I've been playing slide for 20 years. I have a small collection of vintage Lap steel from Gibson, Fender, Gretsch, and Melobar. I thought this would be a pretty neat instrument, a reissue of the original. It looks similar, but that's where the similarities end. The tone is incredibly thin, trebly and lacks any kind of warmth or complexity. Think of a bad Strat bridge pickup, and that's what this is. The tone control goes from too bright to mud with nothing in between. The volume has a terrible "on/off" taper (did Fender bother to use audio pots?,) and the tone just gets worse as you roll down. Fit and finish are just about what you'd expect on an instrument in this range, but the hardware is cheap and just for show. All in all, this import is a terrible instrument, and very overpriced. To get it to sound good, you'll have to invest about $300 on new electronics and hardware. Instead, spend your money on the equally price, USA-made Chandler RH-2. After trying out the Fender, I bought a Chandler and it's tone, build and quality are all superlative. The Chandler is like my old Gibson lap steel in tone and quality. This Fender looks good, but it's a superficial design, probably intended to sell to Fender junkies who've never played much slide. They're taking advantage of the customer with this product and spoiling their (once) good name. Even their cheaper Gretsch Electromatic is a better lap steel, (though the pickup isn't very good.) Heck, even the Rogue lap steel is a great buy for the money. In all honesty, it's about the same in tone and build as this Fender. I did just that for my son, and it's a great instrument for not much money. But whatever you do, stay away from this Fender. They should be ashamed of themselves.

I have recently purchased the FS-52 & find it excellent when using my Goodrich volume pedal & calibrated settings through my Peavey Nashville 112 amp.& installed the correct ga.strings for C6 tuning,just beautiful sound with great string spacing & string height.. LOVE IT for the buck$$

I'm very disappointed in fender with this. It just doesn't sound good and the quality isn't great at all, so this is a huge rip off.

If I was Fender, this would have been the last thing I'd ever stamp my name on. They would have done better having this lap steel made in Mexico.

This instrument is not up to my expectations of Fender instruments. The materials used (especially the cheap chrome) just don't do justice to the name Fender. A pick will scratch the chrome down to its 'copper' (?) base. The chrome fretboard is very difficult to read because of the misleading reflections and shadows. The white Roman numeral frets and markers are difficult to see against the 'chrome'. The 'tone' knob is placed where the playing hand must 'operate' and sticks up high enough to get in the way of palm blocking. I bought the guitar because of the Stratocaster pickup, but I don't like it because it sounds too 'bright' for what I think a steel should sound. I think a humbucker would be more appropriate. I have to say this: the guitar is a definite 'cutie' for looks. It's sort of plain though, and a few graphics might improve that. I use a Roland Cube 30 amp for playing and its effects help a lot. I designed and built a frame which holds the guitar at 31" floor to strings. Trouble keeping picks in place? Lick your fingers before you put them on..."spit kicks!"