Last year, Fender unveiled their Player II Series, which featured updated versions of several of their most iconic guitar and bass builds. This week, the legendary guitar brand announced an exciting extension (or, should we say, a modification) to their long-running Player series: the all-new Fender Player II Modified.
While smaller in scope (at launch, only Stratocasters, Telecasters, P-basses, and jazz basses are available) the Player II Modified instruments dive head-first into the wonderful and wild world of guitar modifications. The new batch of axes boasts a host of new technical upgrades, all of which are inspired by popular hardware mods loved by players around the world. Not only does this mean you get a souped-up Fender tone straight out of the box, but it’s also the perfect way to dip your toes into wider gear culture.
“Player II established a sort of beautiful platform, baseline series, and then what’s the next thing to do? Let’s show what’s possible with instruments off that baseline,” Executive Vice President at Fender Products and Manufacturing Justin Norvell tells Consequence. “You can do all kinds of stuff with the wiring, you could upgrade the pickups, you could put locking tuners on it, you could put an active or passive preamp in the basses — it’s a springboard.”
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We could wax poetic about all of the new line’s alluring details (many of which Norvell expands upon in our interview below), but there’s no better way to experience the beauty of the Player II Modified than by taking it for a spin yourself. Lucky for you, we’re giving away a Fender Player II Modified Telecaster® in Dusk to one lucky winner.
Enter to win a Fender Player II Modified Telecaster® in Dusk by filling out the entry form below (or click here). You can also learn more about the entire Player II Modified line on Fender’s website, or let Norvell himself dive into the details below. In our discussion, the Fender EVP touches on everything from the company’s relationship to mod culture to what’s next for the Player II series to the unique humanity of the six-string.
Win a Fender Player II Modified Telecaster
Why modify the Player II Series?
Modification has always been a massive part of electric guitars, and particularly Fenders, because they lend themselves so easily to it. Swapping out pickguards, different electronics, tuners — nothing is more than a few screws away. I think most creative musicians are looking to personalize things and make things uniquely identifiable, both sonically and visually. So, Player II established a sort of beautiful platform, baseline series, and then what’s the next thing to do? Let’s show what’s possible with instruments off that baseline. You can do all kinds of stuff with the wiring, you could upgrade the pickups, you could put locking tuners on it, you could put an active or passive preamp in the basses — it’s a springboard. Not only if you want to get the deluxe package out of the gate, it also just kickstarts that whole concept.
Fender guitars are built on this modular platform that can live with you through your life. You get into metal, you get into punk, you get into jazz — you can keep swapping pickups and these guitars can stay with you for your whole lifetime. That was really the genesis of it.
Modification was its own subculture before Fender actually started listening to and dealing with it. So, for a really long time, Fender just made a Strat, a Tele, a P-bass, a jazz bass, and then people would take them and do their own things to them. Over time, it was almost like crowdsourcing. We started listening and seeing what people were doing. “Oh, people are putting a humbucker in the bridge of Stratocasters. Oh, people are putting a humbucker at the neck of a Tele.” And we started listening and doing that ourselves. It’s all a culture and history of players telling us and showing us what they do to our instruments, and we are just reflecting that back to them.
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