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Customer Reviews for Starcaster® by Fender® Strat® Electric Guitar Pack - Black Sparkle
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Starcaster® by Fender® Strat® Electric Guitar Pack - Black Sparkle
Model: 0284001111
SKU: 8924943
UPC: 717669726201
This Starcaster electric guitar pack contains everything you need to get started including a 10-watt amp, strings, picks, strap, cable, tuner, gig-bag and instructional DVD.
Average Customer Rating:
4.4
out of 5
(18 Reviews) 18
Rating Snapshot 18 reviews
5 stars
9
4 stars
8
3 stars
1
2 stars
0
1 star
0
100% of reviewers would recommend this product to a friend
(
18 out of
18)
Customer Reviews for Starcaster® by Fender® Strat® Electric Guitar Pack - Black Sparkle
Review 1 for Starcaster® by Fender® Strat® Electric Guitar Pack - Black Sparkle
Great buy for a 10 to 12 year old
Customer Rating
4.0
Posted by: wpf2010
from alexandria
on 10/19/2010
Value for Price
5.0
Sound Quality
4.0
Craftsmanship
4.0
After nearly two months, my son is still extremely happy with this guitar.
I would recommend this to a friend!
0points
0out of 0found this review helpful.
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Review 2 for Starcaster® by Fender® Strat® Electric Guitar Pack - Black Sparkle
Great vlaue for the money
Customer Rating
5.0
Posted by: studysession
from Pennsylvania
on 08/23/2010
Value for Price
5.0
Sound Quality
5.0
Durability
5.0
Craftsmanship
4.0
This item came with a gig bag, mini practice amp, tuner, strings and a beginners DVD. Also they offered 2 free lessons at the store. It is a GREAT 1st electric guitar for a low budget. The amp is fine for practicing with and has a decent sound but would recommend a bigger amp if you plan to play outside for others.
I would recommend this to a friend!
+4points
4out of 4found this review helpful.
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Review 3 for Starcaster® by Fender® Strat® Electric Guitar Pack - Black Sparkle
Excellent starter.
Customer Rating
5.0
Posted by: cal88005
from las cruces, nm
on 07/06/2010
Value for Price
5.0
Sound Quality
4.0
Durability
4.0
Craftsmanship
4.0
What's great about it: Great price for a great starter guitar.
What's not so great: Low end electronics and strings(but they are easily upgraded).
I wanted to get into playing guitar and found this while wandering around my local best buy store. Couldn't pass it up with the low price tag. Out of the box it was ok. The stock strings are absolutely horrible though. I recommend replacing them right away. They would always drop tune and I broke one within the first two weeks. I replaced them with new D'addarrio 0.009's and haven't lost tune or had a break since. The sound quality is good except for the infamous 60 cycle hum you get on most Strats. I soon plan to drop in a new EMG prewired pickguard set to help remove my problem of the low-end electronics. Over-all though this guitar is pretty well built, solid and good looking. For the price you can't beat it. And there are many upgrade options. You don't need to buy a new guitar as you progress, just throw on some upgraded parts and you're going to be in league with some of the higher end Strats. I love this guitar and don't plan on letting it go anytime soon!
I would recommend this to a friend!
+12points
12out of 12found this review helpful.
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Review 4 for Starcaster® by Fender® Strat® Electric Guitar Pack - Black Sparkle
Great Starter Package
Customer Rating
4.0
Posted by: Yanky1981
from Northern NJ
on 05/31/2010
Value for Price
5.0
Sound Quality
3.0
Durability
3.0
Craftsmanship
3.0
What's great about it: It was easy to setup and the price point was perfect for a beginner like myself.
What's not so great: No instructions. For someone who has never owned an electric guitar before, I was expecting some instructions.
I still believe it is a great purchase but it should have included some instructions.
I would recommend this to a friend!
-11points
2out of 15found this review helpful.
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Review 5 for Starcaster® by Fender® Strat® Electric Guitar Pack - Black Sparkle
Good starter pacckage
Customer Rating
4.0
Posted by: Jimi68
from Buffalo,NY
on 04/17/2010
Value for Price
5.0
Sound Quality
4.0
Durability
4.0
Craftsmanship
2.0
What's great about it: Sound quality
What's not so great: Sharp edges on frets,Strings are junk
This is a good package for a beginner.But you are going to have to remove sharp edges from the frets and get rid of the strings that come with it.A file and some sandpaper will smoth-out the frets and a set of Fender 150's or Fender Bullets will improve this guitar quit a bit.The action is a little high and the rosewood fingerboard is slow but for a beginner package you won't find anything better for$159.00.The sound quality is good and sounds like the real thing.I like it but most advanced players may opt for the real thing.
