Its just marketing, fender says these to every guitar that isnt made in usa. They just want you to think your fender is lesser than the usa ones so you buy those.
He said budget friendly, and said further that he isn’t saying $1,000 is cheap. In the grand scheme of guitars $1,000 is within that entry level range and definitely in relative terms “expensive”, that’s not to say you can’t make it sound as good as far more expensive guitars though.
The ac/dc video for “you shook me all night long” was actually filmed in the village I bought my first house in. My house is in the background of the opening shot.
All the bashing on the prices... it's almost like everyone forgot that raw materials are more expensive, labor is more expensive, importing/delivery is more expensive, supply is low and demand is high. I think this is a no brainer... if I were looking at a standard player series, this would definitely be worth the extra couple hundred bucks just for the pickups and tuners.
Yeah im confused. I'm guessing the price bashing is by the teenagers who haven't seen enough msrp throughout their life. My 2006 Nashville Tele was $949 msrp. This is 15 years later and with inflation, barely up $50. Made in Mexico back then too. It's like people just want a reason to complain about build location and price. Made in America doesn't mean its good quality necessarily. I have a Gibson Les Paul too and I baby that thing. It seems fragile.
@@tinystar3010 Exactly, it’s like everybody on the Internet is acting like they bought a Mexican Fender new a “couple of years ago” for the same price they sold for in the mid 90s. I have a Road Worn Telecaster from 2011 that was $999 brand new, and people are constantly telling me that Fender never had Mexican made guitars that were that expensive until last year. Never mind the fact that my Mexican made Brad Paisley Signature Tele was $1,199 in 2017. That being said, I remember the good old days (90s) when American Standards were $799, American Deluxes were $999, and American Vintage Reissues were $1,299, the excellent Japanese reissues were only slightly more expensive than the Mexican guitars and less expensive than American Standards, and you get a Japanese made Squier for $199.
Great vid, thanks. I got a Nashville Tele deluxe, had it modded with a push pull knob to bring neck pickup option in, also had treble bleed added. Switch knob fell off mine too, if you get a cocktail stick and some superglue, put a drop of glue into the plastic knob, spread it around (quickly!) with cocktail stick and then leave it to dry hard, then put it back on the metal switch arm, it stays put but can be pulled off again if you ever want to take out switch. Really like this colour, but going to stick with mine as not sure about a belly cut on a Tele
Great review thanks! I’ve just got the Butterscotch / maple version and have the Fiesta Red from the previous incarnation. Love the guitars, but one thing puzzles me: the large output drop as illustrated in the video - I love the sound, but they really do go a lot quieter in positions 2 and 4. I thought it was me, but the video (output measurements section) shows this perfectly! Very odd!
Personally, I think this marries all the good things about a strat and a tele together. It's got a custom shop kind of vibe with the versatility and electronics/pickups. I also like the thinner neck, If Yngwie played a tele this might be it sans a scalloped fret board.
I have a Pao Ferro board on my German-made Sandberg bass, and have zero issues with it. It feels nice and hasn't needed any conditioning treatment in the 8 months I've owned it
I've got a MiM Nashville Deluxe from 2016, really interested in checking one of these out too. Very similar specs, except mine has the contoured heel, while these have the belly contour and the fancy 7 tone electronics. Would make for a great backup to it for me
They’ve been making some deluxe models in Mexico for a while and they’re great guitars. I bought a Deluxe Players Strat several years ago that’s amazing. American hardware and electronics/pickups, swamp ash body and a 12” radius fretboard. It’s hard to find a US Fender with the 12” fretboard without going to a Custom Shop model.
This is tempting! I already have 2 Telecasters. One is the cheep Mex version and second is a Warmouth body in quilted maple & highly figured neck with Fender parts. I also added a 4 way switch. The push-pull is nice. I may have to get one!
That color actually looks better on your video than in Fender photos. I could see myself building a partscaster version of this with a humbucker and compound radius maple neck.
That thing sounds great! Like for real. Super clean and responsive. I have 2 teles with humbuckers in the neck and bridge so I'm used to the that shouldn't come out of a telecaster thing. I'm definitely modding one like this!
I have an early Deluxe Nashville Telecaster with the 5 position swith and a center tex mex strat pick up. SSS it's a pretty nice guitar and covers all bases for a club band. That is why I bought it. for a tool. I was always an HH guy until I got away from playing live for awhile and didn't want to take my vintage guitars back out in a club anymore. So I needed a work guitar and it does it well. Has the old style standard tele bridge and saddles. Does have a rosewood fret board. The only thing I have done is buy compensated saddles for it. Aside of cleaning it's maintenance free. i bought it in mint condition barely played for 350. It's worth 750 easy today. I take great care of my guitars. It's more of an SG type of neck. I also don't care for locking tuners. nice for a tremolo guitar that is going to stay tuned the same all night or for any guitar that will not change tuning. I use a lot of drop D tuning for clasic rock hits so it's a no for me with one guitar that is tuned in the same key all night.
I started wiring my tele like that years back and routing a jaguar in the middle.. and doing the 7 positions wit a push pull... it still doesn't have that strat sound but it's still my favorite way to have a tele wired...
I got the Player Plus Nashville in May. After a good setup and repeated tweaks as it settled into my house. Had to chase the intonation for a while but it's solid now. It's now my favourite guitar in my house! The noiseless pickups aren't noiseless if you are into gain! Absolute beaut though. Such good value.
Son bought a 3PU tele w/ maple neck & FB. As a LP guy, it's very impressive, frets don't cut hand sliding up neck, 7 pu selections that actually sound diff is big too! Smooth satin neck reminds me of my old Charvel. In today's market this is a fair deal.
I snagged the Nashville because it came in Butterscotch. I figured that since I like all the specs except possibly the pickups I knew I could replace those easily and even remove the middle pickup and use a standard pickguard. Thinking about the American Performer Yosemite pickups.
