It depends what you are looking for man. In general, the STarcaster is pretty rank!! But like I said, I do loads of upgrades and love taking something that is deemed garbage and making it nice........it's what I do I have a 'brand' called 'Custom Uglies' and that is exactly what it is.........crap guitars made nice.........

Both the Bullet and the Starcaster are down there with the dross.......Alan said a 2nd hand Squier std........that is a cracking idea.......you can pick them up over here for the price of a new STarcaster or Bullet and the difference is quite outstanding from the off.

If I were you, and I am going by the fact you are swaying with your thoughts on here, just maybe wait till you get your Tele...........I know that might be frustrating but you don't want to just jump in and buy a banger........If you want something cheap and cheerful to mess with just now, set a maximum budget, say maybe $100-$150 and hunt craigslist and local sales and just play as many as you can. If something comes up, go for it, if not, you know you are getting your Tele soon.

By the way, a 'partsocaster' is a guitar made from other guitars, neck from one, body from another etc.........I personally wouldn't bother with that one off e-bay as you have no idea how legit it is..........I have bought a few parts guitars and some have been great and some have been honkers but ALL have needed quite a bit of setting up before being anything near playable properly and setting them up needs time, knowledge and patience...all of which I think you are too early on in your electric playing experience to give fully.

If you are starting to feel overwhelmed by advice/choice etc, just sit back, take a break and go play lots of styles...Les Pauls, PRS, Strat Tele all of them....you may be surprised how many or even how few you actually like and remember not all Teles feel and sound the same, just like one LP can be sooo different from another. You have the rosewood vs maple neck debate, the humbucker vs single coil, the hard-tail vs tremolo..........the list goes on and on and on mate.

Take your time.......it took me almost 18 months to find the Tele I wanted and it ended up being nothing like what I thought I wanted.... in fact it was almost the opposite to what my initial desires pointed me towards which is why playing them is so important.

While you are learning, pickup tone has very little bearing on stuff (IMO) so don't worry what is said about that. Pickups can be changed easily...I have a Westfield strat copy (cheap middle eastern copy) that I have a Fender CS pups in..........they are worth more than the guitar but cheaper than buying a STrat that comes with them as standard and I don't have a full set in the thing.........so it just goes to demonstrate if you like the feel of the thing, sound can be altered later....and that's before you start looking at amps!!!!

DOn't get panicked and confused...........GAS (gear aquisition Syndrome) is a fun affliction and choosing your next instrument is an experience that all of us musos love.......have fun!!

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speak slowly I'm a drummer too!!

And I proudly lack a stick or a kazoo up my arse...........

Thanks for all the help Evan!!

I guess you can say I have GAS lol

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1995 Fender Mustang

well my brother bought me one at a flea market for 75 bucks. not a mark on it . sounds great and i dont see any problems with it at all. i dont have the sharp frets and strings dont break from any sharp parts. but if yours does a stone or emory paper will cure that. all in all its a good little guitar.

ive had a mim strat since 1996.

i dont see much of a difference.. going back to ahen i bought that one.

my starcaster is an old one with the arrow headstock.

take away all the improvements ive done to the mim.. again i dont see a difference.