Good guitar, but... ? Fender Player Series Stratocaster 

I will say Fender calling the Mexican made models the Player Series was a very smart marketing strategy.

I have a player series strat, polar white pau ferro. Zero problems when using the trem. Its all about adjusting it right.

I have a player series Strat in Tidepool. I have owned USA strats and Les Pauls actually, but this is now my go to guitar. It's brilliant

This is a brilliant review, thank you for the candid insight.

Great straty sounds! Awesome playing, as always!

thanks for the info on the Graph Tech string tree, going to replace the string trees on a couple of my guitars with these . .

I am impressed by that great song at the beginning. Congratulations! You are a great musician and composer. Also, a very powerful singer. Really loved it!

Henning, thanks for the great review and helpful advice about string trees! Just ordered 2 sets of TUSQ XL retainers and a bunch of stuff from Thomann with your affiliate link.

i have a player strat. i love it. its just a strat.

Ok time to watch the video that we have been talking about for a week!

I was looking at getting an HSS Player Strat around the end of last year, but ended up going for a Godin Session LTD. The setup on the one I played was fine, but I preferred the pickups and neck profile on the Godin.

Nice, i have the exactly same strat. Black with PF fretboard. It is my very first guitar i started learning 6 months ago. I did not want a 100 euro beginner guitar but something with some quality i can use for the next few years. In the shop they told me that this one is the one to get. In my opinion they were right about that.

good quality strings properly stretched, proper setup and locking tuners and the standard Fender trem stays in tune perfectly.

Done with silly shirts, moving on to "interesting" pants?

I put fender locking tuners and the same string tree seen here. MASSIVE improvement. Love it.

I just bought a 2020 Fender Player Series iii. I love it.

I got one of these coming tomorrow. I hope I get a dark neck like that one. Nice demo!

The beautiful Hanna on vocals again !! And awesome opening song again henning sir !!

Love the Player Series Pau Ferro. Tweaked the Duo Tremlo. Lowering it a little till you find the sweet spot gives an amazing Strat tone. Now waiting on a good deal on a Strat type Players Series with a maple neck. Polar white or Butter Cream will do. Awesome video. Thank you.🤗

You spoil us with these long videos. Appreciate your effort.

I like my Mexi-Strat, and this is a good review. They're solid guitars for the price, and can be great with a little "TLC". Perfectly fine to take out in public to play, without having to fret about taking a huge financial investment out of the house, and into the wild. Take care, and thanks again for the videos. Animals at the end! :)

Good video. To reiterate what some others have said in the comments, the tremelo on the Players Series Strat is as stable and stays in tune as well as any Strat, American or otherwise. In fact, the early Player Series like the one you have here literally had an American bridge/trem installed -- this was changed to a slightly different but equally fine bridge/trem a little later. It is a matter of setup and proper tuning. Edit: the Graph Tech string tree is a big improvement and worth the upgrade -- everything else works/sounds great on these.

I got a Players Series strat from GC and it came set up perfectly. There were some dings in the finish on the bottom of the guitar that I didn’t notice until I was home but I didn’t call to complain as this guitar will get them eventually anyways. There was also a finish crack in the neck joint that seems to be consistent with these models. Besides that I can’t complain about this guitar, it plays great sounds great and stays in tune. Great guitar at this price point.

I have an all black player HSS strat one of the special editions from GAK (shops get limited runs in certain finishes) that I've set up without any mods. Just used pencil graphite in nut and sewing machine oil in string tree and saddles. I looked at various set up guides floated the tremolo and its staying in tune without any issues. Standard tuning with Ernie ball 10-46 Very impressed with its quality.

I dig that trouser so much!

I put a graphtech nut and staggered locking tuners on mine, got rid of the string tree and set the trem up floating with just two springs for 9s. Stays in tune better than my Charvel DK24 with a Gotoh 510 now. Good guitar and will hold value very well when you decide to move on.