I think I'd like more traditional tele player plus but! With that series/parallel push pull! Both singles, the middle sound, and a big fat humbucker sound. Can't imagine why they wouldn't do that setup more often
Woot! Never been this early to a Trogly release. Got home late form a miserable day at work and burnt, really needed some unwinding guitar fun. Thanks Trogly.😁
Great vid! I found the fingerboard a little "scratchy" when it came to string bends but a little touch of lemon oil smoothed it out nicely. It's a slightly narrower neck than my strat but not uncomfortably so. I'd love it in Silver Smoke but when it comes to prettiness, the "aged candy apple" colour actually reflects quite a vivid red under stage lighting. Gorgeous. With the tonal options its now my go-to guitar in my collection. It can put out some real punch with overdrives, sustains nicely with distortion but ultimately sings beautifully with clean tones. Add touches of reverb and chorus for 80s bliss. When I play covers of The Smiths, The Cure and such it is perfect. Handles ambient rock wonderfully too. If you want more of the "tele twang" just add a touch more treb to your eq. Oh. It LOVES fuzz.
I was thinking that if it had a humbucker in the middle it would be like Steve Morse’s set-up. But i looked some of his up, and they have ALL the pick-up! I think this one is handsome, but I think I will save my money for the five string J- bass!
Very helpful and detailed review thanks as I am looking to buy a player plus tele. One question I had is with the neck and body seeming to be a little thinner than traditional fender player tele, is the overall weight lighter?
I can't believe how light the color is on some Pau ferro boards. I have a 2019 vintera stratocaster with the Pau ferro board on it, it's darker than some rosewood. I've saw some Pau ferro boards with beautiful woodgrain dark streaks in them. I did condition mine with F one oil after I bought it and it made it darken more.
In my neighborhood, only one guy had a Gibson - and he couldn’t play it- he had cerebral palsy- and he wouldn’t let anyone else play it either- l loved that les paul - but there were many Strats in basements because after 6 months they needed a truss rod adjustment and who ever heard of that- lower middle class people in the 70’s didn’t know about upkeep on a guitar- it just didn’t work anymore - so l became Fender for life with a chip on my shoulder about Gibson so you and me are opposite- and you reviewing a fender often comes down to the same thing- a slight lack of familiarity leaves us Fender heads scratching our noggins about some of your perspectives- but thank you for everything
Really ??? Well there's already 50 or more reviews by every guitar channel you can think of - all came out within the last 24 hours. Personally I'm already sick of hearing about them. I'm so disappointed - I had hoped trogly might give the fender shill a miss since literally everyone else took the money, but I guess not.
For a little clarity on the pricing / positioning of the Player Series in 2021 (this information from a Fender dealer) - they are still made in the Mexican factory but Fender have stepped them up in specs and finish to where the entry level USA guitars were previously - around the 1000 to 1200 dollar point and the reality is that the US factory isn't that far over the border from the Mexican set up - they also share certain manufacturing processes so for example, on a painted guitar the body might be supplied from the US factory. This has allowed them in turn to bring in some higher spec (and higher priced!) Squire models made in Asia like the Classic Vibe and Contemporary series which retail for up to $450 - previously Mexican territory. In reality the Mexican factory and staff are highly equipped and experienced now and apart from 'corporate' decisions about parts / pickups quality being placed on them, a Mexican under any name is a decent Fender. I own a Mexican HSS Strat (off white / maple neck) and gig it regularly - it needed a good set up but what new guitar doesn't. The pickups and bridge (quality) could be better but there are no inherent issues or problems with the guitar and it is a Fender Stratocaster. At some point I will upgrade - probably Gotoh parts, a Graphtech nut and Kinman pickups - the basic guitar would be worth it.
Hey Trogly, thanks for the video. Could you help to check how many screws under the saddles 3 or 4? I would like to buy this and change the bridge to vintage style. Thanks.
What a great video!. I just bought one (sunburst with mapple neck), Im having a love/hate realtionship withthe noiseless pickups, the are out of hum and they are really clear, very well defined tones (great), I can hear each string so defined.... but the sound is lacking dynamics... its is not very vibrant (not great)... Im still learning how to get the best sound in my amp.... some days I feel the soudn its great!!...some days I felt a little dissapointed with the general sound.... anyway I may change the pick ups later...I will tried 6 months first before do any modification....
Try to get your hands on the regular player plus telecaster, with the series/parallel push pull switch, it is a much more (in my opinion), valued guitar!
Thanks for making these videos to keep me occupied on slow days at work. I HATE HATE HATE that fender uses a skunk stripe on a non maple fretboard. The original use of the skunk stripe was for installing the truss rod in one piece maple neck/fretboard. I assume they just found a better more efficient way to install the rod, in all necks. But the fact that I've heard the original reason, it just rubs me the wrong way.
I usually use a little rubbing alcohol on a rag to get that glue off or cleaning grime off metal parts. I’m always careful to not get it on the finish though or it can make it hazy depending on the finish.
Very nice guitar. Love the Neck-On switching. I threw a Freeway 5-Way/10 Position Switch in my Nashville to get traditional Tele and Series pickup combos. Might have been happy with this wiring option
I have one of the first Mexican Nashville Teles. Must have been around 1999 or 2000. It came back to my shop in rough shape a month after it left. It also was more Strat than Tele. Sooo.... I re-routed the neck position for a Strat pickup and switched to Texas Specials for the neck and middle. I cant remember which Tele bridge pickup I swapped to but the stock just did not have the Tele twang. I think the original was a bit hot, (Tex-Mex?). It really does do Strat and Tele duty well now. If I need quack, N+M gets it. If I need chicken pickin it is usually the bridge...maybe with middle. Those are the only positions I play on that guitar. If I need more torque there is always a Les Paul of some sort in the other stand. Even with pickups I only had about $500.00 in the guitar. Anyway...with all of the great choices I have available that Tele still has a place at half of my gigs. Great content. Cheers!