I would recommend this to a friend!
0points
5out of 10found this review helpful.
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Review 6 for Starcaster® by Fender® Strat® Electric Guitar Pack - Black Sparkle
Pretty Good Guitar
Customer Rating
4.0
Posted by: Aniki
on 04/13/2010
Value for Price
5.0
Sound Quality
4.0
Durability
5.0
Craftsmanship
4.0
What's great about it: Good price, decent sound, durable thus far
What's not so great: The accessories leave much to be desired, the knobs do nothing
I got this guitar for Christmas this year and have been reasonably pleased. It's a good beginner's guitar, luckily for me. The knobs on the guitar itself do not seem to be working at all, that it one of my few complaints. Also, the amplifier is pretty poor quality, not good for very much with very few settings. I have not watched the DVD, so I can't pass judgement on that.
What I do like is the fact that it's fine for just playing. I've used it with a different amp and gotten a much better sound than from the accompanying amp. I have little experience with other electric guitars, but I still find it to be a very good deal for the quality of the guitar itself.
I would recommend this to a friend!
0points
2out of 4found this review helpful.
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Review 7 for Starcaster® by Fender® Strat® Electric Guitar Pack - Black Sparkle
Best Guitar EVER!!!
Customer Rating
5.0
Posted by: Redwolf979
from Rochester Hills, Mi
on 03/03/2010
Value for Price
5.0
Sound Quality
5.0
Durability
5.0
Craftsmanship
5.0
What's great about it: everything
What's not so great: nothing
I have compared this guitar to the fender stratocaster and I can find no major differance between the 2 guitars. It sound like a stratocaster and it looks like a stratocaster and it plays like stratocaster. This is a high quality guitar at a low price. the differances I found between the 2 guitars do not effect the quality or the sound. in fact the major differance is that one guitar is made in china and one is made in the U.S. This is guitar is good for beginner but is also great the most expiranced expert. In fact I am sure the price will go up on these great guitar so you better buy one before fender realise that they under priced this guitar buy several hundered dollars.
I would recommend this to a friend!
+3points
5out of 7found this review helpful.
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Review 8 for Starcaster® by Fender® Strat® Electric Guitar Pack - Black Sparkle
greatest guitar ever
Customer Rating
5.0
Posted by: bigbob2650
from leesburg, va
on 01/24/2010
Value for Price
5.0
Sound Quality
5.0
Durability
5.0
Craftsmanship
5.0
What's great about it: simple to use
What's not so great: nothing
This was a gift for my daughter. She loves it. She set it up herself and was playing in no time. Great quality and value.
I would recommend this to a friend!
-1point
1out of 3found this review helpful.
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Review 9 for Starcaster® by Fender® Strat® Electric Guitar Pack - Black Sparkle
Great Guitar - but gifters beware...
Customer Rating
5.0
Posted by: KerriMH
from Oneonta, NY
on 01/11/2010
Value for Price
5.0
Sound Quality
5.0
Durability
5.0
Craftsmanship
5.0
What's great about it: great price, easy to use, tuning is simple
What's not so great: amp is a little scratchy, but for beginner item it's great.
The item itself is great, however gifters beware - when Best Buy ships this item it ships in a box clearly marked "Fender". It ruined the Christmas surprise.
I would recommend this to a friend!
0points
1out of 2found this review helpful.
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Review 10 for Starcaster® by Fender® Strat® Electric Guitar Pack - Black Sparkle
Decent Beginner Guitar
Customer Rating
4.0
Posted by: JTPrescott
on 11/30/2009
Value for Price
5.0
Sound Quality
3.0
Durability
4.0
Craftsmanship
2.0
What's great about it: It's well priced
I over all enjoyed this guitar very much, however, I have to say it's not the best guitar I have ever played. It's well worth the price and a great beginning guitar. I found it needed some out of the box adjustment, and to my displeasure, I found that an adjustment wrench was not included. The amp was a nice addition, but it is by no means a performance amp. The instrument is well crafted, but the sparkle paint scheme is a bit much for me. The gig bag is very nice, much better than some others I have seen. All and all, this is a fairly decent instrument for those begging, or unwilling to commit to the price of a professional instrument.
I would recommend this to a friend!
+4points
4out of 4found this review helpful.
