Fender Player II Stratocaster HSS review – the only Strat you’ll ever need?

Fender Player II Stratocaster HSS review – the only Strat you’ll ever need?

$829/£759, fender.com
If you’ve been paying attention over the last few years, you might well have heard people say that the best affordable Strat you can buy in this day and age isn’t actually a Strat at all – it’s the PRS SE Silver Sky.

READ MORE: Fender 70th Anniversary Player Stratocaster review – a worthy celebration of the most iconic guitar ever

John Mayer’s import signature model is a fine guitar of course – I literally said so myself – but you get the sense that Fender has taken such a slight to its honour a little personally, and sought to rectify things accordingly. At the tail end of last year we saw the rebirth of the Vintera line which brought guitars made in Fender’s Ensenada, Mexico factory closer in sound, look and feel to the real vintage things than they’d ever been before, and now it’s the turn of Fender’s most affordable (and likely most important) Fender-branded range – the Player series.
What is the Fender Player II series?
Launched back in 2018, the original Player range was designed to be the first rung on the Fender ladder for guitarists wanting to graduate from a budget instrument like a Squier Strat, for instance. Pitched squarely in the ‘first serious guitar’ category, the Player series blended classic looks with what you could politely describe as broadly appealing features – including modern 9.5” radius boards, a comfortable and slim Modern C neck profile, as well as upgraded Alnico pickups (compared to the previous ceramic units found in Mexican Standard guitars).
The guitars were quite rightly very well received by players of all stripes – from relative beginners to experienced players looking for an affordable but rock-solid backup guitar. It was also notable that many artists were happy enough with the quality and sounds offered by Player series guitars that they found homes on some of the world’s biggest stages.
But there’s always room for improvement isn’t there? And so five years later, Fender has listened to some of the criticisms of the Player range and revamped the whole thing in the shape of the brand spanking new Player II.
Body of the Player II Stratocaster HSS. Image: Adam Gasson
What’s the difference between Fender Player and Player II guitars?
Now, it should be noted that some of the most eye-catching changes to the Player II line have been reserved for other models. For example, the Player Jazzmaster now has real JM pickups and a vibrato (review coming soon), while the new Chambered Telecaster and Strat are a significant structural departure for Fender full stop.
However, even in the walled garden that is our trusty friend the Stratocaster, there are some significant changes and upgrades that might well tempt you into a closer investigation. For starters, just look at that fingerboard – it’s lovely, isn’t it? Yep, following on from the Vintera II, the Player II range now features rosewood fingerboards – with factory rolled edges no less – finally banishing the much-maligned pau ferro back to the Squier range where it belongs.
The neck is clearly very much a focus of the improvements here, because in addition to the rosewood, the back now also has a slight vintage tint to it – a little more caramel than the yellow-y tint of the Player I. Combined with the same gloss tint on the front of the headstock the original Players had, this guitar certainly looks like a much more expensive guitar than it is.
That feeling is enhanced by the presence of new ClassicGear vintage-style tuners, with more visually arresting butterbean-shaped pegs – it’s a small thing, but it helps the overall vibe of a guitar you won’t feel so inclined to upgrade straight out of the box.
Neck of the Player II Stratocaster HSS, Image: Adam Gasson
It’s not all give, give, give however. If you bought or contemplated buying a Player guitar when they first came out, you may have noted that they came with a gigbag. Now, I’ve been fairly unkind about the gigbag that’s shipped as standard with Fender’s Mexican guitars over the last few years – mainly because they’re, frankly, a bit of a letdown. Certainly compared to the cases that brands like PRS and Epiphone are shipping with their affordable guitars, they felt unbelievably cheap and nonreassuring.
However, my reason for pointing this out was to encourage Fender to improve the quality of the bags shipped with Mexican guitars (the FE bags already exist guys!). It was not a signal for them to just stop shipping gigbags with their most affordable Mexican guitars altogether, which apparently they quietly did with the Player I series at some point in the last couple of years, and is carried on with the Player II.
Perhaps the reality is those bags are so underwhelming, Fender figures that there’s no way you’d actually want to use them – though if that’s the case, why are they still shipping them with the Vintera IIs? Whatever the truth, it is undoubtedly a small thing (and might be a blessing if you already own a good quality gigbag) but when it’s one that probably adds another 50-60 bucks onto the overall cost, it’s worth knowing.
Another fun facet of the Player II guitars are the finishes on offer. In addition to the usual Sunburst, Black and White options we get some new creations from the Fender paint shop – Hialeah Yellow, Aquatone Blue, Birch Green and the very lovely Coral Red you see here. As a lifelong Fiesta Red Strat hater, I always wince when I pull a red Strat out of a box for review, but even I have to admit that this Coral shade is rather nice. With an orange-y cast that sits between Fiesta and Candy Apple, it looks great against the rosewood neck, the off-white pickguard and cream knobs and pickup covers.
Fretboard of the Player II Stratocaster HSS. Image: Adam Gasson
Is the Fender Player II Stratocaster HSS good to play?
I’m not a religious man, but my first interaction with the Player II Stratocaster HSS makes me want to throw on a cassock, jump in the pulpit and spread the Good News of the Church Of Factory-Rolled Fingerboard Edges.