I bought one of these guitarists and the guitar is very good everyone sees that wants one and the guitar sound excellent I let a few people plays it at a jam session and they loved it the silent is crystal clear it also depends on the pickups on it
I’m beyond happy with my Fender I got a American elite jazz bass imo the best bass you can actually go into a guitar store and play you really get what you pay for with fender but as they say different strokes for different folks keep in mind fender is imitated by just about every manufacturer out there and for good reason
I have a 2018 Nashville. My opinion is that there is no such thing as a single coil humbucker and it is accomplished by stacking 2 single coils, they have to try to twang out the sound by putting 1 meg pots in the volume and tone. I have 500k pots now and it sounds less harsh. IMHO. I actually tried 250K pots and it also does not should bad at all. Better than the 1 meg pots
My problem with fenders is string height over the body, First real guitar is a 1978 SG which I still play. I was 13 when I bought it and it trained me to prefer Gibson.
I bought one of these models new, but way back in 2000. Fantastic guitar with Tex Mex Pickups. A bit noisy. I have my Dad's American Tele (2004'ish) that has noiseless pickups. While the noiseless do the noise thing well, they seem to lose a bit of that Telecaster Attitude. I don't mind the noise so much...losing the Tele'tude is not an option! The only downside to my model is that is comes wired like a Strat. I opened up the cavity and altered the selector so that I could get the Brige-Neck combination.
I've got an American Special that I bought around 2014 but I'm liking that nashville Nashville Tele. I'm considering that very one.i think it would be awesome if yo could get this set up with a humbucker at the bridge. Also not that many would see it but match the caps on the locking tuners to either the body paints or the pick guard . Only thing I considered changing on my American special is the shared bridges. I like that they are brass but I haven't changed them to single dedicated bridges is that you can't get that in brass. At least I haven't seen any.
I just got the Butter scotch blonde with the maple neck version and It is awesome. I do however understand the nut. I am just going to replace mine for a graphtech xl one cause I think my slots on the D and G string are just too deep which you can't really fix without spending money so I am just going to upgrade it. Maybe even get a black one that will match the pickguard and strap locks I installed on it. Also I wish you would do specs on the nut width and string spacing too cause I can't find anything on it and I don't have my tele on me to order a new nut from graphtech but if you see this comment maybe consider it for future guitars? Anyways, love the show and you should try the normal player plus tele to see if you like that better. I kind of want to know if you would. And get the one with the maple neck too!
Saw one in a store. Pickups attached to pick guard, OK. But pick guard was not flush with body around the pickups, pushing up a bit toward strings. That good, bad, standard, normal, a bit off, something else? Thanks.
Also not a fan of Pau Ferro fretboards - aesthetically, I find them to be either too light or too streaky (at least on Fenders). But PF matches quite well with the finish on this guitar.
Did you checked new Fender Japan guitar? There’s many unique guitars like “F-hole” Telecaster thin line, artist signature Swinger, and Fender’51: Stratocaster shaped Tele.
The electronics on this Telecaster would absolutely be perfect for somebody like me!... the ability to turn all three pickups on at once is right up my alley!
I still cannot get over Pau Ferro being the cheap alternative to Rosewood. Back in the day when the SRV Sig came out, it was a big special feature, lmao.
You read my mind . Was thinking about how that was top dollar material in early 2000s srv models, when rosewood was considered the cheap alternative. I think the companies are just cycling through old stock with clever marketing techniques every generation or so.
The truth is that pau ferro costs more than East Indian rosewood. The change was made when CITES implemented the permit requirement for all shipments incoming and outgoing with any rosewood part on a guitar. Since there was no clear path to CITES permitted rosewood available, the change was made. The logistics in changing back aren't worth the price difference. They would need to change all of the product descriptions and UBC codes worldwide and have to track the rosewood and pau ferro products separately until all of the pau ferro inventory is completely flushed from the systems at every dealer worldwide. It took months to change from rosewood to pau ferro and the IT work isn't worth it.
The player series plus is a rebranding of the Deluxe series. Are they good yes. Are they worth the extra cost … that up to you. This is currently the least expensive Nashville Tele offered by Fender.
The player plus, while made in Mexico, has features you can’t get on an American made until you get into the Ultras. 12”radius neck, locking tuners, comfort cut, noiseless pickups, etc. If you were to buy the parts standalone it would cost more than the difference in price between the player and the player plus.
I find the Player Plus to be the absolute best series Fender makes right now. The quality, worksmanship, and specs you are getting for the price is absurd. I can't imagine "stepping down" to the American Performer Series for 20% more, and losing the locking tuners, and rolled fingerboards.
love my pro strat II but only after doing a set up by myself. Neck adjustment, pickup height, action and radius adjustment, tremolo system, locking tuners and loctight on the saddle screws. Fender shipped it with a horrible set up.
What I'm seeing is *tomato soup* red. Not a bad finish either. It's great that Fender is now creating the push pull switch to access all the pickups as a standard model, when I had to have it installed as a custom mod to my first Stratocaster during the late 90s. What I'd (potentially) like to do would be to get those same noiseless pickups installed in the Frankenstrat that was assembled for me in July 2019 with Brian May-inspired switching and turn loose of the Burns Mini-TriSonics it was assembled with.
1:28 bridge fail, look where the low E string saddle height adjustment screw comes down. yep right on top of a screw that holds down the bridge onto the body. why didnt they make these screw locations 1/2" farther back?
On normal single coils I only hear hum when volume is on but I'm not playing, so just palming the strings makes your body like a ground wire and pulls the hum. Not really a difficult issue imo. During playing I never hear any added hum.
