Hi everyone,
After just posting a week ago excitedly about the painfully long awaited NGD of my Olive Green FRS Classic Vibe telecaster, a NG was absolutely not on the cards at all, but then this happened …
I was looking online the other day at the ads for used music equipment. I was absolutely not looking for a guitar (I was looking for a used amp) but I saw an offer I couldn’t pass by. A used but very recently purchased Squier Classic Vibe Starcaster in walnut finish for 200 bucks. Here in Switzerland that guitar is currently 500 bucks new from online retailers. I had been thinking that quite a long way down the line from now, when I’ve really got used to the telecaster, I might venture into buying a semi-hollow - especially when I get more into rock guitar (which is what I’m aiming for). I had seen reviews of that guitar on You Tube and always thought it could be an interesting guitar to try and I have had a fantastic/lucky(?) Squire experience with my classic vibe tele. The Starcaster has very quirky looks - a non-symmetrical body and a weird sort of wave-shaped big ugly (?) 70’s headstock. But all the reviews said how nice the necks are on these guitars and praise the quality of the finish, the sound from the pickups and the body, and the value for money. It has a very thin neck and I have very small hands. Also I’m a sucker for the double bound guitars!!
I thought that if this offer was genuine, and the guitar is really in perfect condition, I should get it now as it seemed such a good buy to pass up on. Actually, it seemed too good an offer, so I was very suspicious, but went to have a look.
TBH, it was not easy to tell whether I was getting ripped off with a complete lemon or not. I’m a beginner so I don’t know much about guitars. My only experience is with Squire telecasters. The guy had no amp to try it with (not good!) and the guitar was set up so badly that it was not easy to play (not good) - very high action especially at the thicker strings. Pickups very high. However, cosmetically the body and neck looked perfect, but I had to take the word of the seller that the electronics worked fine and that my adjustments could improve its playability. The seller seemed like a nice and genuinely honest person. So I decided to take the risk.
I was super lucky. It’s definitely not a lemon!!
I got it home, plugged it in and it sounded very nice indeed and everything worked as it should. I did the adjustments to the truss rod (easy) and then got to work on the bridge and tailpiece. It’s one of those tune-o-matic things, so not at all like a telecaster. I had to watch a few videos first!! I got the action lower than I have it on my telecaster and also fixed an issue where the strings sloping to the tailpiece touch the bridge (which can lead to strings breaking). Adjusted the intonation.
The set up is now VERY nice. Action and intonation are great. The neck is very nice. It plays very well and sounds beautiful. So I think I got a really good buy. I’m happy, but I definitely took quite a risk.
I have only identified 2 small but easily fixable problems. The end of the first fret is a little bit sharp - but that’s very easy to file down and polish. The 3rd fret is very slightly too high and there’s a very small amount of buzz from that fret on the A and D when pressing the 2nd fret. However, I’m not sure I will bother to do anything about that because it only buzzes when plucking the string with the fingers but doesn’t buzz with the pick. I don’t want to damage the fret. There is one crappy thing about this guitar and that is that the volume of the pickups cannot be easily controlled. They are almost on and off as the volume only really changes between 7 and 10 on the dial. But many reviews cite this as common feature with this guitar. As a beginner that’s not really an issue for me yet but could get annoying later on when i improve. Again it’s something that can be fixed relatively simply by changing the pots and shouldn’t cost too much. So none of these things are enough to classify it as a lemon by any means.
So I’m happy that I took the risk. I don’t know why the guy was selling it. It may be that it was set up so badly that he didn’t like it. I had to adjust the truss rod quite a lot and I suspect that because of the neck relief issue, he had strong fret buzz unless he set the action really high.
I can already tell that the Starcaster is never going to replace my Olive Green CV 60’s tele, which I love, but it’s very nice :))
It seems I was very lucky. Enjoy the pics of my risky and unexpected NGD !!
Ian
Good that it wasn’t a lemon…
It’s a beautiful guitar!! Looks like you turned a lemon into some sweet lemonade. 
It was nice to read that you didn’t buy a lemon when you took a punt.