Fender Player Series Stratocaster HSS Limited-Edition Electric Guitar Ferrari Yellow

Other MIM Strats released concurrently have great fret work. This one does NOT (finger slicing sharp frets and a few slight sprouts). However, there's quite a premium attached to the ebony fretboard, especially as a first a non-US Fender (and worth it at this price) - so much so, that I guess Fender opted to save on fret finishing labor. After an hour or so with a StewMac fret dressing file, if feels amazing and all is right with the world. Now it's one of the best sounding and feeling MIM Strats I've ever played. I love the exclusive color, and the ebony adds to the blacked-out appeal. Tone-controlled Humbucker makes it extremely versatile.

Much like a few other reviews, I received something less than stellar. Fret ends were horrible, zero setup, finish blem and obviously a used/floor model for those reasons. Upside is I have a CG within an hour of my home, so returning it was two hours out of my day, but easy to do.

Well, the nut is about 1/8" wider than the neck on both sides, dead spot on the 7th fret of the high E, frets sticking out both sides of the neck, bridge 1/4" higher on the low E side. Wasn't even close to playable when it arrived. Thank goodness I have a personal luthier. Frets leveled, nut filed, bridge leveled, set up and now in high humidity getting the neck rehydrated. Should be just fine after that.

The Ferrari Yellow... the Ebony Fretboard are worth the price of admission. Great look! I replaced the pickups with Fralins and dressed the fret ends because they were a little rough.. But now it looks, plays and sounds like one of my Custom Shops.. Love it!

I got the Ferrari Yellow with the Ebony fingerboard and it looks truly awesome; the fretwork edges could be better (smoother) but what do you want for lesser priced Strat??

These brightly colored anniversary editions of the Players Series are hugely eye catching. They all feature ebony fingerboards - a very uncommon standard feature for a Fender Strat nowadays. On the whole, craftsmanship is all well enough and good but certain details have been inconsistent I bought over a dozen of the "stoplight" colors ie; green, yellow, red. Not all have the 75th Anniversary sticker on the back of the headstock. Nor is the decal placement consistent, especially then"limited edition" oval decal. That said, I found out that all the yellow versions of the brightly sports car colors in this series ARE display models. Each Guitar Center was given ONE PER STORE, (might've been one of their promotions) None can be found coming from the shipping warehouse in the YELLOW variety. The Red and Green both came as new in factory packages. So, that said. Buyer beware. You WILL receive a floor model if you order a YELLOW l. You 'may' (or may not)! get the factory package hardware (like; vibrato/term arm and wrenches plus warranty card) You won't find the yellow with a ebony board any other way. I had searched for this color for a long time, many years, as it has been featured in marketing promo previously. So, all aside. If you are Jonesing for this model of this particular color and features, there is risk of inconsistency and a percentage of disappointment if bought online from GC due to ALL are floor models. (Each GC got ONE per store)