@@lomoholga they are stacked, however humbuckers work in an entirely different way. Humbuckers wire two coils which are magentized rwrp, in series to 'buck the hum' a noiseless pickup uses a normal coil like we see in any single coil, and then another coil stacked below, NOT magnetised, therefore inducing no current. They are wired out of phase so that the coil which picks up no sound (but does pick up 60 cycle hum/em noise) cancels out that same hum in the traditional coil. They sound like single coils and they are single coils, the other coil could be anywhere in the instrument. Look into dummy coils and the illitch system to see how this tech is nothing to do with the pickup design itself.
WORTH IT! I'd rather a solid black scratchplate with this copper finish, but that's just me being nitpicky. Also, along the side of aesthetics, it's weird to see three different style pickups on the same guitar - straight from the factory!? At first I thought it made it look like someone's project guitar, but no, they're all unique "Fender" elements, so - so be it.
There is a mechanism in them that you screw down which smashes the string into place eliminating the need to "wind" the string around the post. In theory, this is better for tuning stability because the string won't stretch as much vs traditional wrapping. At the end of the day, if you know how to string your guitar up properly and stretch your strings - the only benefit is locking tuners are faster to restring
i adore my off the rack mexican player plus and i've got pre CBS stuff, these are amazing guitars, btw i have the two pickup version in cosmic jade, it doesnt sound lik a strat, it sounds like a tele with a tuxedo on. But i WANTED it to be that way because i have a MIJ offset tele with a brass bridge and traditional kneckand noisy pickups and that thing screams and creaks like a proper tele. but if you are just starting out this is a perfect guitar for s nee player and is s keeper, or if you are like me and alredy have trad tele and strat basses covered, this is an excellent new take on stuff.
@@arn999 Well the famous SRV pickguard strat does. But to be fair maybe it started out life as a low end Fender. Pretty sure it American tho. There are custom shop ones too. Jaco Pastorius Jazz Bass as well
Ah ok sure, but they're rare. I don't mind the fact that it's not rosewood. It's just that pao ferro boards tend to be way lighter, which I don't prefer.
@@arn999I have a fairly dark one,stripy. “Pau ferro is actually called ‘Bolivian rosewood’ in some circles, and we’ve used it on models in the past,” said Senior Vice President of Fender Products Justin Norvell. “It’s actually been used as a well-known alternative for rosewood for a long time, and it’s often available in wider widths, so we used it on a lot of our five-string basses in the ‘90s. It’s a wood we’re familiar with.”
@@vansongs The SRV signature model was never a low end model. It was always one of the most expensive signature models from the time it was introduced and it currently still is although there are few more than there used to be that cost more. Yes, it has always been American made. There has also been a much more expensive Custom Shop version available throughout most of the time that the standard model has been in production. There was also an insanely expensive exact replica of the guitar produced in very limited numbers (I think they made 50 of them). I think it was the first exact replica that Fender ever did or at least the first one that for sale to the general public.
$1k is not a budget guitar
In the realm of his videos it is though, but generally.. i think 600 and under is budget
@@larsheuker - agreed - he deals in vintage guitars. $1000 to Trogly is hardly worth getting out of bed for.
Its just marketing, fender says these to every guitar that isnt made in usa. They just want you to think your fender is lesser than the usa ones so you buy those.
It is nowadays.
He said budget friendly, and said further that he isn’t saying $1,000 is cheap. In the grand scheme of guitars $1,000 is within that entry level range and definitely in relative terms “expensive”, that’s not to say you can’t make it sound as good as far more expensive guitars though.
Pro tip on those bridges: you can rotate the saddle blocks in place so they rest on their sides. That lets you get to the body screws easily.
my man
Not always. Some are easier to do than others
Yup! Done it many times! 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
Good look.
You’re a Professional Guitar Tech? Wow!
The ac/dc video for “you shook me all night long” was actually filmed in the village I bought my first house in. My house is in the background of the opening shot.
I wonder how old the model they used in it is now??????? They could find her and do a re shoot lol
Wow that’s actually really cool :) do you still own that house?
@@AmperahGaming yeah still have it. I rent it out now though and live a few miles away.
The Nashville Telecaster has been my go to Telecaster for years. Great tone possibilities, 2 guitars in one.
All the bashing on the prices... it's almost like everyone forgot that raw materials are more expensive, labor is more expensive, importing/delivery is more expensive, supply is low and demand is high. I think this is a no brainer... if I were looking at a standard player series, this would definitely be worth the extra couple hundred bucks just for the pickups and tuners.
Yeah im confused. I'm guessing the price bashing is by the teenagers who haven't seen enough msrp throughout their life. My 2006 Nashville Tele was $949 msrp. This is 15 years later and with inflation, barely up $50. Made in Mexico back then too. It's like people just want a reason to complain about build location and price. Made in America doesn't mean its good quality necessarily. I have a Gibson Les Paul too and I baby that thing. It seems fragile.
@@tinystar3010
Exactly, it’s like everybody on the Internet is acting like they bought a Mexican Fender new a “couple of years ago” for the same price they sold for in the mid 90s.
I have a Road Worn Telecaster from 2011 that was $999 brand new, and people are constantly telling me that Fender never had Mexican made guitars that were that expensive until last year. Never mind the fact that my Mexican made Brad Paisley Signature Tele was $1,199 in 2017.
That being said, I remember the good old days (90s) when American Standards were $799, American Deluxes were $999, and American Vintage Reissues were $1,299, the excellent Japanese reissues were only slightly more expensive than the Mexican guitars and less expensive than American Standards, and you get a Japanese made Squier for $199.
It's like they're not even paying attention. Literally everything has gone up recently. Partly due to inflation and partly due to supply chain issues.
Yeah this guys bashing the price while wasting 10's of thousands on les pauls not worth that
Gotta love that current economy.
