I pulled this from TB. Justin Meldal-Johnsen's take on the Starfire after playing it at Namm:
Played it. Enjoyed it, seems pretty well made, sounds good. My time was brief, and the surrounding noise prevented a deep scrutiny. Neck size is a bit smaller in than the originals, with a shallower profile and a flatter radius.
It is a Korean instrument. So, while this helps price point, there's a certain feeling in its build quality that just doesn't compare to one of my USA reissues from '98. First thing I noticed in this regard was the thickness of the finish, for instance. WAY too thick. The next thing I noticed was the thing that seems endemic to quite literally every single Korean instrument I've ever held, which is the slightly marginalized quality of the fret work. All that said, it felt very solid (certainly as good as an Epiphone Jack Cassidy, for instance).
I'm a little miffed that Fender didn't consult with me on it, only because they have promised such things to me over the years in several attempts to get the Starfire project off the ground. Each time it was brought up as a possibility, I had made it abundantly clear that this project needed a lot of TLC and careful management and expert artist consultation from myself and others, and that I would of course had helped out happily with no compensation required. Alas, it was not to be. However, when I saw the instrument today, my immediate thought was that I was glad that they didn't completely f*&k it up. I would just have far preferred a different pickup position as well as a more true-to-form neck profile, more thoughtful finishing, and USA manufacturing.
That's my report from the field. Otherwise an extremely uneventful and boring NAMM show, with the only exception being the very excellent sonics demonstrated by the Prophet 12 and Moog Sub Phatty, both of which I'll own in short order. My daughter came with me and was very patient, and we had a good time together. But jeez: do I really need to go to every NAMM show? Unless I REALLY need to, I just don't think I need to.
Back to an insane work week.
Best,
JMJ