Fender '69 Telecaster Thinline Reissue

2000-Model, made in Mexico.
You know the rest.

As it was, it felt great to play, but some things niggled me. I fitted a Fender 6-saddle bridge to fix the intonation, and the guitar is at the shop at the moment, having some Fender Noiseless pickups fitted. With a bit of luck, the expense will be worth it in the end.

With the original pickups, it sounded great through my Fender Hotrod Deluxe, but the amp seemed to make the hum more obvious than when I'd tried the guitar in the shop. Also, the feedback was quite bad, and almost uncontrollable.

The finish of my guitar was quite superb for the money. I've played all kinds of guitars, but this one suited me just great.
There were no quality concerns, but the old Tele flaws of the 3-saddle bridge and single-coil hum bugged me.

I am quite scared to take this guitar gigging. I'm not sure that it would take the knocks. It does seem like it will last forever if I look after it, but I do keep it in it's flight case when I'm not playing it.

With the lifetime warranty not covering very much, I doubt that I'll ever have to trouble Fender with my problems.

I love the feel of the guitar, and with the Noiseless pickups fitted, I'm sure that I won't want another guitar until I can afford a PRS Santana II.
I've played a US Deluxe Tele, which was very nice, but I have made that guitar for about a third of the price, simply by taking advantage of the bizarrely low price of my guitar (#700 RRP).

Made in '94. I bought it used in '96. Made in Japan.
21 frets.
Mahogony Body, Maple neck & fingerboard.
I've added a 4 way toggle, switchcraft jack & cts pots.
2 standard single coil pickups that Wolftone rewound for Me.
typical tele bridge, I added Mann Made Compensated saddles.
Stock, it came with a Pearloid pickguard, replaced it with a tortoise shell pickguard from Warmoth.
Gotoh tuners, no need to replace those.
U shaped neck.

Stock, it was everything you'd expect from a Fender MIJ Reissue. After my mods, it's a whole different animal, and I'm reviewing it as such..... So, I give it a 10 (even though I'm gonna mod it some more).

I play '60s psychadellic-jazz wannabe-jam rock-southern rock-blues wannabe stuff, this guitar suits my needs.

Running it with my Blues Pearl "Texas Tornado" cranked to 7 is a joy.
Great Tele tones and then some. With the 4 way toggle, it opens up a whole new can of tones. Darker than the average tele, but still brighter than a strat.

Not sure about a big variety of tones, but I get what I'm after.

No dislikes, this instrument has been my #1 because I identify with it more than any other guitar (even though I've been favoring my '68 Strat RI for more than a year now, see my review of that one...).

What I love about "Made In Japan" Fenders is the construction. They don't skimp on the tonewood, and they make 'em solid and comfy. Granted, I've changed out the electronics (and then some), but that is typically the weak spot on MIJ Fenders. It's also what makes them great, half the fun is modding them.

Again, I got what I was after with this guitar... and even though I hate to gush, for that I give it a 10.....

Solid, rugged, it has already taken a beating. 40 gigs and hundreds of hours of play. It's got nics, dings and dents. I know how they all got there too......

I have giged without a backup. Though I don't recomend it (sucks to break a string MID SONG!!)

Fender has customer service? Never needed them......

This guitar is my #1.... nuff said....

Let's see,'98 year model,1 pc. maple neck,21 standard frets,ash body with sunburst finish and cool f-hole,2 single coils,3 way switch and 50's style ashtray bridge w/string thru body.Made in Mexico(very well, I might add).No accessories included,it was strung with Bullet "9's".The Tele is an honest simple guitar with relatively few features,but the features it has work well;the tuners are vintage style w/ the Fender "F" on the back and chrome volume @ tone nobs.