While tuning every string you have to use the trem up and down until its settled and stays in pitch. It takes a bit longer to tune the guitar, but it is bang on in tune even with heavy trem use, because the strings have already settled. When it gets a bit out of tune while playing, don't touch the tuners. Just do a down bent with the trem and the string slips back in its original position. ( pitch ). Try, it really works

I own a player series strat HSH and for the most part I love it. Is it perfect no but I can say that about higher end instruments I have also. The first mod I did was locking tuners not really for tuning stability but for ease of string change since changing strings on a strat is a PITA. Never had more than normal for a strat tuning issues and I have it floating. The Fender tuners are staggered and I still have the original string tree. When I needed the frets dressed I went ahead and had Jescar jumbo stainless frets installed and a Tusq nut. Lubrication and string stretching is the key to keeping this thing stable. It's not perfect but it's not a Floyd style either. Even if I had purchased a high end American strat I still wouldn't have as good as what I have. Just my opinion. Stay well everyone!

Nice guitars! Good Morning Henning. Great track... we know this singer from a recent historic RU-vid event. Hannah sounds great. Cheers.

I have this guitar White Polar color with Pau ferro.,. Beautiful color that has only the player series. Sounds great it's a full-fledged Stratocaster and the real difference with the other more expensive series are the pickups that are more or less powerful but not worse or better. Incredible value for money

I have a player strat and player tele. In the case of the tele I bought it from a small shop and they set it up perfectly so when I received it it was bang on. The strat was right out the box from guitar center. The setup was decent. Action, a tad high, but intonation was bang on. I’ve owned a lot of strats over the years and a few other teles. Both American and Mexican. In all cases, there is the good and bad with American and Mexican models. I’ve had American strats that wouldn’t stay in tune very well at all and I’ve had Mexican strats that would stay in tune for days. In most cases the tuning stability can be improved doing all the usual things, term adjustments, string stretching, nut lubrications, etc. As long as the neck is solid and properly attached, all things can be fixed. Now saying all that, I have to say my two player series guitars are quite simply two of the best Fender guitars I’ve ever owned, period. The quality of the woods is on point from what I can tell, the updated features are exactly what I would want in a new model. The new alnico pickups are great, love the sound and I see no need to replace them as is usually my second mandatory upgrade to any Mexican fender I buy, immediately following locking tuners. As for tuning stability on both my tele and strat are good on the strat and excellent on the tele. Good to me means, when I pick it up to play after a day, I do a tuning and it stays in tune during my play. Excellent to me means, I often do not have to tune for several days, though I always check it.

If you polish the saddles really well, lube them, and lube the inside of the block itll snap back into tune np. It's all about reducing the friction on the strings at the contact points and stretching the strings.

I'm thrilled with the tone, looks, and playability of my Player Strat.

Nice, not thrilling, but nice... That Mustang looks like the 64 Duo-Sonic I had as a kid. (wish I still had it!) Looking forward to seeing more with that. :D

That's a fair review, I wonder what other S type (any brand) would be a perfect contender if you added all the desired upgrades to the price? And oh, you forgot to say hi to Justin from Graph Tech ;-) It has become one of the running gags in your show. My compliments for the image quality, closeups and lighting.

"Honky hollow" sounds like an apt description of my teenaged soul in the 90s.

My MIM Players trem is fine. Stays in tune perfectly. No upgrades necessary.

I recommend putting lube on the bridge posts and knife edges. For me this solved my tuning problems.

About trem...even on US Strats it comes this way, exactly the same and then you have to adjust it.Tuning stability is great after even harsh use of trem. It just has to used to the strings(strings has to find their possitions), same as on expensive Strats. I play Player Strat about a year, after Deluxe Strat(had it 10 years) and have no issues at all. P.S. I changed string tree and put it from American Pro Strat.

