Cheap vs. Expensive Stratocaster | Player Series vs. Custom Shop

Today we've got in two beautiful candy apple red Stratocasters-- one around the $850 mark, and one about 5 times that price... Take a listen and see if you think the specs warrant the price difference. Also, listen to some things you can do to the Player to get it closer to the Custom Shop!

0:00 Intro/Specs
10:40 Player Stratocaster Demo
13:05 Custom Shop Stratocaster Demo
15:31 Final Thoughts

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[drtm]

Lol @ 2:19 the way you say "right before the point when they rubbed it in dirt" cracked me up. I'm with you on the whole relic thing. If I'm spending that kind of money on a guitar, it had better look flawless. I'M the one who's going to do the relic-ing by playing the heck out of it. Don't get me wrong, I like the esthetic of a worn in, well-played instrument, but what makes it cool is the stories the battle scars tell. When a musician can tell you "oh, that scratch is from stage diving in x venue" or "that gouge is from getting bumped off the top of a marshall stack in y city by so-and-so", to me it gives the instrument a far more interesting story than "oh, I bought it like that from the custom shop." Kinda like buying ripped jeans. Mine have battle scars from years of hard work. Some people actually spend way more money to buy them like that, and it makes no sense to me.

[TommySG]

Damn man, that playing of yours is just off the hook!
Both sounded fantastic but of course that custom had a nicer sound for sure. 👍

[prophetphoto]

The Mexican made Strat’s were some of the best value of guitars for such a long time. They skyrocketed prices through the pandemic. In 2019 you could buy one brand new for $499. They are not the value they used to be. I’d spend my money on a Sire S7 if I were looking to purchase new today.

[guitareveryone]

Honestly I found the Player Strat pickups to sound quite good vs the high end Custom shop at least in this YouTube compressed video. Yes I can hear a more fuller tone with the hand wound TS pickups most noticeable in the neck, middle/bridge and bridge positions.

Fenders quality in their low price options are really very good. But yes I know what this video is really all about… which is how you can easily modify a low price Strat to be a much better player grade instrument. Great comparison Cooper. Always love the videos on Alamo Music. Keep up the great work!

[loadiam]

Buy a Player or Classic Vibe, get it setup right, play it, make a some mods over the years, throw on a branded Fender neck (if it is missing one) and make musical love to it, after 20 years it will be more special to you than an that expensive custom shop created by some builder. It will be forged by years of your heart, sweat and soul poured into and all over it. Some of the greatest guitars of all time are off the production line guitars mashed together with others, tweaks, pickup swaps and a whole lot of love to make them into the instrument they are today. A great guitarist can make a regular guitar sound amazing e.g. Frankenstrat. That should be where players focus their attention not on spending big bucks to sound great on some custom shop.

[falcongunner]

As someone that’s built a few parts casters in my time, I find it’s actually a lot easier to do the dinged up relic’d stuff than a perfect factory gloss. Now of course a guy in his garage is very different to an assembly line production but I think relicd custom shop guitars are way overpriced.

Especially since there’s no sonic difference outside of the electronics.

[jameswilliford]

I sold my players strat and am still kicking myself. I had the Capri orange HSS with pau ferro fretboard. The orange was a little light for my taste but it was a excellent guitar, playability and sound was awesome. I'll probably go for the HSS players in candy apple red at some point this year. Right now I have a Chinese knock off (Firefly) being delivered this Friday for $169 plus $27 delivery. They had several finishes to pick from including a few relics that actually changed my mind about relics. They come with locking tuners, roasted flamed maple necks, maple or rosewood fretboards depending on the finish, bone nut, abalone fret inlays, stainless rounded end frets, compound radius fretboard (9.5 to 14 inches) customized alnico 5 pickups and a Korean bridge. They were sold out of several models and finishes but still had some nice looking guitars left. If you're looking for an inexpensive guitar to play around with or a mod platform these Fireflys are pretty good. They've definitely gotten a lot better over the last year or two. Best place to order them from or to check them out is Guitars Garden.

[mattfreeman]

Totally agree on the colour front. Why has it taken Fender so long to offer Candy Apple Red on a Player Strat (and Fiesta Red on a Vintage II Strat for that matter). Make Candy Apple Red an option on an Ultra Strat and I'll buy one straight away.

[MattBargain]

Nobody really NEEDS anything else than a Player. When it comes to relic I believe you’ll have to earn it by playing. My dad’s Mex Strat is heavily relicked (?) due to decades of playing. If I made my living playing guitar I might invest in a higher-end guitar but it really wouldn’t be necessary.

[mistermatsuda]

The player series Strat sounds good to me!

[backandfour]

Agree with you on the colours...though tide pool.. looks nice 😅

[aperezdeal]

I’m very fortunate to really like/ prefer a player’s Strat. I’ve gone higher, much higher in cost and I like what I like, good for me.

[shaneroberts]

I personally don't think the difference in sound alone is worth the difference in price, they both sound nice. Love candy apple red, in fact my last build was an Esquire in candy apple red with white guard and white stripes from the bridge to butt. I'm not a big fan of artificial relic but occasionally I do seen one I like. This specific custom relic I don't like. Nice playing.

[surfinjim]

Great video as usual. About Squier CVs, I've been blown away by the latest Indonesian CV Telecaster I purchased last month. The fretboard has rounded edges exactly like my Am Pro Ii, and everything on this guitar is absolutely perfect. It's the first one that beats my pre-2019 chinese CVs! I don't know if I was lucky or if it's the new specs, however. But it's now the only Tele I use, she's magnetic

[MrLegionst]

The Player on Candy Apple Red came with Pau Ferro but with the HSS configuration, so if you are planning to mod the guitar anyways, and want the brown wood, is better to get the HSS one and replace the pickups and pickguard with whatever you want.

[alexojideagu]

I've never got the attraction of a relic guitar. For me the whole cool point of a real battered guitar is that it's been played to get it to that state.

[charlottesimonin]

This is the first time I have heard such a clear difference between pickups. I begin to understand why there is such difference between guitars of the same model.

[malaguitarista]

I was going to say the one on the right is all beat up. I want them to make a Lake Placid Blue new old stock with a slab board.

[zoltanuhlar]

Can you put in the SSS Player a humbucker by changing only the pickguard without changing the body?

[chrisketchum]

“..so this is right before the point when they rubbed it in dirt” 😂