Great vid, thanks. I got a Nashville Tele deluxe, had it modded with a push pull knob to bring neck pickup option in, also had treble bleed added. Switch knob fell off mine too, if you get a cocktail stick and some superglue, put a drop of glue into the plastic knob, spread it around (quickly!) with cocktail stick and then leave it to dry hard, then put it back on the metal switch arm, it stays put but can be pulled off again if you ever want to take out switch. Really like this colour, but going to stick with mine as not sure about a belly cut on a Tele
Great review thanks! I’ve just got the Butterscotch / maple version and have the Fiesta Red from the previous incarnation. Love the guitars, but one thing puzzles me: the large output drop as illustrated in the video - I love the sound, but they really do go a lot quieter in positions 2 and 4. I thought it was me, but the video (output measurements section) shows this perfectly! Very odd!
Personally, I think this marries all the good things about a strat and a tele together. It's got a custom shop kind of vibe with the versatility and electronics/pickups. I also like the thinner neck, If Yngwie played a tele this might be it sans a scalloped fret board.
I have a Pao Ferro board on my German-made Sandberg bass, and have zero issues with it. It feels nice and hasn't needed any conditioning treatment in the 8 months I've owned it
Funny enough pao ferro used to be on higher end fender models like the stevie ray vaughn models as a selling point.
I've got a MiM Nashville Deluxe from 2016, really interested in checking one of these out too. Very similar specs, except mine has the contoured heel, while these have the belly contour and the fancy 7 tone electronics. Would make for a great backup to it for me
They’ve been making some deluxe models in Mexico for a while and they’re great guitars. I bought a Deluxe Players Strat several years ago that’s amazing. American hardware and electronics/pickups, swamp ash body and a 12” radius fretboard. It’s hard to find a US Fender with the 12” fretboard without going to a Custom Shop model.
This is tempting! I already have 2 Telecasters. One is the cheep Mex version and second is a Warmouth body in quilted maple & highly figured neck with Fender parts. I also added a 4 way switch. The push-pull is nice. I may have to get one!
That color actually looks better on your video than in Fender photos. I could see myself building a partscaster version of this with a humbucker and compound radius maple neck.
That thing sounds great! Like for real. Super clean and responsive. I have 2 teles with humbuckers in the neck and bridge so I'm used to the that shouldn't come out of a telecaster thing. I'm definitely modding one like this!
I bought a Candy Apple Red MiM Nashville Tele in 2001 and the finish definitely has turned into this color.
I have an early Deluxe Nashville Telecaster with the 5 position swith and a center tex mex strat pick up. SSS it's a pretty nice guitar and covers all bases for a club band. That is why I bought it. for a tool. I was always an HH guy until I got away from playing live for awhile and didn't want to take my vintage guitars back out in a club anymore. So I needed a work guitar and it does it well. Has the old style standard tele bridge and saddles. Does have a rosewood fret board. The only thing I have done is buy compensated saddles for it. Aside of cleaning it's maintenance free. i bought it in mint condition barely played for 350. It's worth 750 easy today. I take great care of my guitars. It's more of an SG type of neck. I also don't care for locking tuners. nice for a tremolo guitar that is going to stay tuned the same all night or for any guitar that will not change tuning. I use a lot of drop D tuning for clasic rock hits so it's a no for me with one guitar that is tuned in the same key all night.
I started wiring my tele like that years back and routing a jaguar in the middle.. and doing the 7 positions wit a push pull... it still doesn't have that strat sound but it's still my favorite way to have a tele wired...
I just installed Noiseless Gen 4s in my MIM strat. Love them. I still like this guitar. I would consider one. No fear here.
I got the Player Plus Nashville in May. After a good setup and repeated tweaks as it settled into my house. Had to chase the intonation for a while but it's solid now.
It's now my favourite guitar in my house! The noiseless pickups aren't noiseless if you are into gain!
Absolute beaut though. Such good value.
You mean that pickups still hum?
Son bought a 3PU tele w/ maple neck & FB. As a LP guy, it's very impressive, frets don't cut hand sliding up neck, 7 pu selections that actually sound diff is big too! Smooth satin neck reminds me of my old Charvel. In today's market this is a fair deal.
When I strapped on my first Telecaster it was love at first sight. And I played telecasters from that time on
I snagged the Nashville because it came in Butterscotch. I figured that since I like all the specs except possibly the pickups I knew I could replace those easily and even remove the middle pickup and use a standard pickguard. Thinking about the American Performer Yosemite pickups.
I think I'd like more traditional tele player plus but! With that series/parallel push pull! Both singles, the middle sound, and a big fat humbucker sound. Can't imagine why they wouldn't do that setup more often
It's a no-compromise setup
Woot! Never been this early to a Trogly release. Got home late form a miserable day at work and burnt, really needed some unwinding guitar fun. Thanks Trogly.😁
Hope your day got better brotha
@@thedude7726 Thanks brother. It def did! Feel fortunate to be part of this community.
Great vid!
I found the fingerboard a little "scratchy" when it came to string bends but a little touch of lemon oil smoothed it out nicely.
It's a slightly narrower neck than my strat but not uncomfortably so.
I'd love it in Silver Smoke but when it comes to prettiness, the "aged candy apple" colour actually reflects quite a vivid red under stage lighting.
Gorgeous.
With the tonal options its now my go-to guitar in my collection. It can put out some real punch with overdrives, sustains nicely with distortion but ultimately sings beautifully with clean tones.
Add touches of reverb and chorus for 80s bliss.
When I play covers of The Smiths, The Cure and such it is perfect. Handles ambient rock wonderfully too.
If you want more of the "tele twang" just add a touch more treb to your eq.
Oh. It LOVES fuzz.
I was thinking that if it had a humbucker in the middle it would be like Steve Morse’s set-up. But i looked some of his up, and they have ALL the pick-up! I think this one is handsome, but I think I will save my money for the five string J- bass!
Very helpful and detailed review thanks as I am looking to buy a player plus tele. One question I had is with the neck and body seeming to be a little thinner than traditional fender player tele, is the overall weight lighter?
