Customer Reviews

Fender Starcaster Strat and Accessory Pack, Candy Apple Red

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I've never felt compelled to submit a review for any of my Amazon purchases, but this expereince with Fender warranted some comments.

I ordered this guitar package from Amazon and received it in 3 days even with super-saver shipping. Great service from Amazon.

I opened the kit and was prepping to plug it in and try it out when I realized there was no guitar cable included - pretty useless without a cable. I contacted Fender and they mailed a cable at no charge, but it took them a week (7 days) to do it. Once I was able to actually test the guitar, there was no Volume control knob, only three Tone control knobs. Obviously the top control was for the volume and it had the wrong knob assembled to it. I also realized there were no "setup/adjustment sheet" included. I contacted fender about these additional errors and they said they'd send them. I received the paperwork with no Volume knob. At that point, I cut my loses (and headaches) and I returned the package for Fender to deal with as there were simply to many quality control issues with the package I received, and the Fender rep seemed rather "slack" about the whole deal, calling it a "simple error" and didn't consider it "poor" quality.

The guitar and amp themselves seemed okay (I guess), but I received the impression that Fender has some quality control/assurance issues that they're not real concerned about addressing, which lead me to wonder what else may be wrong.

Great price, shipping and return policy for Amazon, poor quality control and slacker attitude from Fender. (I see that Amazon has lowered the price from $199 to $179 in just a couple of weeks, maybe they are experiencing similar issues from others(?) (2-16-08: and now they've raised the price back to $199))

Bought this guitar for my teenage son - his first. I have many years experience playing guitar and prefer authentic Fender products. This guitar is not top of the line but compared to other knock offs it's well worth the money. The only real problem I have seen so far is that it must be re-tuned much more frequently than higher quality guitars, but it's good practice for him.

Fender's newer, entry level Starcasters are an excellent choice for beginners. Well made with good features at a reasonable price. Don't be mislead by biased reviewers who most likely own small guitar shops and want you to spend 3 or 4 times the cost at their business. This guitar is a fine pick. A+!

Excellent Guitar for the beginner player. Very comprehensive package...guitar, amp, strap, case...and more. Guitar sounds great...very happy with purchase and quality/price of items included.
2 day deliver...WOW!

First off, this is a gorgeous guitar! It came with everything listed, and is easy to get into a start playing. The tuner that came with it does not line up the notes correctly, leaving the guitar out of tune - I had to match up the notes by ear using midi notes from my computer. Also, the amp is very weak. It buzzes a lot (I have it set a volume level 3 - anything above that buzzes. Also, I've had trouble keeping the third string in tune. I have to fix it every few minutes (hopefully because the strings aren't broken in yet??) So, there are some minor complaints, but for a beginner, this is a great value.

I agree with almost everything the person above me just said. The guitar package I got was very comprehensive. Containing everything you could ever need to start learning guitar - picks, amps, gig bag, etc... However, there were 2 slight problems I had. The first one was the amp, it was terrible to play the guitar with - it wouldn't stop buzzing/wheezing in both clean and distortion and it kept picking up this Spanish music radio station during my "jam sessions" . The second one was the tuner that couldn't tune. It kept saying I had tuned my guitar to the right notes, but when I played the guitar it just sounded horrible. I spent about an hour wondering why my guitar sounded so terrible before I realized the tuner does not work. I had to spend 2 hours of hell manually figuring out how to tune a guitar. I would suggest you throw away the tuner and just buy one of the nicer/effective ones for 10-20 bucks. Unless, you really want to waste an excessive amount of minutes from your life.

basically, this here is a perfectly legit guitar. I was really lucky and got a nice one. But if you want a starter "fender" guitar. Go to your nearest guitar center (or musician's friend) and pickup up a Squier Jagmaster. Much better guitar, same price without an amp.

the amp is decent, the distortion can get heavy, but really noisy. Decent starter kit. but for the same price, you could probably "assemble" a better one

This is a decent starter guitar, but if your guitarist gets serious this will need to be upgraded within 1-2 years. My son has been playing this guitar a few times a week, alternating with his acoustic guitar for the past 18 months. Unfortunately, the bridge was not originally properly assembled, causing the inner springs to produce a creaky sound as he uses the whammy bar.

The line out on the guitar has been fixed a couple of times, and now the parts are stripped and need replacement if he wants to continue playing this guitar. Also, the amp input module inside the amp (not the plug itself) has gone bad and needs replacement.

I take these things as a sign that he just needs a better quality guitar and amp, but this has served him well while he was learning.

My son is very good on instruments, so I know it's not how he is using his Fender. His keyboard is in perfect condition with the same amount of use. His violin is in excellent condition with a year of use, as is his acoustic guitar with over one year of use.

This particular model is a great student model but it just not built as well as higher end electric guitars. I would really recommend not buying this guitar unless you are just testing the waters to see if your child is serious about playing. Although the price is right and the package includes a lot, this is not traditional Fender quality.

I purchased the Fender Starcaster and accessory pack about a week ago. I am well pleased with the guitar, the amp isn't the greatest, but it's okay for a starter kit. What amazed me was that I only had one string that wasn't quite in tune after being shipped UPS. A couple of twists and I was ready to get started. Price wise and quality wise, I don't see how you could beat it. The candy apple red is a very nice touch.

I love this product. The guitar is as sexy as guitars can get. I pick this baby up every time I get a breather from my busy day in-day out life. It is such a joy to just pluck a couple of string or to practice a couple of chords. It sounds and looks great. I can't say the same for the amp that comes with it, a Fener SP-10. I don't even know if this block of garbage can be called an amp. It buzzes and whizzes in the background if you aren't touching the strings. The distorted function of this thing sounds awful. It's pretty ridiculous. I plugged my guitar in once and now I'm thinking of throwing it away. The DVD it comes with is a sample and is pretty good. After practicing with it a couple of times, I bought the full version. The sample of picks it comes with is also nice, 3 in total and they come in different colors. I got black, white and red. The picture of the accessory packs shows a stand. Do not be fooled by this picture, it comes with no such thing. I even e-mailed amazon with a complaint and they said that you gota buy the thing separately. All in all, Guitar is great, but everything else is so-so. Better off buying everything separately so you can avoid the crappy amp. 4 stars.