Fender Player Series Strat MN TPL

It's a wonderful guitar - so comfortable to play. The maple neck and the strat body work well for me. Other than that, it is simply a gorgeous guitar.

Features: I did have some issues with regards to tuning stability. I recently had it set up (tightening the trem block springs, exchange the tuning machines to Fender staggered locking tuners, and changing strings to 10s instead of 9s) - this did wonders!
Apparently the nut is carved to accommodate both 9s and 10s (the guitar is shipped with 9s). However, the nut carve lead to a zing with the 9s; changing to 10s resolved this.
The trem arm is a screw in. Hence, it's a little tedious to put in and out. Also it did not come with a spring, and it does not stay in position well (but should be easy to resolve). Overall the two-point trem is nicely smooth!

Sound: I really like these single coil pickups! The dedicated tone for the bridge pickup is very useful.

Quality: I haven't found one issue in construction. The guitar resonates nicely unplugged - a good indicator.

For this price, I getting a Fender strat with these features is great!

I had to sell my US Strat in tough times and this was a gift from my wife to somewhat alleviate that pain many years late. . We couldn’t afford a US Strat but I have to say this more than compensates me for my loss.

Especially the neck and pickups they suit me far better than the previous Strat did. The pickups suit my near break up style of play and are much less noisy than the slightly more pristine sound of the US Strat.

I can still get a pristine sound with a tweak of EQ and I can’t do a great blues Rock without excessive hum.
Pros
It’s a strat with all you would hope from a Strat.
The Alnicos are spot on
Frets really level and a nice modern size
Feels perfect to play especially for little hands like mine
Gorgeous finish
Stable solid feeling trem and tuners
Very well built all round. It will last you a lifetime

Cons
The only con was a few feet sprouts which were easily remedied.
I’m genuinely happy with this. It feels just right.

I wanted to get myself a new guitar and after a bit of online searching decided to get myself a strat. I've never had a Fender guitar before and I knew very little about them so I went to the store and A/B some guitars. This one stood out the most, I compared it to the old MIM Standard cause there still was one in the store and the difference is immense. This guitar feels better made, sound more like a strat should thanks to those alnico pickups and overall feels like a much more expensive instrument. I also got to compare it to American Professional Stratocaster and it is incredibly similar, of course AmPro rings out a bit longer and is a bit nicer and comes with a nice case but I couldn't justify the price difference. I couldn't find a better looking, playing,sounding or feeling Strat in that price range. I recommend it with all my heart to anyone looking for inexpensive but marvelous instrument

This is my first Fender's guitar and actually my first single coil guitar.
I already played an American Standard and an old version of mexican Stratocaster. I have to say that the new player series is an important upgrade wrt the old mexican one both from quality and sound points of view. The construction quality is awesome and it looks really good. The only cons is that the frets are not so smooth, but it is not a problem when you are playing. I think that American Standard product should be considered only if you are a professional player. Otherwise, the new player series performance are really satisfactory and you will get the classic Strato-sound. Actually it really fits every kind of musical genres.