Music Discussions

Recently, as some of you may know, I was in the market for an electric guitar. My criterion were as such: inexpensive, reliable, and a good deal for the price. I specify the third criteria because many things that are inexpensive are still overpriced as they may be completely worthless.

I, against the advice of some, purchased my guitar online. Since I could not physically examine the exact guitar I was purchasing, I bought based upon customer reviews, brand reputation, and the fact that a friend of mine who is in a band has one for his practice guitar. Okay, so enough of the suspense; I ended up going with a midnight blue Starcaster by Fender Strat Pack. This guitar is basically a low-end Stratocaster; the body, neck, head are the same but the hardware is of a lesser quality to cut down on price.

The package came with the guitar pictured at left, small practice amp, digital tuner, DVD, guitar stand, guitar bag, guitar strap, spare set of strings, three medium picks, guitar cable, two allen wrenches of different sizes, headphones, and an 1/8″ inch to 1/4″ adapter for the headphones. Everything worked flawlessly out of the box with the exception of the center (of five) leds that tell how sharp or flat the note is on the digital tuner was burned out. This is not a big deal as when no lights are lit, I know the string is in tune. The only other issue is that the action on the guitar – out of the box – is set slightly too low so the strings wobble a bit. Thankfully, the adjustment tools were provided so this is not a big issue either.

The amp is really good for what it is. At 10 amps, its not going to work well for performances, but this is not its intended use. As a practice amp to use in your living room it is more than powerful enough, and its small size allows it to be stashed in a corner or a closet when it is not in use. Considering that this is its purpose in life, it was a nice surprise to find that it had an overdrive switch and bass and treble controls. When set properly, this amp can make some pretty serious distortion (hint overdrive on and bass all the way up).

I cannot speak to the effectiveness of the DVD as I have not watched it, but the packaging seems to imply that it is a sample attempting to sell the full version. The guitar stand looks unstable, but seems to actually be pretty sturdy; I guess looks can be deceiving. The picks have just the right firmness and I’m glad it came with some as I can’t for the life of me find any of mine; I’ve been finger-picking my acoustic and haven’t needed them. I would prefer a hard case to transport the guitar as I am terminally clumsy, but this is more of a problem with me than the kit and a case would cause the packaging to be more cumbersome to ship. The strings are pretty light-weight, which is probably good for total beginners until their finger strength improves, but these should probably be replaced quickly with something heavier by most people.

Overall, I found this to be quite a good deal at a little under $200 USD and have had a great experience. The actual shade of blue is really dark (almost) black, and I would have preferred a lighter shade such as in the image above, but that has no impact on the actual quality of the guitar of value of the package.