Which One Should You Buy? | Fender Vintera II 60s Stratocatser vs Fender Player Plus Stratocaster

Fender just released their Vintera II Series of vintage spec electric guitars made in Mexico, offering a lower priced alternative to their American Vintage II Series of guitars. Last year Fender released the Player Plus series that offers higher end modern specs at a lower price. The Vintera II 60's Stratocaster and the Player Plus Stratocaster are similarly priced which begs the question - which one should you buy?
0:00 Intro
1:25 Differences
9:43 Demo
13:32 Thoughts
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[@denismacnaughton]

I'm a brit guitar player currently living in Italy, just love your videos and podcasts, I have an American pro ii strat, and I'm planning on getting a vintera ii 60s strat

[@lordporcupine8767]

Love your work guys. I’m a long time Andertons subscriber and here for the demos.

[@graphicnick07]

I switched out the neck from the limited edition Ferrari yellow player strat with the ebony fretboard with my player plus, and put the locking tuners from my player plus onto that neck. It's the best strat I've ever played. So now it's a player plus with an ebony fretboard 😎I love it.

[@davidsmith4622]

have a player plus and replaced irritating push-pull with push-push. guitar feels and plays amazing with great versatility in tone selection :)

[@sipius22]

Great review as always.....I have a Japanese SSS, a MIM in HH, and an American Pro II in HSS.......love my strats......the pro II is butter......and Now I'm looking for a Vintage sounding strat.....need to decide which.

[@gavinsolomon2711]

Excellent review, as ever, thank you gents. Both good guitars, just different. I have an American Performer, similar price range, love the pickups, would have gone for a Professional if I could afford it.

[@NickMcC]

I've been trying to figure out what song this is that Cooper plays sometimes in his demos. Finally figured out it's his own song: Cactus Flower! Super catchy, Cooper. Great playing as always!

[@happytrails1963]

Thanks you for honest reviews!

[@digiwalsh2784]

Recently acquired a 98 Fender Deluxe Strat, fantastic guitar fit finish and the neck is amazing. Can't believe people look down on these fine guitars, that's ok more for me. Noiseless pickups, S2 circuit and a 12" radius rosewood board! Haven't picked up anything else since I got it set up and stays in tune forever, I play for a couple of hours hang it up and the next morning still true.

[@JeremyChildress]

The pickups on the Vintera 2 sound warmer to me

[@jr0706]

I remember playing a PP at GC when first released and I thought the noiseless pickups were very “pingy.” There’s a high-end chime that I don’t like. The Vintera 2 pups definitely have a warmer tone.

[@molliecondra2676]

The player plus strat is close to perfect in my book. I love the 12” radius and locking tuners. I also prefer maple fretboard so the player plus is definitely my preference.

[@Lean6]

I had that white Player Plus SSS (got rid of it), and I have the white Vintera II 60s Strat now (love it). Since getting rid of the white SSS Player Plus, I picked up the HSS Player Plus in fiesta red (love it). Hard to explain the vibe with me and that white pearl finish SSS Player Plus...beautiful guitar, but it didn't inspire me to play it. I was inspired to put it in a case. I never bonded with it.

[@pepmasters-999]

Strats look and sound great, but I just don't dig on playing mine as much as my tele. I think it might just be the hardtail I prefer. I agree standard was a better name than player. I think Fender kind of shot themselves in the foot, because the MIM models representing the "standard" lineage of the workhorse instruments was a compelling selling point. With the price point of these getting more premium every day, I think that would have helped. Also agree with Cooper that you're better off saving up for the Am Pro II. That's what I did for my tele.

[@brucek2946]

I would be Happy with Either or Both !

[@mjvicc1952]

Really nice tone! Beautiful playing 😊

[@GuitarTimeWithBillyC]

I had an Ultra Strat and sold it and bought the Player Plus. I actually like the neck on the Player Plus, but other than that they are very similar. I bought a Fender Twin Reverb Tone Master with the extra money and that’s a great amp.

