This Actually Changed My Mind

The Fender Stratocaster is arguably the most ubiquitous electric guitars out there, and there's been hundreds of different iterations on the design to varying degrees of success with guitar players. I can't say it any other way, I did not like the original Player Series AT ALL, however, they really changed my mind with the Player II Series. They're Mexican made, and a lot of guitar for the money, come check it out with me in todays video.

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Fender American Pro II Strat: (affiliate link)

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0:00 Intro

0:00 Intro
1:50 Player II Main Differences
3:45 American Pro II
5:42 Player II vs Pro II Shootout
8:36 Final Thoughts
10:48 Outro

[daxmoore]

The overseas competitors finally made them step up their game.

[dadtimejamtime]

My biggest takeaway from doing my own video is that the Player II is no longer a “budget guitar” — quality, neck, hardware, pickups — they’re all legit and don’t require upgrading to use. Of course you always could get more out of after-market pickups but they don’t feel 100% required. It’s a real instrument. And now financially it doesn’t make sense to buy a classic vibe squier and mod it. By the time you update everything you’re basically at the cost of this. Big win from Fender for us all!

[whoisdin]

i dunno why, but the clay dot inlays on the pink one is really aesthetically pleasing.

[daveshamir]

As an owner of an American Pro II Strat, I must point out that the standard spec for this model has V-Mod II pickups and a 9.5 inch radius.

[jessievasser]

The American Pro II strat has the Fender Short-Post tuners that make a better break angle and no need for a string tree.

[weets]

That Pro II sounds incredible, but for $800 bucks that Player II is a steal. I didn’t notice that much of a difference with an untrained ear. I’d swap out the nut to bone as you suggested on that Player II and maybe locking tuners as I’m a lazy string changer and that’s it.
Great vid Rhett.
I will say the Pro II in Olympic White via Sweetwaters site is the one I’d lock down if I was in the market for a new Start, but my wife has crushed that dream😎

[CaptJimDavis]

My take on these Fender models I go with the Made in USA and higher end Professional II model due to they are offered at the moment for $1600 at GC and at Sweetwater vs $800 for a Player II model ... They are both offered with 48 month payment plan with no interest. So that means for $34/month you can have a Pro II Strat and then you do not need to fiddle with swapping the pickups, changing the nut and adding a push/push circuit, plus you'll end up with a USA Fender vs MIM one...

Plus if you want to compare apples to apples, remember you'll need to add a $230 expense to get a hard case for the Player II... That makes your $800 guitar $1030...while your Pro II comes with that case. So the real difference is $570... And for that reason I choose Pro II all day long!

I know, at first, it feels too much to pay $1600 for a Strat but again in my case it was only $34/month payment while I am enjoying a really cool instrument. I am not a pro or on stage ever. I am a 66 yr old guitarist who plays to bug his wife and two little dogs when the mood strikes. I don't even have friends to jam, so thanks to Online Free Guitar Backing Tracks + my iPad & JBL wireless speaker, I make my own "poor man's band" and enjoy myself for hours and hours at times. IMHO that's the most fun you can have for $34/month!

[Dalegribble]

Not sure this is a useful comparison unless you only buy from Sweetwater. That pink guitar is not am pro ii specs, am pro ii have 2 points terms, string trees, back plates, no clay dots, vmod pickups, etc. this is just a big Sweetwater commercial

[stahliwood]

A few weeks ago I bought a Fender vintera 2 60s stratocaster in Olympic white mint pickguard after a fresh set of strings and setup it's a great Stratocaster it's better than some other higher American made ones I tried. Best 899 I ever spent my money is in my amps

[jeffreypinnow]

Sonically the sound a lot closer than I would have expected. The American Pro II has a little bit more sparkle especially high up the neck during the "Shine on You, Crazy Diamond" but for the money the Player II is actually a pretty good value.

[robertsguitarsandgear]

I put DiMarzio Area pickups in the Neck and Middle for mine, plus a bone nut and locking tuners, and now it is just great.

