- Extremely unique, relic vibe
- Superb, piercing Texas Special single coils
- Raw neck feel
- Feels like a 30 year old, distressed instrument
- Pickups sound a little too harsh to me
Hello there, back again with another real guitar review here! In this review, I would like to talk about the Fender Road Worn Player Stratocaster (Olympic White). Unfortunately, this guitar was discontinued a long time ago; however, it was one of my all-time favourites back in the day when I was working in the musical instruments industry.
Table of Contents
This guitar actually has a story! When I joined MyDukkan, it was in our private stock. I don’t remember the exact reason why it had been there, but as far as I recall, it was due to a customer who gave up his purchase. For this reason, we had many chances to test the instrument. But until we were able to record a full review for our YouTube channel, no one bought this beautiful guitar. A week later, we released the video, we received an order, and I was so happy that I added some value to the sale 🙂 
Fender Road Worn Player Stratocaster
Fender Road Worn Player Stratocaster is a fantastic instrument featuring all classic Strat goodness with Texas Special pickups, at this price range and made in Mexico!!! One of the best things about this guitar, apart from its Texas Special pickup set, is its no-finish maple neck and fingerboard. I can easily claim that it was one of the best guitar necks I had ever played among Strat design guitars! This particular guitar that I demoed was made in 2010, so you can easily guess why it’s not available anymore. As far as I remember, the price was around €1000. 
Before I provide you with the video that helped sell this instrument, I’d like to add the tech specs below.
Tech Specs
| Fender Road Worn Player Stratocaster | Tech Specs |
|---|---|
| Body | |
| Body Material | Alder |
| Body Shape | Stratocaster® |
| Body Finish | Distressed Nitrocellulose Lacquer |
| Neck | |
| Neck Shape | Modern "C" Shape |
| Number of Frets | 21 |
| Fret Size | Medium Jumbo |
| Fingerboard Radius | 9.5" (24.1 cm) |
| Fretboard | Maple |
| Neck Material | Maple |
| Neck Finish | Distressed Urethane |
| Nut Width | 1.650” (42 mm) |
| Scale Length | 25.5" (64.8 cm) |
| Truss Rod Nut | 3/16" Adjustable Hex Nut |
| Electronics | |
| Pickup Configuration | S/S/S |
| Pickups | Texas Special™ Single-Coil Bridge, Neck and Middle pickups |
| Pickup Switching | 5-Position Blade: 1. Bridge, 2. Bridge & Middle, 3. Middle, 4. Middle & Neck , 5. Neck |
| Controls | Volume, Tone, Tone |
| Hardware | |
| Hardware Finish | Chrome |
| Bridge | Vintage-Style Synchronized Tremolo |
| Tuning Machines | Fender® Road Worn Cast/Sealed Tuning Machines |
| String Nut | Synthetic Bone |
| Pickup Covers | Black Plastic with Road Worn Treatment |
| Tools | |
| Truss Rod Wrench | 3/16" "T-Style" Ball-End Hex (Allen) Wrench |
| Saddle Height Wrench | 1.5mm Hex Wrench |
| Miscellaneous | |
| Strings | Fender® USA, NPS, (9-42) |
| Unique Features | Distressed Body, Neck, and Hardware creating an aged appearance, Aged Black Knobs, Switch Tip, Vintage Styling, Trem Arm Tip and Pickup Covers |
| Accessories | |
| Case Gig Bags | Deluxe Gig Bag |
| Pickguard | 3-Ply Black/White/Black |
| Strap Locks | Vintage Style Strap Buttons |
Sound Demo (no talking)
I recorded this video with a Marshall JVM205C valve amp and Shure SM57 microphone directly into an ancient Thunderbolt audio interface, TC Electronic Impact Twin! 🙂 All settings on 3 different channels on the amp were set to noon, as in other videos, for a better comparison.
Verdict
No need to add a lot more words to describe my love for this guitar! Unfortunately, you can not buy it new anymore; however, you may have a look at the 2nd hand market. With all these traditional Fender Strat specs plus a Fender Texas Special pickup set, this guitar is a steal! I would definitely consider buying this if it were available! 
This Strat was one of the best Strats I had ever played. Always in tune, ready to rock. The neck was extremely comfortable, thanks to the heavy relic feel. As far as I remember, I recorded over 200 electric guitar videos in this format above. When I sometimes watch them again, I can clearly remember which guitars I liked playing and which guitars I didn’t! 🙂 This video I shared was definitely one of the best ones, as I can clearly see I was enjoying it.
I must confess that even most American-made Strats in that era did not impress me as this guitar did! So I give 5 stars without a doubt 🙂 Mind you, Fender recently released a road-worn version of Strats and Teles, but I believe they are very difficult to find, too! This series was pretty much identical in making: using much-loved Strat and Tele templates, and adding a relic attribute to the instrument while retaining this series in the made in Mexico line.
Pricing & Availability
As you can understand, Fender keeps cycling a lot of the design approaches that they have used previously. They usually come back to these approaches, and people consume these guitars rather quickly. Then these become very difficult to find until Fender releases another one! 🙂
Check out the Fender R.Worn series on Thomann here
The good news is that you can now search for these guitars on the used market, such as on Reverb, with a much bigger pool of options.
Check out Fender Roadworn Stratocasters on Reverb here
Also, you may want to check out Amazon stores, as they sometimes feature guitars as well as other parts and components with a roadworn feature! 🙂
Check out the Fender Roadworn series on Amazon here
Hope this review, with a bit of a background story of my encounter with this instrument, has been interesting for you. Thanks for visiting my blog and supporting me so far! I will hopefully see you in the next review here!
