Thank you for being vocal about QC and setup issues. As long as guitar manufacturers (especially the two historical ones) are obviously the only companies in the world that get away with faulty products and some retailers unashamedly publishing how-to videos, teaching people incapable of hanging a picture how to adjust a truss rod (what could possibly go wrong?), this cannot be stressed enough. It is also worth talking about money and the availability of good techs. I am in the middle of the EU, and the lowest price I have paid for a setup (solid body with vibrato) in the last three years was (in the end) around 220 Euros and the turnaround time was 6 weeks. Why not ask the retailers to do it? Well, where I am retailers do not have qualified staff - if I buy a guitar that has great factory setup (like any PRS, Knaggs, Suhr, Eastman, Maybach, Tokai, FGN, Yamaha, and some others) I explicitly put "no setup" in the order to stop them from ruining it, which has happened to me three times already.
I agree. And retailers unable to perform a setup must not complain when people buy on the net. If a retailer is unable to add value, why buy to a retailer?
I actually like the bridge pickup. It does feel and look good. I struggle a bit with the "vintage" tuners, and I always replace the Fender nine guage strings.
mine was perfect.. .. truss rod set perfect .. springs set to a semitone on the g string on max pull..and once stretched out stays in tune perfectly.. well happy with it
I bought a Fender Player HSS series cherry burst strat back in 2020. I have played acoustic guitar for years and this was my first electric guitar. I was guilty of not knowing what to look for and ended up with a neck that I have never loved. The rest of the guitar is great though and I deck the trem. As soon as the replacement necks for the Player II series are available I will probably pick one up as I hear they are "a lot" beter then the originals.
Why not test the vibrato? I doubt you were in tune. The green Strat was in tune, but not the blue one, and it sounded out of tune all over the fretboard.
Thanks, an honest review with some comments that I'm sure will chime with a lot of players' experiences, certainly mine. I vowed to never buy Mexican Fenders again after some dreadful experiences with some truly appalling 'QC' and downright mis-assembly. (cf video of a Nashville Tele on my channel) PRS SEs put them to shame in this; I now have five, and the QC was outstanding on all of them.
QC seems to let a lot of these 'mid-range' guitars down. I have a Player series FSR Strat that had a chipped nut out of the box. Got enough discount from the seller to warrant getting a new Tusq XL one fitted by a tech as it was otherwise spot on setup wise. I would have sent it back if it wasn't an FSR.
You are right easy to fix but for $800+ you shouldn’t have to. Hate to say it but this has always been the case for Mexican made , maybe Fender needs to move manufacturing out of Mexico 800 strikes you are out.
It is not Fender's fault there is no gig bag. Guitar stores demanded Fender not include one so they could sell them separately. Blame Guitar Center and the like.
I never thought of it that way I would always get mad when there is no gig bag because I would spend $700-$800 on new guitars and even the anniversary player worth $999 Strat gets a gig bag and the squires but no player i or ii such a shame
@@thebluemorpho2962 Gig bags are considered accessories and the markup on them is very high. Guitar stores want that money and including a gig bag takes it away.
In my experience working on hundreds of Fenders, their QC is extremely poor. There are just a great many people who don’t know any better and think their guitar is fine.
I bought one online and recieved it last week. Honestly, I am not impressed. I am trying to decide if I will keep it or not. Yes it looks nice, the neck has a nice feel, no quality control issues. But it feels..cheap. The knobs are some really thin low cost kind of plastic that feel like they are about to crack and look cheap. The poly finish is so thick I could park my car on it without damaging it. But my main complaint is the pickups are not very good, They sound harsh and shrill. Now maybe a good setup can fix that. The action is fine out of the box, but perhaps pickups height is wrong and causing issues. If that doesn't cure it, Ill have to decide if it's better to buy a decent set of pickups or just sell it and go for the USA strat instead. I have a MIM Jazz bass and its fine I love it. I had a 92 MIM strat and honestly it sounded far better. Should have kept that one in hindsite.
My issues from the factory: action too high, trouble staying in tune…. Solve: lower action, new strings Great sounding guitar, easy to play, great price point.
Is rolled a programming we were fed? Gibson bound guitars don’t have rolled edges by design and human flesh doesn’t really sand wood over time unless your skin is made of rocks.
Can the classic tuners be swapped out for more modern locking tuners? I have the aqua blue being sent by the awesome folks at Sweetwater and was wondering how the tuners are. Cheers, mates! 🤘
Thank you for being vocal about QC and setup issues. As long as guitar manufacturers (especially the two historical ones) are obviously the only companies in the world that get away with faulty products and some retailers unashamedly publishing how-to videos, teaching people incapable of hanging a picture how to adjust a truss rod (what could possibly go wrong?), this cannot be stressed enough. It is also worth talking about money and the availability of good techs. I am in the middle of the EU, and the lowest price I have paid for a setup (solid body with vibrato) in the last three years was (in the end) around 220 Euros and the turnaround time was 6 weeks. Why not ask the retailers to do it? Well, where I am retailers do not have qualified staff - if I buy a guitar that has great factory setup (like any PRS, Knaggs, Suhr, Eastman, Maybach, Tokai, FGN, Yamaha, and some others) I explicitly put "no setup" in the order to stop them from ruining it, which has happened to me three times already.
