Fender Player Telecaster review

[Stringswinger]

I have read on the various Fender forums that the Mexican built Player Stratocasters and Telecasters were professional grade instruments and that they were a significant improvement over the Mexican built Fenders that preceded them. With the new Player II series, it seems that the original Player series guitars are now a bargain on the used market, so I snagged one. I paid $425 for the guitar on my local Craigslist and I bought a Gator hardshell case from Sweetwater for $100 brand new. So, I have paid $525, all in.

The seller of my guitar bought it new from Guitar Center in 2018 and never learned to play so the guitar just sat in his closet for 7 years. They did not come with a case so he just left it in the original box. It came to me virtually brand new.

It is three tone sunburst, has a 2 piece alder body, maple neck, six saddle modern bridge, Alnico 5 pickups, CTS pots and switch, 9.5 radius and a medium C profile neck with medium jumbo frets. The tuners are sealed and are unstaggered (pretty much the same tuners that are found on first generation American Standard Fenders). The bridge has cast steel saddles (I have read that these first came with bent steel saddles, but there were problems so Fender switched. If you buy an early 2018 model, you might need to swap out the saddles).

Tone, playablity and fit and finish are all top notch. On the neck pickup, a warm jazz tone is very satisfying to those who like the Ed Bickert/Ted Greene tone. The bridge pickup gets a good Country sound, but without brass saddles some of the twang in not there. But with six saddles, intonation is perfect. The fretwork is perfect. The back of the neck in not gloss, so no stickiness presents itself to slow you down. The two pickups together gets you a warm twangyness (is that even a word?).

This is a single coil guitar, so in some rooms, the buzz is there. I have used this on a few gigs, both solo and with a band and it works great. I did use my Hum Debugger pedal in one room that I know needs it. It is cool to have a guitar that delivers so much and costs so little. At just over 8 pounds, it is not the lightest guitar in my stable, but played seated (as I do), it is fine.

To anyone here thinking about trying a Telecaster for jazz, here is a cheap way to get in the door and still have a guitar that plays great and sounds great. And to those here who may already have one, post a picture of yours in this thread. Here are a couple pics of mine.

[MikeTT]

very nice. In which year range were these made?

[Stringswinger]

very nice. In which year range were these made?

2018 through 2024.

[deacon Mark]

I would take this to heart on the quality of the guitar. The only caution is SS can make guitars sound good even those with less than stellar reviews. I am personally not a Fender person in any way they just don't appeal to me but a Tele with a humbucker in the neck and they right rig sound about as good as anything in existence.

[Doctor Jeff]

Here is my partscaster made from GFS parts. Very nice “upgraded” pickups. Sealed Gotoh style tuners.

I am a fan of the modern saddles. As stated easy to get great intonation.

It’s a great gigging guitar, as it’s not subject to weather and other environmental conditions as much. You’re not gonna cry if your Tele gets knocked over by a drunk patron, heck, who knows, it will add a little mojo and might even improve the tone.

My 175 gets knocked over…I’m gonna cry for days.



I don’t really have a dog in the “where my Fender’s made” fight—the one legit Fender I had started life as MIM, then got slowly modded over the years—and looked very similar to Stringswinger’s. If you are reasonably tool-savvy, you can put together a very good Fender from parts for real cheap, especially GFS.

[jim777]

The Player, Player II, and Player II Modified guitars are all fine instruments. If anyone is looking new, I would go with the Player II modifieds and get the noiseless pickups, locking tuners, TUSQ nut, bridge with brass saddles, and the push-pull tone control for series/parallel switching with the treble bleed circuit. I recently grabbed a Player II Modified Strat and it's a wonderful guitar, though not as wonderful as a Tele