Fender Player Telecaster - Tidepool with Maple Fingerboard Reviews

I won this guitar as well as a Danelectro 57 reissue in Limo Black (see the review) I love them both.
My Fender Player Telecaster in Tidepool Blue included a professional setup by world-class luthiers.

Firstly, before I list the pros and cons I will tell you my plans for customizing this. I will upgrade the tuners to locking. I am replacing the string tree with Graph Tech trees because well it's better. I'll probably upgrade the strap buttons to either oversized or locking. I'll replace the pickguard to something more custom which is simply cosmetic. I may swap out the control plate for one with a slanted switch slot and to add space between the switch and the volume knob. I might add a 4-way switch to include the pickups in series option. I may upgrade the input jack as some people say that it is lacking and eventually doesn't hold the plug tight. And eventually, I will upgrade the nut but it's fine for now. The Black Plastic cap of the 3 Way selector is trash. That thing falls off like it's gravity's favorite toy.

Secondly, the pickups ARE PERFECT, The Neck Pickup is as smooth as butter. The smoothest creamiest pickup I've ever heard on any guitar. The Bridge Pickup is what you want and expect from a Tele Bridge. In the middle position it is what some call a sweetspot. It's very nice. But I'm impressed with the neck pickup the most. I enjoy them all. As far as I can tell the only reason to ever upgrade is if you want noiseless. Or a humbucker or P-90 instead.

Thirdly, the neck is awesome. The profile is ideal for me. Not chunky and not wizard. But it's got enough there. The frets on mine are perfect being glassy, and smooth. If Phil McKnight did the sock test on this it would be 5 out of 5 stars no marks on the stocking at all.

Although, I'm not sure how it is from the factory. But The luthiers did a superb job with the crowns and fret ends. It may not have a rolled edge but for the price and everything that this Tele can do, who cares? It's still comfortable and nice. I could easily see this guitar as being worth twice the price. Which I hope never happens.

Fourthly, you don't need to upgrade anything, I just like to personalize it and make it more "mine".

Fifthly, As for the controls, the volume and tone pots are not scratchy at least not on mine. Tons of tonal range. Like I said I'd get a 4-way selector switch and make it even better. Again, the plastic end cap is the devil.

Sixthly, As for comfort. It's built like a vintage Tele as in without the modern belly cut. It's a big flat piece(s) of alder. It gets the job done. You probably won't even care or even miss the belly cut with what you get in terms of sound and performance. The weight isn't bad. It's not vintage Les Paul heavy but it isn't Dano or Ibanez S series light either. It's tanky. The bridge doesn't cause "hotspots" like the old ashtray styles do.

Seventhly, with the string thru and the modern saddle bridge, the sustain is nothing short of impressive. I know the old ashtray style with the brass bars is classic and help with a certain twang but I wouldn't swap it. I'm told if that's more your thing to consider the Gotoh intune ashtray Tele bridge. I'm leaving this baby as it is.

Eighthly, THE COLOR IS... well you need to see it in person. GORGEOUS. IT kinda has a color-shift effect. Different lighting... Photos don't do it any justice. In person, it's jaw-dropping.

Finally, If your setup is as good as mine. You would probably say that this is your favorite guitar. I haven't even upgraded anything yet and I already know that this is a keeper. I do not see any reason to go for an American Pro. or even a Custom Shop. If anything other than this model, The Player Plus should scratch that itch. I think this Player series is "The One". If not, it is definitely the TELE for me. If you are in the market for a Tele, Save money, pull the trigger, and get this guitar.

First New guitar I've purchased (I'm a bass Player) Always owned Tele's and love them. Bought this one and paid to have it Plek's. Best money I could of spent.. Frets absolutely level and smooth as well as edges of frets. Plays amazingly. Well worth the money.

Could not be happier with my Telecaster. It arrived in perfect condition. I love the Fender tone and playability. The workmanship is flawless. The guitar is beautiful and the Tidepool blue is even prettier in person.
This is the second guitar I have purchased from Sweetwater and my Sales Engineer Adam Hunter was awesome to work with both times. This time he made sure I received my guitar before Christmas. Thanks Adam and thanks Sweetwater.

It has been sometime since I purchased a Fender instrument. I'll say they have steadily improved. After adjusting to taste the action and intonation, it plays superb. The two single coils give it that Fender depth and Tele-twang. The neck is very easy on the hands. I purchased this Guitar for my wife, it's her first electric. Hat's off to Fender for a nice instrument.

