When I took lessons many years ago, I used to grab up a Strat just there and try playing cleanly on it.
At that point, all I could play was probably the pentatonic scale and few parts of The Man Who Sold The World by Nirvana. The song is mostly on an acoustic so I don’t know what I was doing trying to learn it on an electric.
Anyway, I remember my teacher taking his guitar out of a case and playing it. I had seen and played electric guitars but somehow I’d never noticed there was something like a Tele.
This was my introduction to Tele, and I was amazed at how good it sounded. I’ve never been a fan of how the pickguard and control knobs look, but I love the tone.
Many players swear by the looks and tone of a Tele and say that the Fender Player Tele is underrated. In this article, we take a look at the Fender Player Telecaster to see how it performs.
Let’s get to it.
Table of Contents
Overview of Fender Player Telecaster
Fender Player Telecaster Electric Guitar
Specification
- 22 medium-jumbo maple frets
- Maple neck
- Vintage body
- Two single coil/humbuckers
Our Verdict
Featuring maple frets with Vintage Tele looks, Fender Player Telecaster is a steal at the price. If you’re thinking about getting into guitar or just want to gift your child a decent affordable guitar, you won’t go wrong with the Fender Player Telecaster.
Fender
Before we dive into the guitar, let’s talk a bit about Fender. The instrument brand has made a name for itself by consistently making incredible guitars and amps. There’s a lot more these guys make but we only care about guitars here!
Aesthetics
The Mexican-made Fender Player Tele looks stunning, even to me who doesn’t quite get the style factor in a Tele. American-made guitars are usually thought to be of higher quality but they are pretty expensive.
I like to think that what matters is the quality and not what country or what brand made it. Even if it’s made in Afghanistan, if it plays and sounds nice, I’m all for it.
The gloss finish is beautiful and the hardware looks great. I don’t like the synthetic bone on this. You may know I’m a sucker for real bone.
That said, not having plastic nuts is nice. You can swap the nut out for an inexpensive bone nut if you want to.
Teles are usually quite heavy and players somehow associate that with quality. I think that’s unreasonable and personally, I prefer light guitars like the Fender Player Tele that I can play for hours without straining my hands and shoulders.
I like the classic Fender logo on the headstock too.
Tuning
The Fender Player Telecaster has standard diecast tuners. These don’t look mean or anything- these are just decent looking with chrome finish and do their job well.
If you don’t know much about tuners, diecast tuners are the cheaper choice on most budget guitars. If you do a lot of bending and vibrato, you’ll find that your guitar doesn’t stay in tune for that long.
If this was the guitar I was taking on stage, I would probably change the stock tuning machines out for some locking tuners. If you don’t do much of the string bending stuff, you don’t need to do it- the stock ones are fine.
Neck
The slim maple neck on this guitar is a beauty. The Fender Player Telecaster is said to be an entry-level guitar so you’d half expect it to have some rough edges on the frets.
I checked quite thoroughly and there are no obvious finish issues. The back has a satin finish that I am really fond of. It helps with playability as the neck doesn’t get all sticky when you need to play a lot.
The Fender Player Tele has a nice maple fingerboard on the neck. Many prefer rosewood frets but I find both okay.
Maple looks easier on the eyes for me and since rosewood is quite expensive, Fender sticking to maple frets on this guitar is something I approve of.
The C shape neck with 22 medium jumbo frets is also very comfortable to hold. There are black dot inlays on major frets and a cutaway to help play upper frets easily.
The 9.5” fingerboard radius gives it a slight curve that makes it easier to press strings when playing barre chords.
Body
On to the body! The Alder body looks nice with a gloss finish. It doesn’t have contours on the sides of the body.
The neck is a bolt-on to the body like on most Fenders. It’s said that Leo Fender wanted his guitars to be repaired very easily. Having a bolt-on neck meant that you could fit a new neck on the body and the guitar would be good as new!
The overall shape and style choices make it look and feel vintage.
There are some decent Ni-plated steel strings on this guitar. I would keep them till they wear out but you can swap them out for Martin Light ones. Those are my favorite out of all the strings I’ve used to date.
The 6-string saddle on the bridge holds the strings in tune nicely.
What I like about the Fender Player Tele is that I can do the setup myself. I can adjust the string heights (also called the action on a guitar) by playing with the truss rod with a cheap Allen key. I can adjust the intonation by tweaking the bridge saddle if the higher frets sound out of tune to me.
The metal bridge helps with shielding the electronics.
The strings are strung through the bridge and you can see the ball ends on the back. This is typical of Fender Telecasters.
Pickups & Controls
The Fender Player Telecaster comes in two pickup configurations- Single coil or humbuckers. Both variants include a pair of pickups- neck and bridge.
There isn’t much difference in how you’d use the 3-way selector switch but there is a huge difference between the sounds.
If you’re using the humbucker configurations, you can use the push/pull pot to access single-coil sounds as well. If I had to choose between a single-coil and a humbucker sound, I would choose the humbuckers as these are noiseless and sound fuller and punchier to my ears.
There is a strange-looking pickguard- probably because I love the pickguards on Strats. Many of my friends love how the Tele pickguard looks, so you’ll probably love it too.
There are standard tone controls and volume control knobs on the Fender Player Tele.
The Alnico-5 Player Series pickups have a well-balanced tone that sounds great without any processing.
How it Sounds
The neck pickup is perfect for clean jazzy chords and the mid pickup with some overdrive is great for Rock N Roll. I would suggest getting a decent overdrive pedal so you don’t run into problems later on.
Clean, it sounds nice for fingerstyle or country and has a beautiful mellow sound. You can dial up the distortion and use the Fender Player Telecaster for playing anything from dirty blues to progressive metal stuff.
It sounds great as far as solid-body electric guitars go.
The tone is actually pretty nice for an entry-level guitar but sounds good enough to gig with. That’s pretty awesome for somebody who doesn’t have a lot of cash!
Who it’s for
The Fender Player Telecaster is an entry-level guitar meaning that it’s ideally suited for beginners. You can learn your chords and scales on this instrument. For those exploring other beginner-friendly electric guitars, the Squier Affinity Starcaster offers a unique design and accessible playability.
A beginner needs to learn something that is set up well and feels comfortable. Low action, no string buzz, and spot-on intonation are things that the Fender Player Tele absolutely nails.
There aren’t any obvious flaws in the guitar design or tone-wise. So, more experienced players can also use it for gigs or as a practice instrument. Since it’s cheap, you could toss one in your van to take with you on trips as well.
Regardless of your playing style, the Fender Player Tele has a lot to offer for everybody.
The beautiful instrument also makes a fantastic gift item for your family or friends. Your child will also fall in love with the sounds of the Fender Player Tele and it would certainly instill a deep love for music in them.
Score
Bottom Line
The Fender Player Telecaster is not just a beginner’s guitar. It’s a great instrument with excellent playability and tone.
The finishes and controls on this classic guitar are spot-on, and if you’re looking for a decent electric guitar on a tight budget, you’ll love this For those interested in exploring quality acoustic options, our Gibson G-45 review provides an in-depth look.
FAQ
Is it good for intermediate players too?
Yes, the Fender player Tele plays nicely and has a gig-ready sound. You can use it for practicing or performing live without any problems.