Really nice song at the beginning :)

Great guitar love it

I have this exact same guitar but with maple neck. I changed the setup to suit me. You have to stretch the strings when new or that will cause tuning issues. I did add one spring to lower the floating trem but it stays in tune fine using the trem without lubricating anything. Cost £499 GBP.

A really good review - great. :-) All the information I was looking for. But what I still ask myself: is there noticable difference in the saddle width of 42mm to the 43mm of the american performer series?

Guitars don't come really set up I had to do some work on the nut on mine new guitars seem to have nuts that are cut to high From the first fret so they have to be lowerd and I widend the slots and then no moor tuning problems then you have to adjust the truss rod action and intonation non locking tremolos need custom work to make them work.trust me the gears in tuners don't slip tuneing broblems are in the guitars nut..

The new string tree still didn't correct the break angle problem on the G. There's a company in Nashville that makes one similar to the original that holds down the G, B and E at the same angle. No modifications required. I installed them on both of my Strats and it does make a difference plus they are not expensive.

I had an American deluxe that also had trem issues but not nearly that bad, lubricating the nut helped a lot but I wish it had something like a graphtech nut. I also have trouble with bends going flat on my musicman guitars despite using big bends nut sauce and sending it to them for nut work. My best results for trem tuning stability come from the Ibanez edge systems, double locking with locking studs is just hard to beat for stability.

What did you think of the frets? I have a player Strat FSR , everything was fine except for the frets . They were like razor blades . Really sharp. I called fender . They set me up with a luthier and paid to have him smooth them out. So, other than the frets , the quality is really good.

The verse melody is from the Queen & the Soldier by Suzanne Vega. Nice honest guitar demo.

I put locking tuners and a USA strat string tree on mine as soon as i got it. Holds quite well. Im going to put a Graphtech nut on too. I dont mind spending on sensible mode, its a great guitar

Just think how many famous guitar players used those string tree to make recordings/concert shows & still is going with some there sir comes along way back when

I did *NOT* expect the bridge pickup to sound that good overdriven.

The player series has the exact same bridge as the professional 2 as far as I know

I have found that the older MIM Fenders are light years ahead of similarly priced guitars (i own 4), thanks for a great review (especially how the strat sounds through those excellent amps in your collection.) As for retailers doing setups when asked, let me give you an example: One of your clients- Thomann's, three guitars, paid three times to have guitar checked & setup, and on all three occasions i was sent badly scratched/damaged guitars, that were also very poorly setup. Once a mistake, twice a coincidence, three times a habit.... (just in case you think i'm trolling Thomann's i would gladly e mail you order numbers/pics etc. Just saying.....anyway i digress, in closing i also agree, that if you want a half decent trem system, you have to go 1k+ to be satisfied-keep up the great vids H!

I have a Player Strat HSS Plus Top and it came out of the box with bad intonation. But the rest of the setup was pretty damn good.

Glad you are reviewing these, love to see the Player Jags they seem the best value for a HH jag, the Vintera's are cool but alot more cash and then the Squiers are really only the cheap end ones (not classic vibe). If you are going to get a strat though, black with maple board is the dreamboat for me..... DG/The Edge. Also where the hell are your specs from, its just player series sc's

If you don't abuse the trem it will work fine especially if you lubricate the nut (use lip balm) and add a decent string tree.

Nice combo, the pants with a black strat, good sounding pants, must be the tone wood thingy.. g,d & r

YOU DIDN’T ASK ME ABOUT MY PLAYER DUO-SONIC BUT THE SETUP WAS GREAT THANK YOU

I have a love/hate relationship with the Mexican Fenders, especially the Player Series. Nice Pickups, pure Strat, but a QC from hell. Seriously, these are the only guitars where I had two trussrods stuck with a stripped nut right out of the box. Also the frets are very often sharp as hell. Fret leveling is also not consistent. You can be lucky and get a good one but it’s a lottery. I bought an American Performer instead after 5 tries on the Player Series.

