A 1977 Fender Starcaster semi-hollowbody electric guitar, serial #S7 09092, in black finish. Owned and played by Randy Bachman, who has sold 40 million records worldwide as a member of The Guess Who, Bachman-Turner Overdrive, and as a solo artist.

In the 1970s, Fender was aiming to get into the semi-hollowbody guitar market, attempting to capture a piece of a swath of the industry that Gibson more or less dominated. Gene Fields, one of Fender’s Research & Development team, designed the Starcaster with a futuristic offset body, swooping headstock shape, and perhaps inspired by his working relationship with Roger Rossmeisl (responsible for Fender’s Coronado, LTD, and Montego models), Fields included f-shaped sound holes not unlike those used on Roger arch tops made by Rossmeisl and his father in Germany in the 1940S and 1950s.

Up to that point, the majority of Fender’s instruments used a solid body construction and were equipped with single coil pickup, all adding up to the ‘Fender Sound.’ The Starcaster deviated from these norms with its semi-hollow body and its pickup complement two Seth Lover-designed Wide Range Humbucking Pickups, which were only found on Telecaster Custom and Deluxe models of the 1970s.

Said deviations made for a rather chilly reception for the Starcaster upon release, never quite catching on like the Gibson 335, but players like Radiohead’s Johnny Greenwood, Deep Sea Diver’s Jessica Dobson, and of course, Randy Bachman himself have all found a lot to like about the model. Randy did use a natural-finished Starcaster just like this one to record his 1978 record Survivor, later employing this one and a customized black Starcaster on the record Heavy Blues (2015).

This Starcaster appears to be entirely original. Bolt-on maple neck with maple fretboard, 22 frets, black dot inlays. Black finish on a bound maple semi-hollow body with f-holes, two Wide Range pickups, three-way selector switch, master volume, volume and tone controls for each pickup. Chrome hardware, hard tail string-thru bridge.

Includes original black Fender case with an orange form-fitting interior.

PROVENANCE From The Collection of Randy Bachman

Guitars & Instruments, Randy Bachman