Duesenberg Starplayer Special

This is the first review i have made, because this guitar needs to be talked about. I have the 2006 Silver Sparkle Star Player Special, Similar to a paul in shape only a little bigger in a good way, Tune o matic bridge, Art Deko style tuners, Made in Germany, Solid body, 3 way pickup selector, dual humbuckers and passive.... With lots of MOJO

It sounds incredible.. It blends, does not drop, works great through my AC30 Vox, Versatile yet simple, It is not like any other guitar so don't try to make it like one!!!! just love it... And the volume and tone knobs are so much more than volume and tone.... Use them experiment...

Not a flaw any where just go to the web site www.duesenbergusa.com they are perfect

Built like a tank... and no need for a back up i can not put it down after three months and all i can think about is getting another one!!!!

Great support from both dealers and the company... I sent an email to the company and had a phone call back with in 40 minutes

I have been playing for 13 years Pro for 5 on the road over 150 shows a year... I use a vox amp, nice pedals, i have owned over 50 electric guitars in 13 years none compare to the duesy, and this guitar is only a sample of what they make, I WAS a Tele guy all i want is Duesenberg now, with singing lead and playing lead and rhythm i needed a guitar that would be simple and versatile, this gives it to me, I bought this one because i could afford it at the time and i wanted a duesenberg bad... I have sold my teles and i am buying a Star Player TV now because i need it in my life... And for the record I look at these reviews all the time and this is the only product i have left one on because everyone needs to know that these guitars have something... They are worth every penny whether it was 100 dollars to 3000 dollars you can not find a better guitar than this one for under 3000 guaranteed

I read a review of this guitar in Guitar & Bass Magazine in the UK and after pointlessly chasing one on Ebay I was delighted to get a great deal from one of the recently established UK dealers. Let me first of all say that although at first glance it looks very much like a Les Paul - and I have one - it is very different. It is lighter, has more tonal variety and although I am a major Gibson fan I tend now to play this more. It has a great feel and look. The Fiesta Red finish mine has is terrific and the other options I have seen look great too - my band mates were impressed immediately as has been anyone I have come into contact with who has tried it out since I got it. The pull out coil selector pot they had installed when the Starplayer was launched has been replaced by a two way directional pot and although it takes a bit of getting used to it is an interesting option. It rarely even thinks about going out of tune and looks unusual because of the Duesenberg art deco-like touches. It just feels and sounds a well made first class guitar.

The pickups are great and I can play various styles particularly rock. I use it through a JCM800 plus 4x12 Marshall cab and a Fender Stage 185 and it just sounds great. Lots of gritty rocky crunch through the Marshall and a nice rounded rich tone from all 3 settings - including clean - with the Fender. It cuts through nicely whether soloing with lots of sustain or just highlighting your best licks.

The finish, action and general feel and set up of the guitar were spot on from the minute I picked it up. It is a joy to play. There are no flaws I could or can see after a month's ownership.

I haven't gigged the Starplayer but will be over the next few weeks and it has been used extensively at home and in rehearsals. The now Duesenberg owned Kluson hardware is tried and tested and I wouldn't worry about its longevity in any way. It is a German made guitar and the build quality reflects that.

I sent an email to Duesenberg about whether or not the tone pot selector was the pull-out variety as it appeared not to be when I checked it. Within 2 hours I received an very amenable answer from a guy from his PDA with clarification and a rationale for the change!

I have Gibson Les Paul Standard, a 1983 Japanese Fender Tele which I love playing, and a Rickenbacker 330 and this is as well made and enjoyable to play as any of them. If it was lost or stolen I would definitely replace and I may even consider buying another in the range over time.

Mine is the black left-handed model from early 2006, bought used but good as new.

Features are simple. Just volume, tone and 3-way pickup selection.

ONLY complaint is that the volume knob is a little easy to hit whilst playing which sometimes turns the volume down, but it doesnt matter!

The neck is smooth and very nice to play.

The pickups sound AWESOME. Such a high-output and clear sound. I play hard-rock/punk and it fits my sound to a T! The bridge pickup is very nice, and the neck pickup is also VERY nice to play. Very nice crisp sound.

No unwanted noise, i can imagine that it would suit any style. Especially rock, metal and blues.

I use a 90's Marshall JCM900 w/ 4x12 cabinet and this guitar compliments it so much. It's a match made in heaven!

No flaws whatsoever, this guitar was 6 months old but it plays just out of the box. Set-up very well, action is perfect. Intonation is fine.

All the hardware seems very solid, especially the tuners which are great. This guitar is very reliable and build like a rock!

You may need to purchase strap-locks as my strap slips off this guitar very easily, but with strap locks it's fine obviously!

Finish is very reliable, not cheap!

