Fender 50s Classic Player Stratocaster Review 

I agree, with a minimal amount of fret touchup and a good set up a mexi strat is just as nice as an american. Hell even the custom shop guys say one of the only real difference between mexican, american and custom shop fenders are fit and finish. I.e fret polishing, sanding, leveling.

Thanks very much. Agree, Not good to have effects on these, you want to hear guitar....

Agree.

I think he should delete his channel, stop playig music, and move out of country because he's making @fonzirmendoza1979 nervous

Same! Except I just bought it yesterday :) I stumbled across this in a shop and was so confused.... Had to buy it. I thought it had to be an older gently used strat, but guy said it wasn't used and had the same xp with the strings. Played so well compared to all the other strats in the shop. Had to look up the serial # on Fender to figure out what it really was. The shop had it listed as a player strat in inca silver... To me it felt and looked like the Classic 50s, but it's $800... what's going on?! Great guitar. Might add a mid boost and master tone

Anthony Roach whoa what a coincidence I have the Baja tele in sonic blue as well as this 50's strat in sunburst

This might be a dumb question, but I just bought one of these from 06-07 and the pickups look like plain strat pickups. The one from then also had 57/62’s right? Trying to make sure I didn’t get scammed.

Auston Blair As far as I’m aware, the one I had was an early one and they all had the vintage pickups (middle reverse wound), and custom pickup switching so that you have bridge and neck instead of middle and neck. Should also have a Custom Shop neck plate.

Okay, yep they have quite different necks. The 50 is slight V shape to the back like they had for a while in the late 50s - like an Eric Clapton Strat but unlike a vintage 50s neck , has a modern 9.5 radius (flatter fretboard). Usually V shape good if you play with thumb over the top. It has a MAPLE board only (like they did in the 50s) The 60s has a classic 60s neck which is more of a C shape - again with modern radius flatter fretboard though - like an American standard or any of the AVRI 60s guitars - pretty common standard feeling neck , most people would be comfortable with it. ROSEWOOD board. I think from memory they both have vintage narrow frets (vintage width but taller) PUPS The 50s has 57/62 AVRI pups The 60s has 69 AVRI pups (I love both of these - 69s a tiny bit more perhaps. Pickups probably the highlight of the CP range. Both low output vintage style but 69s are referring, I think, to Hendrix, so make of that what you will.) Both guitars have weirdo switching - you'lll need to look up 60s but I explain 50s in my video on this guitar. Other than that everything is cosmetic, colours pick guards different number of pick guard screws, um, what else, can't think of anything else..... hope it helps

Glenn Evans can this compete with an am standard?

It's certainly not far off. One thing I've heard is the 2-point bridge is not as good quality as the Am Std 2 point version. Not that I could notice. Definitely in the ball park.

SergioOrtiz ....from my personal experience....I'd have to say yes....the pickups alone are American vintage 57/62 pickups and with the neck adjustment at the headstock getting great action is easy.all the appointments are on par with the American standard ....now some American standards are better in certain years....the early 90's American standards did not cut it....from 2010 on the American standards got better my opinion....These classic players are in my opinion the best stratocasters as far as bang for the buck......the necks are great too...What more to say.....buy one you won't be disapointed

I have a 50s roadworn I love more than the classic player HOWEVER I had to change the bridge and I changed the pickups too (but stock were okay). Theres another video of it on my channel I think one before and after the new bridge.

Yes, I just watched your other video (Callaham bridge and Custom Shop '69s), Wow! To me, the tones on those pickups sounded better than the Classic Player! Did the new bridge really help with the sound?

Steve Engleman yes it made a huge difference but that's because the original bridge on mine was rubbish. There's an American made bridge and an 'import' made bridge which is lighter and on those guitars. Mine buzzed and sounded cheap. The Kalahan one is equivalent or better than my AVRI bridges. Like a pre CBS strat. The classic player in this video bridge was okay. No problem but apparently not actually as good quality as an American standard though it looks identical.

That's good to know because I need to replace the bridge on my strat. Thanks again!

Steve Engleman yep I made the mistake of buying a cheap 'genuine fender' bridge on eBay but it was an 'import' when I looked at the packaging. It was the exact same lightweight one as the road worn only not road worn. Didn't sound any better.

Thanks very much!