My setup consist of an ART T-28 amp,Crybaby wah and switcher-the amp has built-in chorus,reverb,compressor and gain boost,not exactly the "pro" rig,but good enough to bring out a good guitar's character.This guitar is the perfect semi-dirty axe;bright with lotsa clang and punch,very responsive to pick attack.The sound butters up and gets warmish when you bring in the neck pickup and even when running just the neck pickup,you get great note definition playing open chords.Being a single coil axe,mine gets feedback just about anywhere near a monitor or amp(think noise gate)no problem in clean channels.I think the "hollowness" shows itself more in the clean channel where the typical tele brightness gives way to a little more warmth-especially with the neck p/u,it reminds me of my SG with it's neck hummer going(laugh if want).If you're looking for a punchy, bright sound with great response, definition and maybe a little extra warmth over the normal Tele ,this one rocks.If you're planning to do Prong covers with serious gain settings,this guitar is probably not going to do Tommy proud...

Having previously owned an Am. std. Strat,I can attest to the quality of this one as being totally superior.Unlike the strat, the neck to pocket fit is perfect,fretwork neat and clean with no glue residue,the finish even all around-including the F hole,the controls aren't out of round and don't rub the pickguard-which,by the way,fits nicely on the body.My bitches are few;1)the saddle screws need loc-tite.2)Ashtray bridge is kinda "edgy" and 3)sits a little off the body.Not bad for 1/2 the price of an Am. Strat.

I've never gigged with my Tele,but wouldn't hesitate to.There's not a helluva lot to go wrong on this guitar besides string breakage,the finish seems more durable than my 'Paul's,the electronics are solid,so are the controls.I replaced the strap buttons almost immediately with Peavey strap-locks,so I guess I didn't trust the originals- same as my other guitars.I wouldn't gig w/o a backup with any make or model.It's kinda like guns,you may not need it,but what if...

Been playing for 11 years ,own four other guitars;two Gibsons,a Seagull and a classical of unknown make(to me).I would certainly replace this with another thinline Fender,for the price,this axe is an outstanding deal!If vintage sound and vibe are priorities in your next guitar ,I would highly reccommend this one.Definately don't be put off by the Mexican construction,it easily rivals the quality of the Am std. and Kalifornia series Fenders I've seen and owned.The only plan I have is maybe going to either Texas Hots or maybe Seymore Duncan stacked hummers with coil taps,Hmmmm...

2000 model '69 thinline reissue in natural mahogany made in Mexico. 21 frets, semi-hollow body, volume/tone/3way selector switch, single coil in bridge and neck (vintage style), passive electronics, maple neck, 3 saddle vintage style box bridge, vintage style tuners, thin vintage frets. Comes with gig bag. Rate it a 10 as it is very faithful reissue.

I've always been a stratocaster player. UNTIL NOW! I had always been a fan of Telecasters from afar. And it was time I figured I'd try one out and buy one that sounded good to me. I was searching for a nice solid body Telecaster originally. So I started to pick out all various Tele models to test out. Which included '52 reissues, American standard and series, '72 customs, Danny Gatton model, '72 thinlines, nashvilles, power teles, '90's thinlines, relic models, Tele sonic, etc, etc, I tried them all. And I played them all through various amps. But the main amp was what I have which is a Fender Hot Rod DeVille 4x10. The last thing I expected was for a semi-hollow tele to win the contest. But boy did IT! IT is the name I've given IT cause IT is soooo sweet! What I like about Telecasters are the ones that have a great airy, jangle and heavy twang in clean mode. Along with a nice dynamic range. Well this thing has all that in spades! It sounds absolutely fantastic with a bit of dirt on top for blues and rock. The bridge pickup is bright and twangy. Perfect teleness. The middle position is great for warm to bright tones. The neck is worth the price of admission my friends! I like it as much as the bridge for darker, bluesy stuff, and even jazzy chords and lines. Mucho tone all around. I think someone else here described it as a singing voice. Exactly right. The only thing is very high gain settings will create feedback. And not the good kind. So get a noise gate for that type of stuff. Although I doubt if your playing a semi-hollow Telecaster your gonna buy one for that type of music. I really could go on and on about the sound because IT has solved my missing desires honestly.

Action is flawless really. This was one of my major suprises. I haven't had to do anything to IT so far. I've had IT for about 2 months. The finish is beautifully applied. No visable blemishes anywhere. The only niggle I have is that inside the f-hole is some overspray. But I've notice that on all the thinlines I tried. Even some non-Fender ones. Also, the b string gets caught up in the string tree. Easily corrected with some graphite. I believe this is common on many Fender guitars.

