I own a Gibson Les Paul that I primarily play with live, but wanted a second guitar to jump to songs that are tuned a half step down without having to break up a set to retune or lump down-tuned songs together. I only wanted to spend up to $1k and didn't expect to find a guitar at this price point that could rival my Gibson. I personally think this guitar does rival it. While it doesn't have the same number of pickup selections, it is massively lighter while sounding just as good in my opinion. I also think it sounds better clean, which I really value for those times when I want to settle inside the mix. My Gibson has much more low end which comes across as muddy bass. I can adjust to compensate, but with this Fender, I don't need to worry about lighting the bottom end. Great guitar! I highly recommend it.

Great sound and calibrated right out of the box!

What can I say, it's a Fender. I have owned a Fender Strat for decades and I have always thought Telecasters to be more suited as 'Country' guitars. Shame on me, this baby ROCKS.
I must admit, I was a little hesitant at the thought of spending so much money on a mail order and specially about having such a package sitting on my front doorstep. Amazon's history of delivery and brilliant customer service prevailed and I went ahead with the purchase and am I so glad I did.

Firstly the delivery schedule and service was impeccable, although I was shocked to see the precious cargo box being delivered by my regular mail man ( yes I was waiting at the window all day LOL). Kudos to Amazon for keeping our USPS busy and and for our trusted USPS for being just as good (if not better) as the tough competition. As for the contents in the box, well I am still drooling over it and kicking myself for not buying one sooner. The finish is just stunning as is the sound and playability, I could go on and on.

In short, a flawless transaction with a brilliant trusted brand name product.

The only thing that could have made this beautiful axe any better would be a 'Made in America' stamp on the back, oh well, maybe one day ay.

Top marks here. Thanks Fender, Amazon and USPS.

Experienced player and hobby luthier/guitar tech/hotrodder here. I was looking for my go-to guitar when writing and recording demos for my band, and wanted something very lightweight and versatile. I love Strandbergs, but they're the wrong vibe for what I'm doing these days, and I wanted something a little more traditional. Always loved Telecasters, but the traditional pickups don't cover the territory I want.

So I took a chance on the Tele FMT HH, and I'm very happy I did: as many have said, it's a guitar that can cover a lot of terrain, whether it's clean single-coil sparkle, bluesy grit, or hard rock. (I'd stop short of modern metal -- a Duncan Pearly Gates isn't going to get you there -- but you could always drop in a Black Winter :-D) Ergonomics are just the way I like: flattish radius, reasonably thin neck, and a very lightweight instrument.

Fit and finish on this one were pretty good, which is what I'd expect from an Indonesian-made Fender. The flame maple is not bad at all for the price point, the cream binding is a nicely upmarket touch. A few tiny finish irregularities, etc. Hardware is decent -- the tuners are smooth and affirmative, I didn't notice any backlash or slop. Electronics seem fine. I'm not in love with the Pearly Gates -- top end seems a bit harsh -- and am tempted to drop in a Duncan Pegasus, but that's just personal taste.

And now, the bad news: the setup was not up to par for what I've come to expect from an Asian factory guitar at this price point. There was way too much relief in the neck, the action was comically high, the low E string nut slot was cut too shallow, and the frets, while not rough, had visible vertical sandpaper grit marks from the final pass of the sanding beam they'd received -- I'd guess somewhere in the 600-800 grit region. And, like I said, they felt reasonably smooth -- it's not like they were scraping horribly against the strings when you'd bend 'em. But they definitely felt a bit draggy or sticky on bends.

So, I took about a mm of relief out of the neck, lowered the saddles nearly two turns, finished the fret polishing with 1000 grit, 1500 grit, 3000 grit, and then a couple grades of 3M Zona polishing paper. If you've never played a guitar that's had frets polished to this extent, and you do much string bending or finger vibrato -- it's totally worth the time and effort. Restrung with Elixirs, checked the intonation (which was okay) and had a really superb guitar.

Now it plays like a dream. Even with the setup issues, this guitar is a tremendous value at around a thousand US dollars. Just be prepared to drop another hundred or so at your local tech if you aren't doing the setup yourself. (Mind you, I would suggest this for ANY guitar under two grand. It is absolutely astonishing what a good setup can do -- and how easily a poor setup can make a great guitar feel like a disaster.)

I received this amber colored Fender Special Edition Custom Tele FMT HH from Amazon a couple of days ago. I must admit, I was a little nervous buying a relatively expensive guitar online and sight-unseen. So, needless to say, I went over it with a fine tooth comb when it finally arrived. And I must tell tell you, I was pleasantly surprised with what I found. The finish on the one I got was beautiful and flawless, back and front, from the headstock on down. The flame maple top looks really nice to me and the cream edging around the top , and the neck as well, really enhances its good looks. The wood in the fretboard looks a nice dark color and the abalone fret markers on the fretboard look nice also. I could see where in certain lighting conditions these markers might be a little hard to see, but I would be saved by the easily seen black fret markers on the light cream edging alone the neck. The hardware on the guitar is kind of metallic black looking to me and works well with the black Seymour Duncan pups.

I was also surprised at how well my was set-up right out of the box. I let it acclimate to room temperature, plugged it in and gave it a spin. Of course it needed tuning, but to my surprise it was not very far out of tune. I visually checked the neck and it looked straight and the Truss Rod needed no adjusting as the very slight concave that was already dialed in was perfect for me. The action was low, just as i like it, and with no fret buzzing, huurah! I also checked for dead frets and didn't find any. The intonation as set up was slightly off, but pretty darn good for out of the box! I'll adjust that later. So I am thinking someone took their time to set this guitar up nicely before it left the factory, and it held together pretty good on the long trip to finally get to me.

Now, the best part was plugging it in and finally playing it! Those Seymour Duncan Humbuckers lived up to their reputation and sounded GREAT! I l already love playing this guitar! It sounds good sand feels good in my hands.

I will note that I did find one thing I would like to change. The saddle adjustment screws stick up a little bit too far for my liking and feel a little sharp on the palm. Will look for some shorter ones.

Overall, I am very pleased with this guitar thus far and think it was a good deal for the money.