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Review 11 for Starcaster® by Fender® Strat® Electric Guitar Pack - Black Sparkle
Good for Beginner, No One Else
Customer Rating
3.0
Posted by: nbost
from Diamond Bar, CA
on 10/22/2009
Value for Price
5.0
Sound Quality
2.0
Durability
4.0
Craftsmanship
4.0
What's great about it: Cheap, Has Everything a Beginner Needs, Looks Great, Feels Solid, Good Cleans
What's not so great: Amp Sounds Terrible to Anyone Who's Not a Beginner, Fret Buzz, Pickups Can Be Muddy/Twangy
I'll start out by saying that I don't have much (relative) experience in the guitar world, as I've only been playing for two years. I've been playing my Starcaster Acoustic which I am pleased with, and decided to make the jump in to electric, so I borrowed a friends' Starcaster Electric until I buy my own Electric Guitar. I'm accustomed to the humbucker tone of a certain rival company of Fender, but I figured I'd give it a shot. The guitar is very pretty, my friends' came with a Maple fingerboard, the big '70s style headstock, and all the provided bells and whistles. It feels very solid, (I've found that I do like the Maple fingerboard, I had preferred Rosewood before but now they're both okay in my book) and except for the fret buzz sounded nice and full while unplugged. I plugged it in and put it on Clean and found out very, very quickly that i prefer the tone of the Neck pickup over any other. Now, here's where I get critical. The amp is TERRIBLE for anything but an absolutely clean tone, unless overly fuzzy and choppy is your preferred tone. While the bass and treble controls were nice, I found that if they weren't perfectly balanced, I got either a VERY muddy or a VERY twangy tone. Same with the tone controls on the guitar, and the pickup selection. Zero on the tone made it sound like the amp was in a closed tube or in another room, Ten on the tone made it sound extremely, overly twangy. (Another thing that took a lot of balance, which I'm not a sure a beginner knows how to do.) Also, any pickup selection but only Neck or only Bridge gave lots of mud, again sounding like the amp was locked in another room. One thing that I did like was that even though the amp didn't come with a Gain control knob, (the Overdrive is used as a channel switch, but the only EQ is Bass and Treble) I could use the Volume knob on the guitar to control how much relative Gain was being applied. For example, 2 or 3 on the Volume provided a Clapton-reminiscent tone when soloing, 3 through 6 gave a hint of Jimmy Page, a little more gave Hendrix Fuzz, and all the way to 10 gave a very fuzzy, highly distorted, metal-type tone (notice I said metal-type, this isn't your typical Metal sound, just very fuzzy). At first the Trem was very limp and swung around when the guitar moved, so I unscrewed it and screwed it back in, and it managed to strip the screw a little (just a tad) and now it fits VERY snugly, as in I can move it but I can not get it to swing around again for the life of me. Tuners are Mediocre, but what can you expect with a Trem bridge? Retuning is a must, which is actually a good thing for a beginner. All in all even though this sounded like an overcritical review, I just want to bring to the table what I truly thought of the tone and feel. Would I recommend it to a beginner? Probably not, if their budget allowed for more. If they wanted Strat-type Cleans and a tad bit of nice Overdrive, and were on an EXTREMELY tight budget, I would recommend this package. But as soon as the beginner (or friend) decided they wanted to stick with playing guitar, I would recommend an upgrade.
I would recommend this to a friend!
-2points
5out of 12found this review helpful.
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Review 12 for Starcaster® by Fender® Strat® Electric Guitar Pack - Black Sparkle
Good Beginner Guitar
Customer Rating
4.0
Posted by: 34532454
from Merrimack, NH
on 06/13/2009
Value for Price
5.0
Sound Quality
4.0
Durability
4.0
Craftsmanship
4.0
What's great about it: Good sound, looks cool, amp is great, tuner works well, stays in tune, great price
What's not so great: Strings buzz on the frets sometimes, strap breaks easily, tone knobs do nothing, whammy bar is loose
This was my first guitar, and it is a great value if you are just starting out, but do not get this if you are an intermediate or expert player because you get what you pay for. the guitar sounds great with the amp in overdrive or clean. this guitar is set up for any type of music, and it looks almost exactly like a real strat. The only problem is the strings (especially low E) buzz when you pluck them because the action is a little low. the tone knobs are just for show. Seriously, they do nothing at all. When the whammy bar is screwed in all the way, it is facing the wrong way, but if you don't tighten it all the way, it hangs down when you are playing. I personally don't like the bolt-on neck, I prefer the set neck, but that's just me. The strap tore the first day I used it, so I had to replace it with my guitar hero strap. It is really easy to tune with the chromatic tuner. the gig bag is really cheap so I recommend getting a hard-shell case. Other than those things, this is a great beginner guitar and would recommend it to any beginner
I would recommend this to a friend!
