Review by Marty from Clayton:

I am a bass guitar player, and own/have owned several bass guitars, including a Fender Mustang and currently a Fender Precision (Sting signature series). I have also owned a Fender Squier (6-string) guitar before. We ordered the Starcaster guitar package for my middleschool daughter.

It’s a great guitar with great sound; honestly, the sound is fantastic. And there are a lot of peripheral items included at a fabulous price. We’ve had no problems at all with the cord or amp, and the sound that little amp makes it really clear. Hit the overdrive, and you get a nice distortion sound. You can’t control the amount of overdrive (it’s either on or off), but for a beginner or for household use, it’s perfect. The compact guitar stand is very stable for its size.

A few other reviewers have criticized the guitar for string buzz. Well, you can adjust the bridge very easily. The package even includes the little hex-wrench needed to make the adjustment yourself. (Anyone that pays 0 for someone else to do such minor tweaking got ripped off … you may as well pay someone to tune it for you.)

If there is one drawback to the guitar, the edges of the frets are a little rough, something I’ve never encountered with a Fender product before. I find it noticible, but I wouldn’t even call it uncomfortable. And certainly not so rough as to cut up your hands, as one reviewer exaggerated.

One final note, the guitar not only sounds great, it looks beautiful as well. The candy-apple red color is rich and deep (slightly darker than the picture), and the finish has no flaws at all.

I have no hesitation recommending this to any beginning or intermediate player.

Review by Black Sheep:

I read all of the product reviews before buying this guitar and finally decided it would be worth the risk. And I was right, it was worth it. The shipping box came with a few dings in it, but the product is packed very well. There was absolutely no damage to anything inside the box. As a beginning guitarist, I think the product is excellent. The little amp seems to have a lot of volume and good tone, and the guitar is very well made from what I can tell. It sounds good, feels good, and plays very well. And contrary to everything I read, the frets are not sharp on the ends. In fact mine are beveled and smooth.

I do however have two small complaints. It seems like everyone has either the red or starburst colors, so I opted for the midnight blue. Well, it’s midnight alright. It’s so dark, that you need a really bright light or sunlight just to be able to tell it’s not black. And then it looks more of a dark purple than blue. My second complaint was a buzz from the 5th (A) string at the 6th and 7th frets. All the other strings played well, except this one at this location. I adjusted the neck three times and retuned the strings three times and now it seems to be fine.

I’m sure if you’re a master guitarist that has owned some really nice guitars you could find a lot of fault with the Starcaster. But for my money and level of experience, this was a great buy and a fantastic start on learning to play the guitar. I’m sure I’ll out grow this one and move up some day in both quality and price, but I’m also certain I won’t ever regret having started out with this guitar.

Would I buy it again. Absolutely. Would I recommend it as a good “starter” guitar for the price. Absolutely.

FOLLOW-UP APPROXIMATELY ONE MONTH LATER…….

Okay, It’s August and I’ve had this guitar for almost a month now. I practice/play every night at home and I am EXTREMELY pleased with my purchase. I’ve read all the reviews about bad electrical components, cheap strings, sharp frets, piece of crap amp, etc., etc. but I have to disagree. I either got the ONLY perfect Starcaster that was made, or some of these other folks are just a whiny overcomplaining bunch that no one could satisfy.

- “Bad strings and strings breaking”…..I haven’t had a single problem and I play EVERY night.

- “Tone knobs don’t work”…..Both of mine work just fine.

- “Will not stay in tune”…..The ONLY time mine has been out of tune is when I adjusted the neck. I check it EVERY night before I play/practice, and it’s ALWAYS in tune.

- “Tuner breaks after a couple of uses”…..Have used mine about 25 times and it’s working fine, plus I’ve never replaced the batteries.

- “Bad pickups”…..I have played along with several online tracks and the sound out of my Starcaster has matched the sound from the professional tracts almost perfectly.

I could go on but I think you get the point. For under [...] this is a REALLY good deal! Don’t you dare think EC or BBK would find it their guitar of choice, but for a beginner model or home practice guitar, the one I purchased and received is awesome! And again, I was only slightly unhappy with the color blue, but it’s beginning to grow on me, lol.