Very happy with this purchase and as always the service provided by Sweetwater. Guitar was out of stock, but Alan was great about keeping me updated and taken care of. Guitar was in perfect condition. Action and intonation needed a little work, but I replaced the bridge and added a bigsby, so I had to redo all that anyway. Guitar plays great and has surprised me with tone for the price point. Had seen conflicting images online that showed differences in the tidepool color where some looked green and others looked grayish/blue. In person, it is a fantastic blue color.

Had mine for 6 years now and still sounds and plays great. Set up was decent right out of the box. I'd buy another one for sure.

Very playable guitar especially after the set up by a Sweetwater luthier. Sounds great and looks great as well. Outstanding customer service from Sweetwater as usual and a special "thank you" to Dave Cody for all his help in getting this guitar to me.

This guitar arrived in tune, all set up very nicely and had no flaws. This Fender Tele plays and sounds fantastic. This is made in Mexico, and I think they have perfected the build quality. From the moment I picked it up and played a few notes I knew this was a lifer. And I can't say enough about Sweetwater. They have shown time and time again that they are the best music store on the planet. I was hesitant about ordering a guitar online, but their team makes sure it is 100% before it goes out the door. Well Done!!!

I'm not sure what more there is to say. Excellent guitar.

This guitar came in perfect condition, plays and sound beautiful. I've really been enjoying messing around with it during the quarantine. The only small flaw I see is that the G string somehow came a little.. sticky, so its harder to slide and felt just sticky for a bit. As a play it more, it seems to subside. This was a wonderful purchase.

I’ve been searching for a telecaster I played many different ones including the pro series and higher end models. I always kept coming back to this one for the price you can’t beat it and the playability is great right out of the box although I will do a set up on it just to make sure. The tide pool color reminds me of my old Chevy pick up from the early 80s Would highly recommend trying this one out before spending a lot more money

I picked one up at a local store back in March of this year and was blown away by the tone I was hearing, especially with the neck pickup. I've always read that tele neck pickups were a little lackluster but honestly, this one has a very stratty character to it! It does strat neck tones better than my MiM strat with ceramic pups, that's for sure. Love the color too, the metallic flakes really give it depth

I bought this Tele because my collection had a Telecaster shaped hole in it. I've owned an American Standard, American Special, FSR MIM Standard with Mods, and a Baja Tele. This is the best Telecaster I have owned. Build quality is impressive at any price point. Fret work is so good my tech said he would swear it had been Pleked. Fit and finish is excellent. The real surprise is the pickups. I had intended to replace them with '51 Nocaster pups or maybe a set out of a Baja if I could find them but there is no need for an upgrade. The neck is warm and soulful and the bridge flat out rocks. Best Tele bridge pup I've heard! What is truly amazing is that Fender can sell a guitar of this quality for under a thousand bucks! A great Telecaster at any price point.

This is a follow up to my original review. Now that the honeymoon period has passed, and I've pulled all my other guitars out to play at both rehearsals and a couple of gigs, I wanted to give my longer term impressions.

First of all, as much as I tried, I just can't get along with a Tele neck pickup, so I finally changed it out for a Strat neck pickup (this required a new pickguard, but that was easy enough to find). The bridge pickup is still stock, and it is my favorite bridge pickup of all time. This is saying something: I'm a bridge pickup player. I rarely play other pickup selections. This stock slightly overwound Tele bridge pickup can do it all, and does it incredibly well. Distortion, crunch, breakup, clean, doesn't matter, this pickup delivers. Combined with the Strat neck pickup, I get the greatest clean tone ever. On just the bridge, any amount of distortion sounds heavenly.

The neck is perfect for me. Just round enough, with enough meat on it to grab on and go but not so much to slow you down. The bridge saddles are the most comfortable saddles Fender has to offer, and all the hardware is top notch. The color (tidepool) is drop dead gorgeous. Sure, this isn't a vintage Tele (no 3 saddle brass ashtray bridge, no vintage tuners, and hotter pickups), but for a modern Tele, this guitar can cover a startling amount of ground and sounds amazing doing it.

Bottom line: this is my go-to guitar. My bandmates in both bands I play guitar in agree. This guitar is worth every penny.

