Thank you . Answered ALL of my questions in as much detail as I was meeting, so thank you so much. It was awesome great job. I am ordering one in two days from now.
I have red version, I had no idea the knob pulled out, you said it separates the pickups? Can you explain more about this? Also mine is Korean with Seymour Duncan but the serial dates back to 1988 to 1996 I'm wondered if they started using Seymours later in the production?
When you pull the knob out, I believe it "single coil" taps it In which case your humbucker becomes a single coil pickup *1 row isn't used* The seymour duncan 59' in neck, single coil tapped, is one of my favorites pickup sounds.
One of the Seymour Duncan’s is a 59 the other one is pearly gates Perfect combination for me and probably most people , imho,,,,super versatile!!! and the fact that the neck is, is that neck or neck through the difference is vast in that playing. The higher register of the guitar is so much easier and the radius is quite different. There’s zero buzz as far as I can tell on the gig when hyper, bending strings. To me it’s like having the best of both worlds, Italiana, Les Paul, and still being able to get Strat sounds at the same time , not to mention how warm and fat the neck pick up is it sounds very jazzy, very Lucille, or 335-ish
Good review :) Did you trim down the Jumbo frets? I had mine trimmed down and it plays better, I own a black Korean exactly same as your red one and about the same age.0304...
I've got the first year production Korean model with Fender pickups, there's hardly ANY info on my version, if you can tell me more about my version, it'd be greatly appreciated!
EMGs? I've only seen them with the Duncan 59-N/ Pearly Gates-B. Personally, I'd yank those EMGs right out. Though I'd consider dropping a preamp in it. The black one looks like the body is thinner. Yes?
@@Rule1ModelRailways thanks, I am also interested in the wood used on the neck and fret board, and I would appreciate your input if you know the types. Thanks again.
@@Rule1ModelRailways thanks. Strangely the back of the body and the neck look to be encased in plastic. so it is difficult to tell what kind of wood has been used, thanks for your help
Hey there, great vid! Question for you: - I am a telecaster nut, and would like to get the sound of a les Paul in a telecaster package. Will this guitar deliver the goods?
Does the Indonesian version have black pickup back plates? I thought that it did. I took it to get setup and when I went to pick it up it had silver back plates.
Hi! Hope you answer this question... Short scale (24,75") or standard scale (25,5")? Forget about it, you answered my question in your video at 8:00...!
The build is very similar. The hardware is what makes the biggest difference IMO as it feels 'ok' in some parts of the Fenders -wears out very quickly- but solid on the PRS. Sound-wised, I would not say one is better than the other, they both sound good.
Joseph Gabaldon how is it for heavy distorted rhythm? I use a ec1000 and hell raiser deluxe but this tele is so much thinner. Also is it super noisy? I have a noise suppressor so I’m sure it’s fine though. But that’s the thing it’s so hard to find a affordable tele for metal but it’s my fav shape and I play metal lol
It has active EMGs. This is basically a full blast metal guitar in disguise. The funny thing is that it performs great also with clean tones. It sounds nothing like a fender, it plays nothing like a fender (not implying that's good or bad, just different). I tried it with a ton of distortion and fx and it was as noiseless as it gets.
Great, detailed video. But please, play them, to hear the sound. I know you are a fine player, so it would be nice if you ad another video with their audio. Thanks, and excuse my english, I'm from Argentina, and about to buy a black Indonesia FSR, like the one you have there, with the same EMG pups.
Your English is fine, mate :) I think you are right, I should'd probably made an audio comparison. However, this is a quick video I had for the Indonesian model (I hope this helps a little): th-cam.com/video/ddYexQ6LzG4/w-d-xo.html
Thanks, very much. I'll check that link. By the way, I'm not a pro musician, just a sloopy bass and guitar player, but I' ve been around buying and selling instruments in my country, and also in Europe and USA, and tried many many Teles. I've even got a metal body fender tele custom shop. But, for traditional tele sound, weird as it may sound, the best I've had was a mexican Ash maple body roseewood fingerboard, Anniversary model, with non stock Fender Custom 52 pups. I agree with you these set neck teles don't feel "fenderish", and that there are excelent korean and indonesian (indonesian wood work is outstanding) instruments. May be the time to let besides our prejudices has come.
I desperately want the black version with active pickups...but i cant find it ANYWHERE. Is it discontinued? If so someone shoot me a price and lets negotiate.