I hope this follow up helps, and I hope as I said earlier that I didn’t get the ONLY good production model made. (I seriously doubt that’s the case.)

I’m really enjoying mine, and hope you enjoy yours too. ~ Black Sheep

Review by informednow:

I am writing about the metallic blue guitar combo with the 10 watt amp. As of the time of this writing, the amp I received was not the one in the photo, but the same as the one seen in the photo of the Austin pink guitar combo pack elsewhere on this site. Other than that, everything was as pictured.

I am an adult who is learning the guitar. I have played the bass guitar on and off for years, so I have some familiarity with electric basses. I bought this because it was so cheap and I was willing to take a chance for the money. I am glad I did. The other combos I considered were closer to double the money.

The guitar: It says “Crescent” on the logo, not Austin, which was noted in another review on the Austin store front site. No big deal. The strings on the guitar are crappy, crappy. It did come with 6 replacement strings which are also crappy. It also came with a cheap gig bag, which will work if you only go to lessons and back and dont drop it, and will keep the dust off. The strap is cheap, leave it on the guitar and don’t take it on and off. Don’t trust it too much, either. I use it sitting down. It came with an amp cord that is OK. The pick is OK, hard to ruin that! Rembember this is a 0+ combo.

The guitar was dusty when I got it like it had been hanging around, not bad, but noticable. The finish is a blue/green sparkle kind of color that I like. (I am tired of black, white and red guitars). There were no mars in the finish. The nut had a very slight gap on one side that did not seem to overty affect anything, but I would prefer to see it flush into the neck. The neck was straight and felt good, although it was marred cosmetically by what looked like rough edges, but were actually smooth to the touch. There is a pick edge sized gap between the neck and body, more so than other guitars that I have but not alarmingly so. The neck does appear to be straight on solid with no movement and even with the body on checking. The fret edges were a bit rough, but not annoyingly so. There is some string buzz, but I think that is a saddle height adjustment issue that needs to be made. The machine heads feel cheap but seem to be holding a tune pretty well for now, I am hoping they hold up. The bridge looks good for a this price range. It came with a whammy bar that I am not using right now. The controls all seem to work pretty well and the 5-way switch is OK. No pot noise or dead spots, no loose or wobbly knobs. Nothing exciting, just very basic. The body is surprisingly heavy–I anticipated a lighter weight guitar. (I am female, so this may not be as much so for a guy) The sound is not bad for a cheapy, I have heard worse. It came with a truss rod wrench and an allen wrench for the bridge. I did have some trouble with adjusting the height on one of the strings–the screw kept slipping on one side of the B string.

The amp: I LIKE this little amp!! Remember it is not the one pictured with this guitar–look for the pink combo elsewhere on the website. This is a slim, lightweight amp with bass, treble, mid, gain, and volume knobs. There is also a gain button and a headphone jack. All are on the front of the amp for easy reach. The controls work well with no pot noise or dead spots or loose knobs. The amp actually has a clear, sharp sound, surprising kick for its size. It is attractively designed and seems pretty durable. It did come witha very slight ding on the top, which was easily pressed down and glued and is not noticable now.

My combo was not damaged in shipping at all and came at the designated time. Is this as good as a Fender combo? Guitar wise probably not quite, amp wise maybe better. If you can get a Squier guitar, get one, if not, and your budget is limited, this combo is very good for the price. I would buy another.

UPDATE: I did buy another Crescent guitar and it is even better than this one! It is also much lighter.

Review by Len:

This starter kit is a terrific value – sturdy guitar, 10 watt amp, gig bag, extra strings – a steal for 0 at the time of my purchase (5 with delivery).

The guitar is equipped with standard effects dials to bring out the treble or bass, and can create some serious grungy reverberation combined with the amplifier effects.

The 10 watt amp won’t bring down the house, but is fine for home use – easily loud enough to feel the power of an electric guitar – even a modestly priced one.