I was hesitant on pulling the trigger and purchasing the player series telecaster, but I"m glad that I finally did order it because this guitar is the best I"ve ever owned. The fret work and fit and finish are amazing. There is very little that I want to do to this guitar because it plays so well. The pickups sound great in any style of music I"ve thrown at it. I was worried that I would regret not getting an american made tele, but after playing this guitar I know I made the right choice. This is a guitar I hope to keep forever.

I got this Tele figuring that it would be a good base platform for modding. Of course, I tried it out with the stock bridge and pickups first, as I always do to establish a baseline. Took it to rehearsal, took it to a gig, took it to rehearsal with a different band, and now the only thing I'm changing is the pickguard (purely for cosmetic reasons - Tidepool looks great with the stock parchment pickguard, but even better with aged pearloid).

This Tele plays great and sounds fantastic. It's a bit hot compared to a vintage Tele, but you don't loose any clarity with these Alnico 5 pickups. I even like the neck pickup (as much as I ever like a Tele neck pickup). The bridge pickup is pretty much perfect.

If I have one complaint it's that it took me this long to order it.

Hi, I had been a guitar player for 39 years. I had many guitars over the years, mostly humbucker pickups. After a lots of research I decided to buy a telecaster and I chose the PST. I can say Its a very high quality instrument and I love the color and the individual saddles are a very nice feature. when I got the guitar it came in great condition inside the molded case that I bought for it. I put my candies away and proceed to plug the guitar in to my Blackstar ht club 40 and after a little tweaking in the amp this guitar captivated me for the next 2 hours. Very nice classic Tele sound and no other extra control except for the basics. Very nice crisp sounds. I will recommend this guitar. The only problem that I had was that the pickup selector switch cap was very loose to the point that it will come off whenever I used the switch. Nothing major and a phone call to my sales engineer took care of that. Sweetwater has a very good customer support and they are there to help. Forever thanks to my sales engineer, James Shilliday, great guy and great support.

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.

I love the MIM line of fender guitars. They are very high quality for the price you pay, and at 1/2 the cost of an MIA, with very comparable functionality, I think they are the no-brainer selection, even for those with the disposable income for a $ guitar. I purchased the Tidepool tele. Here are some pros and cons I've found in the last week since receiving and playing the guitar stock as received:

Pros:
>excellent neck profile, satin finish, and playability
>high quality construction, solid feel, complete "peace of mind"
>pickups and electronics are very good for the price range
>guitar was set up very well!
>Excellent body finishes all around; Tidepool is especially striking to me.

Cons:
>fender does not offer both Maple and Pau Ferro for all finishes
>nut could use more filing to fit the strings better.
>Input jack is a massive pain in the butt and I have no idea why fender keeps using an outdated and antiquated jack design, especially considering these teles are not of a vintage replication. I swapped this out with some modifications to a square plate jack.
>age old issue with hitting the vol pot using the pickup selector still remains. I wish fender would make reverse control plates standard
>no locking tuners, especially since it's a $ retail upgrade, which means internally it costs much less for fender to produce. It couldn't cost that much to offer those as standard.
>no case, not even padded gigbag.

I have always wanted a Fender Telecaster. I finally decided to look into them to find the right model for me and my budget. I eventually landed on the Player Series for its slightly updated yet still classic Tele sound, the stunning color choices, and the amazing price.

I spent a week just deciding on the color! I went with Tidepool because it spoke to me and I knew I had to find a nice pickguard to match (from etsy). I even got the tweed case, which fits the guitar snug and safe. I had Sweetwater set it up with NYXL 10-52 strings because I play in D Standard, which are the perfect tension for that tuning and sound great. I also installed Fender locking tuners myself just for the convenience of them. The pickups sounded wonderful with my clean style playing (midwest emo) especially in the middle position. The guitar looks and feels great; quite impressive for a flat slab of wood.

There was an issue, though. The setup that was done was not that great. So much so that I was doubting whether it was the guitar or me just being nitpicky. I talked with my rep (Matt Kreager) who told me that I could send it back to get fixed, they could send me a new one, or I could take it to a local luthier. I decided to take the opportunity to instead visit Sweetwater itself for the first time.

What a cool place. If you think Guitar Center is a music store, then you need to go see Sweetwater. Their facility and staff show you what a music store should be like. I took my guitar to the repair desk and told them no rush as my partner and I explored the place for the next four hours. After we were content, I went to the guy working on my guitar, and wow! He gave me all of the information about Tele's that any first-time owner would not know and showed me ways of doing small corrections myself at home. The setup he did was phenomenal on top of that, and the guitar sang much better than it previously had. He even replaced the strings with a new set of NYXL 10-52's, which I didn't even have to ask him to do. All of this was complimentary! When people tell you Sweetwater has stellar customer service, this is what they are talking about.

