Fender Player Telecaster - Polar White with Maple Fingerboard Reviews

This is my 2nd polar white player telecaster. The first one I had I never bonded with. Going into it the second time, I decided to go in for a full setup and chose to upgrade the pickups with some Texas Specials. Aside from mistakenly being wired out of phase, this guitar is absolutely the greatest guitar I have ever had. Ever! Playability wise, looks wise, and sound wise (minus the out of phase), it really is my dream guitar. The Fretboard has a nice flame running the entire length. It's just beautiful. Not only that but whoever worked on the guitar intonated it properly. I can see that from the pictures and by how it sounds that he at least did that. Thank you!

I do have a couple of issues though. As it is now, I can not enjoy position 2 because of the way it was wired. I can see where mistakes can be made but this should have been caught before final setup was complete. Secondly, I was charged for a pickguard swap on a guitar that was getting pickups installed. They were going to have to remove the guard anyway so it doesn't really sit right with me to be charged for that. Lastly, the guitar was not clean and it took me 20 minutes trying to get the pickup plastic off because it was wedged between the pickup and the guard upon install. I had to do, and still have to do, way more work, myself, than I should have to given how much I paid for it all. Talking with my SW rep, SW will make right the issue with the pickups. Their customer service and willingness to stand by their products and their services is the reason I always come back.

I love the new player series from Fender. They're great guitars for a reasonable price. The Sweetwater team also did a stellar job addressing the delivery issues that occurred during shipping. Sometimes things don't go according to plan when you ship packages to a holding facility, but Sweetwater did everything they could to help me receive my new guitar in a timely fashion while keeping me up to date every step of the way.

The Telecaster the best! It plays Barr chords very easy and the Telecaster has great high end! I love this guitar! Thanks to Aaron Kinney at Sweetwater, he is the MAN!!

I've been playing for over thirty years and have owned a ton of guitars including Custom Shop models (back before kids when I had disposable income). I am not a great player but I have owned many great guitars. I am really pleased with this Tele. Quality is first rate at a sane price point. Fretwork is great. I had it set up with .10s before it shipped and it sounds fantastic. I might change pickups later just to tinker around but there is no need to. I'm pairing this with a Katana in case that is of value to anyone wondering how they sound together. I want to give a huge shout out to Nick Pasquino at Sweetwater. Nick has assisted me on several purchases and has never steered me wrong. There was a shipping issue but Nick and Charity in shipping did a great job getting it sorted out and a replacement in my hands very quickly. Sweetwater has the best customer service I've ever experienced from an online dealer.

I've had a MIM strat for almost 20 years and always loved it, but this tele is absolutely terrific. I had it plecked when I purchases it and I think that improved the playing experience. It feels and plays so well I didn't plug it into my amp (Bugera v22) for 2 weeks just to get to know it.Fret work is excellent, finish is clean, neck feels nice, set up beautiful.

Love this guitar! Sounds great and definitely happy with this purchase. As always, Sweetwater is an awesome company, great customer service, great products and fast deliver. Thank you again!

I'm still a guitar newbie. When I retired two years ago, my wife told me I was in dire need of a hobby (especially since she works from home and had me underfoot). I decided I wanted to spend my newly acquired free time learning to play the guitar. I first bought a nice Taylor 200 Series acoustic guitar. When I found that I enjoyed practicing every day, I decided to add an economical electric Squier Bullet Telecaster to the mix. It has been a great guitar to play, especially after upgrading the pickups and pots. I also found myself practicing that guitar every day, so I thought I might be ready to justify purchasing a REAL Fender.

As much as my Squier Telecaster is certainly adequate for a beginner like me, my Fender Polar White Player Series Telecaster is in a league all its own. All notes are crisp and clear with excellent sustain and intonation. All of the strings ring out, and almost chime. The alnico 5 pickups are great and the guitar really feels solid and well-balanced. The neck also is perfect for me, although I still spend most of my playing time hanging out in the first five frets. It's just a BEAUTIFUL guitar. I love this guitar and have added it to my daily routine as well. Even my basic beginner songs sound very professional on this Fender (mistakes and all).

I received the guitar from Sweetwater quickly, securely packaged, and in perfect build quality. It was ready to play out-of-the-box without a setup. The Sweetwater 55-point checkup really works!

Also, many thanks to Erik Bothwell, who is a SUPERB Sales Engineer. He worked closely with me from purchase to delivery, and quickly responded to questions that I had afterward. He also kept me up-to-date with the order status throughout the process. I always knew where everything stood and where it was located. Fantastic customer service!!

I should also add that Erik provides the same great service and follow-up whether it's a big ticket item or just a guitar strap. This great treatment has made me return to Sweetwater again and again for my guitar accessories.

I love this guitar and am extremely happy that I purchased it from Sweetwater with Erik Bothwell's guidance!

Thank you to Dave Cody for all his updates I was getting, along the way.

Thank You

Had a major itch to expand my guitar population (I'm hopeless…), so to keep it short I snagged this Tele (my first one) and it's a keeper! Neck is dead-straight and perfectly centered to the body and bridge, fretwork is even better than my 2020 pau ferro Player Strat - shiny and smooth and so far no high-frets, pickup routing and overall build quality - as always with what's coming out of the Ensenada factory - is SPECTACULAR, and the pickups really punch well above their weight - really versatile pickups and not accounting for them as stock. The only thing I did was adjust the setup (a little too high for my liking but adjusted it down to a nice low-medium action), put on my favorite pickguard color - black pearl- and some NYXL balanced tension strings. In comparison, my Player Strat had some minor neck issues when I got it last year I had to address (don't knock the Player Series based on that), but nothing like that for my Tele - it's just so solid and clean I can't do any wrong with it. Planning to do a 4-way switch mod this week to really bring out some more tones!