The guitar and amp arrived in two separate shipments. My amp cord was missing, but Austin Bazaar sent it within a few days after I contacted them.

All-in-all, if you’re looking for a starter electric guitar, I can’t imagine being disappointed with this one. The electric blue is fine looking too.

UPDATE JULY 2008 – TWO STARS – My experience with Austin Bazaar turned out overall negative. My guitar’s had two problems. First, a tuning key was stripped on the inside. Austin Bazaar replaced it, problem solved, but it was an initial red flag on quality. A bigger problem appeared – a persistent buzz on the low E string. I realized the root cause was the first groove on the nut was cut too deep. I requested a replacement nut June 3, 2008. Austin Bazaar asked for my Amazon order information, which I emailed. I didn’t hear back from them, and wrote follow up emails June 21, July 2, July 7 and July 12 – with no reply. My takeaway – quality and customer service are not highest priority with Austin Bazaar. Take a chance if you’re comfortable with the quality risk.

Review by Frequant Amazon Shopper #1,293,882:

I bought this as a starter electric after having learned on an acoustic. It’s great for the price. The guitar: -After a few days I could tell the tremolo bar wasn’t going to last very long so I completely unscrewed it and do not use it. So don’t plan on using that heavily for very long, it’s not made in a fashion to last. That’s one of the ways the price is kept down on the guitar, I’m sure. The pickups and bridge definitely will need adjustment so find a good place online to learn about that, or hopefully you know someone who knows guitars or you know them yourself. After a few months one of the wires to the jack broke off, somehow, and I did have to solder that back on. I couldn’t say how common of a problem that might be. It’s recommendable that you keep the jack input nut tight to the guitar and don’t let it get to where the jack can spin freely at all. Otherwise the tension will go to the wires connecting to the jack and that’s probably what caused my problem, so lesson learned. If you can afford a higher quality strat and don’t want any little hassles like that, then spend the extra bucks. But, if you’re like me, and willing to put a tiny bit of work into keeping it working, the price to quality ratio is definitely in your favor. It’s probably better for a first electric than something higher quality and more expensive anyways, because you’re not so afraid to tinker around with it, take it apart and find out what makes it tick. I’ve had it for about 3 months now and have consistently been playing it at the very least 7 hours a week and still happy. The Amp: -It does its purpose. Not a very good amp, but it’s solid, and doesn’t have much to complain about. You know what you’re getting there; A cheap little amp. The guitar strap: -Don’t trust it. It will slip off the strap buttons; First day. Get some strap locks for it, or get a better strap. The tuner: -completely cheap and not even worth using. I put it up against a good/reliable tuner and it didn’t even have the correct read on the pitch. I’m not sure what’s going on there but I basically threw mine away. It looked like it was about to fall apart out of the package, basically. I recommend buying a different one straight away before the guitar even arrives, or tuning by ear is better. The four stars are based on the assumption that you’re someone who is willing to get the screwdriver out once or twice and mess around with it. It’s based on the fact that you’re not needing the little things like the strap and tuner to be perfect out of the box. If that’s for some reason important to you, then consider this a 2-star review. The four stars is also probably based on the fact that you either A: know some things about guitars already, B: know someone else who does, or C: are very resourceful and good at making something cheap work to its greatest ability. Hope this has been helpful.

Review by William Atkins:

My parents gave me this guitar for christmas, and I’ve had this guitar for about 5 months now,and I have loved and hated some things about the guitar. let’s start with the short list, the hated.

Hated: The strap is garbage, The wammy bar causes the guitar to go insanely out of tune, for about 2 weeks the frets cut your hands to shreds, When using one pickup, the amp makes a really annoying buzzing sound, so use the second to bottom or top setting on the pickup selector switch. The guitar does also go out of tune fairly easy by itself.

Now onto the loved: EXTREMELY STURDY AND STRONG. My guitar was dropped by one of my friends onto a concrete floor and the only damage done was a small chip in the finish by the neck. Amp is fantastic for it’s size. Loud enough to fill a gymnasium full of screaming students. The tuner is fantastic, and the picks are incredibly strong. Strings sound good and are strong. Extra strings are a good bonus, just make sure you put them on right.

