For his next project, Tom DeLonge combines his twin passions for electric guitar and expanding the mind – a new signature instrument with Fender.
The Blink-182 founding member and U.F.O. researcher unveils the Tom DeLonge Starcaster, a semi-hollow, offset guitar, embedded with Seymour Duncan SH-5 pickups.
DeLonge made several changes to the Starcaster, originally released in the 1970s, and roadtested the guitar on Blink-182’s current global tour in support of One More Time… the pop-punk band’s ninth studio album from 2023.
“I love this guitar, I really do. It’s the coolest guitar ever made. Firstly, it is called a Starcaster—that’s the most important thing. It goes to space and expands your mind,” DeLonge comments in a statement.Among the tweaks, “I’ve streamlined the electronics, added the ‘70s headstock to round out the weight, and chose the matte finish with black hardware, so its look matches its modern feel. This guitar shows my evolution as a player but also has the hallmarks of where I came from and what I’m about.”
It’s stocked in four finishes, and priced at US$1,199.99.
The Starcaster marks the second time DeLonge was worked on a six-string with Fender, following the 2002 rollout of the Tom DeLonge Stratocaster, which was rereleased when the classic lineup reunited in 2022 due to “unprecedented demand,” reads a statement from Fender.
One More Time… is Blink-182’s first album with the group’s longtime lineup of drummer Travis Barker, vocalist/bassist Mark Hoppus and DeLonge, since he departed the trio in 2015 for seven years, and the first studio effort from that founding lineup since 2012’s Dogs Eating Dogs EP. The album blasted to No. 1 on the Billboard 200, joining Blink-182’s 2016’s California (with the lineup of Barker, Hoppus and guitarist/vocalist Matt Skiba) and 2001’s Take Off Your Pants and Jacket.
During his time away from the band, DeLonge’s decades-long U.F.O. studies and efforts to publicize sightings finally got acknowledgement when the U.S. Navy officially released three of the clips he had been brought to attention.
Blink-182’s North American touring schedule continues from late June, followed with shows in the U.K. and Europe in August.