Havent dealt with Duesenberg yet, but they're a small company so i can imagine that they're fine!

And anyway, German products are always reliable!

I have no complaints about this guitar, it looks awesome and plays like a dream.

If it were stolen, i would hunt down the thief and beat him to a pulp because i love this guitar!

Same as in previous reviews. Mine is in a beautifull black finish.
Made in Germany in 2004.

This guitar is very versatile. I play a mixed stile, that incorporates rock, metal, blues and some folk and it handles all of this styles very well.
It has the cleanest, cristal clear, clean sound I have ever heard in a guitar. In fact, that was what striked me most when I bought it. It has to be listened to be believed.
The crunch very much depends on the EQ you use. It's natural sound is a bright rock'n roll crunch. Lot's of bite. Anyway, if you're looking for a heavier sound, it's just a matter of EQ'ing your amp to your liking.
It's as silent as it gets, in any setting. The only noise coming
through is from the pedals (namely the EH).I'm using it in the following sequence: guitar>BossTU-2Tuner>MXR DynaComp>BossGE-7EQ>EH Wiggler>EH Memory Man>ENGL Screamer50 Combo Amp.
My only dislike with this guitar is that the tone pot is not very wide in tonal range, so I always keep it in the center and use the pickup selector to change tone.

This guitar is very well built, it's solid as a guitar gets and the materials used have good quality. It looks and sounds like a guitar twice the price.
The frets are confortable (not like the frets in some Gibsons/Epiphones, that have rough edges).
I bought it new and the factory setup was very good (was almost in tune, too).

There's nothing in this guitar that looks cheap. It's solid and I'm sure that will last through the years.
I wouldn't use it on a gig without a backup, because I wouldn't do it with any guitar. You never know when a string may break (although I never broke a string with this guitar).

Never dealt with them.

I've been playing for 16 years and before this guitar, I've used a Ibanez RG470, a Fender Strat Richie Sambora, a Epiphone LesPaul Std and a Gibson LesPaul Std. If i had to pick one I wouldn't think twice before choosing the Duesenberg. It's the best sounding, best built of them all, and besides it has the best cost/quality relation of any guitar I know.
This one is surely a future classic and I intend to keep it for life.

see above

As a little guitarstore I have a few new Duesenberg guitars here.

Guitar is loud with bite and character. Brite and Full sound. Play metal and hard rock with it but any styles will do.

If you want more sustain you can take a rocket or a starplayer TV. They have set necks for more sustain.

I also noticed on a special, and other Duesenbergs, that the factory had leveled the frets. There were guitars where some frets were hardly hit and others were leveled till halfway the hight of the fret. Ibanez and any other brand do it better.

Anyway do you play a Duesenberg for a longer time and do you have the same experience as I have, please do not hesitate and write my. I will pass it on to the factory, maybe it will help they do not believe me. Write to ; starrplayerr@hotmail.com ( with double rr, twice ! )

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Features are allknown. See the prev. reviews.

Dont need more features. I never use the coilswitch to switch to singlecoil. Always play whit humbucking sound. Two pickups are ok. Dont need more.

MOST IMPORTEND: It is made in Germany. My country. Try to buy german things!!! cause we need your money here... ;-D

I play Blues and Blues Rock and plug this guitar in a Peavy combo amp whit 15 inch speaker at the moment. Sounds awesome! Great overtone come out the neckpickup when you crank up the volume. I mostly play this amp on level 8 in overdrive channel. It shines.
The brigepickup is realy straight forward. It rocks and can cut sweet throuh the bandsound when u have a loud bassplayer in your band. Sometimes i pimp up this setup whit a marshall "Blaubrecher" pedal in boost mode. Than better watch your nuts. It is a hot combination.
Thats all what i got. A high quality axe, a hot amp and a wire...

Action is very well comes from factory. It is germany quality. I still belive in that... call my crazy....

The best thing is the neck. Never playd a so comfortable neck!!!
If my backup guitar brake (Fender Fatstrat) i will buy another Duesenberg cause the neck is incredible. It suits my lausy handy perfect.

never had a problem.. playing live 2 times a week and nothing is broken yet. As Backup i have a Fender FatStrat.

never used ..

Overall, is is an axe i would devently buy again.

Made 2005 in Germany.
22 frets.
Solid Maple Top.
Master Volume and master Tone controls.
Two Humbuckers, Duesenberg custom.
Blue sparkle finish.

My style is rock'n roll. I use a Marshall 800 into a Wah into a Boss SD-1.
This guitar delivers a solid rock'n roll sound. Combines great with the Marshall. Has a great sustain. Sounds are clear and defined.

The factory set-up was perfect for me. Low action. The guitar came flawlessly from the factory.