I don't gig live but play with friends. So far so good. I've heard from others who gig and have thinlines that they stand up just fine in live situations. And like I said before IT has become my new #1 guitar in every situation.

Fender is a great company. Especially considering how big they are. I've called them personally on the phone before and asked them questions and always got friendly advice and support. My warranty is limited lifetime too.

Gets a 10 in my book. For a Telecaster tone and vibe it don't get much better. I also own a Stratocaster, Danelectro baritone, and have owned many more too many to mention here. If stolen or lost I'd buy another one in a heartbeat. What I love about IT most is the lively, responsive, dynamic, twang! What I hate about IT? (hate is such a strong word isn't it?) I don't hate anything really. My favorite feature besides the tone is the lightweigth and great vibe of owning a unique style of Telecaster.

this is a mexican made model from the 2000 model year. it is finished in a beautiful three color sunburst and has a slightly tinted maple neck. the stock pick-ups sounded fine, but buzzed way too much in some situatins so i replaced them with a set of fender texas specials. the hum was mostly gone, and the neck pickup grew 60 pound nuts. just your basic tele configuration, with the addition of an f hole.

My current setup consists of the 69 tele and a lonestar strat into a morley bad horsie into a ibanez reissue ts-9 into a danelectro cool cat chorus into a boss reverb/digital delay into a carvin vintage 33 1x12 class A 30 watt combo. the original speaker has been swapped for a celestion vintage 30. I play a mixture of rythum and lead guitar in a rock band. our sound is hard to describe, so i would suggest you checkout one of our mp3s on junction51.com if your curious. i play a lot of clean guitar, and the brightness of the tele is great for cutting through the mix. it also can produce that great semi dirty sound that the rolling stones seem to be so fond of. I can, and sometimes do use this guitar for the entire set, exclusivley on the neck pickup.

set-up was good, action was good. all in all not bad for a mexican made guitar.

seems to be well built. i gigged with it 5 times a week this summer and had no problems except with the occasional string break, which can probably be attributed to my heavy hand. i would never again gig without a backup just because it sucks to have to stop a show to restring your guitar.

never dealt with them

if i lost it, i would get another one. a very good guitar if you want a clean or semi dirty sound. great definition

This guitar has been sat around in a guitar shop for a few years now, mainly because they were asking over the retail price, and you'd have to be wrong in the head to buy it then! Anyway, it's a Japanese one, one of the last ones they made between 1998 and '99. 21 frets, solid mahogany body with F-hole and fairly large cavity under the controls, volume and tone, 3 way selector, maple fretboard etc etc. I give it 10, 'cause it's got everything you could want from a tele!

The sound is most impressive. I play mainly Zppelin, Black Crowes, blues/rock really. It's perfect for the Zep sounds. Through a fuzz pedal you can nail those early sounds, and rolling off the tone thickens the sound out. I#m amazed with the treble. I've always fought with my guitars to get enough, but with this, at times you find yourself rolling it off a touch! That's how I like it! Also the pickups seem extremely dynamic. You can be playing away through a fairly distorted amp, and simply by adjusting your picking attack, it cleans up! I reckon that the mahogany wood makes up for what you'd lose if you routed a whole in a standard tele/ It replaces the sustain that you'd normally get. The F-hole makes a handy feature for playing unplugged too!!!!!

It took me some time to figure out how they'd made this thing. But eventually I found a seam on the back, so the body is made and the xcavity routed outm, and the a 1/2 inch piece of mahogany stuck on the back. The finish I beleive is Polyester to the body and Polyeurathane to the nack. Nice glossy finish, although I'd like it to matt down in time - we'll see! The fret job seems good. There was lots of varnish on the frets from the fretboard, but I removed that with wire wool. I'd say the action is a touch low for my liking, but that can befixed!

I'll find out on Thursday whether it'll withstand live performance, but I'd imagine there will be no problems, unless you are one of those prats who delights in wrecking their guitar! All seems very solid to me!