0points
1out of 2found this review helpful.
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Review 13 for Starcaster® by Fender® Strat® Electric Guitar Pack - Black Sparkle
Marvellous guitar
Customer Rating
5.0
Posted by: maxflex
from Seattle, WA
on 04/25/2009
What's great about it: Comfortable, soft strings, goes with amp, case, picks and more
What's not so great: Nothing
I've had this guitar for about half a year by now and I should say - this guitar is just awesome. I have several guitars in my house and I shall admit that this Fender is just as good as my other guitar for 1200$. Ideal guitar with suspeciously low price (your suspicion will disappear when you understand that there's nothing bad about this guitar, though).
I would recommend this to a friend!
+3points
4out of 5found this review helpful.
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Review 14 for Starcaster® by Fender® Strat® Electric Guitar Pack - Black Sparkle
best guitar you'll ever buy
Customer Rating
5.0
Posted by: shopper87
on 04/20/2009
What's great about it: it's great for both beginner and expert
What's not so great: nothing
it's was my son's birthday and it was the only guitar they had at the time so i bought it and he loved it he plated all night till the next day so i say buy it.
I would recommend this to a friend!
+2points
3out of 4found this review helpful.
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Review 15 for Starcaster® by Fender® Strat® Electric Guitar Pack - Black Sparkle
Great Starter Guitar/Amp Kit.
Customer Rating
4.0
What's great about it: Excellent finish and quality for the price.
What's not so great: Its a beginner guitar and has some substandard hardware.
This is a great starter kit for kids or beginners. Everything you need to start playing is in this kit. While the quality of some of the hardware will be substandard for more advanced players, its nothing that will hinder the development of a beginner (and at a fraction of the price of higher priced guitart). If you having a budding guitarist but aren't sure they will stick with it, this is a great starting point without spending alot of $$$. The only thing missing from the kit is a guitar stand which can be picked up for <$20. Get a stand to keep your guitar in good shape and off the floor when not in use.
I would recommend this to a friend!
+2points
3out of 4found this review helpful.
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Review 16 for Starcaster® by Fender® Strat® Electric Guitar Pack - Black Sparkle
Pretty good guitar.
Customer Rating
4.0
Posted by: GuitarMan911
from Libertytown, MD
on 01/08/2009
Images for this Review
(click to see full-size image)
What's great about it: The Guitar lasts forever.
What's not so great: everything else other than the guitar.
Well, to start off, I got this guitar almost 3 years ago. still works like when I got it. the guitar is great- Great sound, great feel, Although a little heavy,and amazing quality. Exactly what I expected from a fender. It tunes well, and the strings are good quality. It's everything else that isn't so good... For example, the amp is tiny and is hard to get a good sound out of. And I had to replace the guitar output cord, because there was a loose connection. Overall, this guitar is excellent for a beginner, fair for an intermediate player, but for the advanced guitar player, I would reccomend saving for a Les Paul or a Stratocaster.
I would recommend this to a friend!
+2points
2out of 2found this review helpful.
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Review 17 for Starcaster® by Fender® Strat® Electric Guitar Pack - Black Sparkle
Too good for $150
Customer Rating
5.0
Posted by: Male
from N/A
on 12/31/2008
What's great about it: strings are good, easy setup, comes with lessons, and AMP included
What's not so great: runs out of stock fast. so buy fast
this guitar is great. i bought it and when is try to set it up, obviously it was easy, and the strings were realy of good quality and what do you expect its a Fender, known as a famous and best brand. i went to guitar center and saw the same one and it was like $230, which is too much for the same guitar that you can buy at BestBuy for only $150. I let my friends who are pros at guitars, use my guitar and they said that this guitar is unbelievable and probably the best guitar that you can buy in stores for only 150 dollars. I highly recommend it.
I would recommend this to a friend!
0points
1out of 2found this review helpful.
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Review 18 for Starcaster® by Fender® Strat® Electric Guitar Pack - Black Sparkle
Great Christmas Gift
Customer Rating
5.0
Posted by: socalgal
from California
on 11/06/2008
What's great about it: Price seems to be great for what you get.
What's not so great: won't know till Christmas day, hope its all good!
Name Brand, Great starter set, seems to be a good product for the price.
I would recommend this to a friend!
-4points
0out of 4found this review helpful.
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