I just bought one and there is a lot of fret buzz on the 8th fret and the tremolo was completely out of order (allthough easy fix) the sadles was a mess(also easy fix). The Finish is so thin that it will crack in the future. The good points is the body is clean, pickups and pickguard are pleasent and the neck is fantastic. I didn't buy the guitar to be perfect I want to mod it but Ive played a lot better from all of the other series like vintera and american range.

That test was a nice companion to the Super Strat Test you did a while ago with the Ibanez RG style and another Fender in HSS config. How about a test of a Ibanez S style in HSS config? For example the Ibanez SA460QMW-TQB, Ibanez SA360NQM-SPB or Ibanez SA260FM-VLS. Or all of them in a comparison? 🧐😊 Would be interesting to see if the the higher prices translate into better playability and/or better sounds or just are for the looks.

I'm seriously looking at one of these (maybe 2) but as a lefthander my colour choice is limited. Fortunately I like both the Polar White & Black.

My Ibanez RG350 has a rock solid stable trem, and it costaed around 600$. I actually forgot when was the last time I tuned it. Same set of strings whole time tho.

Hab mir vor ein paar Monaten die komplett weiße gegönnt. Ich finde sie absolut großartig. Spielt sich besser als jede Squier, die ich in der Hand gehabt hatte.

Surprised you had so much problems with the trem but trust me, it works fine even w/o a new string tree.

Does buying Pau Ferro Is good for long term playability and use? Does we have to use oil often??

hi Henning. how's the judging going?

Setup on mine was questionable at best, blemishes on the maple fretboard also. Wish I knew the quality is hit or miss when I ordered it. Saw all the reviews on youtube, nobody disclaimed any issues. "It's great value for money bla bla" I could not return it because I dinged it first second I got it out the box. I set it up myself and it's a decent guitar, will have to take it to the luthier sometime soon though

I have a player strat. Good guitar, however I was impressed with the song and vocalist. Alot better than what's on the radio these days. Nice solos.

let's see if it stays in tune, when it was out of tune, but even more after using the vibrato...btw have you tried tuning by ear?

"Make it your own." Like you said. Completely agree. I have 2 Player Stats, 1 Player Tele, and 1 Am Pro Strat. I like the Players better as I've worked them over to make them how I like them. I'm more nervous doing that to an Am Pro. Agree that out of the box they need work. But every guitar, no matter the price, always gets worked over by me to make it feel and play how I like.

I got a 2020 Player Series Stratocaster and I am able to play without tuning issues without any modifications (just the pickguard, but that won’t affect anything). My guitar tech is a really experienced luthier and he told me that it’s an exceptional guitar. Again, I play with lots of tremolo use, none to very little tuning stability incidents, I do change the strings regularly tho.

what do you think about pau ferro fingerboard? Do you recommend buy a old mexican standard strat/tele or this new player series guitars

I got a HSS 3ts version a few weeks ago, i put Fender locking tuners on it, set it up, and it's awesome :) (tomorrow Seymour Duncan TB-59' zebra with a Fender Mint Green Pickguard and a set of Fender aged white plastics are comming, so it will be also super pretty ;) ). BTW a spring under tremolo arm is a must. Unfortunately you can only buy them in packs of 12 so i have too many spare ones ;) BTW 2: You said they don't look good on camera/photographed, but it looks great on Your video :)

Thanks

Best review I saw ever

Mine came without a setup but I would just do it myself anyway. The radius was correct though?

It is true that you cannot buy a guitar with an excellent tremolo system for this price, but the Fender Player Stratocaster has no problems with tuning. By the way, I have been repairing guitars for years and with a good setup, those guitars stay tuned very well.

Great review. Loved the use of different amps. I’ve had nothing but excellent experiences with Player series instruments (always bought from my local shop so always set up nicely ) 🍺🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🍺 I was watching Mr Ferris unbox his Duo sonic yesterday ...... broken switch upset him a lot on the unboxing .... id wager he’s still recovering hence not replying too you 😂

Two possible exceptions regarding trem tuning stability sub 1k: prs se and vintage v6

Does thommam makes setup on Harley Benton guitars if we ask?