That is correct. I purchased one of these shortly after they were introduced and the info sheet, which I am looking at right now, shows position 4 as bridge + neck.

@@wayneblanchard97 same for me and it's from 2007.... It gives a nice shiny/bright funky sound but not the usual position 4 srv/john mayer sound and i heard you just have to change the position of 1 cable to another pot and it will sound as a strat should sound... That was a good idea but who want a strat that sounds like a tele especially on the most "strat" sound position...!

How do you know it has the 2014 60th Anniversary neck? Does it have the 60th logo? When was yours made? Theres a chance they would have used up the necks in 2015 I guess.

I also have one of these with the 60th Anniversary logo on the back of the neck. It makes me feel a little better that someone else has one, but still, I can't find any information about it. Weird.

I seem to remember the Eric Johnston has a thicker neck than other two. Higher spec. More $. This one theoretically has better pickups than the 50s one.

funkuncle999 Thanks. Yeah, the EJ neck feels slightly "larger" than the AO 50s (fretboard radius apart). I've only tried the AO 50s and the EJ. I liked both neck shapes a lot... I think I'd go for the AO 50s if it had taller frets, that's my only quiver about it... I wonder how the does CP 50s neck compare to those two... you can always swap the electronics (both AO and EJ have strongly appealing pick up sounds anyways...).

That is a Classic Series 50's then. The Classic Player has the 9.5 but the Classic Series 50's has the 7.25

Cheers... if only....

This pickup config is made to sound like a tele on position 4.... That sucks after many years, can't get the srv/Mayer sound... I heard you just have to change a cable from a Pot to another one but i can't do this on my own... I guess i'll have to ask a luthier to do it...

@@Sameold87 Fender should have made position 3 the bridge and neck pickups. who uses the middle pickup on its own apart from Clapton? It even sounds bad when he's using it.

@@michaelportaloo1981 agreed !

@@Sameold87 you can split the switch between the 4th and 5th position and still get middle and neck pups

@@mcd5778 It's not very stable but it works perfectly, thanks dude!

yep

The two point trem should be an improvement on a vintage one because there are less points of contact for friction. But you could make a 6 point vintage one into a 2 point trem by loosening the middle 4 screws anyway.

Soft V is quite chunky at fret 1 but is thinner at the end, that should be ok for you I guess!

And radius is 9.5

Jeremie, Hi, Thank you for your info 👍👍👍. Take care.

@@johnroberts838 you're welcome, I play this guitar since 2007, she is still my main especially because of the neck, on american fender you rarely find a V shape neck or soft V, you have to go custom shop or blackie for this, so for a mexican model it's awesome... At the time I paid 680€ for It, new it's more around 900€ these days... And the wood selection was clearely US at the time, the grain of the neck is almost quartersawn, it's been cut at the limit between classic and quartersawn so definitely happy with this one..

Jeremie, I ended up putting one together about 6 months ago, Stratosphere on eBay, the Shoreline Gold was becoming hard to find, so I got the Neck, Body and Bridge, already had a Loaded Scratch Plate. You are right, I have a Clapton Artist with the Soft V, and a few other Strats, I really like the Classic Player series 👍. Take care, thank you.

I’m pretty certain it doesn’t have that switching. Each guitar was a bit different because it was a special project where certain builders got to add their own ideas.

Correct yes, feels like about the same overall volume in your hand, just slightly less shoulder and perhaps little more height in the middle. Not much in it, can feel better for thumb over the top kind of playing.

Mutant Baby Hi. Not I’m not aware of those. Are you sure you’re not looking at the ‘50s Classic’ (as opposed to classic player). They have 6 screws.

I hope this link works. reverb.com/item/13660718-fender-stratocaster-50-s-classic-player-2008-surf-green Maybe it's a classic series mislabelled.

Mutant Baby oh I see. Maybe the older model. On a normal American standard of that time I think the 2 point first came in in 2008. Perhaps it was the same with player.

Yeah, that's probably it.

Classic series : 6 screws trem Classic player : 2 points tremolo

Fernando Rodriguez i want to know too

I don’t have this guitar but I’m planning on buying one of these necks and put lace sensors red/silver/blue in my MIM strat. There’s a video from riffs beards, and (some other word)’s channel. He put lace sensors in his MIM and it sounds great. He did a Siamese dream tone video using that guitar as well.