I'm wondering though: Am I just buying Sweetwater guitars and gear to just get more candy? Seriously. I got a whole gallon ziplock bag of Atomic Fireballs (they got my favorite on every order), Haha! There are more economical ways to catch a sugar fix, but none more FUN!

From a 55 yr old cowboy strummer;
First off, this is an absolutely beautiful instrument. I went back and forth on color, some tasty Sweetwater bonus bucks helped make up my mind...and for that I thank you ! Looks great next to my Yamaha acoustic, that has taken me this far. I am not qualified to really rate this guitar, but it feels like a dream in my hands. I've inspected it very carefully, and it appears to be totally free of any defects. Everything is tight, and the finish is quite remarkable. Very happy with purchase. Hoping this badboy is up for accompanying me to the next level of playing. I'll probably take it in, and have it looked over / setup in the very near future, but it seems fine right out of the box. I did have it shipped in a Fender deluxe case too, just for peace of mind...the packaging was great too, btw. I could tell alot of care went into the process, double boxed with lots of pillow packing everywhere. Great customer service from Sweetwater, too. They treated me like a fellow musician, which is cool... albeit a stretch ! Thanks, Tyler !

Nothing but good things to say about this one. Among some of my Fenders, I have an American-made from the 70s and a Mexican strat from the mid 2010s prior to the newer "Player" model designation. This Player series tele easily fits in in terms of fantastic build quality and playability. Fender (and many other manufacturers) tend to have a reputation of needing a bit of setup work from the factory, but I found that besides some minor tweaks to personal taste, very little if any adjustment was required on my part to have a great feeling and sounding instrument - kudos to Sweetwater here for their inspections.

I particularly enjoy the newer style of bridge they've put on this series. I'm one that tends to rest my palm on the bridge quite a bit during my playing and I love that they eliminated the high sides of the bridge plate. The newer saddles are also great as they are very smooth to the touch (my other instruments can feel a bit sharp to run your hand over them) and the fact that you can intonate each string independently is a huge plus to me.

I'm also finding that this particular flavor of Telecaster gives me more of what I was looking for with regard to 'classic' sound and feel compared to some of the more modern American models that have added features (that said, I still wouldn't have minded a few body contours for comfort, though I realize this would hamper the classic aesthetic).

I learned a bit too late that on a strat, I tend to prefer only the neck pickup unless the bridge happens to be a humbucker. Meanwhile on the Telecaster, I haven't yet been able to find a sound on it that I don't like - they're considered the most versatile guitars ever made for a reason.

The guitar arrived in perfect condition and set up despite not having a case. Well protected. Delivered as promised when I ordered this!

Super nice guitar for the price. Plays great right out of the box. Super nice sales staff.

I love the player series telecasters. This is my second one, I have the HH in LPB too. They are well built and sound amazing. I bought this one in Polar White with the maple neck. Love the Polar White color that is the latest Fender version of white, it is nice and bright and not dull like Olympic or Arctic. The maple neck is smooth and easily playable. The new pickups provide a great tele tone. The only down side it has are the tuners, which could be better in my opinion.

Great guitar for the value, plays well and customer service was excellent as always.

Truly grateful to Fender for getting this one right. It's a wonderful, well-made guitar at a reasonable price, which is a rarity in the left-handed world. The neck is comfortable and true, and the stock pickups deliver on the classic Tele sound*. Highly recommended; I actually prefer this to my 60th Anniversary American Standard.
*I use a VOX AC15C1 and a modified Fender Champion 600; sounds great through both.

The Fender Player telecaster is a great guitar. It arrived rather quickly and although it was nicely packed, it was blemished. Sweetwater, however, made it right and saved me from having to pack it back up and return it. It did not come intonated at all so that's the first thing I did. Once I got that sorted out, it has been a joy to play. I've already recorded one song with it and look forward to recording many more. I can't recommend this guitar enough; I love it.

I'm only giving 4 stars because as wonderful and patient as my sales rep has been, there is minimal communication between us and ZERO follow-up once a purchase is made. Emails are great but a voice on the other end wins every time!

After seeing reviews and watching all the YouTube vids on this I was very eager to get this guitar in my hands. I know that every guitar is different, but this one was a real disappointment. Its almost like the frets weren't completely finished. The edges of the frets on the bottom of the neck weren't even filed down all the way. You can feel the sharp edges. Its not like any one could be seriously cut or anything, but after I compared this to another Tele that I have (that was cheaper), for the price point the fret work should be a lot better. I am a lil shocked this passed the Sweetwater inspection. After taxes and fees, the guitar is costing me over $700. Not a bad price at all, but for that price the frets should be properly filed and seems the pick ups would be a lil stronger. I played the guitar last night for about 15 minutes wanting to like it, cause I appreciate the staff and all @ Sweetwater, but I asked myself... would I buy this, and the answer is no. Sadly after having hopes up, its time to return. Hopefully this guitar was a fluke and the rest in the line are top notch and worth the $$$. While the guitar was a let down, dealing with Sweetwater is always a nice experience.




my apologies