REVIEWED FENDER Road Worn
Player Strat Fender’s new Road Worn Player series combines an authentic well-worn vintage vibe with sleek modern playability…
Words: Hayden Hewitt
Ahhh, the Fender Stratocaster: one of the few guitars where more trees have died to provide the paper to write about the guitar than gave their lives to become part of the guitar itself. Possibly. The new Road Worn Player series
adds a couple of modern features to the vintage vibe, offering guitarists who dig the aged finish the best of both worlds. While you still find a traditional Fender vibrato bridge the Player Strat adds a slightly flatter 9.5-inch radius fingerboard for improved playability, plus a set of three Texas Special single coil pickups that deliver traditional smoky vintage Strat tones with a fractionally hotter output.
Hit the Road Fender has a proven track record when it comes to providing an authentic Stratocaster for all budgets and niches. The Road Worn Player
FENDER Road Worn Strat
SRP £1054.80
All prices include VAT CONT
ACT
Fender GBI T:
W:
01342 331700
www.fender.com
14 3pickup
Strat represents the second generation of Fender’s popular Road Worn series that introduced an affordable way for guitarists to buy a skilfully pre-aged vintage spec’d Fender guitar, something that was previously confined to Fender’s legendary – and expensive – Custom Shop Relic series. Without wishing to get too deeply
mired in the pros and cons regarding artificially aged guitars, the bottom line is that sales prove beyond doubt that this concept is very popular. According to Fender the new Road Worn Player series owes its very existence to direct player feedback, which requested slightly more subtle aging allied to improved playability. Indeed, one of the first things that strikes about the Road Worn Player is that its worn finish is nowhere near as aggressively aged and battered as the original Road Worn guitars; consequently the wear actually feels a little more realistic than many other relic guitars we’ve played previously. The thin nitro finish gradually gives way to a patch of bare wood on the guitar’s upper bout but apart from a few carefully placed dings and nicks, plus some faux-buckle rash on the back, the forearm wear is really the only significant area where the artificial aging takes prominence. Likewise, the neck reveals a more subtle approach to aging; with a smooth satin feel to the back of the neck and only gentle wear on the fret board. Add to this the artificially aged hardware (which, thankfully, avoids looking like it will give you
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