[RhoadesGuitars]

The American having no string tree is most likely due to the American having staggered tuners. (Lowering the angle of the strings without needing a tree)

[CustomTeleRI]

ANSWER: Pro II has no string tree because it uses staggered-height tuners just like my Eric Johnson model did (I replaced that with a Danocaster double cut 11 years ago and have never seriously considered buying a Fender guitar since :o)

[robertbonar]

I appreciate the fact that Fender has finally listened to their customers and added some improvements to their lowest Fender labeled line. But like one commenter below, i think they're looking over their shoulders at the improving value market competitors gaining ground in the quality of their products. Without naming any names, I recently purchased a guitar with a roasted maple neck, locking staggered tuners, bone nut, rosewood fingerboard, ball end stainless steel frets, solid mahogany body EXTREMELY good quality and more for about half the price of a Player or Player ll. The neck alone, if it had Fender on the headstock, would sell for $699. I think the Player and now the Player ll were and are still the best bang for your buck Fenders, but watch competition is gaining.

[beatmasterbossy]

He's so certain about the pickups... needing to swap pups in the player.

But there's really not much between them.

The yosemite pickups were absolutely used on custom shop strats before they landed in the player II series

They both sound great.

[ishouldbeking]

Always fun to watch, but a fair number of details are either slightly off or inadvertently misleading. Player II kept a lot of specs from Player I, including the same pickups. Biggest changes are the return of rosewood from pau ferro (indian laurel is what you find on recent squiers), lightly rolled fingerboards, some hardware upgrades (tuners), several new colors, and apparently slightly better QC going by early reports. Meanwhile, the "American Professional II" shown here is a limited run GT11 series done by Sweetwater, which costs a couple hundred more and has completely different specs than the original American Professional II, so it's kind of a strange comparison. The GT11 is Sweetwater's attempt to port over their custom shop specs to a more affordable line. They seem like great guitars, but all the specs and hardware choices are subjective. Regular Am Pro II has a 9.5" radius "deep C" neck, compared to GT11 with an 11" radius "60s C"; Pro II has 2-point trem, GT11 has 6 point; Am Pro II has normal dots, normal maple neck, normal Fender string tree, while GT11 has clay dots, roasted maple neck, no string tree (staggered post tuners); Pro II has V-Mod II pickups, GT11 has Custom Shop 60s pickups; both have the same push/push pot to activate neck pup; GT11 comes in a handful of vintage colors on alder bodies, whereas Am Pro II has way more color options, with alder on most and roasted pine for natural and sienna transparent finishes. (Personally, I don't need the GT11 upgrades and love my pine-bodied Am Pro II.) All in all, the Player II series seems like a solid upgrade and a good value compared to the reasonably nice but overpriced Vintera II line. Am Pro II in original form or GT11 is a definite step up and still a good value, with an incredible neck, much nicer pickups, and all-around great specs and features for a modern strat.

[aerobrain]

The pickups are the same as player I according to Fender. They just tweaked the Humbucker on the HSS model

[OptimisticMansion-ylwq]

The Player One Strat is excellent. Rolling a fretboard is a pretty simple task. I have 7 Fender Custom Shop guitars and my Player One is better than any of them when it comes to soloing. I have no idea what this guy is complaining about.

[briandenton]

Player, player II, pro, pro II, heck even some classic vibes if you play enough of them you'll find a good, even great one in any series. If your a modder it doesn't really even matter much at all. One of my favorite guitars I own is a modded player 1 tele. I have ultras, elites, a sweet mod shop, even a broadcaster but I always go for my players series. The player 1 came with a paufaero fret board which to me feels alot more like ebony, which I personally like better than rosewood. One of the best necks I own came on a squier classic vibe that is absolutely full of flame and has the best rolled edges I've felt on a neck. So my point is try as many as you can, you may like the feel of one better than a more expensive model or the sound out if one you wouldn't have even thought to consider. At the end of the day price doesn't mean a guitar will fit you better and the folks that build guitars in Mexico take the same pride in what they do just like the USA guys do. Just find a good one and the more you play it the better it will feel to you. A guitar doesn't have to break the bank to be a great instrument. Hard work and practice is far more important to make any guitar sound great than a price tag.

[Enduringrevery]

I have 2010 MIM lone star strat, two fender Texas special single coils and a Seymour Duncan pearly gates humbucker, came stock in it. I love it! With that said I’ll def be adding the push / pull tone knob for the neck pickup mod. So thanks for sharing!!