“A lot of deceptively clever craft, all presented in faultless style”: Duesenberg Starplayer CBR review

What is it?

Rather like how Ronnie Wood will always be the ‘new guy’ in The Rolling Stones, it’s hard to believe that Duesenberg was founded in 1986 and that its most famous model, the Starplayer, turned 30 in 2025.

It’s one of a dizzying number of guitars currently offered, with many updates for this year, as well as some bass guitars, a lap steel and a 12-string electric mandolin for good measure.

A new addition to the Starplayer line-up is the CBR you see here, which was unveiled in the model’s 30th year. Outwardly, it looks like the long-running Starplayer TV, but its construction is different. Instead of the arched maple laminate back and sides with a spruce laminate arched top and spruce centre block (which Duesenberg refers to as its semi-hollow construction), the CBR has a flat back with thicker sides and slightly narrower centre block, which are machined from solid mahogany.

This is capped with a flat, thin maple top – a laminate, approximately 5mm thick. In the lightly metallic and opaque Catalina Green of our sample’s top you can’t see any of that wood as both the top edge and single bass‑side f-hole are very neatly bound, while the treble side holds the pickguard-mounted controls and pickup selector switch.

What doesn’t change on this Starplayer is the one-piece maple set neck with its longer Fender-like 648mm (25.5‑inch) scale length, or the majority of the purpose-designed hardware and pickups. Indeed, it’s the unique hardware that sets a Duesenberg apart from pretty much every contemporary brand.

Let’s start with the tuners. The sealed die-cast designs use stepped buttons and also have a hole that runs from the top of the string post to the back, the idea being you push your string in and wind it on and have no sharp string ends.

That Art Deco-inspired ‘three steps’ motif occurs everywhere: from the tip of the headstock to the base of the control plate, the truss rod cover, the lower edge of the back-sprayed Gretsch-like pickup mounting rings, the unique side-mounted output jack plate, and even around the top of the side-knurled control knobs and the selector switch cap.

And if those elements weren’t enough to distinguish Duesenberg from any other electric guitar, we have the raised ‘D’ logo on the headstock as well as where a toggle switch would be on a Les Paul on the upper rounded shoulder, plus a smaller ‘D’ on the rail by the pickups and on the base of the Tremola – with the full brand name on both the control plate and the truss rod cover!

But this proliferation of branding doesn’t get in the way of some very good design elements, not least the Tremola. Yes, it’s obviously based on a Bigsby, but the strings pass through open holes on the string attachment bar, not those ’orrible pins.

And the unit is elevated by two collars under the baseplate, which means the string angle behind the bridge is reduced. It’s hard to see other differences, such as the bearings of the string retainer bar, but it’s an extremely smooth-feeling unit; it almost feels broken in.

The tune-o-matic-style bridge is subtly tweaked, too, and it slightly rocks as the vibrato is moved. The parts look impressive but also work so well. It’s a very well-sorted guitar with excellent tuning stability – not something we always say with Bigsby‑equipped electrics.

Specs

• PRICE: $3,699 | £2,199 | €2,749 (inc case)
• ORIGIN: Germany
• TYPE: Single-cutaway, chambered body electric
• BODY: Mahogany (chambered) back with thin maple top
• NECK: 1-piece maple, medium D profile, glued-in
• SCALE LENGTH: 648mm (25.5”)
• NUT/WIDTH: Synthetic bone/42.8mm 
• FINGERBOARD: Indian rosewood, vintage pearloid dot inlays, 305mm (12”) radius
• FRETS: 22, medium jumbo
• HARDWARE: Duesenberg steel saddle t-o-m-style bridge, Duesenberg Diamond Prestige Tremola (w/ flat arm), Duesenberg Z tuners – nickel-plated
• STRING SPACING, BRIDGE: 52mm
• ELECTRICS: Duesenberg Domino P-90 single coil (neck) and Grand Vintage humbucker (bridge), 5-way toggle pickup selector switch (Flextone+ wiring), master volume and tone controls
• WEIGHT (kg/lb): 3.98/8.76
• RANGE OPTIONS: Starplayer TV (from £2,249) in 20 colour options; Starplayer TV+ (£2,549) adds piezo. Hanover Gold Ltd Series for 2026 (£TBA) plus numerous other updates
• LEFT-HANDERS: Not this model but Starplayer TV Black (£2,459)
• FINISHES: Catalina Green (as reviewed), Transparent Black Burst, Vintage Burst, Transparent Vintage Orange, Transparent Honey and Checkerboard Gold (£3,949) – gloss polyurethane
• CONTACT: Duesenberg

Playability and sounds

While it’s not the lightest semi-solid we’ve encountered, the overall weight of 3.98kg (8.76lb) feels very purposeful and quite Les Paul-like. The medium D profile neck is well named and it’s close to our Gibson Les Paul Classic reference in depth (21.1mm at the 1st fret, 24.5mm at the 12th), although the neck back is a little more rounded like the slightly fuller 50s profile.

Either way, it’s a very good profile and feels quite classic in the hand. The fret tangs are notched, so you don’t see them on the fingerboard edge, and as well as going through a Plek process, the medium jumbo frets (which measure 2.72mm wide by 1mm high) are mirror polished.

Along with a perfectly dialled-in setup, it plays superbly. Some unplugged playing reveals a smooth, ringing response with just a little more apparent volume than our Les Paul Classic. It really is a smooth-playing, lively instrument – and we haven’t even plugged it in yet!

The Grand Vintage and Domino P90 have been stalwarts of the Duesenberg line-up for many, many years, and reacquainting ourselves with this classic pairing you can hear why.

The Grand Vintage at the bridge comes across as a slightly fuller Patent Applied For-alike, nicely voiced with a splash of fatness but not overdone, and a clear but certainly not piercing high-end. We couldn’t get a bad sound out of it – clean, crunchy or really quite gained.

The humbucking-sized P-90 at the neck is very well balanced in terms of output, too, clear but not weedy, a lovely jazz pickup played clean but like many good P-90s it has that flutey, vocal character when driven. The pickups mix well, too, and – particularly with the volume control’s treble bleed – both on is bouncy and soulful with some volume reduction.

If we only had those three sounds, we’d be happy. But position 2 on the five-way selector is a little lighter than the middle both-on selection, a little like a Tele’s middle position and again very usable, especially with a little clean boost for more Fender-style licks and leads, and very Stones-y with a bit more grit.

Position 4 sounds a little fuller and like it’s partially out of phase. It’s a subtly different mix of the neck pickup and the slug coil of the humbucker (the same combination as position 2).

While providing a little extra texture to the voicing, it also sounds really good with a solo boost, and rolling the very smooth tone control back produces a darker but not woofy roll-off. There really are some stand-out sounds here and it covers considerable sonic ground.

Verdict

Verdict: ★★★★½

There’s a lot of deceptively clever craft on show here, all presented in faultless style.

The chambered construction keeps the weight in check and, while we hear less ‘semi’ to the sound than you might expect, we certainly hear plenty of ‘Les Paul’, not least with the very well-voiced bridge humbucker. The neck P-90 is the perfect foil, almost delicate in voicing with a really characterful, musical style.

Guitar World verdict: It’s hugely fit-for-purpose and very functional, especially that superb Tremola, while the Art Deco-inspired details give a unique style. If Duesenberg isn’t on your radar, it’s time for a rethink.

Hands-on videos

Jedd Hughes

Duesenberg CBR Starplayer - YouTube

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