Fender Player Stratocaster HSS Electric Guitar - Maple Fingerboard - Aged Cherry Burst - Plus Top

First off, I have read stories of bad fret sprout on entry-level Fenders. I was happy to see the neck on this guitar is fantastic. My last Classic Vibe Telecaster's neck was gritty on the frets and too sticky on the back. This Player's neck is the exact opposite. The frets are perfectly polished, and the back is a wonderful satin finish that makes moving up and down the neck easy.I thought I'd have to change the nut out for a Graphtech, but the factory nut actually was cut very well, and the action measured at the 2nd fret was just what it should be for my preferred 9-46 Hybrid Slinkies. It took a few turns of the truss rod to reduce the neck relief to an acceptable level, which is expected. I personally just cut off a few strings in the middle and measure at the high and low E, then change the whole set. After doing this I noticed action wasn't unusually high, but full note bends across the neck were still possible, which to me means the saddles were set up quite well and there were no high frets. I'll be returning the Graphtech that I assumed would be required.I'm not sure why they chose a black pickguard for the maple neck model. With the lightness of the neck and the burst gradually getting lighter towards the center of the body, my eye expects it to be lightest in the very middle. I made it so with an aged white pearl pickguard from Kaish and I think it works better.The jack was probably the weakest part of the entire guitar. My cable constantly slipped out no matter how hard I plugged it in. Fortunately, I happened to have a puretone jack that grips your cable with 4 different prongs, so I popped it in as part of my pickguard swap... though I did have to drill a tiny groove out of the inside jack cavity to make room for the tip. But once I did that it stayed put.The tuners are absolutely fine, but I did upgrade to staggered Fender locking tuners, which are a drop in replacement with the same two little grooves for each tuner in lieu of screws. I just put them on and am expecting they will hold tune better when using the tremolo.So this guitar goes as low as $600 on sale, and for that price you get a hopefully excellent maple neck, very acceptable electronics and pickups, and a flame maple finish, albeit a subtle one. There are many different types of replacements that could work in my mind, if you agree that a lighter pickguard works better. Parchment, White, or Aged Pearl are all good options in my mind. Be prepared to adjust a few things, but the playable neck, was what I cared about most, because you're touching that the most, and that's certainly what I got.So if you're as lucky as I was, no changes to the default nut or frets will be necessary to start playing, just fresh strings and a few turns of the truss rod. Maybe have a decent input jack handy just in case, though?----EDIT:5 months later, this Stratocaster is going strong. Giving everyone an idea of what this baby can look like with "vintage cream" pickup covers and a chrome cover on the humbucker, which I personally think is its ultimate stylistic form... adding these pictures to show the new look for anyone who is interested. I think the cream covers match the neck and overall warm tones of the guitar better than the original white ones. No new hardware needed for these visual tweaks except for a new pickguard and pickup covers, which ran me about $40 total. Now I think it looks every bit as good as any of their Professional American made guitars.It still plays as well as ever and is one of my go-to guitars - I'd wholeheartedly recommend it, especially on sale and particularly if you like tinkering. You can always swap out the pickguard, the covers, or even the pickups themselves if you want to mix things up.

This is my first Fender guitar and I must say it exceeded my expectations. I have a Squire, Ibanez, Gretch and Yamaha but this guitar became my favorite right of the bet. Sounds really good on my Boss speaker without any pedals. I love the clean tones as well as distraction ability. Stratocaster design makes it really comfortable to play. Fretboard is finished with gloss polyurethane which makes it look cool and helps your fingers to move between cords. That cherry color is amazing but that’s more of a personal preference. Quality is superb. All I had to do is tune it. Sounds great straight out of the box. I highly recommend it.

I love the guitar. Plays great. Looks great. Feels great. Sounds great. Quality appears to be top notch. It arrived in a box that had been damaged in shipping with a couple of scratches and a small dent in the back of the guitar. The seller offered me a return and I ended up accepting a partial refund since the damage was minor and on the back of the guitar, so not visible when I am playing. My only complaint is that the box could have been better padded to protect against shipping damage.

I already own an american vintage strat and wasn't expecting this quality from a Mexican made Fender. This Player Strat came well set up right out of the box. The flame top finish, classic fender contours and hardware rival the American made series at half the price. The upgraded vintage style Alnico5 pickups make the new Player series standout over the earlier Mexican Standard strats. They have lots of bite and classic Fender quack. Hats of to Fender for the innovation and thoughtful design behind these affordable Player Series Strats.

I picked up this guitar on a sale, and I'm quite pleased. The guitar was delivered promptly and without issue. Great job!

I have been a American made Fender Player for 40 years but decided to give an MX with the new Pau Ferro Fingerboard a try. What a delightful surprise! It was superb out of the box, string, pickup height and intonation were spot on and nearly in tune. I plugged into my amp and four hours later I put it down. The Pau Ferro Fingerboard was smooth and fast and the 9.5 c neck radius is very comfortable and easy to play. After playing on 57 thru elite Statocasters I can honestly say this Strat will stay up with all of them. So why "4" stars? The 5 position switch had some buzzing in position 1 and 5. I am not sure why but I will figure it out. Well worth every penny as is!