Do NOT Buy A Players Series (Fender Player Limited Edition Stratocaster Review)

I've never been impressed with the Fender Player Series guitars. I found an insane deal at Musician's Friend so bought my own Stratocaster. There were A LOT of quality control issues, and now I'm convinced these guitars just overpriced.

Guitar tones in this video recorded with:

Voice over recorded with:

Chapters
0:00 80's Guitar Tones
0:40 I like Import Guitars
1:15 Why you SHOULDN'T buy a Fender Player Series
2:04 Low Quality Problems
5:16 The Good Parts
7:42 Why I Bought This Guitar
9:20 Tell Me Why I'm Wrong

[kenhaze]

What I like about the Player Series is the extremely high quality, consistency, and low price. Also, the durability and repairability. Obviously, if your priorities are high cost or poor playability, I could understand choosing something else readily.

[IamTheNameless]

Honestly me and a friend had a heated debate about something similar. He was going to buy a squier for 460$ shipped to his door. Honestly my thoughts are just get a USED fender player series. cuz for just 50$ more he ended up with a beautiful fender player tele, with cts pots, much better internals, and better overall materials including body wood. I have a few squiers but my main guitar is my fender player strat.

[manofthepeople]

I think the issue is you bought an open box guitar, and the person who originally bought it clewrly returned it because it was a lemon. Or maybe they were the ones who cut the nut too low, didn't setup the action properly, etc.

Thats why I feel like you should do another review where you buy a Fender player that is still in the box and then give a fair and objective evaluation. With an open box guitar, you really have no idea what the previous owner did with it, or if that one was returned because it was the one out of 100 in the batch that had a lot off issues, luckily most retailers allow you to return the guitars within 14-45 days.

[airtechmech]

I just bought a used Player Plus Top HSS. It still had the plastic film on everything but the frets, strings, and saddles were very corroded. It was like it had never been setup but played and never cleaned. The fret ends were bad. I did a complete fret job and am still in the process of setting up. Too much relief and a stuck truss rod. It finally loosened up but still difficult to tighten. I put weight on it and have made a few more adjustments and just waiting, now. Otherwise, it's beautiful and the electrics all work normally but with all of the corrosion I didn't play it much yet. 2018 build.

[doomwreckertelevision]

Just picked up a 2023 fender player series strat for 450 out the door. "Used" but was in damn near perfect condition. Still has the "player series" sticker on it. Could not pass it up.

[Donny_A]

I just bought a player series neck for an old fender strat and the nut is too low and the frets are not level. From quick research this sounds way too common

[djizzah]

i bought one off the display wall in a big store the salesman said you can try a couple more as the quality varies on these mexican strats, i tried a couple but went with the one off the wall which played and felt perfect, 12 months later playing every day at home its still in tune, trem is great just put a little spring and ball in the trem thread to keep tension on the trem arm, i havent even changed strings which i should but, its brilliant i love it, half the price of an american strat, i think yours was poorly built from the factory the salesman actually told me some vary in quality, i got lucky, mine is perfect

[TheBluesine]

Hello Eric. I am looking at buying a new guitar. I am decided between this exact guitar OR a Nick Johnston traditional Strat. The Nick Johnston model seems to have more extras.... here in Australia the Player series is around $1299 However the Nick Johnston is currently on special for the same price, and its normally $1500 + I dont know if your familiar with the Jonhston Schecter but it seems to have more up market features, locking tuners etc.. Its not the USA model but its still is there any reason at all for me to buy the fender Player?

