Star (guitar)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The star is an avant-garde body shape of solid body electric guitar, particularly favoured for heavy metal music. It blends some features of the Flying V and Gibson Explorer, both of them much older designs.
Contents |
[edit] Models
[edit] Jackson
The earliest known star bodies were built by Jackson Guitars, who produced both through-neck custom models and commercial versions with bolt-on necks.
More recently, Jackson have produced the Kelly Star KSXT with a similar body shape to the Star, but incorporating the sharper edges of the Jackson Randy Rhoads and Jackson King V. As of 2007 this body shape was also out of production, with its market niche being served by the Jackson Warrior.
[edit] Other major makers
A star body produced by Kramer Guitars was known as the Voyager. Charvel Guitars have also produced at least one model of star profile.
The Dean ML is a similar design to the star, but differs in having symmetrical tail horns (or wings as they are known in Flying V and similar designs). The Washburn Guitars Dime (or Dimebag, after Dimebag Darrell who popularised the Dean design) uses the Dean ML profile. ESP guitars have the RS series guitar, similar to the star but with a different headstock. It is only available for sale in Japan. There exist also an ESP Edwards version of it.
[edit] Custom designs
The original Jackson star shape remains popular with home constructors and commercial custom-builders. Reasons for this popularity include:
- A recognisable and distinctive shape.
- Not currently available from larger manufacturers.
- Historic, having been owned and played by some notable guitarists and appeared in publicity shots.
- Suitable for both standing and seated playing positions, unlike most radical shapes.
The main disadvantage of the shape is the difficulty in obtaining a suitable guitar case, owing to the large upper tail horn. Also some patterns of tremolo arm, for example the Bigsby vibrato tailpiece, the Mustang trem and the long pattern Gibson Vibrola, cannot be accommodated owing to the nearness of the bridge to the edge of the body.
A stratocaster-compatible body is available from Warmoth Guitars, but through-neck star bodies are not commercially available.
[edit] Rosa Hurricane
The guitar at left in the image at right is a Rosa Hurricane of star design, date and country of manufacture unknown. The electrics are simple and classic: Two high-output humbuckers, conventional three-position pickup change switch, single passive volume and tone controls. This is because the guitar was built to be played loud to extremely loud and dirty, with most of the tone shaping being done by guitar effects or the guitar amplifier itself.
Rosa was a house brand of Australian importer Rose Music. Originally equipped with a Stratocaster style tremolo arm, this particular instrument has been converted to hard-tail ("blocked") to improve tuning stability and provide even more sustain.
[edit] Other star designs
The name star has been given to several other guitar shapes unrelated to the Jackson star body.
One example was the guitar, or really two guitars, played by Gerry Shephard from 1972 in The Glitter Band, the backing band of Gary Glitter. These had bodies in the shape of a regular five-pointed star, in keeping with the glam rock genre of the band. The first, silver in colour, was destroyed in a baggage handling accident; The second, gold in colour, was built by John Birch to replace the first.
A copy of the John Birch star guitar, but silver in colour and produced by First Act, has more recently been played by Martin Gore touring with Depeche Mode.
[edit] See also
[edit] Other radical guitar profiles
- Gibson Explorer.
- Gibson Flying V.
- Dean ML.
- Jackson Randy Rhoads.
- Jackson Kelly.
- Jackson King V.
- Burns Flyte.
[edit] External links
- Rob Cavestany's Custom Shop Jackson Star Body, a Jackson through-neck, with photos.
- Star body at Warmoth Guitars.
- Gerry Shepherd's Star Guitar.
- Martin Gore's First Act Star guitar.