They were a very limited run, but most stores had them in stock because they were not very popular. But those of us who have had on since debut (2012) keep buying and collecting them, boucle we know how good they are. Funny how things flop to the general public, but, after they're gone, people realize how good they were.
@@TroyPosey im 31 now, been playing for 20 years exactly. it took me a very long time to come around to fender, and fender body styles. i grew up a jackson boy. crazy body styles, i wanted to turn heads. as i got older, i realized how god damn pretty the tele body was. but i still want/need a good set of humbucker, neck through, with a c neck. not a u neck like 99% of fenders are. and so i found this gem...WILL ONE OF YOU FUCKS WHO ARE HOARDING THEM SELL ME ONE! I WANT TO FEEL ITS POWA! no but seriously...if you're a collector, and you're reading this...i'd buy one at a fair price. i understand how rare they are and what they're worth.
@@kikigomewmew9466 I have been playing for almost 25 years, and I'll be 34 on Friday. I also grew up a Jackson guy, and still have my (bought 2nd-hand in 1997) original 1990 MIJ Jackson Kelly KE3 Professional. I love that guitar, but the Tele is just such a tone monster. If you find one of them, get it. Checkout my channel to hear my guitars. My earlier recordings are HORIRBLE, as I am still learning how to tweak and tune my setup for recording. It's gotten a lot better in the last couple months since I got an SM57 mic setup.
@@TroyPosey absolutely man ill check it out. Ive found a couple fsr teles on the market but they hold their value well. Im considering the schecter version. I just hate pickguards.
@@mykaljoseph yeah i ended up picking one up (bought 1 i mean). I don't know if id say it's extremely light, but it's definitely lighter than i thought it would be, I've had vintage reissues with ash and alder bodies and bolt on maple necks that were heavier. I have to say that i definitely find the older ones preferable, mine is a 2019 and I'm not impressed with it. I got it last week, the kid i bought if it from mustn't have gotten a setup done when he first bought it. I used to use 11s tuned to standard on Strats, then went down to Eric Johnson nickel rockers that are kind of like heavy tops/,light bottoms, except it's the Low E/A & G that are heavy and D/B & high E that are light. The heavy are supposed to be like an 11 set, but the Low E and A are closer to 12s. I decided to go with straight 10s this time because i hadn't played in a while and i had been using 24 3/4" gibson scale for a while. He said the strings he had been using had like a 58-60 for a Low E (i don't know what set they were he said they were mixed 10s, but I've never seen heavy top 10s with a Low E that heavy). The 10s i used were getting bound up in the nut, so his HAD to have been since they're so much heavier. Even without my fretting tools and straight edge i can tell that I'm going to need to level and crown the frets, i can visually see that the 3rd fret is too high. I think the nut is going to have to go too, it looks like it was slotted to deeply and I'm getting bad fret buzz on the B. These things happen with used guitars, so usually it's not something that really says the guitar itself has issues. I've been repairing guitars for years, but this one is DEFINITELY due to the guitar and not the original owner. Most of the frets have little to no wear, they're all pretty much still crowned like they are before they're played on, the original owner must not have been big into string bending. The fact that it doesn't look too have ever been setup tells me the nut must have come from the factory like that. It had some fret sprout up past the 17th ftet a little, that's not too big a deal, it's common with Guitars at this price point, especially in the winter, so some drafting tape and a sanding block took care of that. I actually thought id be okay with leveling the frets since i still have a few radiused sanding blocks i use to level frets and a crowning and dressing file, but the fretboard has some weird radius that's measured in mm, that translates to like 15.8". That's far flatter than i like, but it's also a radius i don't have wa block for. I haven't decided if i want to flatten the frets down to 12 or 14" and just compound and crown them, or get a 15.5", level them, get the nut to a passable dressing and sell the thing. Probably the latter. It's too bad actually because the thing sounds killer. I was surprised how much i like the Duncans, and was REALLY surprised that the volume and tone controls work as well as they do. Usually they have bad tapers, and you get volume drop-off at some point when you roll it down, and the tone comtrol usually has a cap value that's way too high and it sounds like mud below 6or7. I find the tone control is pretty perfect; it rolls off evenly and is usable pretty much the whole way. I had to modify that coil split to a partial tap like PRS does because they're pretty useless stock, but that's how they all are when they put coil splitting with lower output PAF type pickups, regardless of the manufacturer. I still don't get WHY they do coil splitting instead of a partial tap, there is literally no more you need to do to make it a tap than to use a resistor to ground they coil instead of a piece of wire. The resistor costs me less than 20¢, so how much could it possibly cost Fender? 5¢?
