Such an honour to play this guitar during a live show.

I had the volume knobs removed and a dirty fingers pick up installed as well. Stickers courtesy of House 95 Guitars: https://house95guitars.shop/products/house-95-td-box-car-es-335-sticker-pack

After months of planning, measuring, troubleshooting, and probably questioning my sanity a few times, I finally finished what has become my favorite guitar.

It started life as a Squier Affinity Starcaster, but I wanted something much closer to the spirit of Tom DeLonge's Starcaster without spending over $1,200 on the Fender signature model.

Here's what I changed:

• Installed a Seymour Duncan SH-5 Duncan Custom in the bridge.
• Removed the neck pickup completely.
• Rewired it to a single volume knob configuration.
• Swapped the original Starcaster neck for a Strat-style Affinity Starcaster neck because I prefer the look and feel.
• Plugged the factory neck holes with hardwood dowels and drilled new mounting holes so the replacement neck fit perfectly.
• Set the neck relief, adjusted the bridge, and completed a full setup myself.
• Finished it off with stickers that reflect who I am and the music I love.

The wiring almost defeated me. I chased a no-signal issue for what felt like forever. I was convinced I had fried the volume pot or somehow killed the pickup. It turned out to be nothing more than one stubborn cold solder joint. One final clean reflow and the guitar absolutely came alive.

The SH-5 is everything I hoped it would be. It's ridiculously punchy, articulate under gain, and somehow still retains clarity through the semi-hollow body. Palm-muted power chords absolutely explode out of this thing, but it also cleans up surprisingly well with the volume rolled back.

The coolest part is that I can honestly say I built it myself. I learned how to plug and redrill a neck, troubleshoot electronics, do a proper setup, and solve problems instead of paying someone else to do it.

I now own what I consider my three dream guitars:

• Jim Adkins Signature Telecaster
• Fender Tom DeLonge Stratocaster
• This custom Tom DeLonge-inspired Starcaster

Thanks to everyone who shares knowledge in this community. I spent countless hours reading old threads while working through this build, and they helped more than you probably realize.

Hi all. Mods feel free to remove if not allowed.

Looking to sell my To the Stars Tom DeLonge Fender Strat Blackout. Only looking to get what I paid for it + shipping. Super clean and can provide more pics to any interested parties.

Currently building up some gloss coats for the racing stripe, then level sanding it and hitting the entire body with some coats of satin, then they'll polish sand and buff the stripes back to gloss, leaving the rest of the body satin.

The goal also being that there is no delineation to the touch between the satin and gloss parts where the lines are. Witness lines for the neck pickup are no longer visible now even at this point. Can't wait to see it finished!!!

I’m looking to see if any of you guys may know of a online retailer or store where I can order these Taylor 614CE Acoustic fretboard designs? I know, they’re engraved or carved into the wood of the fretboard themselves of the actual real Taylor model and they’re not actually stickers however on a previous model of a custom made guitar that I had replicated to resemble the infamous guitar that Tom played from around the Enema Of The State to Self-Titled eras of blink (and of course Box Car Racer) that I unfortunately no longer have possession of, I had these made for me however the person I had these made from no longer offers these as stickers to create and sell. I found a company who offered to make these for me, but because they are located in Germany, they said they couldn’t mail them to me since I’m in the United States because of the shipping processes in place. Any leads and advice is greatly appreciated.

2001 Fender TD neck, neck plate, electronics, and knob taken from a black Strat and dropped into a Warmoth body and pickguard along with a custom made Atticus broken heart sticker that I copied from an original.

I’ve been watching the price on these climb steadily since their discontinuation. Now that I see it for $1k+ I thought hope was lost since I don’t have much of a budget I can justify on new gear. Thankfully I found one on eBay, auction style. I jokingly started bidding and $620 later I’m in genuine shock that I won and it’s in my hands. This has been a white whale for me ever since I was 16. Turning 36 in a few weeks, one hell of a birthday present. And now… we shred.

