MiniStar Travel Guitar Review
A short run through on the new Ministar Castar travel guitar, along with a basic compact set up ideal for traveling that all together cost less than just one of the alternative travel electrics I had looked at. The video run through assembly, sounds of the different pickups and putting it all together. To see how it sounds with a full set up/ backup tracks, check out my other video, which shows the set up & 5 short clips with different settings/ effects: www.youtube.com
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US $19.95
Does it stay in tune well? With wammy and in general!
It stays in tune surprisingly well (no worse than any of my other guitars once it’s been played for a bit). The whammy bar’s about the weakest link on the guitar: takes alot of force to bend the string and the mount is a bit funky (needs a screw driver).
The only thing I noted is I busted an E string after about 6 hours of playing. I’ll see if that’s a pattern.
Thanks!
that is soooooooooooooo coool… whats it called!!!i am soo getting that for christmas!!!!!!weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
It’s called a Ministar guitar and they have different types that emulate Strats, Tele’s and even Les Pauls as well as basses. I got it from Amazon for about US$160. It’s fun, though I had to resolder the volume potentiometer so that it worked as a volume control and not as a really bad tone control (who uses tone controls on guitars, anyway!).
Stays in tune very well even with the whammy bar (my least favorite part of the set up: the attachment could have been engineered better – I might take a stab at that one of these days).
I have busted a few strings, but then I’m not using the finest strings for a guitar I play occasionally… Take spares if you travel!
way to go, pete townshend
great review too!
Thanks, mate!
For general reference, one thing I recently had to do was to come up with a fix for the whammy bar (which also serves as a great guitar stand). Fortunately a #47 in the little groove and a #5 O ring on the bar did the trick -= better than the crappy little screw that eventually stripped the thread anyway.
Only other downside: it eats through strings (even 10 gauge detuned a semitone!). Bring spares!
Great video, definitely a deciding factor in my purchase. But I got the Lestar model and it seems to have that same logarithmic volume problem. Can you detail what your fix involved? Was it really just a resolder/re-wire or did you have to replace the entire pot assembly?
Thanks mate. In terms of the fix, it’s a one-wire resolder on the potentiometer circuit board – from what I remember, they’d wired the volume pot in series with the tuner pot.
I have an email showing how to fix the pot with some pictures showing the end result, but I can’t post pictures to youtube. If you send me your email address, I can forward it to you. It’s an easy fix.
Does the Min iLestar have a tremolo too?
I don’t know – I only have the Mini Star.
Thanks, I’m thinking of getting one.
It’s a fun little guitar – perfect for travel or small get togethers; I’ve even used it as a stand-in at gigs. If you get one and the volume control doesn’t work, check out my other video for how to easily fix it. Good luck and keep on jamming.
Will do. Thanks. I mean, I don’t even need it to be gig quality, cause I’m not even gigging yet. I’m just learning really. I just want to keep up my practice while I travel. I’m going on the road with a stage play (as an actor) but I committed to getting my guitar playing in realistic shape about 8 months ago and been playing everyday and I don’t want to let up now.
Good honest review, I just got mine tonight and it is looking vey good.
Thanks – have fun with it and if the volume control doesn’t work properly, check out my other video on how to fix it easily.
I like the way it looks! Its definitely a trip. Ill grab one of these some time.
nice review you did. What is the unbuild length of the guitar? I read somewhere it is 30″, but I dunno if its without the metal pieces or with?
thanks… best wishes Claudia