Never dealt with them.

I've been playing form 5 years now. I've had Epiphone Les Pauls, custom built LP copies, Strats, and this is the best! Tele's rule!! I'd strongly recommend this guitar to anyone who likes tele's. All this USA crap pisses me off, at the end of the day, it's made by a human (hopefully!!), so although it may need more of a set-up than a USA one would, I belive they are of equal quality.

This is a 1969 Natural Mahogany Telecaster. It has 21 frets, 2 single coils, a vintage 3-saddle bridge and a maple neck. I think this one was made in '99. Made in Mexico. This guitar is really sharp looking. I picked the Natural finish, although I would have preferred the Sunburst finish,but they didn't have that so I got this one.

This guitar sounds awesome. Before I got this one I was trying out other Tele's like the American Standard and the Standard. I seen the salesman bring this guitar over to me and I thought why are you bringing me this one because I really didn't want to get a Thinline. Well I plugged it in and it blew me away. The pickups were louder than both Standards. It really had a bite and a growl to it. It's got attitude for such a 'nice looking' guitar. I fell in love with the sound. I play blues,country, rock and a bit of metal. This guitar suits all except for the metal. I just don't think it would be right playing Ramones or Metallica on it. Although I haven't tried it yet though. It fits all styles. You can get a variety of sounds from it. I tried the guitar on a Crate something or another and a Blues Junior. It sounded great on both. I haven't tried it yet through my Marshall and Princeton Chorus though I'm sure it'll sound awesome there to.

This guitar has got one fantastic neck. I was playing through an '89 Fender Amer. Std. Strat and the action seems like it's an inch off the neck. As soon as I laid my hand on this baby, I was in total heaven. I have small hands, and I struggled playing the Standard guitar and the American wasn't too bad. But when I played this guitar my hands moved on the neck like never before. I absolutely love it !! I was very surprised it came with that setup. The only drawback I have with it is the 3-saddle bridge. It looks kind of cheesey. But hey I can replace that. The finish is immaculate and the guitar is very light.

I'm sure this tele's reliable and durable. But it makes me a little scared knowing it's so light and hollow. I'm used to regular Fender's where you can beat the crap out of them and have them still sound great if not better. It's too early yet to tell if it will withstand live playing. Right now I'd use a backup, just until I find out differently.

Never dealt with Fender support. So don't know, but they do have an awesome forum for players to discuss Fender problems and topics.

Overall I love this guitar, the only thing I wish I could change would be the Finish and possibly make it out of a more solid wood. The lightness of the guitar just makes me a little on edge because I'm afraid I'll break it or worse somebody can easily knock it over and step on it. Don't let that deter you from buying one though. It sounds awesome and feels great. You can play a lot of different varieties of music on this one. If it were lost or stolen I would replace it with another one. Thanks, Lee for showing me this I probably would of ended up getting one that was less than what I wanted. I feel lucky to have found one guitar that suits my playing and style.

This is a 1969 reissue of a Fender Telecaster Thinline. It's got 21 frets, two single coil pickups (Neck & bridge), three-way selector switch, dot inlays, a vintage 3-saddle bridge (no ashtray), vintage tuners, one piece maple neck and a three-ply white pickguard that looks like it pearl or something. The pickguard is cool because it extends right down the side of the guitar and over the control knobs. There are two control knobs, one volume, one tone. I don't know when this was made (Presumably around '96-97), but it was made in Mexico. The body is string through, and is a piece of mahogany that was carved out, topped by another piece as the bottom. You should get a deluxe gig-bag with it.

As with all Teles, this guitar has a really twangy sound, but you can give it a lot more punch by using the neck pickup exclusivly. I'm running it through a Fender Deluxe 112 amp, and with full contour on the distortion your get a totally rich sound. The main problem is the line/feedback you get when facing the amp. It got so bad that I thought about getting a pair of noiseless pickups (also from Fender). Other than the feedback, however, the guitar is totally versatile, and gives a wide enough range without distortion so that you don't have to use it only for some country or Chubby Checker stuff.