In October 2019 I bought a Special Edition Fender Player Strat. Setup almost ok, but the fretjob was very disappointing. The leveling wasn’t good and some frets weren’t recrowned after leveling - some were simply flat on the top. I also got a Squier Bullet Tele made in Indonesia for 160€ and believe it or not - setup and frets were great! I upgraded PUs and electronics and now it’s my favorite guitar for half the price of the Player. Fender really needs to improve QC on their MiM... very disappointed.

I’d say Fender can be proud of the most skilled and competent reviewer in these kinds of pants, so ... never stop the bit*hing where it’s due.

That's not a string tree, but a string shrubbery

What is the song at the begining. Great tune

Well, of course you've got to set it up properly, same as with any guitar, but Player strats are really nice instruments imo; better in both sound & playability than quite a few US-made ones I've mucked around with recently. (Full disclosure: I don't actually use the trem tho, so YMMV)

How does it stack up to the fgn guitars you tried?

"The core is there". Absolutely! I have so much fun playing this axe. As for the improvments: Fender locking tuners Distance ring under the string tree Rockinger 2-Stud Tremolo Rockinger Black Box Tremolo Stabilizer (for free floating tremolo) Fret dress (because of high frets and sharp fret ends on mine) String set of 10th General Setup (especially after the hardware changes) Right about perfect!

Hmm I bought a Harley Benton ST-62 Vintage Strat ( because I like the neck and it has a lot of sustain) added a Vegatrem, Graphtech nut and string trees and Kluson locking tuners -= 410euro so I still have money for pickups - oh and it plays like butter and stays in tune - much better then my Fender Deluxe Strat

Have you tried Cort g290fat ? Please do a review 🙏🏾

Gitarre gut, gutes Demo, Shirt mit Hund und Katze super. Echt sympathischer Typ. Aber wer hat die Hose ausgesucht? Trotzdem, wenn ich so gut Gitarre spielen könnte und so viel tolles Equipment haben dürfte und dafür so ne Hose anziehen müsste, ehrlich, ich würde es tun. 😄

Is this pre routed for a ssh if you wanted to modify it

Are the parts of these exact fender sizes ? As in, would a fender pickguard fit these ?

@EytschPi42 What you've missed at 12:34 is that Thomann will bill you another 75€ for the setup.

Α'ight, where do we find this song?! Also: I am convinced about the Graphtech trees. Would roller string trees also help?

In a 600 or more doing tunning stuf !!! 🤔... always nice videos... 👍👍👍

I liked the shirt made of space shuttle mission patches! A proper fret level and setup is $200. That is why there is such a discrepancy in cheaper guitars. You roll the dice. Sometimes you get one that just happens to be pretty good as manufactured. Sometimes you roll snake eyes. A lot of entry level players don't know the difference between a well setup guitar and one that was just spit out of a CNC machine in China without anyone ever inspecting it. A lot of customers for sub $1000 guitars are beginners who quit in 6 months, leave the guitar in the closet for 2 years, then dump it on Craigslist. Cheaper guitars can be great! I bought the tools and learned how to do a FULL setup years ago because I dont expect cheaper guitars to ne perfect. If they were perfect,they would cost more than $1000!

Hey Henning! I enjoyed your review, and btw you can make any guitar sound good no matter what it is. Don't forget to lubricate your nut! :-)

Those dweebs who say you're a "shill for the money" need to watch this video! Great review

Hey Henning. If u can, u should do a review of G&L Tribute series. About a month ago i got a G&L Tribute S-500 and i love mine. Very impressed with how it plays and sounds for the price. I would love to hear your thoughts on G&L. I would say the tribute series is a good comparison to Fender Player Series.