[@ListenToPowerViolence]

My favorite lineage is Highway One Strat > Strat Special > Performer Strat. Those jumbo frets 😍

[@jonsalvador5051]

you guys do epic stuff, thanks

[@howtorepairpendulumclocks]

Great review

[@Baci302]

Shouldn't the question be the Vintera II vs the Vintage II?

[@richwagner3]

My 2019 Nashville Deluxe came with Vintage locking tuners

[@fredericdobbelaere7725]

La stratocaster est une une guitare intemporelle 😊 merci à toi Leo Fender 🙏😉

[@merkules2001]

I have a player plus strat and I have a question. I own a player telecaster, maple necks on both. The tele feels cold to the touch every time I touch it. The strat doesn't have the same feel. Is there a way to get that feel onto the strat? More Poly? Buffing? What can I do?

[@reyes7652]

I'm a Gibson guy but i want my first strat. In your opinion for me is better the player plus for the similar radius or is even better to choose the vintera to test the true strat feeling?

[@renefocke3926]

I love my Player Plus Strat!

[@guitar_lodge]

really useful

[@StahlsBlues]

Hell yeah! Liked and Subscribed! Thanks gents!

[@liaa5655]

whats that greenish blue offset in the back????????????????????????????????????

[@kalinmirchev]

All specs put away, I just liked the sound of the Vintera II much more.

[@AmaniaVines]

If my locking nuts are lost then can i remove it and play it like normal guitar ?

[@user-ih7zg6qw2p]

I like the player plus for the electronics but I'd rather by a player and upgrade the same electronics just so I can have the candy apple red stratocaster with the white pick guard. The pro II is the best tone but with something like a Blues Junior or Princeton or Deluxe Reverb with a player series it's a pretty great standard.

[@adilsonobelard9690]

How are looking for great tele please try the Vintera II 50’s BS amazing guitar resonate and acoustic load amazing

[@dannylaurence8089]

If you’re really into Strats, Teles, etc, there’s room for both of these or their American equivalents in your collection.

[@MaurizioFirmani]

I prefer the Player Plus for the options in sound it gives. They are both excellent guitars. however.

[@Highland_Paddy]

I haven't had a chance to play every single year of Strat, so it's hard to say what would be the perfect one, and the local shop never got in the Am Vint '61, but they have a bigger neck, but the Am Pro 2 had more gloppy feel than satin and seemed to vary from one to the next, but I have already seen one online for $900 about a month ago and kicking myself that I didn't grab it, but surely there will be more at lower prices. They are still poly finish, though, too, whereas the '61 is nitro and costs more. I thought position 7 sounded about the same as position 2 on the pull knob, so I counted six sounds more to my ears, but 6 had a bit of presence or whatever. Usually I like the "warmer" sound but I'm not sure if I preferred the 60s one in this case. The Perforrmer ones have the Yosemite pickups which are somehow different than the V-mod pickups, but they never seem to sound the same when I sample them as they do in the Fender vids.

[@Highland_Paddy]

Most modern players would likely prefer the modern neck, but I don't know how much the 60s one more closely resembles the standard Player neck vs. the fat 50s neck, both of which are thicker than the Pro neck, so a bit of an adjustment if you are upgrading from a Squier neck or whatever.

[@Highland_Paddy]

It's kind of annoying that I'd basically have to buy five guitars just to try and find two or three and then narrow it down to one or two or something because of local availability.

[@Highland_Paddy]

Noiseless still gives buzz. Great.

[@user-wk6sj8lj1y]

Don’t you worry! Soon. The Squire is also priced at $1500

[@killnoni5032]

Hi, it’s standard Mexico! The best guitar you can buy! Just change the pickups with a random tex mex and you’re good to go..

[@MalcyTheMarionette]

Pls do same video but for Precision bass

[@nickpatsios407]

Vintera ii. Sounds warmer

[@simonsmith2642]

I used grab cheap beater MIM strats off the wall at pan shops, drop my pickups in them, maybe tuners, a little set up, and go beat the shit out of them at local gigs.. they werent good, but you could mod them up to play good. For cheap! Those days are gone.

