Fender Player Stratocaster - Polar White with Maple Fingerboard Reviews

Received my guitar, well packed and on time. Looks and plays awesome. How sweet it is.

Bought this in December and I still can't believe the quality of this instrument. Let's just say my people down in Fender Ensenada Mexico are doing some exellent work. The guitar was perfect out of the box thanks to Sweetwater's 55 point inspection. Thank you Sweetwater. Now I understand when people say in reviews and such, "This neck is so easy to play." And "The neck plays like butter". This MIM Stratocaster has my American Pro II Tele And my Gibson Les Paul on the bench. I know that with inflation prices have gone up, but if you're on the fence and you must have Fender on the headstock, dropping $ on this is a no brainer.

So I spoke to Zach Maurer, my friendly neighborhood sales rep, and he made great recommendations on the gear I needed. He was recommended by a friend and I'm so glad he was. Zach worked with me on pricing and helped me fit everything in to my budget. This guitar I'm reviewing turned out great! It sounds great and I couldn't have made a better choice with the gear or the sales rep. Zach checked with me multiple times to make sure my order arrived on time and was not damaged. He also has called me after the fact to make sure I was satisfied with everything I ordered. I would recommend Zach and Sweetwater to anyone and everyone. Thanks for the great experience Sweetwater!!

Purchased this new Fender Player in Polar White in order to add a custom South Korean pick guard and rear spring plate cover. My way of making it a Mexican "Americana"! I had Sweetwater add locking tuners and provide a setup to my specs. This is my fifth new Strat from Sweetwater this year and I have a sixth and final one on the way, a new Player Plus in Aged Candy Apple. Yes, it's my last, no more wall space…..

I can't say enough about the top drawer service and care I've received from Sweetwater and my Sales Engineer Logan Neher. Just couldn't be in better hands! Thanks Gang.

Ron

I play guitar 2 or "rhythm" and always wanted a strat. I got this one and at first I wasn't completely in love with it but once I started playing lead on it then this guitar really clicked with me. Build quality is solid, no fret issues, stays in tune nice. It plays clean chords very well too its no one trick pony.

Wow for the price you can't beat it. Beautiful guitar in Polar white . Call Kent at Sweetwater today and pick one up you won't be disappointed.

My stratocaster is my right wing..all through the chimey highs and the sweet gains my strat pulls me to ambition to create my signal... once again I have to thank sweet water for setting me up

Absolutely love this guitar. Saw one in Illinois while visiting my family in 2019. Did not want to chance taking it on a plane so I bought it when I got home. Bought a Fender Princeton Reverb amplifier, perfect combination. Sounds awesome.

Feels good in hand , sounds great !!! I really like it .

Sweetwater sent a fantastic Strat that was ready to play straight out of the box. The guitar was very well packaged and arrived promptly and damage-free. The new Player series is a well made guitar with upgrades including a heavy tremolo block (not the old-style thin block, and Alnico pickups (not old-style ceramics). The overall fit and finish is exactly what you would expect. This is a guitar you can buy and plan to keep . . . and offered at a really good price.

Great guitar! Plays good, sounds good. And a great looking guitar.

I have wanted this guitar,( white Strat, maple fretboard) since I first saw one WAY back in 1974! Folks. Don't wait this long! Ever. I have been playing on this guitar since it arrived! I purchased a demo model and you would never see the "scratch " unless I showed you! Been taking lessons for the past year and a half and been using my acoustic! Starting to learn some blues.and while my good old RG120 has always been great, I was ready for this guitar and I sit/ stand/ walk around my cave playing this Strat with a smile on my face! My wife thinks I've lost it! Lost it? I think I found it. ! But said she is hearing improvements in my playing already! It's hard to put down.So, new guitar day has turned out to be the gift that keeps on giving! And when I'm not playing it, I'm looking at all the great lines of the design. Timeless! I'm sure I'll become a Strat collector.

I love this guitar

Wow. If i had known then, what i know now, i would have bought all my musical instruments from Sweetwater. The attention they give to their products and customers is well above outstanding!!

Wanted a guitar I didn't have to baby and found a new favorite. The Polar White and lacquered maple neck is a modern twist to a perfect classic look. 2 bolt bridge, extra fret, Alnico pickups, dedicated bridge tone knob, and on and on and on. I love it already! Does it sound better than my American Deluxe or am I just excited about a new guitar? I didn't experience the sharp frets others seemed to have problems with. Really love that I was able to pick down to serial number and weight online. Sweetwater has amazing service and I don't think I could be happier!

