller builders can! Take the xii bridge, Carlos Lopez got that back up and running and did a number of reissues! The original starcaster bridge was basically a strat bridge on a raised plinth so come on, they can’t do that??

It annoys me that they always have to compromise on reissues!