15:44 i heard that AC/DC riff there
great demo as always trogly
I can't believe how light the color is on some Pau ferro boards. I have a 2019 vintera stratocaster with the Pau ferro board on it, it's darker than some rosewood. I've saw some Pau ferro boards with beautiful woodgrain dark streaks in them. I did condition mine with F one oil after I bought it and it made it darken more.
In my neighborhood, only one guy had a Gibson - and he couldn’t play it- he had cerebral palsy- and he wouldn’t let anyone else play it either- l loved that les paul - but there were many Strats in basements because after 6 months they needed a truss rod adjustment and who ever heard of that- lower middle class people in the 70’s didn’t know about upkeep on a guitar- it just didn’t work anymore - so l became Fender for life with a chip on my shoulder about Gibson
so you and me are opposite- and you reviewing a fender often comes down to the same thing- a slight lack of familiarity leaves us Fender heads scratching our noggins about some of your perspectives- but thank you for everything
Great job! Looking forward to the Strat review!
Really ??? Well there's already 50 or more reviews by every guitar channel you can think of - all came out within the last 24 hours. Personally I'm already sick of hearing about them. I'm so disappointed - I had hoped trogly might give the fender shill a miss since literally everyone else took the money, but I guess not.
For a little clarity on the pricing / positioning of the Player Series in 2021 (this information from a Fender dealer) - they are still made in the Mexican factory but Fender have stepped them up in specs and finish to where the entry level USA guitars were previously - around the 1000 to 1200 dollar point and the reality is that the US factory isn't that far over the border from the Mexican set up - they also share certain manufacturing processes so for example, on a painted guitar the body might be supplied from the US factory.
This has allowed them in turn to bring in some higher spec (and higher priced!) Squire models made in Asia like the Classic Vibe and Contemporary series which retail for up to $450 - previously Mexican territory.
In reality the Mexican factory and staff are highly equipped and experienced now and apart from 'corporate' decisions about parts / pickups quality being placed on them, a Mexican under any name is a decent Fender. I own a Mexican HSS Strat (off white / maple neck) and gig it regularly - it needed a good set up but what new guitar doesn't. The pickups and bridge (quality) could be better but there are no inherent issues or problems with the guitar and it is a Fender Stratocaster. At some point I will upgrade - probably Gotoh parts, a Graphtech nut and Kinman pickups - the basic guitar would be worth it.
there's a joke that American Fenders are made in California by Mexicans, and Mexican Fenders are made by Americans in Mexico!
@@Anjohl Is it a joke though :) - there will be US seniors working in Mexico for supervision and QC. And we all know California is full of ...
Any time there are 22 frets on a Tele...I’m all in...nice job my man!!!
Excellent video! Thanks so much for sharing and for all of the great info!
Great review! Can you share what distortion/overdrive you’re using? Sorry if I missed it.
Hey Trogly, thanks for the video. Could you help to check how many screws under the saddles 3 or 4? I would like to buy this and change the bridge to vintage style. Thanks.
What a great video!. I just bought one (sunburst with mapple neck), Im having a love/hate realtionship withthe noiseless pickups, the are out of hum and they are really clear, very well defined tones (great), I can hear each string so defined.... but the sound is lacking dynamics... its is not very vibrant (not great)... Im still learning how to get the best sound in my amp.... some days I feel the soudn its great!!...some days I felt a little dissapointed with the general sound.... anyway I may change the pick ups later...I will tried 6 months first before do any modification....
I believe the technical internal name for the "comfort cut" at Fender is the "belly-cut". LOL
Try to get your hands on the regular player plus telecaster, with the series/parallel push pull switch, it is a much more (in my opinion), valued guitar!
Nice, love the color , I gotta play one . I like strats a little better but also got to have a telle to go with it. Great review , thanks.😊
The 2 pickups version doesn't have the routing for the 3rd pickup, FYI. That's a shame since I would lovea Cosmic Jade Nashville...
The original SRV Strats from Fender had Pao Ferro fretboards. I owned one in the first year of production. It was great.
ty for doing more Fenders lately, these vids rock!
Thanks for making these videos to keep me occupied on slow days at work. I HATE HATE HATE that fender uses a skunk stripe on a non maple fretboard. The original use of the skunk stripe was for installing the truss rod in one piece maple neck/fretboard. I assume they just found a better more efficient way to install the rod, in all necks. But the fact that I've heard the original reason, it just rubs me the wrong way.
I usually use a little rubbing alcohol on a rag to get that glue off or cleaning grime off metal parts. I’m always careful to not get it on the finish though or it can make it hazy depending on the finish.
Very nice guitar. Love the Neck-On switching. I threw a Freeway 5-Way/10 Position Switch in my Nashville to get traditional Tele and Series pickup combos. Might have been happy with this wiring option
Your comment about a combo finished body made me think about the abasi guitars. They are partially gloss partially satin
That’s a nice finish.
Agreed!
I have the Player Plus Jazz 5 string bass in Tequila Sunrise on order arriving next week. I am looking forward to it.
I think the noiseless pickups are just about perfect for Bass. Congrats on your new Bass.
@@hkguitar1984 thanks. I agree.
I've carefully taped up light colored Fretboard and stain them just use the kind you don't have to finish....unless ya love rickies
I know its not your thing but i would love to see a review and demo of the new esp alexi laiho model. Huge laiho fan here.
I have one of the first Mexican Nashville Teles. Must have been around 1999 or 2000.
It came back to my shop in rough shape a month after it left.
It also was more Strat than Tele.
Sooo....
I re-routed the neck position for a Strat pickup and switched to Texas Specials for the neck and middle.
I cant remember which Tele bridge pickup I swapped to but the stock just did not have the Tele twang.
I think the original was a bit hot, (Tex-Mex?).
It really does do Strat and Tele duty well now. If I need quack, N+M gets it.
If I need chicken pickin it is usually the bridge...maybe with middle.
Those are the only positions I play on that guitar.
If I need more torque there is always a Les Paul of some sort in the other stand.
Even with pickups I only had about $500.00 in the guitar.
