starcaster bass review by me.

[s_mcsleazy]

who does'nt love a hollowbody? who does'nt love a offset? who does'nt love a offset hollowbody bass? well....

i tried out one of the new starcaster basses from fender today. part of me is dissapointed and part of me is impressed. let me explain why.

in the £500-£700 hollowbody bass there is really only 3 others. the gretch electromatic, the epiphone jack cassedy and the hagstrom viking. so its worth giving it a go.

lets start off with a big issue. for a hollowbody/semi-hollowbody bass, it is verry heavy. i'm not talking heavy by hollow standards. im talking mid weight p-bass weight. however, weight is not a huge issue for me since it was about the same as my 2 main basses.

the scale lenth: i am a large chap and i enjoy a full scale bass. shorties are fun but not somthing i feel the need to play everyday. so the neck on this was a bit dissapointing.... kinda glossy too. so it was fun to play but not somthing i would take out. however the neck profile felt amazing, really thick. like a nice old 70's p-bass. too bad the tuners were complete crap.

i have a small complaint about the knobs too. FAKE WITCH HATS. why not just use amp ones?

the pickups: never been a fan of mudbuckers (bass wrhbs) but these ones just sounded great. not super muddy like most. quite focused. still not as trebly as i like but sounded good when i started pretending i was hookey.

the bridge: it is a loose take on the old badass II bridge. i loved it. i think part of the reason the bass was half as good as it was is because of the bridge. however the bass only had the action set out the factory and the intonation was all over the place.

overall view of the bass
good player for the shorter gentalman who is built like a bear. great pickups which make the bass seem like a reggae machine, however i would recomend a treble booster if you were to take it out live. good neck for a short scale but too damn glossy for me. crappy tuners that i would replace in seconds. pretty heavy, i recomend a padded strap. save £10 to buy some amp witch hats with it. good bridge but make sure you set it up and bloody intonate it. if i was told it was a £320 squier bass then i would have been happy but because it costs so much and has a few problems in my mind.... i wouldent buy it.

personally, save £120 and buy the hagstrom viking if you want a full scale.

[Pacafeliz]

interesting... and sad.

but great review, thanks!

[BoringPostcards]

I still want one so bad. I'm getting one in Black as soon as they can get them here.

[s_mcsleazy]

interesting... and sad.

but great review, thanks!

i know. i kinda wish it was done better myself.

[s_mcsleazy]

i think i worked it out. it feels like what it is. a bass vertion of a guitar. rather than somthing which feels more defined.

[AwesomeWelles]

the pickups: never been a fan of mudbuckers (bass wrhbs) but these ones just sounded great. not super muddy like most. quite focused. still not as trebly as i like but sounded good when i started pretending i was hookey.

Thanks for the cool review.

If these are the same pups that the Modern Player Tele Bass comes with (which I suppose is the case), then they are indeed pretty nice. I got the greatest honk evar out of the bridge pup of the Tele.

[s_mcsleazy]

the pickups: never been a fan of mudbuckers (bass wrhbs) but these ones just sounded great. not super muddy like most. quite focused. still not as trebly as i like but sounded good when i started pretending i was hookey.

Thanks for the cool review.

If these are the same pups that the Modern Player Tele Bass comes with (which I suppose is the case), then they are indeed pretty nice. I got the greatest honk evar out of the bridge pup of the Tele.

yeah. they are really cool pickups.

[fender-o-phile]

That headstock I wish it were fullscale, I would totally make another beater bass project with one of those necks!

[blake480]

Agreed on the knobs. They suck. That was the first thing to come off mine.

[TWood]

Thanks for doing a review

[s_mcsleazy]

Thanks for doing a review

yeah. it annoyed me that no one really did a review of one and all the demos were pretty...... shit.

[Fiddy]

Good review.

[gutter rock]

I think it is weird when Fender doesn't put the model name of the guitar on the headstock. I hate it when they do that actually. Years from now the vintage guitar buyers will need an identification book loaded onto their brain flash drive to identify what Fender they just found at the best guitar shop on planet Mars.

[philshield]

If that's the one in merchant city music, I played it and the Coronado literally an hour before buying my Japanese jazz bass. You pretty much hit the nail on the head I think, also the bridge pickup kept cutting out on me as well which wasn't very reassuring...

[Despot]

Nice one Sean. I was wondering about these as I've no bass at the moment and I've been thinking about getting something for messing around with and was considering stretching to one of these. I think I'll just go the Squirer route instead now.