Timely delivery and great customer service.

This is my first Stratocaster.. sort of the leap to intermediate level playing. I had grown fond of my old guitar, had it for 7 years and didn't think I could ever replace it. But when I got this guitar, I played it and instantly fell in love with it. Sounds amazing, looks amazing, feels amazing.

Sweetwater is a great company. The guitar was clearly good to go out of the box and set up perfectly, and my sales engineer Cameron was polite and very responsive to my questions.

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!

I got this guitar Christmas of 2018, replacing my squire Bullet strat. Right out of the box, I was impressed. It looks better in person than in the picture above. The feel of this guitar is smooth and so right, and the Alnico pickups are clean and clear. They aren't the fanciest of pickups but they sound amazing, I'll probably never change them. The guitar is awesome and has a good price. It feels and sounds like a higher-end American strat to me.

This plays and looks just like my '12 USA Strat.
The body, bridge, pots, selector switch, wiring, isolation... all are identical.
I'm a big rosewood guy, got this maple neck white body for a
change. The pickups on these are like my Fat 50s but with more bite and treble.
I'm starting to think Fender is re-badging their unsold, more expensive
guitars as cheaper Mexican Made.Not an uncommon marketing move.
Looks like I'm purchasing another one.

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"ve been playing acoustic guitars and bass for almost 10 years, and I wanted to diversify so after months looking for an electric guitar I found this one, it looks amazing and it plays great. The neck is very comfortable to play and the fingerboard feels smooth. It"s not a perfect guitar, but for the price I could not ask for more.

Fit and finish is great!

Pickups sound like a Strat should sound....edges of frets feel good...

Intonation is spot on....action is very good but actually maybe a bit low for me but I will not change it....I think I will grow accustom to it.

To be honest I spent a lot of money years ago on a Strat Plus Deluxe .....it"s a great guitar and I still have it but I play and enjoy this one just a much!

Very pleased with this Stratocaster ....ordered it from Sweetwater and they were wonderful as always!

Knocked off a 1/2 star for the tuners. This guitar has been through it. First changed the pick guard and pickups to Dimarzios. Was significantly better but still not content with single coils. Decided on a matte finish guard and SD set, tusq saddles, nut, and string tree. Love the way Fenders can be modded!

I'm not a big Strat guy so I went with this one. It's probably more than what I need. I like it very well.

This is a well-built guitar, but unfortunately the one I looked at had some issues with the nut.

As seen in the attached video review, the string slots were not cut low enough and they were also not cut at a 90 degree angle, as they should have been. So, on this particular one I had to fix the nut for the customer who brought it to my shop, for a setup.

My main guitar was a 1996 US stratocaster for almost 20 years, until I switched to Gibsons for a while. Since the old strat is in dire need of TLC, new frets and all, I thought I could maybe grab a MIM as a little gift for myself while I plan a strategy. I've owned a Player Strat (H-S-S) and a Player Tele, so I knew they were pretty good (the Tele is actually quite remarkable). And I wanted something in the original, classic S-S-S configuration.

On this one, the frets are a tiny bit rough for my taste, but that is quite easily fixed. Other than that, Fender set the bar pretty high with the Player series. They sound good, feel great and play terrific. And it looks fantastic too. I usually prefer darker, yellowish maple necks, but this one is not outrageously pale. Of course, pickups can be upgraded - and this guitar is good enough that it could be worth it to actually invest in such upgrades for it. It's not like you're trying to polish a turd. Most definitely not.

There was a little issue with the G string on the first one Sweetwater shipped. After discussing with them, we opted to have the guitar replaced. They had the new strat on my doorstep in Las Vegas 24 hours later, so I was able to enjoy the instrument during my vacation as planned without much of a downtime. They exceeded every expectations. And that is one of the reason why I always get my gear from Sweetwater.

Nice guitar but it still not as good as my American fender. For the price of this guitar you can't go wrong. Restring your new guitars it does make a big difference. Buy from Sweetwater you can't go wrong

Frets are sharp and nearly every single one is poking out from the side of the fretboard. Yes, it's winter, fretboards shrink and frets poke out. This is not just that. They were bad to begin with. Body is poorly finished as well. Back of the lower cutaway has 2 gouges where they went a little heavy with the sander. It plays and sounds fine but if you're looking for something nice. This is NOT it. Lots of nice guitars to spend your money on. Look elsewhere.