The guitar had a great setup when I got it, and changing string gagues isn't such a big deal for the action because you can just adjust the saddles in the bridge. A six-saddle instead of three- would be better, but it still works. The pickups are pretty good, but if you have the neck too high and the HIGH-E string to low, you get this strange buzzing that isn't just fret noise.

This guitar is totally dependable and doesn't need a lot of maintenance. I've knocked it up a few times, and the finish still looks that same as when I got it. The only problem is the cord output jack, because like many guitars, it's a screw in type deal, and it can get unscrewed and rattle around a lot. other than that, it's got such a range that it could be the only guitar you use at a gig.

I've been playing for three years, and have a Fender Deluxe 112 amp, like I said. Coupled with this guitar, I don't need anything unless I want some different effects (Flange, Tremolo, etc.) I don't like rosewood necks, and the maple on this one is terrific. The best thing about this guitar is that it not only looks great, but it sounds good too. It's easy to play, and I liked it way better than what I compared it too (Gibson Les Paul & SG, Fender Mexican Tele, Ibanez Iceman) The pickups are the only thing on this guitar that could use some improvement, and it might be cool to get a middle on like on the tele-sonic. Other than that, this is a great guitar.

This is a pretty standard guitar with nothing really flashy about it. It comes with a few various finnishes (I picked some sort of see through red...which was cool) it has 2 pickups, which are pretty standard w/ the 3 way toggle switch. Its also got the semi-hallow f-hole in it which actualy does amplify the sound slightly..in comparison to other solid bodied guitars. For any of the specific specs like neck width and what not (I just go by what feels good) look at the ones above me I checked out earlier their detailed enough. I gave this a 7 just becasue it was totally standard which keep in mind isn't bad but it had no really outstanding features as the top line models do (but what do you expect for 500 bucks)

This is a great guitar for the price and the sound is wonderful. My guitar teacher who jams with me picks this guitar over my other high end strats and gibsons becasue he loves the feel and sound. And he's been playing for 40+ years. The pickups offer great range from the deep bluesy neck position, the middle average everything position, to the bridge twangy high end position. Also the the 1 tone knob allows even more sounds to come out of her which makes it good for everything. Blues, Rock, no metal really, jazz, fingerpicking, etc. Anything really but the really distortioned things which teles are never good for anyway. Also look around for the best guitar in this model cuz i was lucky that this was the last one they had and was on display and still sounded great.

The guitar was set up fine in the factory, with great strings which lasted my huge bends for a few months. The setup otherwise was great with fine action and whatnot. The pickups were in good position except the neck pickup could be a bit higher but i can't figure out how to elevate it...theres no screw there? Anyway the finnish is incredible and it really shows of the wood great. Otherwise Ive had this guitar for over a year and 1/2 and i might go back and get it set up again just cuz im picky like that.

This is a durable guitar. I haven't really banged it anywhere to badly but all the hardware and whatnot was in great shape and still is. The only real complaint I have is that the gold looking metal which covers the neck pickup, tuners, bridge, and knobs is tarnishing almost so I just used silver polish on it and it hasn't come back since. This is a fairly low maitenance guitar which is great for when your on the road. Otherwise this could be your main gig axe and you would be fine w/ little or no trouble.

I haven't had to deal with fender ever but from what ive heard their pretty good.

My overal rating of this guitar is a definite ten due to the amount of money and value of this guitar. In my experience its worth its weight in gold if not more. For 500 bucks I got the same quality and duribility as a guitar for a much greater price. Also the standardness of this guitars features doesn't hurt its score at all becasue the guitar works perfectly with out it. Buy this guitar if 500 bucks is your price range because you will like it.

A sweetheart of a reissue, Mexico made, two vintage Fender tele pickups (whatever that means) with the traditional three-way selector, single coils of course. This be a semi-hollow sunburst wrought from a very, very nice cut of ash. Bridge is old ash-tray style tele bridge, fundamentlly crude but good enought for some of the best '50s guitars ever made I guess. Neck is maple, also a nice piece of wood. Frets are vintage, 21 in number, thin is width. Radius is 7.25 (modern players take note; this is old style and not necessarily the right radii for speedsters. Note, however, that classic Strat and Teles from the golden 1950s were 7.25, so try and decide for yourself).