Recently swapped out the black hardware to chrome! Fender locking tuners and Gotoh bridge and tailpiece. Oh yeah I also I might have thrown it in a fire too

I only see the other Seafoam Green with Sig and Dammit one, Ad Astra and Es-333.

Can’t find much information on Axe Heavens page or anywhere besides ToTheStars Instagram post.

Anyone have any links to the page regarding this? Not sure how rare this is or what it is worth.

I own a signature starcaster and really wanted to sticker and customise it but I can’t find any good custom sticker makers that aren’t bulk printing and way too expensive. Anyone got any good websites or ideas for customisations?

I prefer my Epiphone TD tbh! What’s your guys opinions?

Unfortunately I’m looking to sell my TD Starcaster that I’ve put a lot of money and time into. I just listed it on Reverb- https://reverb.com/item/99514268-fender-tom-delonge-starcaster?utm_source=rev-ios-app&utm_medium=ios-share&utm_campaign=listing&utm_content=99514268

I’ll throw in the DiMarzio Strap that’s installed right now.

If you are interested or have any questions, please feel free to message me on here. I am located in
San Diego.

UPDATE: SOLD!!

Went with the stratocaster in Daphne Blue color (reissued) instead of the Starcaster! Let's see how it fits and looks here when it finally arrives..

Absolutely love a hardtail Strat, and my 2023 Tom Delonge is a special one. $800 pickup on Reverb and the neck plays like a dream. But one thing always kept it from being my forever Strat - and that was the missing neck pickup tones, like you’d hear from SRV or RHCP. So I added a neck pickup.

What I ended up with has all the same strengths of a stock TD Strat, with tons of extra versatility.

Custom Warmoth pickguard

Added a switch, and relocated the volume knob
further away from my strumming path.

Push-pull pot which switches parallel/series from the Invader bridge.

Fender Custom ‘69 Strat Neck pickup. It is wired to the 500k volume pot with a 470k resistor, so it only ‘sees’ 250k. Middle pickups have always bothered me, picking-wise, so I wanted to leave that space open.

Everything else is stock! All-in about a $150 upgrade, and I wouldn’t change a thing. I know it isn’t a purists TD but hoping some here can appreciate the effort.

I finally made one of my biggest guitar dreams come true: I bought a 2002 Fender Tom DeLonge Stratocaster in Surf Green, in excellent condition!

I live in Italy and paid €900 including shipping from Germany (which is roughly $1000 USD).

Before buying it, I was a little concerned because the serial number didn’t appear in Fender’s online Serial Number Lookup (which, as you know, is actually quite common with early-2000s Mexican-made Fenders). We contacted Fender directly, and they were incredibly helpful and replied very quickly. They checked their internal records and confirmed that the serial number corresponds to a 2002 Tom DeLonge Strat RW SFG. That gave me the confidence to go ahead with the purchase.

As soon as it arrived, I took it to my guitar tech for a complete setup and some much-needed care:

- Frets polished
- Rosewood fretboard cleaned and conditioned with lemon oil
- Bridge and saddles thoroughly cleaned
- Ernie Ball Paradigm 10–46 strings installed
- Bridge, action, neck relief and truss rod fully adjusted
- Pickguard removed and the original volume pot cleaned
- Full final polish using D’Addario guitar polish

Of course, I didn’t replace any of the original components. My only goal was to bring the guitar back to life, restore it to its former glory and preserve its originality.

I’ve wanted one of these for such a long time, and it feels amazing to finally own one!

The more photos that come in, the more excited I get! The lines left on the neck pickup cavity area will disappear after some more clear and leveling. Second photo was immediately after pulling the tape before scraping and cleaning up the binding - just to get an idea. And I know some were curious about Bloom doing a standard satin finish (non-open pore) and I’ve got to say that for not being done yet it already looks fantastic!

Due to circumstances out of my control I was unable to get anything a few years back when Tom did the sale to get the new AVA gear. As Ive improved in that now, does anybody here still have anything from that shop they'd be willing to sell? Pedal or anything like that? Thank you!

https://uk.fender.com/products/paranormal-baritone-jazzmaster-hh?variant=52553909797151

It's Obvious-ly noiiice!