@@TerryThayer @metalion1111 THT Serial# is 8 digits Labeled made in Korea Seymour duncan branded pickups I believe the neck is SD 59' and the bridge is SD pearly gates Any knowledge about the serial#? I've never looked it up
@@edp5623 ok. Sounds like we have a similar guitar. Maybe internet is wrong then. I looked online and it told me my serial number indicates it's dated 1988-1996 but you said you bought it new in 2005. So I think mine is probably mid 2000's now
The newer ones have Seymore Duncans installed from Fender. Thanks for the video.
Thank you . Answered ALL of my questions in as much detail as I was meeting, so thank you so much. It was awesome great job. I am ordering one in two days from now.
Great guitars- I have a red 2004 MIK with Duncans. Wonderful build quality.
Indeed!
I’d love a black one. Amber is cool too
Where can i order the black emg telecaster also how much does it cost
I have red version, I had no idea the knob pulled out, you said it separates the pickups? Can you explain more about this? Also mine is Korean with Seymour Duncan but the serial dates back to 1988 to 1996 I'm wondered if they started using Seymours later in the production?
When you pull the knob out, I believe it "single coil" taps it
In which case your humbucker becomes a single coil pickup *1 row isn't used*
The seymour duncan 59' in neck, single coil tapped, is one of my favorites pickup sounds.
@@edp5623 ok that makes sense cool. Thanks
If you use the serial number lookup that you find on Google, it’s incorrect. They started making these in the early 2000s
It is a coil split so it makes the humbuckers single coil.
One of the Seymour Duncan’s is a 59 the other one is pearly gates Perfect combination for me and probably most people , imho,,,,super versatile!!! and the fact that the neck is, is that neck or neck through the difference is vast in that playing. The higher register of the guitar is so much easier and the radius is quite different. There’s zero buzz as far as I can tell on the gig when hyper, bending strings.
To me it’s like having the best of both worlds, Italiana, Les Paul, and still being able to get Strat sounds at the same time , not to mention how warm and fat the neck pick up is it sounds very jazzy, very Lucille, or 335-ish
Just bought it on Fender dealer near my house today, the same exact 2003 Korean Tele. But it was in new old stock condition!!
Good review :) Did you trim down the Jumbo frets? I had mine trimmed down and it plays better, I own a black Korean exactly same as your red one and about the same age.0304...
I've got the first year production Korean model with Fender pickups, there's hardly ANY info on my version, if you can tell me more about my version, it'd be greatly appreciated!
Me too. I’m led to believe they’re Atomic ii pickup bridge
. And Black Canyon rhythm.
I find them great.
Just bought a 2004 FMT Black with two Dimarzios in it. Does anyone know what dimarzio Pickups came stock in the Korean Made FMT from 2004?
EMGs? I've only seen them with the Duncan 59-N/ Pearly Gates-B. Personally, I'd yank those EMGs right out. Though I'd consider dropping a preamp in it.
The black one looks like the body is thinner. Yes?
I have the Korean model, it plays great and sounds great, but I am wondering what kind of wood did they use to build it?
Basswood
@@Rule1ModelRailways thanks, I am also interested in the wood used on the neck and fret board, and I would appreciate your input if you know the types. Thanks again.
@@jongoodman4622 rosewood frets and mahogany neck on mine
@@Rule1ModelRailways thanks. Strangely the back of the body and the neck look to be encased in plastic. so it is difficult to tell what kind of wood has been used, thanks for your help
Mahagony body and neck with a maple cap and rosewood fret board ..
Hey there, great vid! Question for you:
- I am a telecaster nut, and would like to get the sound of a les Paul in a telecaster package. Will this guitar deliver the goods?
From all teles I have played I would say this is as closed as it gets. Humbuckers and set neck with large frets.
Joseph Gabaldon thanks!!
Does the Indonesian version have black pickup back plates? I thought that it did. I took it to get setup and when I went to pick it up it had silver back plates.
Mine was used... I'm not 100% sure.
Hi! Hope you answer this question... Short scale (24,75") or standard scale (25,5")?
Forget about it, you answered my question in your video at 8:00...!
Long video... :) there was quite a bit to cover.
how would you rate the sound & build compared to a prs se?
