All user reviews of 4/5 for the Fender Classic Player '50s Stratocaster

It is very hard to keep up with Fender's Stratocasters, because it is probably the most duplicated model and Fender releases dozens of different models of the Stratocaster each year. This is the new Classic 50s series. It is made in Mexico, but think Baja series where the quality falls somewhere between MIM and MIA.

The guitar sells for $699 with a gigbag. I tried it out at my local music shop through a Fender Twin Reverb Reissue for about an hour.

The tint of the maple neck and yellowed pickup covers, knobs and switch tip are not tacky or cheesy like the Roadworn stuff. That is just my opinion, but this proves Fender can make a classy reproduction of a vintage guitar without making it look like it got ran over by a truck.

$699 felt just a little steep. If it had been priced $599, I would have probably brought the guitar up to the front of the store and pulled out the plastic!

The maple neck is V-shaped. The body is either alder or poplar depending on the finish. The tremelo is the standard vintage style. I think it is what is on the MIM Standards Strats. The finish was a cool Daphne Blue with is similar to baby or sky blue with just a hint of green to it. The pickguard is era correct being a 1 ply white guard instead of the 3-ply WBW.

Overall the Classic 50s Strat is very 'stratty' Purists will not be let down. The V neck gives it that old strat feel and the pickups aren't overly high output giving it the classic tone you would expect.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

The Fender Classic Player 50's Stratocaster is a product released to help rejuvenate and bring quality to the Made in Mexico line of guitars. The guitar is similar to the old school '50s strats in that it has an alder body, maple neck, 21 medium jumbo frets, vintage tremolo, a 9.5'' radius, SSS configuration with a 5 way switch, one volume and two tone pots.

UTILIZATION

The guitar is similar to the regular Mexican line of guitars, but the one I played seems to have both better pickups and better fit + finish. The body is pretty much the standard '50s strat body that has been used for awhile in their line up, but the neck is a softer V shaped neck. Since it's a V neck, it won't be for everyone, but I find the soft edged V shape to be very comfortable to where it shouldn't be a big issue. The 9.5'' radius is standard on these guitars, and while I'm not a fan of the smaller radius, it works for a lot of people. I really wish it had 22 frets, but considering it's meant to be a '50s strat, it's forgivable. The fretwork on the one I played seems to be better than the normal MIM line. Not sure if that's due to luck or what.

SOUNDS

The guitar sounds quite nice, and I could easily live with the stock pickups in this. The singles have that signature hum going on, but they also have all the great qualities that most people look for in singles. They're vowely, quack nicely, have some decent power and work great in both clean and mid gain tones.

OVERALL OPINION

If you're looking for a nice quality MIM strat without breaking the bank, you should really look into checking this guitar out. They go pretty cheap on the used market, and it can rival some of the MIA strats out there. Like all Fenders, you should really play one before you actually buy, but I don't think you'll be too disappointed with this guitar as long as you're not one of those people who absolutely needs the Fender custom shop quality guitar.

Everything is already written, is a stratum.
Noted the tremolo 2 points more than the 6 screws mechanical routine, however, for the purists know that this type of vibrato n'exitait not in the 50s!
My model is sunburst, with it seems, are guaranteed to have an alder body.
The models are now painted poplar. Check.

UTILIZATION

If you like the Fender Staratocaster you'll love this model.

Still talking about the lever vibato home, I find it too long and too curved.
You can always buy to replace the easy mute (Hank Marvin), which comes in 3 lengths 110, 130 and 155 mm. However, about € 50 for a piece of scrap ... a bit pricey.
I have my own shortcut to 130 mmm and straightened a bit tip.
We must regain control over the anchor block tremolo springs, the threaded portion of the lever must be perpendicular to the table, or almost, if you can not screw it! logic.
A little clarification, this setting does not influence the functioning of the guitar, these springs balance the string tension, whatever the setting of the anchor.

We have also to handle, 0.5 mm gaps between the 1st and the 12th box full, adjust the string height, etc. ...

SOUNDS

The sound is not, it's just a case of guitar, we are no longer in the 50s ... What follows, pedals, amps, and effects were equally important.
Again it is a stratum. Everything has already been written.

OVERALL OPINION

Two years without a problem.
Obviously when you removed the plate micro one is surprised ... wiring of the 50s, nothing has changed.

Sacrilege color microphones and buttons, a horrible beige plastic supposed to imitate the old ....., idea what was Fender?
Look at the old models, even 50 years later, the plastic microphones do not have this affeuse color. We must therefore invest 15 € and replaced the so-called palstique old with white. Within minutes everything changed.
For info and pictures of this model have microphones and white buttons, but a photo is not contractual!

The price?
For younger in 1963 was worth a Start En 3000 about 530 €.
If the price had kept pace with inflation it would pay about € 4,800 today!! No comment

Knowing what you know now, would you make the same choice? ... Sure.

This is a Mexican Fender Stratocaster, with a standard tuning bridge and a maple neck and fretboard. It has three single coil pickups, a five-way selector switch. It also has 21 frets, a volume and two tone knobs.

UTILIZATION

The hardware and setup on this guitar are certainly the biggest drawbacks for me. The Mexican strats have a (mostly unfounded) reputation as being more sloppily made than their American counterparts. In reality, a lot of new American strats are just as bad, but that doesn't excuse this. The intonation on this guitar has been known to be troublesome, and the bridge tends to give certain strings a peculiar, almost muted sound. This could be fixed by replacing a few of the parts and getting it set up, but that shouldn't really be something that you should continually have to do, as far as I'm concerned. Other than that, however, the shape and weight of the guitar are great and comfortable. Getting a good sound, for a good player at least, shouldn't be too hard.

SOUNDS

I use it with a Fender Twin reverb, and it sounds pretty great. It's not quite up there with my older '67 reissue, but I honestly haven't known many guitars that are as good as that. I think that, contrary to my initial expectations, this guitar does have a great sound though. I definitely prefer the clean sound, as I do with most Strats, because the distorted sounds on this model are sometimes thin (unless you have a good distortion pedal, in which case you're in good shape). Great for electric Blues and rock styles, this guitar would suit a great number of players. This is great for my rock, blues, and country styles of playing, but particularly great for my R&B. One thing I enjoyed was that the bridge pickup wasn't too bright, which sometimes bothers me. It seemed to be just right in terms of being bright without being shrill.

OVERALL OPINION

The frustrating thing about this guitar is definitely the suspect setup. The fact that it required so much work for me was frustrating. Whether or not this is true of all these models is unclear, but it definitely gave me a bad taste. The sound however is pretty fantastic, and anyone who's not a real stickler would probably agree. This, being a Mexican model, is usually more affordable than the comparable American models. Considering it's not much worse (if it's worse at all), I'd highly recommend this to anyone under budget constraints, as it will be more than capable of creating the sounds you want. It always plays smoothly and is comfortable, so anyone would be satisfied, if not necessarily thrilled with it.