Fender Player Stratocaster - 3-Tone Sunburst with Maple Fingerboard Reviews

I bought a player Stratocaster from my sales engineer Greg Baum and had it plek'd prior to getting the guitar. It was one of the best musical purchase decisions I ever made - this guitar plays effortlessly and the single coil pickups sparkle with no discernible hum and wonderful character at every 5 - way blade switch setting. Simply put the guitar is inspiring. Highly recommended.

Beautiful looker, and player. Love the smooth maple neck. I set it up myself. Plays in tune. Don't care if Mex or American. Loved the way Sweetwater let me pick out the exact color, and WEIGHT! Amazing. Thank you Sweetwater!

This looks just like the first Strat I bought in 1974. I've tried MANY different guitars since then, but always come back to my "Old Dependable". Now that I'm older I find the familiar radius and scale of the Strat neck the most comfortable to me of any other guitar I've ever played. They always set up perfectly for me and the tuning stability is rock-solid (no pun intended). Anthony and the staff at Sweetwater have provided me with the highest level of customer service for years now, I wouldn't looking anywhere else for instruments or gear.

Exceptional guitar for the price, smooth play and amazing sound. I would absolutely recommend the player series to anyone looking for a great price and exceptional quality.

Received my strat and it's amazing! Plays smooth and sounds great. Out of the box, tuned it up, and started to play!. Logan was excellent to deal with and didn't steer me wrong. Delivered on time and packaged securely. Will be buying another strat for my wife - she saw mine and played it, now she wants her own!

With this one I decided to pay up do have it pleked. With over a grand in it my expectations were high and I was not disappointed. First of all the guitar really is flawless, I looked it over top too bottom very closely and could not find anything wrong with it. The action was perfect and the frets were polished to a mirror finish. The fret ends were dressed perfectly as well. So it's a looker but how does it sound? I plugged it into my Vox ac10 and was immediately blown away. These pickups are awesome. Clear, with good output and very different tones from each position of the selector switch. Sounds great with gain as well. So looks great, plays great and sounds great. As for the plek job, I highly recommend it if you can swing the extra cash. I have 13 guitars right now and have owned well over 100 and this one plays better than any of them.

Love this Strat. I have a Strat in my Tokyo studio that I have been playing for years - love that great single coil sound. Decided I "needed" (that is what I told my wife) for my New York studio. It sounds as great and plays as smooth as my Strat in Tokyo. I really like that with this model you can control the tone of the bridge pick-up - opens up a lot of sound possibilities. Recorded with it all summer and loved the feel and vintage look of the 3-tone sunburst. The other guitarist in these recording sessions loved getting his hands on it. I want to add, that I have always been against ordering a guitar online - wanted to play it, feel it, inspect it in a shop; plus, I never trusted the shipping. Last year, I took a chance and ordered a Fender Tele and an Epiphone SG (the Inverness Green one) from Sweetwater. I was very impressed with the care they took in inspecting the guitars before they shipped and blown away by the great job they did packing the guitars - they treated them with love. Sweetwater's guitar shipping practices have alleviated my fear of buy a guitar online, but only for Sweetwater guitars. Thank you Jordon Clohessy for the great job you do as my Sales Engineer.

My wife bought me the Fender Player Series Stratocaster for Christmas. Last year she bought me the Fender Player Series Tele so when she asked what I wanted this year I did not hesitate to tell her the I wanted the Strat. The guitar arrived fast and ready to play. The finish is amazing!!!! Most beautiful guitar I own. The sound is exactly what you would expect from a much higher priced guitar. The action is a little low for my taste and causes a little fret buzz, but not a deal breaker. It's an easy fix. Fender got this guitar right. If you are on the fence about buying one, rest assured you won't be sorry. Go for it!
Tuners are good and hold well. Shout out to Rylie and his team for making this happen for me. It made my Christmas another to remember. I am 62 years old and have played guitar since I was 7 and must say these player series guitars from Fender are quality instruments. No sharp edges on the frets and the intonation is spot on. And that is without getting a special set up.
Highly recomend the Player Series line of Fender Guitars.

I just got this guitar and so far it's amazing!