The build is very similar. The hardware is what makes the biggest difference IMO as it feels 'ok' in some parts of the Fenders -wears out very quickly- but solid on the PRS. Sound-wised, I would not say one is better than the other, they both sound good.
I Had a Strat. and it was Nice ,
I Bought it Used Cheap!
But Traded it for Something Better!
Awesome review man I’m getting the black one for a fender blacktop jaguar
Thank you mate! You are gonna love it.
Joseph Gabaldon how is it for heavy distorted rhythm? I use a ec1000 and hell raiser deluxe but this tele is so much thinner. Also is it super noisy? I have a noise suppressor so I’m sure it’s fine though. But that’s the thing it’s so hard to find a affordable tele for metal but it’s my fav shape and I play metal lol
It has active EMGs. This is basically a full blast metal guitar in disguise. The funny thing is that it performs great also with clean tones. It sounds nothing like a fender, it plays nothing like a fender (not implying that's good or bad, just different). I tried it with a ton of distortion and fx and it was as noiseless as it gets.
Great, detailed video. But please, play them, to hear the sound. I know you are a fine player, so it would be nice if you ad another video with their audio. Thanks, and excuse my english, I'm from Argentina, and about to buy a black Indonesia FSR, like the one you have there, with the same EMG pups.
Your English is fine, mate :) I think you are right, I should'd probably made an audio comparison. However, this is a quick video I had for the Indonesian model (I hope this helps a little): th-cam.com/video/ddYexQ6LzG4/w-d-xo.html
Thanks, very much. I'll check that link.
By the way, I'm not a pro musician, just a sloopy bass and guitar player, but I' ve been around buying and selling instruments in my country, and also in Europe and USA, and tried many many Teles. I've even got a metal body fender tele custom shop.
But, for traditional tele sound, weird as it may sound, the best I've had was a mexican Ash maple body roseewood fingerboard, Anniversary model, with non stock Fender Custom 52 pups.
I agree with you these set neck teles don't feel "fenderish", and that there are excelent korean and indonesian (indonesian wood work is outstanding) instruments. May be the time to let besides our prejudices has come.
I love mexi-teles and MIM Fender in general, well built instruments.
Cintailah ploduk ploduk indonesiah...
❤ 🇲🇨
Made in Japan boxer series vs the red one you have here ?
The Boxer, 100%. It's a great guitar and highly underrated. You can get a used one very cheap.
I have the red one and it’s made in Indonesia ✌️😁
Great. The one I reviewed was made in Korea.
And with seymour pickup, not EMG, not FENDER
Which one would you pick between that one , meaning the made in Indonesia or the made in Japan Boxer series tele ?
I desperately want the black version with active pickups...but i cant find it ANYWHERE. Is it discontinued? If so someone shoot me a price and lets negotiate.
They were a very limited run, but most stores had them in stock because they were not very popular. But those of us who have had on since debut (2012) keep buying and collecting them, boucle we know how good they are. Funny how things flop to the general public, but, after they're gone, people realize how good they were.
@@TroyPosey im 31 now, been playing for 20 years exactly. it took me a very long time to come around to fender, and fender body styles. i grew up a jackson boy. crazy body styles, i wanted to turn heads. as i got older, i realized how god damn pretty the tele body was. but i still want/need a good set of humbucker, neck through, with a c neck. not a u neck like 99% of fenders are. and so i found this gem...WILL ONE OF YOU FUCKS WHO ARE HOARDING THEM SELL ME ONE! I WANT TO FEEL ITS POWA! no but seriously...if you're a collector, and you're reading this...i'd buy one at a fair price. i understand how rare they are and what they're worth.
@@kikigomewmew9466 I have been playing for almost 25 years, and I'll be 34 on Friday. I also grew up a Jackson guy, and still have my (bought 2nd-hand in 1997) original 1990 MIJ Jackson Kelly KE3 Professional. I love that guitar, but the Tele is just such a tone monster. If you find one of them, get it.
Checkout my channel to hear my guitars. My earlier recordings are HORIRBLE, as I am still learning how to tweak and tune my setup for recording. It's gotten a lot better in the last couple months since I got an SM57 mic setup.
@@TroyPosey absolutely man ill check it out. Ive found a couple fsr teles on the market but they hold their value well. Im considering the schecter version. I just hate pickguards.
@@kikigomewmew9466
Did you ever find one ?
Reply if serious about purchasing one.