Anyway...with all of the great choices I have available that Tele still has a place at half of my gigs.
Great content.
Cheers!
I bought one of these guitarists and the guitar is very good everyone sees that wants one and the guitar sound excellent I let a few people plays it at a jam session and they loved it the silent is crystal clear it also depends on the pickups on it
Best guitar review on RUclips, congrats
I’m beyond happy with my Fender I got a American elite jazz bass imo the best bass you can actually go into a guitar store and play you really get what you pay for with fender but as they say different strokes for different folks keep in mind fender is imitated by just about every manufacturer out there and for good reason
That Merle Hagart Tuff Dog is possibly the greatest tele of all time.
I have a 2018 Nashville. My opinion is that there is no such thing as a single coil humbucker and it is accomplished by stacking 2 single coils, they have to try to twang out the sound by putting 1 meg pots in the volume and tone. I have 500k pots now and it sounds less harsh. IMHO. I actually tried 250K pots and it also does not should bad at all. Better than the 1 meg pots
I must say the pao ferro looks very good here ! It looks almost like roasted maple
I usually don’t like the look of Pau Ferro fretboards but it looks amazing on this guitar
My problem with fenders is string height over the body, First real guitar is a 1978 SG which I still play. I was 13 when I bought it and it trained me to prefer Gibson.
Hi, I've been playing a long time but never had a guitar with locking tuners. Can anyone advise or give advantages/disadvantages? Are they worth it?
I bought one of these models new, but way back in 2000. Fantastic guitar with Tex Mex Pickups. A bit noisy. I have my Dad's American Tele (2004'ish) that has noiseless pickups. While the noiseless do the noise thing well, they seem to lose a bit of that Telecaster Attitude. I don't mind the noise so much...losing the Tele'tude is not an option! The only downside to my model is that is comes wired like a Strat. I opened up the cavity and altered the selector so that I could get the Brige-Neck combination.
I've got an American Special that I bought around 2014 but I'm liking that nashville Nashville Tele. I'm considering that very one.i think it would be awesome if yo could get this set up with a humbucker at the bridge. Also not that many would see it but match the caps on the locking tuners to either the body paints or the pick guard . Only thing I considered changing on my American special is the shared bridges. I like that they are brass but I haven't changed them to single dedicated bridges is that you can't get that in brass. At least I haven't seen any.
I just got the Butter scotch blonde with the maple neck version and It is awesome. I do however understand the nut. I am just going to replace mine for a graphtech xl one cause I think my slots on the D and G string are just too deep which you can't really fix without spending money so I am just going to upgrade it. Maybe even get a black one that will match the pickguard and strap locks I installed on it. Also I wish you would do specs on the nut width and string spacing too cause I can't find anything on it and I don't have my tele on me to order a new nut from graphtech but if you see this comment maybe consider it for future guitars? Anyways, love the show and you should try the normal player plus tele to see if you like that better. I kind of want to know if you would. And get the one with the maple neck too!
Saw one in a store. Pickups attached to pick guard, OK. But pick guard was not flush with body around the pickups, pushing up a bit toward strings. That good, bad, standard, normal, a bit off, something else? Thanks.
Also not a fan of Pau Ferro fretboards - aesthetically, I find them to be either too light or too streaky (at least on Fenders). But PF matches quite well with the finish on this guitar.
Yup that’s my problem with PF, I want a nice dark rosewood board
Beautiful Guitar ! I can dream.
People have been doing that push pull mod for decades mainly to combine the neck and bridge which you can't can't do with the strat switch alone.
Did you checked new Fender Japan guitar? There’s many unique guitars like “F-hole” Telecaster thin line, artist signature Swinger, and Fender’51: Stratocaster shaped Tele.
*Cries in lefthanded ...*
Now those are definitely overpriced
The electronics on this Telecaster would absolutely be perfect for somebody like me!... the ability to turn all three pickups on at once is right up my alley!
I still cannot get over Pau Ferro being the cheap alternative to Rosewood. Back in the day when the SRV Sig came out, it was a big special feature, lmao.
You read my mind . Was thinking about how that was top dollar material in early 2000s srv models, when rosewood was considered the cheap alternative. I think the companies are just cycling through old stock with clever marketing techniques every generation or so.
Pau ferro is smoother and nicer than rosewood while sounding more like ebony
@@jacobbrown1690 looks like shit tho. Regardless of how it sounds, I’ll never buy a guitar with an Orange neck.
@@firemarshal2629 cuz its more importaint for an instrument to look good, than to sound good :D ;)
The truth is that pau ferro costs more than East Indian rosewood. The change was made when CITES implemented the permit requirement for all shipments incoming and outgoing with any rosewood part on a guitar. Since there was no clear path to CITES permitted rosewood available, the change was made. The logistics in changing back aren't worth the price difference. They would need to change all of the product descriptions and UBC codes worldwide and have to track the rosewood and pau ferro products separately until all of the pau ferro inventory is completely flushed from the systems at every dealer worldwide. It took months to change from rosewood to pau ferro and the IT work isn't worth it.
Would it be better to get a used USA model for the same price as a Player Plus MIM?
The player series plus is a rebranding of the Deluxe series. Are they good yes. Are they worth the extra cost … that up to you. This is currently the least expensive Nashville Tele offered by Fender.
I like the neck pickup sound alot, but the bridge and middle sound a little empty... but then all the mixed positions sounded fine...
I like the Tele sounds combination very much + the modern appointments.
Only down: Pau Ferro.
The player plus, while made in Mexico, has features you can’t get on an American made until you get into the Ultras. 12”radius neck, locking tuners, comfort cut, noiseless pickups, etc. If you were to buy the parts standalone it would cost more than the difference in price between the player and the player plus.
Love mine! Gets so many tones for a gig.
