It’s been 25 years since Blink-182 rocketed to global success with third album, . Somewhere between the poo jokes, zany bants and persistent nudity, Tom DeLonge also managed to forge a path as a hugely influential guitar hero to a generation. As is often the case, the key to his success is simplicity – hooky riffs, full of melody and harmony, and he’s consistently played them on guitars with a similar ethos.
Last year, Fender reissued DeLonge’s sought-after : a single-pickup take on the Strat finished in retro colours. But to fully understand his latest model, we need to rewind a couple of decades to his ‘grown-up’ transition to a Gibson ES-335. Subsequently issued as an Epiphone version in 2008, before being discontinued five years ago, the stage is now set for DeLonge’s latest – the Fender Tom DeLonge Starcaster.
The Starcaster was Fender’s answer to bigger-bodied semi-acoustics, first introduced in the mid-’70s and finding favour with a host of players from Leo Nocentelli of New Orleans funkateers The Meters through to Martin Gore of synth-goths Depeche Mode. Radiohead’s Johnny Greenwood kept the Starcaster alive in the ’90s, and more recently, the guitar with one of the most unwieldy headstocks in rock has most often been attributed to The Killers’ Dave Keuning. Fender released the Modern Player Starcaster in 2013, with Squier-branded Classic Vibe and Contemporary versions following in the years since.
Which brings us to now. DeLonge’s iteratio.