[@muzikjay]

Man, Cooper can play!!

[@Lomoholga2]

Two point vibratos are dramatically better than the vintage 6-screw versions no contest.

[@jacebeleren1703]

Wow, i MUCH preferred the sound of the Vintera II over the Player Plus, and i didn't expect to! I already own a Squier Classic Vibe 60s in Lake Placid Blue, so i think i'll just go ahead and get the Vintera II in the same color as it's big sister (especially since i'm already used to the 6-point trem and the vintage style tuners so they don't bother me). Very nice video guys, very nice presentation and some killer playing in the demos!

[@walterhomburg]

Iv'e got the Ventira 2 since yesterday, sound it great! But.... I was changing the strings to 9, to side 11.. The tremmelo brige can't handel it.. I know its a heavyer string, but i don't know where to turn it, and how.. So annyone??

[@Miss-Hellcat666]

How do you mean "can't handle it"? Does the bridge rise up? Have you added more springs to it?

[@walterhomburg]

@@Miss-Hellcat666 I fix the problem by my self already, on the back at the spring, little higher ^_^

[@Miss-Hellcat666]

@@walterhomburg Good to hear! 😊

[@walterhomburg]

@@Miss-Hellcat666 Its plays goed ^^

[@Miss-Hellcat666]

@@walterhomburg Nice, I kinda want the vintera 60s mod, but I need to try before I buy :)

[@mariodriessen9740]

One thing that always bothered me with ‘cheaper’ Fender guitars is the plastic plug on the headstock (to adjust the truss rod). I see a guitar that looks like the real deal, but one look at that black plastic ‘plug’ immediately makes it a no go. Is it really so much more expensive to give these guitars a walnut plug? Maybe it’s just me, but I can’t stand them. 😕

[@thomaspick4123]

It does not bother me.

[@jmeakin4]

...or one can have the best of both worlds while saving around $800 and opt for a Squier 40th Anniversary Gold Limited Edition Strat. The fit and finish overall, and especially the neck, is better than a CV, better than any other Squier ever, and arguably better than any MiM - perhaps even as good as an APII. The stock pups are pretty darn good too - good enough not to feel modding them is necessary.

[@emerinahmetasevic]

I had that. I sell it.

[@powbobs]

Classic Player Strat had a 12” fingerboard.

[@TREVORJB101]

I miss the name Standard as well Standard Mexican Standard USA

[@KRAZEEIZATION]

Player plus is a different animal altogether. Active pickups and 12” fingerboard radius is as far away from Vintera as you can go without having a pointed headstock! A Fender Lead 3 offers 7 sounds too!

[@jmeakin4]

Those Lead IIs & IIIs are intriguing. They appear to have so many features guitarists prefer, yet no famous players I know of use them, and references to them are so infrequent. Rather than marketing common types with minor variations and tweaks, perhaps Fender should put some effort behind getting Leads more visibility...

[@KRAZEEIZATION]

@@jmeakin4 good point. Clapton used one around 1980. Rory Gallagher also in the early 80s. Bono touts a black one at the Red Rocks concert from 1983! I bought the 2 and 3 reissues. Pity there was no Lead 1 in that relaunch.

[@jordanpratt3821]

Noiseless pickups. Not active

[@KRAZEEIZATION]

@@jordanpratt3821 Wouldn’t be gone on noiseless.

[@jordanpratt3821]

I thought you were saying the player plus had active pickups.

[@stuckinchaselandia6427]

Player plus is basically a Deluxe Roadhouse

[@Commonsenseprevails23]

If fender bring back rosewood i will buy one. Its that simple

[@facelessandnameless]

The Vintera ii 60s has rosewood.

[@iancurrie8844]

The vintera line was excellent. Just outstanding. Now the Vintera II is out with very minor changes and a 20% price increase!!! (in my country). Fender can suck a big fat one.