Hugely depends on your budget but... you're saying you're a Gibson guy, so do you want the Strat to sound like a Strat? Because Strats FEEL different partly because of the extra tension on the strings, the (generally) rounder neck, rounder body curves. They SOUND different largely because of the single coils and again that string tension gives them more snap and of course the floating vibrato bridge design. So my point is you can get a Strat that FEELS like a Strat but SOUNDS more like a Gibson by getting a humbucker version. I have to guess so much about what you want but what springs to mind is maybe you should get a Strat with two single coils and humbucker in the bridge position (chances are, as a Gibson guy, you are going to find that pickup way too thin anyway) That way you can get great Jimi Hendrix type tones and classic clean John Mayer Strat tones from the front pickups but have more guts in the bridge position (like you're used to)...Eddie Van Halen style. So -in that scenario -if you wanted an American guitar a good one (that's the most affordable) is the new Performer series SSH (2 single coils with hum bucker in bridge). Or you can spend more with Professional model of the same configuration. Otherwise if you want a Mexican guitar there's a player series version of similar thing. And I think even others + squire etc.

@@stratocaster_nerd7283 no I want a strat to sound like a strat not a gibson. That's why I'm buying one. I've played starts before and I'm totally fine playing one. I like the 3 single coils and I like the American made if I can afford it. My budget is 800- 1200 Canadian. I was thinking about buying one like in this video

@@cmac178 Okay well I'd still have a look at the performer series but in single coil. It's the most affordable of the USA series. I bought the telecaster and I love it. I tried the Strat too in the store. They do have jumbo frets which might or might not suit - again it's more a Gibson vibe. Its part of the reason I bought it because all my vintage guitars have tiny frets and I wanted the opposite so I could get under the strings more for bends. I've sold this guitar in the video since I bought it because well I just didn't fall in love with it, it wasn't that resonant, bit heavy, but that might be just this particular one. It was fine I just had other guitars I liked more like the American Vintage ones, 59 and 62 you can see in my other videos.

Thanks for the info strat need!!

Yes they are meant to be because they are meant to be Custom shop 57/62 pickups but its not really stated firmly in their specs.

@@stratocaster_nerd7283 i have one, and yeah it's weird for the price but there is fender custom shop adhesive logo on it

yes

They are definitely both in the same ball park. Both made in Mexico. The pickups are ’better’ on this depending on your taste. After that it's all personal preference in terms of slightly different specs.

I have an American performer (replaced the special series) and I would say this one is probably better unless you like hot pickups(the performer series pickups are hot)

smokestack lightning by howling wolf

mmm... if you touch the strings and it goes away it means it's not earthed properly which is an easy fix. All starts have hum but if its more than your cheap one maybe a problem. On the other hand perhaps the room you're in is causing it. Moving around, direction compared to amp, changes it.

thank you very much for your reply. yes it goes away when i touch it.. i tried it in other rooms/positions but hum was always there.. do you think it worths to keep it and try to solve the problem or should i change it with a mim standart? and are the 50s are noisier than mim standarts (when noise cancelling is not used, lets say both in bridge position)

Well try the other guitar - see if you like it better. If you do then swap. However in theory the Classic Player has a few superior features about it - mainly the pickups are better - but they are fairly similar quality. You should always go for the guitar that feels better and sounds better to YOU. Because every guitar is made by humans out of wood so they are all different no matter the model or brand. Thats why people go crazy looking for the perfect guitar. Plus all the models have different specs which are great for some and not others. You can't really listen to peoples opinions too much because its whats right for YOU. I just bought a inexpensive Squire telecaster and I definitely of like it more than an AM STANDARD I had a few years back. Back to you classic player -if its an earthing problem just probably means a wire is loose somewhere inside. So a repair man can fix easily. (By the way I am 'stratocaster nerd' just logged in wrong)

Henry P. Funkuncle thanks

Yes confusing. The classic 50s had traditional 6-screw trem. The 'player' had these modern updates.

6.25 Clean sounds

quit whining the guitar is suppose to hum like that its suppose to be a replica of a 1950s strat. plus the guitar came out in 2010 not 2018. atleast get your facts right if your gonna complain

bradledots you go

@@bradledots weird.... mine is from 04.

No, you're thinking of the '60s version. The '50s is 9.5.