Is a bad fret job to be expected on the Player range?

[scubadoo]

I zoomed in as much as a I could on the original poster's photos and couldn't see any visible issue beyond the frets not being perfectly rounded off and not polished to a mirror shine. But that describes 99% of the guitars I've ever seen in my life.

Do the fret ends snag your fingers as you move past them during normal play? That's definitely an issues needs to be addressed.

It wasn't clear to me in this particular thread if the original poster found ALL the guitars he and his daughter looked at to be unplayable for some fret-related reason of if it was mostly cosmetic imperfections that disqualified them from consideration.

That was just an example that approximated the unfinished state of the fret ends. On most of the ones we looked at the bevelled ends were sharp, not shaped and yes, had burrs that would be rough on fingers.

 

[hotcoffeenochill]

This. Schecter PT Special. It’ll mop the floor with a player series, and it’s more affordable. Or look at any of the import Schecter PT guitars. In that price range, they’re the best T-style going IMO.

For a skitch more you can get into Reverend.

Good shout on the Reverends. Had a Charger HB for a while. Amazing sound and finish, loved the bass contour knob. Just despised the offset body shape and eventually I stopped trying to like it and just let it go.

 

[Jakedog]

Good shout on the Reverends. Had a Charger HB for a while. Amazing sound and finish, loved the bass contour knob. Just despised the offset body shape and eventually I stopped trying to like it and just let it go.

I believe the Pete Anderson T style is $999 (so player plus price range) and is all kinds of awesome.

 

[8bit]

I believe the Pete Anderson T style is $999 (so player plus price range) and is all kinds of awesome.

The whole Reverend line got a price increase (like everything else) fairly recently. Those are $1,099 now. Still I'd say miles better than Fender Player and well worth the extra dough.

 

[Jakedog]

The whole Reverend line got a price increase (like everything else) fairly recently. Those are $1,099 now. Still I'd say miles better than Fender Player and well worth the extra dough.

Oh definitely. I’d buy a Rev. And I’d play a Rev. I can’t say the same for the other line in question.

 

[Wallaby]

Yup, and at their cost hopefully so at least it's memorable to them in some way.

if you buy guitars at low prices sight unseen, be prepared to return bad product,

 

[Brent Hutto]

Low cost or high cost, I would not buy any guitar without being able to play and examine it first, unless I could return it for my money back. Well, not so much if it cost <$100 or something maybe. But when it's real money I can't afford to lose the odds with ANY guitar of my liking it never having seen it before are pretty small.

If I think back to every acoustic or electric guitar I've ever played or demo'd, way less than 1 in 10 I'd have been happy with. More like 1 in 20 maybe?

 

[Scoutbag]

My experience is somewhat limited but the 22 fender player strat I just sold had a pretty decent fret finishing. I've found PRS to be very very consistent in finishing across the line. Myself I like to feed the bottom end and its not a big deal to clean up and level frets and I've owned some pretty sweet guitars that just needed a fret clean up and decent set up.

 

[Swirling Snow]

What I am getting at, while I have no evidence, I suspect guitar manufacturers do something similar. There are certain distributors/outlets that will get rid of anything because their clientele list simply doesn't care and usually do not fuss with minor quality issues. Other distributors and clientele are much less forgiving, and that is where the "better product" is often shipped to minimize returns.

FMIC may just look at the numbers, but their local reps know who's who. And the company's workers do know what a good guitar is, but they have quotas because the company has orders to fill. Some stores get the lobsters, some get the shrimp, and some get the clams.

 

[telecastergirl]

I'm looking to get a guitar for my daughter's birthday and thought I'd check out the Player range as well as look at the PRS SE's and some other things. At the moment she's playing my American Pro II tele.

I was pretty shocked at the fretwork on the Player range to be honest. They didn't look crowned and the fret ends were sharp, had visible file marks and hadn't been rounded or polished at all. Is this to be expected? seems a bit rough for £750.

I know I can, and will, do a set up and fret tidy up but I'm surprised that something that is relatively quick to do but has a massive impact on playability would be ignored.

In contrast the PRS SE's had very tidy fret jobs apart from a few file marks on the fingerboard on the upper frets.

My daughter (12) is into rock and a bit of metal so was expecting her to prefer the PRS or Schecters but she preferred the Telecasters!

I'm excited for her! I started playing at 12. A Tele is very suitable for a girl. The lighter the better. Seven+ pounds on your shoulder gets old fast. Also, get her a Positive Grid Spark Mini bluetooth rechargeable amp in the white finish. Genius. Can practice anywhere you like.

 

[soundcloset]

If she doesn’t care about the Fender name, also consider checking out the G&L ASATs if they’re available where you are. Traditional T-type look and I’ve been impressed with their fret-work.

Mine's a keeper.

 

[Blues Twanger]

I have 4 Players at the moment and the only issue I had was that one got some fret sprout the second winter I owned it.

