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My thoughts on this guitar are that it's probably a great deal for the money you paid. I personally believe a huge amount of what makes a guitar a great player is the labor that's put into it. If you let a good luthier go to town on a basic guitar with a good platform they can really make something fantastic.
That's why off the rack guitars -- even expensive ones - dont always feel that great when you play them.

I dont think you'll get a huge resale value on the guitar if you ever decide to sell it due to the Starcaster name, but if it plays as well as it described it I'd keep it personally. I saw another luthier not too long ago that also did this with Startcasters minus the varitone mod, & they were supposed to be great guitars when he was through. I thought about getting one myself but just decided I didnt need another guitar in the end.

Nice axe though.

The seller made 200 bucks at least. He´s a luthier? well, no way.
The guitars are made in China.
Having said that I bought a very cheap bass guitar for my daughter (less than 100) made in China. It is really a great playing and sounding bass guitar (unplugged), the electric parts are complete s**t though.

I would buy a used MiM Standard for 240 any day (which is a better guitar).

Cheers,
Robin

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http://www.youtube.com/robinstrower
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Thanks for the kind response. String Bender. It just arrived yesterday ~ haven't unpacked it yet.
Another day I'll share the results. Also, my Weber Attenuator Mass 200 arrived, so now
I can crank up all my amps from 40w to 135w and blast away with all the varitone possibilities

I figure the unique HSCase & guitar's raw basic wood without any Starcaster hardware = $175.
I paid $50 for shipping, so that's $225 of the $300 total. Do I think the rest of the labor and
custom parts are worth $75??? Absolutely outstandingly YES! I believe to have a special guitar
that has all of the varitone switching possibilities & the many custom modifications to be worth $900.
If the guitar was based on a MIM or MIA Strat, then we'd be talking more money (with case & shipping).
So, $300 for everything direct from the builder himself, makes it a keeper.

The luthier claims to have put in over 60 hours of fine tuning, passion effort, art work
setting-up special electronics and merging the neck & body correctly. He claims $300/ish in
parts including: tuners, bridge, potentiometers, high-end varitone switching kit,
control knobs, high-end pickup switch, custom pick guard, lots of super extra thick copper wiring
throughout, triple layers of shielding under the pick guard, extra shielding materials around
the cavities, and more

Even if it was ten-twenty direct hours, that is way too cool
Seems like it was one of his favorite guitars, so it got special attention.

Therefore, for $175 for raw body/neck wood & HSCase (+) $75 for all the custom parts & labor
(+) $50 for the shipping, I believe it'll be a keeper to experiment for tones and sounds.

Not interested in getting money out of it. If I was, I would not have purchased it.

In general, I believe industry wide there is too much worry by too many amp buyers and too
many guitar buyers about equipment's worth. Think about all those who cry and complain
about modern guitar amps with PCBoards, yet, the modern amps have incredible sales numbers
Go figure

I have quite a few unique or rare or custom guitars and amps. I would not own them
if I was not be the highest eBay bidder or negotiate to meet the seller's final retail prices.
Some scavage for parts and pieces. Some like to rebuild. Some have less money.
Some have more money. Some just want it working right at the time of purchase.
Some want to make sure they can get their money back. Why? Personal preference.

Thanks again. Toppscore

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Thanks, Robin. I just explained a point - counter point within the above comment.
I suspect on EBay you can get a Starcaster and "quality" hard shell case and
shipping costs for $200-$250. I agree with that.

But, as I explained above, this is not the case. Different product.
Just started on Fender Starcaster wood, that is all.
Cheers. Toppscore

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You can but a starcaster for about 50 bucks on craigslist. The guitar will probley split in half someday. For 300 dollers you could have done much better IMO. But if you like it thats all that matters. Lets see some pics.
http://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/msg/3014218639.html

Exactly. I like it. At least I wanna like it
So far, in theory only. Tonight I open it up.
I shall report my findings.

Tomorrow, I may use it for a song or two at a party gig.
Toppscore

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