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from : localhost/www.gibson.com/relations/foru...id=3amp;tid=55262

doesn't seem to say gibson anywhere on it. It's just a cheaper Epiphone. I don't think it quot;devalues real LPsquot; anymore than any other copy does.

Sure Gibson does many wrong things lately. But not everything is wrong. Well... I should play one first

(I'm honestly tempted to buy one and see... but wal mart scares me. No, the folks in the wal mart truthfully)

slade

EDIT: forgot. the Starcaster mentioned has been around for a couple years. No one here cared about Fender marketting an indonesian guitar WITH the fender name on it


Originally Posted by ex-250
from : localhost/do hopefully know that Fender is also selling quot;Starcastersquot; at Target and Best Buy, or?

I do see it as quot;diluting the gene poolquot;, but I also see it as a way to get kids hooked easier than it´s been... after all, how many of you started playing on a Sears Silvertone or Harmony or other quot;obscurequot; axe?.....

The quot;Made in Chinaquot; part is heavily disturbing, though......

I dunno to me it is like the equivalent of like Porsche releasing a compact hybrid car.

original Porsches were hotted up VW bugs it would be a return to their roots.

Without the Gibson name anywhere on the guitar though... I mean, can't you say the same thing about lower line Epiphones?

slade

If it's at all playable, I'd buy the SG if the price were right. While I'm not that upset by the shape modification that the knockoff LPs out there tned to have, there hasn't been a decent looking SG clone in several years.

Never seen a quot;starcaster,quot; not once, ever and I've been in about 14 best buy stores and probably 30 target stores.


Originally Posted by danglybangeroriginal Porsches were hotted up VW bugs it would be a return to their roots.
....

Yes and No... while the Bug was very much the quot;design pillarquot; for the original 356 chassis, there were quite a few improvements and redesigns to make it something different....

But then again, the Austrian Mountain Police usesd Bugs with Carerra RS 2.7 engines until rather recently.... And I´ve also seen 911s with a Beetle engine (don´t really get the point of that one, but...), so there´s definitely something to it... not counting the fact that it was a quot;familyquot; design


Originally Posted by ZerberusYou do hopefully know that Fender is also selling quot;Starcastersquot; at Target and Best Buy, or? really? damn.

i dont see why they just didnt release these as epi's (or in the other case, squier's). sure it doesnt say gibson on the headstock, but its got the gibson headstock and says gibson all over the box.

Wow. Looks like all those guys in highschoo, who wanted to play guitar, now can just pretend. Hang it on a wall ' oh yeah..thats my old axe...oh..i cant play it anymore..er..er..football injury?'

I can hear Cornholio quot;Are you threatening me?quot;

C'mon, who really cares? Is this the end of your world?

The headstock looks very different form gibson to me. Is it lopsided or is it just the angle.

Yeah... I know the differences between the bug and the 356...

Are you sure the 911s with VW engines aren't 912s? They were an entry level 911 that retained the 4 cyl engine from the 356C, made for a few years in the 60s... Not very common but I've been looking into them lately because I want something with reasonably racy looks and handling that won't bankrupt me the way my current quot;fun carsquot; do, and that's a bit more reliable... (shows how reliable my current cars are)

If I recall the entry level 914s used a bug engine, hence the name VW/Porsche.

slade

There's something fishy about that headstock... but then again the pic is carppy as smeg.

And is it me or does the LP have contours like an SG? That would actually be cool.

If their any good I don't see any problem but if they're crap it's another nail in the coffin.


Originally Posted by ZerberusYou do hopefully know that Fender is also selling quot;Starcastersquot; at Target and Best Buy, or?

Yep. There was a topic on the FDP not long ago when one of the Fender guys chimed in and explained. When asked why they didn't just sell Squeir's at Wal-Mart he explained that it wouldn't be fair to Squeir distributors. If the massive Wal-Mart distribution machine was perceived to be able to offer quot;realquot; guitars it could essentially put quot;realquot; music stores out of business. Although at the same time Fender can hardly say quot;noquot; to the opportunity of getting kids hooked on Strats due to potential exposure to them at Wal-Mart. They never touched on the quality of the Starcasters though. It'd be interesting to test drive a Starcaster vs Squeir vs MIM vs MIA Strat to see and feel the quality differences between them and determine if the price vs quality ratio is really worth it.

I played one. Briefly. Unplugged. In crowded costco. back when I didn't really know what I was doing in terms of gear. With 2 broken strings as I recall.

meh. Pretty much felt like the Jay Turser I owned at the time

slde

If it helps more people pick up and learn the guitar, then Kudo's to Gibson. If it makes them more money, then Kudo's to Gibson. It's a free market, I say make as much $$ as you can. Of course they're cheap....so were the guitars that Sears sold years ago.

No biggie to me.


Originally Posted by Jeff_HIf it helps more people pick up and learn the guitar, then Kudo's to Gibson. If it makes them more money, then Kudo's to Gibson. It's a free market, I say make as much $$ as you can. Of course they're cheap....so were the guitars that Sears sold years ago.

No biggie to me.

I had been staying away from this thread yesterday because to me, it just sounds like another Gibson bash..... You're post Jeff, sums up my feelings exactly

Glad to be of service Jeff. One thing I am not afraid of is my own opinion!

ive never bought anything at walmart so i hope they have fun with it. more chinese crap for sale at mallwart

I saw kudos to Gibson for doing this to get kids interested to play who don't have a lot of money but want a LP style guitar or SG because it's quot;coolquot;. How many here wanted a LP because Jimmy Page plays one? How many wanted a single humbucker Strat with Floyd because it's like what Eddie played? Or a Strat because of Gilmour or Clapton? Tell ya what, you'd be lying if you said you didn't when you first started playing.

I wish I could have gotten something like this when I started. Entry level guitars are leaps and bounds better than what they were 20 years ago, even 10 years ago. What I like is I could snag one of these for little money for my daughter and hang on to it for when she's ready for a bigger guitar, and she'd have one like daddy's. If she decides to do something else and not play, then I didn't lose a major investment.