Fender Player Stratocaster - 3-Tone Sunburst with Pau Ferro Fingerboard Reviews

I Purchased 1 of these through Sweetwater, My Sales engineer Logan did a great job Helping me out, we did some pickup changes and tremelo changes. I have been working with Logan for about 3 yrs now, he has always been, great, i was in the Hospital at the time when this all started, he was very considerate and extremely helpful. I also purchased a Hughes & Kettner amp at the Time. The guitar is AWESOME, i appreciate my friend Logan Very Much !! Thank you Sweetwater.

I went back and forth between the player series and a higher end model. I was looking for a strat with the "vintage single-coil strat sound". I have not regretted my decision to go with the player series for one second. My guitar sounded great and played great right out of the box. The 3-Tone Sunburst with Pau Ferro Fingerboard looks awesome as well. If you are looking for a strat, but don't want to break the bank, this guitar is the way to go.

I have a few Strats and this one is by far my favorite. The feel of the neck and the tone. Clean and sweet or down right dirty it doesn't matter, I can do both. I pair this up with either my Mustang GT100 or Hotrod Deluxe.

One awesome guitar, worth the money, sounds and plays awesome

What a pleasure it is to get so much bang for the buck. This Mexican guitar offers plenty of tonal quality, moderate neck feel and weighty strength to make you believe you've paid three times the price for it. All that and the stunning looks of an American Classic. Get yours today! Props to Jason King for making it happen.

What can I say that has not already been said about the Fender Player Stratocaster. It is a wonderful guitar with the sound we all know and love. The Pau Ferro fingerboard is probably the most talked about addition to the Fender Player series. I can tell you I have no issues with it. Other than the fact it is somewhat lighter in color than a rosewood finger board. I couldn't tell the difference in a blind test. I paired mine with a plush Fender case for added protection.

I can't say much about this guitar that hasn't already been said here, so I'll offer this - after about 14 years of not owning a Strat, mainly because I hadn't found "the one" to replace the old Squier I learned on, I am happy to say that the new Player Series is exactly the kind of thing I had been looking for. The bridge is shockingly stable, the fretboard feels like a million bucks, and I am actually quite impressed with the stock pickups given my experiences playing some MIM models friends have had from the 00's. If you're like me, and you're looking for a *new* Strat at not too insane of a price, look no further!

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!

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 have been playing for many years and I"m very picky about my instrument. I have had and played many Strats but always was disinterested when it came to the MIM ones because they just lacked a couple of really important things; sound and tuning stability (both are a mist for me). I have never really cared about where they were made but really wanted something that sounds great and stays in tune. Well, I decided (a little hesitant) on spending $... on a MIM strat but since all of the reviews, videos and changes made seemed to have addressed the issues i had, i went ahead and bought it. BEST DECISION EVER! This thing is absolutely beautiful. Sound is so so so Good. Really responsive, dynamic, and clear. To be honest, no need to buy a USA Standard anymore. This thing is on point. Neck is extremely smooth and comfortable to play. Stays in tune perfectly (it was even in tune when i opened it). Go ahead and buy it. Save your money if Planning on buying a USA Standard, the difference is to small.

guitar arrived in perfect condition. the workmanship is without flaw. i'm particularly impressed with the neck and its ease of playing. guitar sounds great in all configurations. purchase through sweetwater was very easy. my only disappointment is the lack of a case. it's not the most expensive guitar, but it's not cheap; a case should be included.

After asking my wife for an early holiday gift (and thankfully she said 'yes', and even my guitar out with me!), I chose this nice gem of a Strat since I was craving some good single coil tone to compliment my Les Paul (or whatever excuse to buy a new guitar...). I can tell you fit and finish from these Player series are extremely impressive (with at least one caveat with mine). The last Mexican Strat I owned was a 2011 Deluxe Player Strat with Noiseless Pickups (wasn't a fan of it); the quality of these new Fenders coming out of Ensenada are LIGHTYEARS ahead of what they were producing back then, IMO. I went into this knowing I would tinker and mod the ever-loving crap out of this guitar to make it truly mine (that's why Strats RULE and it's too much fun!), though I was significantly impressed, especially with the tone and pickups. For stock single coils, these things are really nice and have that nice Alnico-5 cut and crispness that covers a lot of musical ground; a bit more vintage-modern Strat tone, though I didn't have a lot of experience with these pickups for all that long (see below). Since I'm a tinkerer at heart I decided to remove the pickguard and trem spring cover to get into the innards of the guitar and was floored by the high-quality and crispness of the body routing (aside form a little harmless sawdust) - my Gibson and '16 AmStd Jazz Bass weren't routed this well! Mine has a nice clean and tight neck pocket, and came with a 2-piece body; no lie - a 2 Piece body (I've looked very carefully for all wood seams in the routes and body back and only found one!!!) With all that said, I did have an issue with at least two high frets on mine and a minor amount of tooling marks on the fretwork - I allowed it to acclimate to my home for 24 hours, but sometimes those are the breaks and hence the 1 star deduction. I attribute the off frets more with climate during shipping than workmanship, and after taking it to my local tech to even and polish them out, it plays wonderfully. Of course I had to add some other goodies to make it truly mine: Graphtech steel saddles and string tree, Fender locking tuners, and a preloaded Fender Fat 50s pickguard set (submitted a different review for them - they are AWESOME PICKUPS). I've already dubbed her "Amber" due to her warm, crystalline tone and great looks! Now I just need to brush up on my Knopfler and Gilmour, and Purple Rain...Cheers!

I've just taken ownership of one of these puppies. It's my first MIM Strat, having owned only Am versions previously as well as PRS and Gibson guitars. I'm very impressed with the build, paint, pickups and electronics. Seriously, the only difference I've found is the lack of rosewood for fretboard and that seems to make no difference. Tone, playability and tuning are excellent. The paint is just as nice as most modern Am Strats, if not nicer. Good blending on the 3 color. I might change one thing, which is why I gave 4.5 / 5 stars. I like old school necks with a slightly stickier finish. I don't mind needing Finger Ease or similar products on the back. That's just a personal preference. Satin neck is pretty standard and this one is perfectly done. Not a bump in it! For the money, this guitar checks off all the boxes. I suggest you get one before Fender finds out they don't charge enough.

The guitar is beautiful and good build but it's the attention to detail you don't get. Mine had a gap where the skunk stripe ends in the neck near the nut end. A small defect but one place I don't want issues is the neck,I was able to feel it with my thumb when I was in that area so i sadly sent it back as it was otherwise petty nice.

Every part of this instrument is great except the fingerboard. It is dry and gritty. I have treated it with linseed oil several times and it helps a little, but still feels dry and gritty. I live in a very wet climate and this thing is still dry. I have 5 other Fender guitars with rosewood that I love and wish this one had it also.