Overall a great guitar package for about 0, I’d recommend to any beginning guitarist. With a name like Fender, you can’t go wrong!

Review by P. Singh:

This this is awesome. They had everything I needed to set up the guitar, connect it to the amp, tune it and start jamming! Its great for the garage jamming session. I love the glossy black color; looks great. Produces a vibrant sound. It comes with a 10 Watt amp. The amp is small but has good output. Loud enough to annoy the neighbors:-). I recommend it. Thums up!

Review by M. Beugli:

I bought this guitar for my 9 year old son. It is a good guitar for a younger person who is not sure if they are serious about it. It is not a high quality but you are not paying for high quality. It is well made though and should last for as long as you need it to.

Review by Elsa:

I know nothing about guitars, but I bought this for my husband for his birthday for a starter and it is well worth its price. I looked at other starters and this is by far a great buy. I wish it had something other than a pitch pipe though. The guitar looks nice, not cheap like the “first act” starter guitars I have looked at. Seems to sell for alot cheaper on Amazon than other online stores, so with the free shipping, I think it was a great deal.

Review by Jakemania:

I’ve had this guitar for exactly a month now. I am 17 years old and was interested in getting a cheap yet good guitar to learn to play.

The Good:

As far as a starter goes, this kit is everything you need. The guitar is nice and it comes with a nice bag for transportation, the chart, and of course a few picks.

The Okay:

I was expecting the CD included to be a CD-ROM or a DVD instruction, however, it is just a music CD with a few audio tracks (the notes are shown in certain parts of the booklet. Also, the amp is very generic. I realize this is a starter kit, but it is still very basic. It has 3 knobs: volume, bass, and treble. It works well but I wish it has a few more effects. My friend got a different starter kit in which the amp at least had ‘gain’ to give it variety.

The Bad:

Nothing bad here, overall a pretty good product for those who want to learn how to play guitar.

Hope this helps!

Jake

Review by Samuel Cantler:

this is my first guitar and it is great, it comes with 6 picks, an amp (with a drive button on it) a tuner, a guitar strap, a cable to connect the amp and the guitar (of course) and a DVD, it is just a great guitar, and it looks really cool, if u are looking for a great guitar for a cheap price buy this one

Review by M. Stickles:

Great guitar. We purchased this guitar set for our five year old son for Christmas and he loves it. It’s a great guitar package and great price.

Review by Jack Herzoly:

I bought this guitar for my 6 year old who had outgrown his toy acoustic guitar. I am a veteran player and am very impressed with the quality both in construction and sound from it. My child is even more interested in practicing now with the “cool” sounds he is getting from it and (probably most important to him) it looks cool.

I researched several competitor guitars and found this one far superior for the price. The 3/4 size should last him through elementary school years and possibly beyond.

Review by Jimmy The Cat:

Wow, for the price its impossible not to give this guitar a 5 star rating. This is better than most of those 0 guitars that try to have a nice shape. The design was what caught my eye at the guitar shop, and than i saw the price. The other reviewer said it had bad humbuckers/pickups, but he must have a crappy amp, cause this guitar carried a mean, tuff tone on everything. haha, its not a good idea to play acoustic style songs on this, as i’ve tried. Truely for the metal-hard rock lovers. But i play mostly Punk, and it gets the job done. You won’t find a better guitar, for this price; especially the looks.

Review by Dick Fitzwell:

I bought this guitar earlier this year and it has been great to play with. I tried out many different guitars, and they either didn’t feel good, or they were out of my price range. The first time I tried this one out, it felt horrible in my hands, then a month later I tried it out again and it felt perfect. The neck is fairly thin which is what I was looking for since my hands aren’t too big. A lot of reviewers say this guitar has bad pickups, but it sounds pretty good to me. I have a small 20 watt amp and a Digitech Grunge Pedal hooked up to it and I get some really nice sound out of it. I’ve learned to play with little difficulty on this guitar and recommened you try it out first to make sure it works for you.

Don’t let the people who say this is a bad guitar get to you.