This is a lovely guitar. All three pickup positions sing, differently, and well. I repeat, this is a guitar with a singing voice, especially the neck position. I roll back the treble a bit and get lovely variations in tone. For this guitar, I prefer to use the word "voice" rather than tone. This particular one is quiet with no hum. Amp-wise, I'm playing through a practice amp, Marshall VS30-R, which is probably a poor match; when I get around to it, I'll pick up a Fender Pro Junior, which is what I used when I checked this ax out at the story. Yes, it sang. My playing style is bluesy/faux jazzy, essnetially I'm a former bass player/bluegrass Travis picker who has been playing guitar for about 30 years and taking lessons again for the past three years. I admit that I have more guitar than skill, but I appreciate nice axes.

The work and finish are first rate. I have noticed, however, other '69 reissues, both the sunburst and the natural mahogony, with somewhat lesser-quality finishes, so choose yours to please yourself. Since buying mine in September 1998, I came across an otherwise identical sunburst reissue whose top was put together from two poorly matched pieces of wood, with a blemmy stain job. Again, choose yours wisely. Action and setup: Very good from the story, though the action was high. I brought the ax to Scott at Macon's Backbeat Music (go there, a cool place, just stop by and visit) for a setup. Scott set it up FREE, meticulously and compared to an orginal '69 of his past acquaintance. His impartial verdict: a fine guitar. He lowered the action without messing with the truss rod and this ax has remained in tune through my frequent string changes. I'll say it again, this is a lovely guitar at a fair price.

Well, it's a semi-hollow, so don't bring this ax to softball practice. More seriously, I don't know whether this is a pro-grade performance instrument or a wonderful at-home ax. I have a Lone Star Strat that, because of its modern features, modern tuners etc., is clearly more professional. But ... this is a lovely sounding, fun to play and beautiful guitar.

Who knows?

This is not an ax for everyone, nor is it a good first guitar for young guys/gals who making the move through the garage/basement party circuit. This is terrific second electric, a fine addition to a collection large or small. In particular, be aware of the 7.25 radii neck (a more rounded neck that does not lend itself to bending or fast playing as readily as modern 9.5" or Gibsonish 12" and 15" inch necks). Again, this is a matter of personal preference. 7.25 isn't better or worse than other radii, but it is old-style and different. Keep in mind that Fender's 1952 tele reissue has a 7.25, and it is deservedly one of the best choices anyone could make for a tele or tele-style instrument. Your choice, your preference, your style should be the consideration. I own a number of acoustics, including a nice Taylor 510. I started shopping casually for an electric starting in 1997. I played uncounted dozens of instruments in new and vintage shops and shows all over Southern California and New York. I expected to buy Gibson ES type guitar. I played every kind of guitar on the market and almost bought several (a dozen salesmen will never know how easily they could have sold me on $1,000-plus axes, except they did not work to close the deal). I almost bought a George Benson model, several Guilds, and several Gibsons, including a particular ES-135 that stood out from the pack. I checked out Fenders only as an afterthought, since I was looking for a jazz box, not a solid body, and a Gibson style guitar, not a Fender. To my surprise, completely unexpected, I was seduced by the virtues of Strats and Teles, though I benefited from the advice of a guitar teacher who warned that "one in 10 fenders has magic." I came to see that was true as I checked out dozens of Fenders before, completely to my surprise, I found magic in the most completely unlikely guitar: a candy apple red Lone star strat with maple neck. I tell you, that Lone star is a far from what I expected to buy as two guitars can get, but that one particular strat had magic, and I bought it. Several months later, I saw the Tele '69, loved its looks, playe dit hard in the store and, on impulse, bought it. I continue to surprise myself, having gone from deliberately not checking out Fenders to owning two in six months. But, both are fine guitars (and better than other fenders in shops I'd played), and the Tele is a sweet, desirable second guitar. Check it out and enjoy.