This guitar is simply the best affordable strat around it feels more like more $1000 guitar i absolutely love the 22nd fret.one of my pet peeve.except tge pickups which suck everything is fantastic about it.Thx to Brian Sheehan again for getting here on my day off you rock man.Im putting a jb jr/lil 59/lil 59 in it.

Once I got the guitar out of the box and got it tuned up it plays like a dream .I haven't played in a long time a little rusty but what ever I played it made it sound so good no bussing noise or anything the neck is so comfortable I have carpal tunnel in my thumbs and I did not have any problems at all no sharp edges at all . The champ amp is a great compliment to this guitar . The service was impeccable my sales tech Kyle was right on top of it all the time . I was so impressed with Kyles attention to details Like I told some one there that he is so good at his job he could sell snow to an Eskimo .I wish you sold 10 inch miniatures of my guitar it would have been great to get one .Thank you guys so much for everything . Give Kyle a raise lol .

Out of the box, this Strat is ready to for the gig. Tune it up, plug it in and enjoy the evening. Detailed, finished & adjusted. I had to do some personal preferences like strings, and string height. I've owned many guitars over the decades, including many Strats. From low end Squiers to high end collectors. This is definitely a working man's guitar. Girls too. A guitar you'll love to keep.

Love my new strat. Fast shipping w/ tracking, and the guitar was set up very well out of the box. Excellent customer service too. Sweetwater does great business!

The Fender Player Series Stratocaster is an incredibly well-built instrument. Its' solid construction and time-tested design only further embellishes the Strat's reputation as "the one to beat". No corners were cut in the manufacturing process. Shielded control cavities. AlNiCo V pickups. Dual post bridge. The neck is simply wonderful - the modern "C" shape fills the hand near the headstock appropriately for chord-work. Travel up the neck and let 'er rip! This Strat knows how to work and looks good doing the it.

I am blown away by Sweetwater's customer service and I am going to share a mini-novel to explain why. I have been playing for 3 years and been using a $70 Squier guitar that my son bought me. I was starting to improve and wanted something at the next level. I was interested in the Player Series MIM Strats and talked to Luke at Sweetwater about it. I was hesitant about buying a guitar online without playing it first, but Luke at Sweetwater let me know that they would help me out if there were any issues. I received the guitar and loved most everything about it. The one thing I wasn't prepared for was changing from a rosewood neck to a maple poly finished neck. The back side of the neck is satin so it felt like my squier - no "grabbing" when I slide. The fret board felt like it had a bit of a "gab" but the more I played it, it became less of an issue. And I loved the maple look and sound. Now here is the huge CUSTOMER SERVICE PART where Sweetwater KILLED IT. I was practicing a new blues lick that required a bend on the high E string. I was working on it and the string broke right at the fret I was bending on...then another....and then a 3rd. It dawned on me that there may be a burr or something on that fret. After feeling around with my thumbnail, I found it. It felt like a small ding in the fret. I kept playing and broke 2 more strings in the same spot. I a slow learner. I finally called Sweetwater to see what they would recommend. I tried to call Luke and he was on another line. Instead of getting put into voicemail, the receptionist suggested I talk to Sweetwater's Guitar Shop. I spoke with Cameron and he was as helpful as Luke! He said that it sound like the fret needed some work and there were multiple ways to handle it. They could send me a new Strat and they would inspect it carefully to make sure this was not an issue the second time around, they could send me to a local Fender repair shop and pay for the repair, or I could send the guitar back to Sweetwater (they would cover the cost) and fix it themselves. Since I was still getting used to the guitar and had not bonded to it yet, I opted for a replacement. They then proceeded to do a complimentary set up on the new guitar, check the frets carefully in addition to the 55 check they always do AND I received the replacement in 2 days!!!! And they sent the return label so I just had to drop it off at my corner Walgreens (which is where I had the guitar delivered since they are a Fed Ex drop off point). And in addition to all of this...the 2nd guitar I received was MY guitar. It is hard to explain that to non guitarists, but there was something about the 2nd one that just felt so right!!!! Thank you Luke, Cameron and Sweetwater for all of your help. You blew me away and I LOVE my Strat!!!!!

Great guitar. Off the case, the guitar sounds nice and has an easy to play feel. Am very pleased with this purchase from Sweetwater. Many thanks to Adam and the Sweetwater Team for ensuring that my order reaches me on time. Sweetwater is a great place to shop for your music needs.