[@voiceofexperience]

Vintera ll 60s all the way! Traditional pickups & trem. No Toy-Town electronics. And what's a 12" diameter neck doing on a Fender? Edit: There seems to be something wrong with that PP bridge pup.

[@FransvandenBergeMuziekschuur]

They are a guitar that will serve you a lifetime. And after that they are worth more than you paid for them.

[@jordanpratt3821]

Oh man those noiseless pickups are wack. Sounded like a keyboard, or computer or something. Cant quite put my finger on it.

[@tmo7734]

Fender has made the business of choosing an instrument unnecessarily confusing. Customers begin to distrust Fender’s motives. Why would a company manufacturing quality products want to change them so often? Is anything that different or is it just a marketing scheme to increase the cost of their guitars.

[@julesdiakogiannis]

Its not just Fender, most companies at this point are doing the same thing. Just saw the "Murphy Lab Light Aged finish treatment" in their new acoustic line ( the other big name brand that is). Pretty much trying to get the prices up.

[@tmo7734]

@@julesdiakogiannis Fender’s nonsense not only makes it confusing for consumers, could you imagine how confusing it is for Fender dealers? If companies like Fender continue to dilute their brand, consumers will look elsewhere or not purchase.

[@molliecondra2676]

Nothing wrong with a company trying to make more money…..

[@tmo7734]

@@molliecondra2676 Really? Using that logic, don’t complain when you go to the gas pump…

[@KRAZEEIZATION]

It’s a lot to do with marketing. They have a legacy product to sell so they make as many variations as possible! It depends what you like as a player. Some people like vintage compliments, some like modern. All depends on what style you’re into. Some models have a vintage look but modern features. You can get hybrids. It’s what you want. It’s like buying a car. What is the purpose of your vehicle? Going from A to B? Leisure? Dragging gear? The choices are infinite!

[@richardlucascronley5128]

Squire is making better guitars than MIM

[@MelodyCarroll-rx8tk]

Yeah, if you love a toothpick for a guitar neck.

[@jackblack2321]

Fender should charge more for these, they are so good

[@pgrove]

They're slowly ratcheting up the price of Mexican made guitars. That Pearl Jam signature guitar was like 2000 dollars, pretty hilarious that people are actually buying that stuff. Even player plus is too much for a Mexican made guitar.

[@TREVORJB101]

Yup. It's bullshit. It wasn't all that long ago you could get a Fender Standard Stratocaster (MIM) for $499 brand new. Miss those days.

[@Rodrigo-ev7tx]

⁠@@TREVORJB101yep, i remember months after beginning of COVID i was going to get a player for 600 dollars. Due to the situation, decided to wait and a little more than one year later the same guitar was almost 800 dollars. Bullshit as you said to be honest.

[@Dwightpower88]

You probably voted for this. The price of lumber skyrocketed since 2020.

[@ToddH76]

Mike mccready guitar is 1899. No different than the various evh striped models. Made in the same place. Also everyone loves the mccready strat’s neck and unique pickups that Mike basically voiced. You are confusing the mccready strat with a player series and they are not the same. Thebmccready strat is more similar to the American vintage II 61 strat than anything else and 300 dollars cheaper with mikes relic.

[@simonsmith2642]

Welcome to the great reset!

[@mickeystanic4750]

Those noiseless pups still no go. Too harsh and two dimensional.

[@kennethm.380]

The Vintera II is the clear winner from a “sound” perspective. Not even close Player. 😮

[@user-jh5dg7kx5s]

The Mexican made guitars don’t sound very good and are too expensive.

[@ashishdhakal7681]

Here the comparison is completely ruined. People into vintage style will never even look at player plus. The comparison should have been vintera 2 vs vintage 2.

[@geoffreymarsan8721]

No offence but this is not a good video. Only one style played, no soloing, no attempts to show subtle differences. It's mostly just a bragging effort which made me waste minutes of my life.

[@linkhatchet]

It just depends on what a player is going for as far as sound goes. Looks is one thing, but the sound should be number one on whatever the player is trying to find. For me, it's the vintera guitars.