I find the Player Plus to be the absolute best series Fender makes right now. The quality, worksmanship, and specs you are getting for the price is absurd. I can't imagine "stepping down" to the American Performer Series for 20% more, and losing the locking tuners, and rolled fingerboards.
spot on there is some twang missing but its better than vintera i had pos 2 is mega stratty on mine
@@stephenchadwick1305I found the Vintera Tele's I played fairly lackluster. Like overpriced Squier Classic Vibes.
Definitely like the tones available.
Can anyone advise? I have the player plus strat already - which would complement a collection better the player plus Tele it the Nashville Tele?
Would be interested to see you review the American professional II. I just ordered a Mercury SSS Strat.
love my pro strat II but only after doing a set up by myself. Neck adjustment, pickup height, action and radius adjustment, tremolo system, locking tuners and loctight on the saddle screws. Fender shipped it with a horrible set up.
I really love the butterscotch but sadly they were not in stock in my place so my only option is this age red wine
What I'm seeing is *tomato soup* red. Not a bad finish either.
It's great that Fender is now creating the push pull switch to access all the pickups as a standard model, when I had to have it installed as a custom mod to my first Stratocaster during the late 90s. What I'd (potentially) like to do would be to get those same noiseless pickups installed in the Frankenstrat that was assembled for me in July 2019 with Brian May-inspired switching and turn loose of the Burns Mini-TriSonics it was assembled with.
I see a 90s toyota corolla that was left in the sun for 20 years
Gold Noiseless pickups are the Bomb 💣 but Silver's are even MO Betta. I Love the Tele a lot.
Heck...if I can get Strat-like tones without beating my right hand off of a volume knob, I'm all in!
1:28 bridge fail, look where the low E string saddle height adjustment screw comes down. yep right on top of a screw that holds down the bridge onto the body. why didnt they make these screw locations 1/2" farther back?
I'm not sure I actually like the sound of the noiseless pickups
They are actually rebranded humbuckers
@@lomoholga they somehow sound worse than humbuckers though
@@TheCompyshop oof. I just deal with the single coil hum, but I’m not a professional musician doing recordings so what do I know.
On normal single coils I only hear hum when volume is on but I'm not playing, so just palming the strings makes your body like a ground wire and pulls the hum. Not really a difficult issue imo. During playing I never hear any added hum.
@@lomoholga they are stacked, however humbuckers work in an entirely different way. Humbuckers wire two coils which are magentized rwrp, in series to 'buck the hum' a noiseless pickup uses a normal coil like we see in any single coil, and then another coil stacked below, NOT magnetised, therefore inducing no current. They are wired out of phase so that the coil which picks up no sound (but does pick up 60 cycle hum/em noise) cancels out that same hum in the traditional coil. They sound like single coils and they are single coils, the other coil could be anywhere in the instrument. Look into dummy coils and the illitch system to see how this tech is nothing to do with the pickup design itself.
Hey Trogly! Have you ever played with the TC body Esquire with a Humbucker? We got one, wanna see?
WORTH IT! I'd rather a solid black scratchplate with this copper finish, but that's just me being nitpicky. Also, along the side of aesthetics, it's weird to see three different style pickups on the same guitar - straight from the factory!? At first I thought it made it look like someone's project guitar, but no, they're all unique "Fender" elements, so - so be it.
Nice! The faded telecaster finish looks really good.
1993 CHARVEL TX Custom. The push pull splits the three PickUPS between Single coil and Humbucker. A better push puil configuration.
What amp are you playing through?
Finally some steel saddles with the center screw. Here I come Stratosphere !
Cheers for posting video
Dude You don't like the blockiness of a Tele but are ok with Les Paul's?
Great gigging guitar. I love Pau Ferro.
Mr. Trogley; Could you explain to me what "Locking" tuners really are?
Thanks!
There is a mechanism in them that you screw down which smashes the string into place eliminating the need to "wind" the string around the post. In theory, this is better for tuning stability because the string won't stretch as much vs traditional wrapping. At the end of the day, if you know how to string your guitar up properly and stretch your strings - the only benefit is locking tuners are faster to restring
i adore my off the rack mexican player plus and i've got pre CBS stuff, these are amazing guitars, btw i have the two pickup version in cosmic jade, it doesnt sound lik a strat, it sounds like a tele with a tuxedo on. But i WANTED it to be that way because i have a MIJ offset tele with a brass bridge and traditional kneckand noisy pickups and that thing screams and creaks like a proper tele. but if you are just starting out this is a perfect guitar for s nee player and is s keeper, or if you are like me and alredy have trad tele and strat basses covered, this is an excellent new take on stuff.
Some very high end Fenders have pau ferro boards btw.
Really? Which ones?
@@arn999 Well the famous SRV pickguard strat does. But to be fair maybe it started out life as a low end Fender. Pretty sure it American tho. There are custom shop ones too. Jaco Pastorius Jazz Bass as well
Ah ok sure, but they're rare. I don't mind the fact that it's not rosewood. It's just that pao ferro boards tend to be way lighter, which I don't prefer.
@@arn999I have a fairly dark one,stripy.
“Pau ferro is actually called ‘Bolivian rosewood’ in some circles, and we’ve used it on models in the past,” said Senior Vice President of Fender Products Justin Norvell. “It’s actually been used as a well-known alternative for rosewood for a long time, and it’s often available in wider widths, so we used it on a lot of our five-string basses in the ‘90s. It’s a wood we’re familiar with.”
@@vansongs
The SRV signature model was never a low end model. It was always one of the most expensive signature models from the time it was introduced and it currently still is although there are few more than there used to be that cost more.
Yes, it has always been American made. There has also been a much more expensive Custom Shop version available throughout most of the time that the standard model has been in production. There was also an insanely expensive exact replica of the guitar produced in very limited numbers (I think they made 50 of them). I think it was the first exact replica that Fender ever did or at least the first one that for sale to the general public.
i love my MIM tele, burst with maple fb, it almost looks too good, thats ok tho, it plays like a dream , mexicasters are a great value.