Yes, it will withstand live playing.
The hardware looks excellent.
The finish, too.

The customer support is very friendly.

I've been playing for more than 15 years now. I own another Fender strat.
Yes, I would buy it again if it was lost.
I love the excellent sounds and the manufacturing quality. A very good guitar.

Features below or at www.duesenberg.de
I don't feel like typing them out. Mine is Black and came with a hard (original?) case.

I guess I play mostly 60's british invasion rock, punk, garage rock, indie, whatever. I play thru a Fender "evil" Twin Amp.
I've been a single coil guy up to this point but felt like I really needed a beefier sound in some instances. I also wanted to something with a 25.5" scale.

The long scale gives a noticeably brighter sound than a lot of H-H guitars I've played. All three positions are quite usable with the amp clean (of course producing a fat humbucker tone that will in no way be mistaken for the clean of my strat;). Strangely, using the coil tap makes all positions sound muddy and indistinct. The coil tap tones are OK thru my J-Station but on a real amp seem useless. Nice to have...I guess.

Thru the Vintage gain channel on the Twin Amp with the volume cranked (think bassman) is where the guitar really shines. Barks and growls excellently on the bridge pup. I heard a guy using a Gretsch Country Gent and an old tweed amp last week who was getting the same sound so Duesenberg must be doing something right. Middle position still friendly to softer strumming and single note stuff. Neck now sounds like mud.

With my amp on Modern Gain (the supposed Marshall channel) you basically see that the Twin absolutely sucks apeing a Marshall sound on a guitar with humbuckers. It sounds ok with the gain super low and the volume high (nice harmonics my sc's don't have) but I'd probably get a better impression on a different amp.

I got my Starplayer used off ebay and it came with the neck set close to flat with the body and the bridge at it lowest and pickups almost flush with the body. It was fretting out in a few places and the strings barely higher than the metal bar on the pickguard. I fiddled with the micro-tilt then decided to get a pro set-up. The tech set the neck back at an angle from the body(like a violin or a Les Paul), raised the bridge and pickups. This seems to be how the guitar was meant to be set-up and playability-wise is a lot better. This also means there in space inside the neck joint for $2.50 in quarters. The neck pocket was extremely well fitted and tight but even with the neck angle flat the neck only makes contact with the body at the collar, the 2 hex bolts and the micro-tilt (think a letter "T"). A design decision that does not really inspire confidence. There can be a "creak" noise if handling the guitar by the neck; not really movement per se but a least a suggestion of some microscopic wiggle that my Fenders certainly don't have.


Everything else, on the other hand, is rock solid. The neck by itself seemed to weigh almost 3lbs! The medium-jumbo frets are quite comfortable. The neck feels a little wider at the nut than I am accustomed to but I haven't measured it. It's definitely on the thick side which feels good IMO. The tuners are excellent. The selector switch is very solid. The wood grain visible on the back is nice.

Aside from my misgivings about the neck joint, it feels solid and though I certainly wouldn't think twice about using it live though I would be more cautious about dropping the Duesy vs. my Fenders or even my Ric.

The neck itself feels like it can take a bonk without denting but the finish on the body seems a little fragile (Pick scratches on a black guitar weren't a suprise but I also manage a nice buckle scratch on the back THRU a t-shirt).

Strap locks are a neccessity as the strap buttons are not large and because the neck is so long, you might have a tendency to pull the guitar to the right (if you play righty). I use the rubber washers from Grolsch bottles.

????

If you ever need parts you'll have to find a hardware store that likes metric...

I had been looking for one of these for quite a while after reading about them in a UK guitar mag. I let a few of the uglier colored ones pass my by. I finally got this used on Ebay for $650 (buy it now) with a Hard Shell Case. The last time I was outbid on a black one it sold for just a bit over$600 so this time I went for it. Of course, two weeks later I saw a perfectly nice White one for $400!. Doh!

Still, for the price I paid I'll say it's an eight out of ten. If the neck joint was less squirrely I'd give it a nine and if I had paid $400 I'd have given it a 12.

It really has a sound that I've looking for and the large size fits me well (I'm around 6-1). After setup it plays great. It looks different but kind of like a lost classic (I'd lose the 'D' on the body...;) I don't think it's especially versatile, just a rock solid H-H style axe that certainly would put most Epi's to shame.

Apparently Duesenberg is selling these again here in the US, closer to the UK price of 900 (800?) pounds. That certainly puts them in a neighborhood with more competion and I'd probably take look at some Gretsches first. Despite what others have said there is no indication from Duesenberg that the new ones are any different from ones sold earlier (can anyone <who doesn't sell the new ones> confirm?)

If mine were stolen and the prices were still about the same I'd try to find that that white one...

2004 model. Single cutaway. Sparkle blue. Rosewood fingerboard. Two humbuckers.