I agree. And retailers unable to perform a setup must not complain when people buy on the net. If a retailer is unable to add value, why buy to a retailer?
Just a warning. Truss rod adjustment may fix the high action at the nut. Never file out a nut unless the neck is fairly straight.
I actually like the bridge pickup. It does feel and look good. I struggle a bit with the "vintage" tuners, and I always replace the Fender nine guage strings.
Vintage tuners are the best.
mine was perfect.. .. truss rod set perfect .. springs set to a semitone on the g string on max pull..and once stretched out stays in tune perfectly.. well happy with it
did you got a rosewood or a maple fingerboard?
Wow a review and not a demo 🎉
🙏
I bought a Fender Player HSS series cherry burst strat back in 2020. I have played acoustic guitar for years and this was my first electric guitar. I was guilty of not knowing what to look for and ended up with a neck that I have never loved. The rest of the guitar is great though and I deck the trem. As soon as the replacement necks for the Player II series are available I will probably pick one up as I hear they are "a lot" beter then the originals.
Why not test the vibrato? I doubt you were in tune. The green Strat was in tune, but not the blue one, and it sounded out of tune all over the fretboard.
Great review Dan 👍🏻🎸
Thanks, an honest review with some comments that I'm sure will chime with a lot of players' experiences, certainly mine. I vowed to never buy Mexican Fenders again after some dreadful experiences with some truly appalling 'QC' and downright mis-assembly. (cf video of a Nashville Tele on my channel) PRS SEs put them to shame in this; I now have five, and the QC was outstanding on all of them.
QC seems to let a lot of these 'mid-range' guitars down. I have a Player series FSR Strat that had a chipped nut out of the box. Got enough discount from the seller to warrant getting a new Tusq XL one fitted by a tech as it was otherwise spot on setup wise. I would have sent it back if it wasn't an FSR.
You are right easy to fix but for $800+ you shouldn’t have to. Hate to say it but this has always been the case for Mexican made , maybe Fender needs to move manufacturing out of Mexico 800 strikes you are out.
It is not Fender's fault there is no gig bag. Guitar stores demanded Fender not include one so they could sell them separately. Blame Guitar Center and the like.
I never thought of it that way I would always get mad when there is no gig bag because I would spend $700-$800 on new guitars and even the anniversary player worth $999 Strat gets a gig bag and the squires but no player i or ii such a shame
@@thebluemorpho2962 Gig bags are considered accessories and the markup on them is very high. Guitar stores want that money and including a gig bag takes it away.
In my experience working on hundreds of Fenders, their QC is extremely poor. There are just a great many people who don’t know any better and think their guitar is fine.
I bought one online and recieved it last week. Honestly, I am not impressed. I am trying to decide if I will keep it or not. Yes it looks nice, the neck has a nice feel, no quality control issues. But it feels..cheap. The knobs are some really thin low cost kind of plastic that feel like they are about to crack and look cheap. The poly finish is so thick I could park my car on it without damaging it. But my main complaint is the pickups are not very good, They sound harsh and shrill. Now maybe a good setup can fix that. The action is fine out of the box, but perhaps pickups height is wrong and causing issues. If that doesn't cure it, Ill have to decide if it's better to buy a decent set of pickups or just sell it and go for the USA strat instead. I have a MIM Jazz bass and its fine I love it. I had a 92 MIM strat and honestly it sounded far better. Should have kept that one in hindsite.
This is a very atractive colour and also my favourite.
You present the great review of the guiter
My issues from the factory: action too high, trouble staying in tune….
Solve: lower action, new strings
Great sounding guitar, easy to play, great price point.
Is the vibrato usable? I mean does it detune the strings when used normally? (no dive bombs)
@@alafenetre81 update: lowered action, stays in tune. Tremolo bar is fantastic. Guitar plays great sounds great
@@RisitasKEKW Great! What colour did you choose?
@@alafenetre81 my local shop got in an aqua tone blue, I’m a lefty so I didn’t have a choice, but it looks great.
@@alafenetre81Yes detunes the strings…gonna need some work but A Very nice guitar.
Is rolled a programming we were fed? Gibson bound guitars don’t have rolled edges by design and human flesh doesn’t really sand wood over time unless your skin is made of rocks.
Why do people keep that stupid sticker on
Way out of tune
@@haroldpapineau754 you should probably watch the 5 min mark
Can the classic tuners be swapped out for more modern locking tuners? I have the aqua blue being sent by the awesome folks at Sweetwater and was wondering how the tuners are. Cheers, mates! 🤘
Just got mine a few days ago and the tuners appear to be fine.
@kristofer603 , the tuners on mine are fine as well, but I spent extra and had Sweetwater do a setup on it.