En Español por favor 🙏
Mana yang dari indonesia. Pilih mana
Are they as heavy as they look?
They are extremely light.
@@mykaljoseph yeah i ended up picking one up (bought 1 i mean). I don't know if id say it's extremely light, but it's definitely lighter than i thought it would be, I've had vintage reissues with ash and alder bodies and bolt on maple necks that were heavier.
I have to say that i definitely find the older ones preferable, mine is a 2019 and I'm not impressed with it. I got it last week, the kid i bought if it from mustn't have gotten a setup done when he first bought it.
I used to use 11s tuned to standard on Strats, then went down to Eric Johnson nickel rockers that are kind of like heavy tops/,light bottoms, except it's the Low E/A & G that are heavy and D/B & high E that are light. The heavy are supposed to be like an 11 set, but the Low E and A are closer to 12s. I decided to go with straight 10s this time because i hadn't played in a while and i had been using 24 3/4" gibson scale for a while. He said the strings he had been using had like a 58-60 for a Low E (i don't know what set they were he said they were mixed 10s, but I've never seen heavy top 10s with a Low E that heavy). The 10s i used were getting bound up in the nut, so his HAD to have been since they're so much heavier.
Even without my fretting tools and straight edge i can tell that I'm going to need to level and crown the frets, i can visually see that the 3rd fret is too high. I think the nut is going to have to go too, it looks like it was slotted to deeply and I'm getting bad fret buzz on the B.
These things happen with used guitars, so usually it's not something that really says the guitar itself has issues. I've been repairing guitars for years, but this one is DEFINITELY due to the guitar and not the original owner. Most of the frets have little to no wear, they're all pretty much still crowned like they are before they're played on, the original owner must not have been big into string bending. The fact that it doesn't look too have ever been setup tells me the nut must have come from the factory like that. It had some fret sprout up past the 17th ftet a little, that's not too big a deal, it's common with Guitars at this price point, especially in the winter, so some drafting tape and a sanding block took care of that.
I actually thought id be okay with leveling the frets since i still have a few radiused sanding blocks i use to level frets and a crowning and dressing file, but the fretboard has some weird radius that's measured in mm, that translates to like 15.8". That's far flatter than i like, but it's also a radius i don't have wa block for.
I haven't decided if i want to flatten the frets down to 12 or 14" and just compound and crown them, or get a 15.5", level them, get the nut to a passable dressing and sell the thing. Probably the latter.
It's too bad actually because the thing sounds killer. I was surprised how much i like the Duncans, and was REALLY surprised that the volume and tone controls work as well as they do. Usually they have bad tapers, and you get volume drop-off at some point when you roll it down, and the tone comtrol usually has a cap value that's way too high and it sounds like mud below 6or7. I find the tone control is pretty perfect; it rolls off evenly and is usable pretty much the whole way. I had to modify that coil split to a partial tap like PRS does because they're pretty useless stock, but that's how they all are when they put coil splitting with lower output PAF type pickups, regardless of the manufacturer. I still don't get WHY they do coil splitting instead of a partial tap, there is literally no more you need to do to make it a tap than to use a resistor to ground they coil instead of a piece of wire. The resistor costs me less than 20¢, so how much could it possibly cost Fender? 5¢?
you cant split coils on any emgs so thats irrelevent
yes you can, my jackson wrmg warrior came with HZ's with a coil tap. i swapped them out for an 81/85 and works just the same.
Mine has demarzio pickups.
Get to the point quicker
No.
I'm pretty sure they build the FMT in Indonesia not Korea
Both
My "Special Edition Custom Telecaster FMT HH", in "crimson" red, which I bought new in 2005, was made in Korea.
@@edp5623 is the serial # 8 digits? Does it have Seymour Duncan pickups?
@@TerryThayer
@metalion1111 THT
Serial# is 8 digits
Labeled made in Korea
Seymour duncan branded pickups
I believe the neck is SD 59' and the bridge is SD pearly gates
Any knowledge about the serial#? I've never looked it up
@@edp5623 ok. Sounds like we have a similar guitar. Maybe internet is wrong then. I looked online and it told me my serial number indicates it's dated 1988-1996 but you said you bought it new in 2005. So I think mine is probably mid 2000's now
18 minute video and you don't play a note! Nothing gives more insight into the guitar than playing it.
I have this same guitar... Want to hear how one sounds? Here you go...
th-cam.com/video/rsN4Kp1J6i8/w-d-xo.html