New Squier Starcaster Series?

I'm somewhat confused. At one time, Fender made a solid body guitar called the Starcaster that looked a lot like a Strat. But Squier seems to have its own version, and I believe there are now three versions being issued, known as the Classic Vibe ($399), Affinity Series ($299) and Contemporary Active ($399). As you can see, these are extremely affordable compared to other guitars on the market.

These are semi-hollow guitars, with a center block. Apparently this model was introduced in 1976, but never set the world on fire. But a couple of years ago, Epiphone decided to try it again with these three models.

Since I like the "natural" look, the Classic Vibe in natural appeals to me. But the Contemporary Active has a 12" radius neck (the others are 9.5"), which fits my style on hollow bodies.

Has anyone played one? I realize that at these price points there have to be some sacrifices made (pickups?).

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I played a few of them when replacing the stock pickups with real CuNiFe wide range humbuckers.

Surprisingly, they were very bright sounding. Not a bad guitar, but not something I was too excited about either. It was stuck somewhere between several sounds and none of them were particularly good to my ear. They were bright. The pickup swap helped, but it just never came into it's own. Left me wanting more of something, but I couldn't tell you what that was.

Bob, was there anything that could have been done to the electronics, capacitors or something that could have tamed it? I know very little about guitar electronics, but I'm trying to learn.

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Originally Posted by ch willie

Bob, was there anything that could have been done to the electronics, capacitors or something that could have tamed it? I know very little about guitar electronics, but I'm trying to learn.

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Unfortunately, it seems the best thing would be to buy one with standard size humbuckers and see how it sounds.
If it's still bright, you could change the pickups. What kind of music are you looking to play? Clean? Heavy gain?

Not the op. I was wondering if capacitors would have made your Starcaster a player.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ch willie

Not the op. I was wondering if capacitors would have made your Starcaster a player.

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Doubtful, but lowering the resistance on the pots might help tame the highs. That is, if it doesn't have the usual Fender 250K's in there already.