With the arrival of the Prime Day guitar deals, many manufacturers and retailers are aiming to compete with Amazon’s shopping bonanza by running their own sales. One of the best, in my opinion, is Fender’s huge summer sale, which sees massive discounts on guitars and accessories, with savings of up to 20% off.
Included in the sale is my go-to gigging guitar, and one of my all-time favorite instruments, the Fender Player Plus Telecaster. It’s a limited edition version that has a sweet $240 discount. For my money, it’s one of the best gigging guitars I’ve ever owned, and one that nicely straddles the balance between premium appointments and affordability.
Before I bought my Tele, I considered myself a Strat guy, so no one was more surprised than I when I completely switched allegiances after buying one. My Telecaster works for so many different styles; I’ve used it in punk bands, alternative rock bands, and it can also do blues, jazz, and I’ve even used it on a reggae/dub-inspired track.
Having used a Player Plus Telecaster for around three years now, I can safely say that it’s one of the most versatile guitars I’ve played. Like most Tele’s, that’s down to the bright bridge sound and dark neck pickup, but my Player Plus Tele has an additional weapon. A series switch on the tone knob allows you to feed the sound of the bridge pickup into the neck, creating a humbucker esque-tone.
It increases the output when engaged, essentially giving you another pickup sound and a small boost all in one. It means, as well as getting warmer, fatter tones, you can also dig in and get some properly heavy chugging sounds with it, and I love using it to fill out the sound for a chorus or give me a boost during a lead section.
Alongside the plethora of great tones, the Player Plus Tele also has rounded fingerboard edges, which means a super comfortable playing platform. It doesn’t feature the rosewood ‘board of the new Player II Telecaster, but to be honest, having owned one and reviewed the other, I didn’t feel a huge amount of difference in terms of playability.
The Player Plus Telecaster also features locking tuners, which aren’t on Player II, and you can notice the difference in stability. I seldom have to do much tweaking of the tuner pegs despite playing it daily, and it takes the time of string changes down to about five minutes once you’re used to them.
If you’re considering a Player II Tele, I would definitely recommend you take a look at a Player Plus model too, as I think you get a lot for your money. It won’t suit those who like traditional Telecasters, but if you want a modern guitar that will stand up to regular use and abuse on the live circuit, there are few better for less than a grand.
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