Throughout this whole journey, I have learned a few things. One, the Player Series Telecaster lives up to the name and does everything better than I could have hoped for. Two, Sweetwater is the best and only music store for me. Finally, and most surprisingly, when thrown through two overdrives (even on a Fender Deluxe Reverb) this Tele can sound as heavy as my Schecter with EMG's.

Bottom line, BUY THIS GUITAR. It will quickly become the only guitar you play.

Looks great
Sounds Great
Awesome customer service
Thanks Sweetwater

Had no intention of buying a tele in tidepool blue, but when I saw the photos of this particular neck I locked in immediately! Was a beautiful flamed maple neck and with the blue and chrome it hit me right in the "classic car" kinda vibes.

Showed up and needed minor TLC.. adjustment of pickup and bridge. The nut was a little sloppy, had my G string jump free the first weekend when bending about the 4th fret, but I cleaned it up ( and use one size below fender standards ) so I've not had the issue since.

Overall no regrets and I'm still as excited to pick this thing up every time as I was when I purchased it 4+ months ago

This guitar is solidly built, with good intonation from the six piece bridge, and good fretwork. The paint finish does not have any flaws and I like the color combination of the guitar. I have owned the guitar only three weeks. I agree with most of the product description on the sweetwater.com website. The bridge pickup has a bark to the chords, the neck pickup has a thick tone to the notes. The middle pickup position with both pickups, has a unique sound to it. I had only one problem with one tuning machine that was slipping on the third string, when initially trying to tune the guitar with a tc electronic polytune pedal. I have not experienced that same tuning problem since then, and the guitar stays mostly in tune. The tone and volume controls operate very smoothly. Now I just need to purchase a case for it.

I want to say that for a far a this guitar traveled and as many handoffs it had, the package had absolutely no flaws. I wish I could say the same with the guitar itself. For the most part, it is in excellent condition build wise. However, this is the first guitar I've ordered and received that was mostly unplayable out of the box. It is also the first Telecaster I've ever owned or played. Although it supposedly had a '55 point QC check', the first thing I noticed is how the strings were applied to the tuners. The sixth string had so many winds that it was 'piled' on the tuner, 4 and a half winds to the point of the string having a severe angle to the nut. This caused this string to howl when struck. Intonation was less than perfect as the third string was dead to the ear when struck. The sound of the rest of the strings were less than stellar as well (did I mention the string tree was cocked putting a crook in those strings?). I'm assuming they were Fender Bullets. They usually sound decent for a first set but these did not. First thing I did was change out the strings with a set of D'Addario XL's. They were a good improvement over the originals but, the guitar had to have an intonation tweak to make the playability acceptable.

With all that in mind, the Tele plays very well and it has that Tele sound. These were all mostly little details that should have been noticed and corrected during your QC check. As it is, these 'minor details' were corrected and now it plays the way it should.

I purchased one of these after having excellent experiences with other player series guitars. The guitar that arrived was supposedly inspected (inspection card was in the box), but buzzed on the open 4th string. Sweetwater replaced the instrument, but the replacement had uneven string spacing at the nut with the first and second strings more widely spaced than the rest. This resulted in the first string too close to the edge of the fretboard, with strings popping off of the edge on pull-offs. I opted to just deal with this one on my own, but beware, these nuts are pretty seriously glued in, and the original had to be cut out. After a long process of fitting, sanding, and rechecking the height of the new nut, the guitar plays wonderfully. From what I've read elsewhere, nuts can be an issue on the player series. I had hoped that the inspection processes would prevent me from getting a bad one.

For those wondering (as I did), the bridge can be swapped for a vintage Fender bridge, which lines up properly with all the string and screw holes.

I was excited to check out my new player series only to be let down by terrible fretwork. All the frets were sharp and when they were somewhat rounded it looked like my 4 year old sons did it. I went to the local guitar center and you know what the player series there had bad fretwork also, not as bad as this one but still bad. I looked at all the squire's they had and all of them had better fretwork thank their Mexican models. I'm not sure what's going on at the plant in Mexico but I would steer clear and check out the Indonesian models before I paid more because it says fender instead of squire.