[stevenkinchen]

I have a Silver Player series Strat that I bought brand new in 2021. I bought it in the HSS variety with a maple neck and tonally it does everything I need it to do. I upgraded the bridge saddles to Graphtecs, and replaced the tuners with Fender locking tuners. Would be the perfect gig guitar for me, but I just cannot get past the neck. Every time I pick it up I hate it. The neck is a satin finish which I love, but the neck was not rolled, i had to smooth the fret ends which helped a bit, but the angle on the neck ends are so sharp, that the wood will cut into my thumb if I am playing chords with the thumb over. I brought it to my local trusted luthier and was told that to correct the issue, they would have to remove the frets, sand, and properly roll the neck edges, then re-fret the guitar, costing approx $350-400. I could buy a new neck for that price, and that's why I haven't done so, but with the price I paid for the guitar, that shouldn't be something I would even need to think about, especially when every Squier I've ever played hasn't had that issue. Maybe I got a lemon, but I saw on forums that this was a common issue with maple neck player series guitars until the new colors they released a few months ago. I have been very tempted to sell it, but with the mods I've made to it so far, I know I would be losing money on it. Looking back I wish I would've gone the way of PRS, Sire, or Charvel for a sub $1000 workhorse strat.

[Magik]

Sounds like it has some high frets. All guitars at this price point need fret work. Best thing I ever did as a guitarist and guitar collector was invest in a set of fret files from StewMac and learned how to do fretwork. The difference in the quality of your guitars will be drastically enhanced with properly leveled, crowned, and dressed frets.

[IndigoJo]

Should you go to a shop that has a good record for setting up guitars? Which ones are those?

[marekgitarzysta]

Strange as my player is as good as my USA Deluxe Strat HOWEVER these I had to correct: intonation (as you said - not even roughly set from the factory), string height - I lowered it but was not bad at all, the saddle screws in the bridge had to be replaced with shorter ones, as it was scratching my hand. But the bridge on the other hand keeps tuning better than my USA deluxe bridge, yes the screw-in arm is a pain in the neck but I knew about it before buying. And also important disclaimer: I can correct most issues myself. I feel pitty for beginners who would buy it in the condition you described

[TheRealxVincent]

As someone who owns one, I agree. You can fix the trem by knowing how to set it up right, but there's no reason to buy one over a classic vibe, unless you find it for $250 at a pawn shop like I did.

[bluwng]

Lightweight, ebony and Lamborghini Green at $650 is a keeper.

[joshmx]

I just got one on Black Friday sale I hope it doesn’t suck. I mean I suck so maybe I won’t notice

[DizzyKrissi]

I have 2 Player Plus and a Player LTD - I love them all and did not have any issues. They are just as good as my US strats.

[ThatFaceMelter]

It's an uncomfortable position being between wanting your $1000 Stratocaster to not buzz anymore and people telling you "that's just how Strats sound". I say this as someone who tolerated the original neck for years until the frets became worn down and some gouges resulted in me purchasing a new maple neck from Fender. I spent hours trying to set it up correctly to not sacrifice playability for clear notes and I could never achieve this. Notes buzz through amp and/or are affected enough acoustically to suppress note sustain through the amp. I then took it to 2 different luthiers in my area to do a fret level and crown job, neither of which resulted in improvements. Buzzes, even on open strings, remained after the luthiers gas lighted me, telling me this was normal. It was up to me to figure the root issue after 2 years and this whole time, the neck couldn't be straitened!!! It needed a proper fretboard leveling job this entire time. An unlevel fretboard will not curve properly with string tension, not matter how level the frets are. Not only is it baffling to me that neither luthiers caught this, but that Fender would sell a neck in this condition. Years of trusing people who know more than me and hundreds of dollars spent further on luthier tools to attempt a fix myself, I called Fender and all they did was pass me back to local luthiers in this cycle of injustice.

[risingson]

There's 1 player series that I think is worth it right now (to me), and its the current Player Limited Edition in black with the gold pickguard, roasted maple neck, and the custom shop fat 50's pickups that is currently on sale on the Fender site for $787, which I think is a pretty good deal. I actually returned an AmPro ii due to QC issues right out of the box, and I think its just something that comes with the territory no matter where the guitar is made these days.

[andrew]

That's a shame, either something happened when this was open boxed or Fender Mexico need to sort out their QC.

[yaboiflats]

I just ordered a brand new one 630$ after tax. Hopefully it doesnt have issues but i can return it if it does.