 

[Stax1]

I bought a Player series Jazzmaster a few months ago, it was a 2019 build, so new old stock in a local store here in Sydney Australia. Frets are great on it! I asked the store to string it with 11's and set it up accordingly before I came to collect it and its been great to play. I think they gave the frets a quick polish when restringing, which helps make it nice and fresh to play.

For comparison, I do own some US made Fenders and an LSL Bad Bone 2. But the new MIM Jazzy was quite a nice addition.

 

[FabriceKaiser]

I'm looking to get a guitar for my daughter's birthday and thought I'd check out the Player range as well as look at the PRS SE's and some other things. At the moment she's playing my American Pro II tele.

I was pretty shocked at the fretwork on the Player range to be honest. They didn't look crowned and the fret ends were sharp, had visible file marks and hadn't been rounded or polished at all. Is this to be expected? seems a bit rough for £750.

I know I can, and will, do a set up and fret tidy up but I'm surprised that something that is relatively quick to do but has a massive impact on playability would be ignored.

In contrast the PRS SE's had very tidy fret jobs apart from a few file marks on the fingerboard on the upper frets.

My daughter (12) is into rock and a bit of metal so was expecting her to prefer the PRS or Schecters but she preferred the Telecasters!

Personal opinion buuuut, I think Squier makes far sexier guitars for half the money of a Player series Tele. This being the case, you might, understandably, find it easier to fork out money for a fret dress and minor upgrades..

 

[Steve T]

No, it definitely shouldn’t be expected. I had an American Performer which was shockingly bad out of the box, terrible nut and rough frets. I sold it on, horrible. I wasn’t going to bother with another Tele, but I eventually got a Player Tele in Butter scotch from Merchant City Music in the UK. It arrived beautifully set up and is a pleasure to play. It’s pot luck I think sometimes, but some dealers don’t seem to make any effort to quality control what they send out.

 

[G Stone496]

I'm looking to get a guitar for my daughter's birthday and thought I'd check out the Player range as well as look at the PRS SE's and some other things. At the moment she's playing my American Pro II tele.

I was pretty shocked at the fretwork on the Player range to be honest. They didn't look crowned and the fret ends were sharp, had visible file marks and hadn't been rounded or polished at all. Is this to be expected? seems a bit rough for £750.

I know I can, and will, do a set up and fret tidy up but I'm surprised that something that is relatively quick to do but has a massive impact on playability would be ignored.

In contrast the PRS SE's had very tidy fret jobs apart from a few file marks on the fingerboard on the upper frets.

My daughter (12) is into rock and a bit of metal so was expecting her to prefer the PRS or Schecters but she preferred the Telecasters!

Let me preface my post with I’m not much of a stickler on setups, so I don’t notice frets unless there’s something wrong. Between 2019-2020 I bought 4 new MiM Fender players (2 Teles, a Lead III and a Duosonic). 3 of them had good playable fret jobs. The 4th had fairly level frets, but had significant fret sprout where I could feel the frets at the edges of the neck.

If your daughter is playing an Am. Pro and prefers Teles, she probably won’t be crazy about a Schecter or PRS. I have a couple USA G&Ls and the frets on those are very good. I haven’t tried the import G&L Tribute line yet, so can’t comment on the fretwork on those.

My humble opinion, get her a MiM Tele in one of the many colors available and tighten up the fretwork yourself if needed.

 

[Jim85IROC]

My biggest complaint with the Players Series fretwork is that they seem to have excessive fret sprout, which indicates to me that they aren't drying their neck wood sufficiently. Some minor fret sprout is understandable, but I consistently see these with excessive sprout. I was at Guitar Center last weekend and every Mexican Strat I picked up was sharp and uncomfortable.

Here's what my '19 Strat looked like when I got it.

 

[mfguitar]

Unless you love the guitar for some reason and are willing to put some money into it or at least some time then frets poorly installed are unacceptable in any price range. Too many manufacturers get it right, I would add Yamaha to all of those brands already mentioned.

 

[Boreas]

My biggest complaint with the Players Series fretwork is that they seem to have excessive fret sprout, which indicates to me that they aren't drying their neck wood sufficiently. Some minor fret sprout is understandable, but I consistently see these with excessive sprout. I was at Guitar Center last weekend and every Mexican Strat I picked up was sharp and uncomfortable.

Here's what my '19 Strat looked like when I got it.

Wow! Those are sharp enough to warrant a Safety Recall!! I hope you were up to date on your tetanus shots!

 

[tillamook]

A couple months ago I sold my Silver Sky SE, bought a late 2021 buttercream Player Strat, added staggered locking tuners (removed the string tree), shorter saddle height screws, a bit of heat shrink tubing on the whammy bar, and it's as good or better as any Strat I've owned in the last 50 years, and there have been many from Custom Shops to Bullets. Frets are fine. It wasn't like I hunted around for a good one, I saw it on Thunder Road Guitars website, they pulled it out of the basement (no room on the display floor) and I'm a happy camper!