RARE Starfield Ibanez Cabriolet Limited Semi-Hollow Electric Guitar - Trans Olive

Starfield is one of the other brands of Hoshino, the mother company of Ibanez and Tama. The Starfield brand was introduced in 1991 and guitars were produced under this name up till 1994. The Strafield guitars were an attempt by Hoshino to reach out to Fender-style players. During these years Shred had died as the public's favorite guitar music and Grunge had become the trend.

As Ibanez was the Shred guitar brand and was not considered cool for playing grunge, Ibanez sales really declined in this period. In response Ibanez tried a lot of different things to make money, one of which was the Starfield brand.

Other attempts were the RT series with a more Fender style look, the introduction of the Talman series and the re-introduction of the Blazer series.

With the help of Ibanez Custom Shop luthier Mike Lipe, the Starfield guitars were launched in the mid-ninties. This guitar was made in Japan. The line didn’t last long: the design blended Telecaster and Les Paul vibes with some stylish beveling, and may have been just too much for the guitar world. David Williams used them on Michael Jackson’s “Dangerous” world tour, and Live used them around he early “Throwing Copper” era, and Charlie Sexton (Bob Dylan) was sponsored by Starfield.

The top is a laminate, with a Birdseye Maple Olive Lacquer finish, and solid Mahogany sides and back. The Rosewood fingerboard is in great shape and has cool pearloid dots up the neck located directly under the “A” string, for a cool offset look. Body is in good shape with a few dings on the back and some circular pick scratching on the top. The neck is tongue-oil finished on the back with Gotoh tuners and an Ebony nut. Original Humbuckers and 5-way switch for a variety of tones. Very cool guitar and another AV Pawn Staff Favorite!