If you’ve mainly owned cheaper guitars in your life, and wonder why, when you play an expensive guitar in a shop or whatever it feels so much more comfortable and inviting… chances are a lot of that is down to the rolled fingerboard edges.
What is rolling a fingerboard edge, I hear you ask? Well, it’s pretty much what it sounds – the edge of the fingerboard is filed slightly to remove the sharp angle at the edge, which makes things significantly more comfortable to play – a tactile, played-in feel. This sort of thing is pretty standard on high-end production guitars nowadays, and a qualified luthier will be able to do it on any guitar you own… however beware of attempting it yourself. A lot of YouTube videos will tell you it’s “easy”, but how easy it is will really depend on how much you were paying attention in woodworking class…
Headstock of the Player II Stratocaster HSS. Image: Adam Gasson
Frankly, it’s much easier to let someone skilled do it for you in the factory, and man, it’s quite a thing to experience a Fender guitar at this price point come out of the box with it already done. Fender isn’t the first company to do this to their budget guitars of course, but it makes a significant difference compared to the Player I guitars – combining with that comfortable and crowd-pleasing C-shaped neck and 9.5” radius to offer a smooth and slinky experience all the way up the neck.
The new ClassicGear tuners are solid and stable, and they have a vintage-style hole in the middle to make string changes a doddle. The two-point vibrato has the always welcome bent-steel saddles, and while the screw-in arm is always a bit fiddly to get in, it’s solid and reliable once it’s in there. Vibrato tension is subjective of course, and this one’s a little on the stiff side for my tastes out of the box – nothing that can’t be fixed by removing or repositioning one of the springs, though.
If you like your Strats nice and light however, you may be in for a disappointment – this one tipped the scales at a hair over 8lbs, which is right at the top end of what most people would probably consider acceptable. However, should you want a lighter Strat, the new Player II Strat Chambered model will surely be on your radar.
Back of the Player II Stratocaster HSS. Image: Adam Gasson
How does the Fender Player II Stratocaster HSS sound?
Given that this guitar sports the same Player Alnico II Stratocaster pickups in the neck and middle and Alnico V bridge humbucker as the original guitars, I’m not expecting a radical departure from this guitar sonically, and so it is – but that is emphatically not a bad thing. The Player pickups have always sounded absolutely fantastic for a guitar at this price point, and that’s only accentuated with the HSS configuration here.
That bridge humbucker is a lively and aggressive thing, greeting the winding up of the gain knob like an old friend. Thanks to the sensible decision to link the second tone control to the bridge, not the traditional middle (as with all Player II guitars), there’s also a fair amount of versatility on tap – rolling back the tone takes a little of the Strat’s alder-body attack and brightness out of things, doing a fair impression of the darker sound of a Les Paul.
The middle pickup is a hugely underrated tool for rock rhythm sounds, and it’s wonderfully realised here – full of punch and clarity that suits overdriven chords beautifully. In this regard, the HSS actually reveals a hidden gem in the second position – with the humbucker adding extra oomph and snarl to open position chords, and the middle pickup fattening up everything, you could easily lose a few hours here just smashing through some Neil Young chords.
The neck pickup is… well it’s a Strat neck pickup? It sounds exactly as you’d want a Strat neck pickup to sound, with a warm and woody character – it sounds like I’m damning it with faint praise there, and maybe I am, but there’s a lot to be said for a great Strat just sounding like a great Strat, isn’t there?
Pickups on the Player II Stratocaster HSS. Image: Adam Gasson
Is the Fender Player II Stratocaster HSS worth buying?
Reviewing a Fender Stratocaster in the year 2024 is a lot like reviewing a new iPhone – if you go in expecting to have your socks blown off by something radically different, then you’re going to be disappointed. There was fundamentally nothing wrong with the Player I guitars, and so of course the changes here are going to be subtle, but crucially they do amount to a tangible quality of life improvement.
Fender is also – not unreasonably – keen to point out that the price of the Player II guitars is pretty damn close to what the Player I guitars cost before Fender gradually started discounting the range as they ramped up to the new range launch. Yeah, you can get a Player I guitar for about $100 less now, but back in 2021 the HSS Player I retailed for the exact same price as the Player II does now.
Now, you might – again, not unreasonably – point out that Fender guitars have got a lot more expensive than they were when they launched back in 2019, but let’s be honest, what hasn’t got much more expensive over the last five years?
Instead, the Player II Stratocaster is an impressive refinement of what was already the most bang for buck guitar in the Fender line. The lack of a gigbag does feel a bit mean, but would you pay the extra hundred bucks for a rosewood board and rolled fingerboard edges on any other guitar? I would, and I bet you would too…

Fender Player II Stratocaster alternatives
There are plenty of options if you’re looking for an HSS S-type at the budget end of the market – that does rule you out of the Silver Sky fun however, though the new SE NF3 ($799/£799) is an interesting alternative. The first port of call on many a list at this price point is the Yamaha Pacifica 612VIIX ($779/£874), but if you’re looking for something a fair bit more affordable, Squier’s Sonic Strat HSS ($199/£169.99) is an unbelievably good guitar for the money. If you want something a little different, why not give the offset charms of Guild’s Surfliner Deluxe ($699/669) a spin?
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