I play it trough a Traynor ycv 40. The thing is plugged directly into the amplifier. Gain on 7 and the volume of the guitar on 10. Bass on 10, treble on 5 and 0 middle tone. This produce a simple but very hard rock and roll tone. A little less gain for rock and a little more gain for heavy metal. I only use the bridge pick up because the neck pick up is shit. Well I guess I use the neck pick up once in a while when I play trough the clean channel and when that happens I sometimes split the pick up. But this doesn`t happen very often.
It really isn`t made for lead guitar playing. It is fun to play rock and roll classics as a rythm guitarist with this axe.

Set up ok. The original Duesenberg strings are very good. They are manufactured in US. You can use these for a long time and play hard every day and they stay in tune!!! (If you can find a dealer that sells them) Very disapointing when they are replaced by the more common and poor strings.
Bridge pick up very good. Neck pick up shit.
The Bridge is a tune o matic style thing made by the Duesenberg company and it is shit. It is okay for 6 months when playing hard every day. Then it starts to make a noise when you hit a string. A very strange noise that the pick ups registers and you just turn crazy. It has to be replaced.

Everything seems okay except for the bridge and the neck pick up. When upgraded I guess you can gig with it without a backup. That is if you are a rythm and rock and roll guitar player.

I guess the Duesenberg company is ok. Just remember: Never ever buy a guitar in Bergen, Norway. The stores are shit. Both of them!

All in all I guess I am pleased with this guitar. I have owned several guitars in the price range $300-$1500. Not one of them can be rated very good. I guess if you want to be very pleased with an electric guitar, you`ll have to spend $3000 or maby more and get a custom made instrument. But lets face it. Those damn things just aint worth it.

2004 model, made in Germany. Alder body with maple top, maple neck (bolted on) with rosewood fingerboard. 22 frets (medium jumbo), 2 splittable humbuckers (made by Duesenberg with alnico magnets), 3-way fender-style toggle switch, 1 volume & 1 tone knob (this pulls out to split the coils).

Mine is a beautiful Fiesta Red. They also make a Furf Green that I really like.

It is a Les Paul shape (with some variations that add alot of personality) with a more rounded cut-away, and with very beautifully designed and made art-deco touches (headstock shape, pickguard and metal piece above the pickguard, toggle knob). The recessed input jack is an elegant touch.

The hardware looks to be top notch - and all are made in Germany at Duesenberg. These new Deusenbergs are not the inexpensive ones that were sold at Sam Ash - this is an entirely different beast.
It came with a beautiful Pro Tech oblong case (looks like it would be for a classical guitar. I'll give it a "9" as there is always room for improvement on any guitar.

I am using this with a 1970 Marshall 50 watt Tremelo, a Boogie Mark III Simul Class, and a Line6 Vetta II.

It sounds very full like a Les Paul, but with a nice shimmer that I have never heard on a Paul. The splittable tones are extremely usefull - they don't take the beef from the sound - you are still left with ample power, and it's great to go from a full on 'bucker tone to a nice clean with sparkle. It had a little hiss on the single settings but it is no big deal. In fact, I am used to dumping out stock pickups and replacing them with Duncans or Dimarzios (I even have a few old Bill Lawrences around) but I am going to leave these in - they sound good through all my amps.

I'm doing a blend or hard rock, classic rock and prog.

No visible flaws - no fret buzz, no loose wires. Wish I could say the same for many expensive new "name brand" guitars (yes I used to work in a Music Gear store). Great looking binding, classy vintage stain on the back of the neck, and it plays great - this is how guitars are supposed to be new and out of the box! And, keep in mind this isn't a $2700 Anderson - this was $1520. For this price this guitar deserves a "10".

It seems tough and solid. I was playing it really rough the other night to test its' intonation, and there were no problems - now that's a big plus. I always put a little graphite or oil on the nut (just to make sure) but this didn't need it. But I'll probably start doing it out of my own paranoia.

Nathan Fawley of Duesenberg has brought the full line of the high end guitars to the United States for the 1st time. The pricing might be somewhat high when you compair it to the sam ash discount house but you will never see them there again or at any other place like that. Nathan of Duesenberg said that all of their line will be sold only through high quality guitar shops across the country. If any of you have gone to www.duesenbergusa.com and have talk to Nathan or e-mailed him you will know that this company will give you the attention of a custom guitar builder. Thumbs up.

I have 6 guitars - this one is a nice balance of chunk and sparkle, and it looks cool and plays really well. The neck isn't as thin as a '60 classic, nor is it as big as a '58 standard. It is right in between and is very comfortable. It is also nice to have a "versatile" guitar that doesn't have a strat shape, and the meaty yet crisp tones are great.