Love The Way It Plays and Sounds and Looks

Purchased this player series strat and absolutely love it!! Great feel and playability. The satin maple neck feels and plays great. This MIM strat would be hard to beat for the money! Kudos to Fender on this one. If you are thinking about buying one of these, my advice would be DO IT!!

This guitar is my first actual fender! I was playing a squier before this for about 2 years and when the player series was first announced I fell in love with this color before i even played the guitar. I found the same style in black and played it and lived the pickups and the feel of it. The pickups are quiet and sparkly like a classic strat so if you're looking for an overwound srv style sound you may not get it here but this guitar is amazing if you're looking for a blank canvas to create on.

I've bought several guitars from Sweetwater reviews are mixed. But this Fender player series is the best yet. What a guitar! I'm glad I went with the single coil pickups great classic stratocaster sound. Matt my salesman is top shelf and knows his stuff. He has been a huge help in introducing me to new products. " I'm a dinosaur " This fender player series is just the slickest guitar in my collection. Thanks to Matt and Sweetwater.

I received my Fender Player Strat about a month ago and this guitar rocks! This Fender Player has a nice warm, rich sound and has a very distinct sound that I've only heard on Fender guitars. This guitar felt perfect in my hands, it's very comfortable, nice and light. I can play this guitar much easier than any other guitar I've ever bought or tried. There's just something 'magical' about Fender guitars. I just can't say enough good things about this guitar. Shipping was super fast, customer service was great as usual. For anyone thinking about getting this guitar, all I can say is- get it, you can't go wrong! Thank you Sweetwater!

I big thank you to Nick for helping me decide how to customize my new strat to get the sound I want. This is the first time I've dealt with Sweetwater and all I can say is that they are real professionals and very knowledgeable, and I should have used them a long time ago. I know I will be looking for more equipment later on and I know where to go. Muchas Gracias, Bob

Was looking at the squire after playing a friends for out of town gig...earlier mim...had to set it up way I liked it and it dialed in quite nicely and carried the whole night as well...was looking hard at the squire line...but... a.) satin neck is so nice to have...b.) as well as xtra fret...c. )as well as two point tremolo...all in all its a very descent axe at the price point...Have had a lot of alot of sub 1k fender's... a big helping of mia feel in this guitar...thanks riley!!!

first the good....

finish is beautiful. looks like a piece of rock candy, and in a good way.

holds tune really well, tuners are good.

all knobs and p/u switch function very smoothly without a catch

good tone and no buzz. neck and string height set properly

p/u's are not bad, sound ok to me. not amazing, but good enough for this strat. as i've seen others mention, i also like the fact that the 2nd tone knob controls the bridge p/u. gives me more versatility in sound on a p/u that can be a bit harsh at times


now for the meh or bad....

1st string snapped within 1 hour and strings were rough, as if they were heavily used and not cleaned. but this couldn't be the case, this thing is no way a demo, it's finish is flawless, no dings, no scratches. not sure what to make of this. with new strings, it sounds good.

no matter what people say, this Player model is not quite up to the quality of my 2014 MIM. just a matter of opinion i guess.

not really a fan of the 2 point tremolo mount. i don't really like the fact that it can come apart when you take the strings off. same reason i hate Floyd Rose systems. but i must say, it works just as well as my others, so far

speaking of changing strings, here's a funny thing. evidently there is some difference in the 2 point and the 6 point tremolo size or position. first thing i noticed is that the window in the back plate doesn't line up with the string holes. it's only off a bit, but it's enough to make it a huge pain to get the ferrules in the window, so i just took it off. i'm assuming to cut cost Fender is trying to make the same plate work with every strat and on the Players it is a bit off. my 2014 6 point does not have this problem.


so in general, it's a good guitar. i gave it a 3 star only because the ratings seem to be weighted toward good or i'd have rated it a little higher. i was a bit disappointed that the price had gone up and the quality had dipped, but it's still a good guitar, i say it's still worth the money. especially if you are thinking of buying a squier, please please save you money for a few more months and get one of these.

also i was very pleased that sweetwater let me choose from available units in stock. i had a choice of three and picked the one i wanted. very cool and the only place i've seen do this.