Fender '72 Telecaster Thinline Reissue

1997 Japanese Fender Tele Thinline 72 Reissue. Amazing features - the combination of two humbuckers and a hollow sen (Japanese ash) body produces an incredibly sweet sound. Three-piece body, closed around the back and the grain of the wood matches beautiful. Two HBs which are the sweetest with a non trem Strat bridge. Big rounded all maple neck with thin frets and the big ol' Fender radius, not the best friend of big bends but nice for chording. Pearloid scratchplate which is a bit cheesy, I might go for the tortoise one. I give it a TEN because HBs and hollow-bodies are one of the best combinations there is.

This is one of the guitars that I will NEVER sell and it will be a part of my permanent (small) collection of guitars. Why? Because it has charm, it's incredibly versatile and a joy to play. VERY light guitar, you can play it standing hours on end, so looong jams are not a problem. Chunky but not over-the-top maple neck with a nice rounded C profile, making it simple and easy. ...AND THEN THE SOUND= both humbuckers are really sweet, low output and simply delicious. The bridge p'up might be a tad wimpy for some, although I prefer that to ultra gain. Not trebly at all, sweet humbuckery smoothness with the spark of the maple added. The neck pickup is what makes this guitar worth a million bucks. Jazzy, mellow, buttery, a pleasure to play. The combination of humbucker, hollow body and all maple bolt on neck gives quite a distinct sound that is neither too dark nor squeaky Fenderish, but a blend of both. Now how KEWL is that!

Play through a couple of small tranny amps at home, a Laney 15w tube and a Fender Blues Deluxe.

I mainly play blues/jazz/country with some rock'n'roll thrown in there, so this guitar is incredibly versatile, you can kick up the gain and play some Cream style chops or you can Bassmanize it and sound just like Mr. Collins, cause those humbuckers sure sting for blues, without the harshness of some single coils. I give it a TEN because this is one of my favourite sounds, don't understand why it is not more popular??

Vintage radius, not the best for wild/gonzo/Jimmy Page bending, but the best for chording, bluesing or just mucking about. Dunno, I always prefered the old style radius than the new almost flat fretboards, it's only a question of taste. The guitar cam fully adjusted with 0,09's but quickly changed that to 0,11s to get some more juice. The body is PERFECTLY bookmatched, in fact, I had to go over the whole body a couple of times to see where the different pieces joined... Can only notice if you look REALLY close. No flaws whatsoever, just a little wear on the fretboard which I absolutely luuurve, giving it a distinct vintagey flavor. Another TEN, totally justified by its top-notch workmanship and playability.

Live playing? Of course. Reliable? All Fenders will endure abuse for a lifetime, you'll probably get tired before it gets tired. Could probably update the bridge to one of the new Callahans which look fab, the original one looks a little bit cheap. Finish is spot on, another fine workhorse, so another TEN here.

N/A

Overall = A TEN? I've tried so many guitars I can't even remember... Fenders, Gibbos, Ricks, Gretsches, Danelectros, ... looking for those that would make a small collection of lifetime friends, not those guitars which I just like, but those which I hate putting down, which I think about all day and which are simply a pleasure to play. And this one's one of them. Probably because I tried a couple until I found "the one", but this one's a keeper. Fantastic value, full stop. If it were stolen or lost I would start a new quest to find another nice example of a Thinline 72.

Improvements? I'd probably change the pickguard to a nice tortoiseshell one, perhaps the bridge for a more solid one, or even the tuners, which are those nice vintage replicas that are nice to look at but not the best. All in all, a mighty fine guitar.

Made in approx '95 in Japan. 21 frets. Swamp-ash body with single f-hole that opens into a small body chamber. Stock Fender humbuckers replaced in 2004 with Seymour Duncan Jazz humbucker(neck) and Seymour Duncan JB humbucker(bridge).

This is a great, unique sounding guitar, richer than a normal Tele but retains the Tele's ability to clearly play complicated chord forms without "mushing-out".
Like I said above, I swapped the stock P/ups for Seymour Duncans. The Duncan Jazz in the neck is hotter yet tighter than the stock, I put the JB in the bridge to match the neck level after that. Note: the stock pickups are BIG in size. I had to devise new mounts for the Duncans by riveting thin pieces of aluminum onto the existing pickguard. Also the string spacing on the JB is narrower than this guitar but the pickup field is just wide enough not to cause drop out for me on the E strings. If you want to change the bridge pickup this might be something to think about.
My musical style is a soup of jam-band, alternative, afro-beat, jazz-blues++.
I play through a Fender 75 two-channel all-tube amp (an oddball Fender supposedly designed by Rivera at Fender in the late 70's - anybody know anything about this rumor?) Sometimes I plug straight in and sometimes I play through effects: Boss compressor, Boss SD-1, Crybaby Wah, Korg 411fx(I only use its modulation effects), Line6 Delay Pedal(the big green one).
I like a mid rangey sound and this guitar is quite good at it. Steely Dan-ish lead tones to Ducky Swamp funk. If you're not a Gibson-Marshall clone or a Strat-Twin clone but something in between, try this (through a tube amp though, I have to be a purist Axxhole about something :)

The only playing flaw with my guitar is a very slight bump in the neck which can cause buzzing on the high E string if you like low, low action (I like medium action).

The stock pickup switch wore out twice, after which I soldered jumpers onto a strat 5-way switch, routed the bottom of the control cavity to fit said strat switch, and haven't had a problem since.
I sometimes play quite HARD so I installed GraphTech saddles to reduce string breakage, that's my problem, not the guitar's.
I toured without a backup for 4 years, now I have a Strat as a backup (but most nights it stays in its case). The tuners are not fancy but quite stable.

If you ever need support, ask the best players in your area who does the best work and go to them. Screw the factory or the music store.

Been playing about 25 years. I also own a Strat, a Taylor 12-string, an old Sigma acoustic, a mandolin, a Conn Trombone, a Harmony '63? Stratotone.
I would have to replace and re-customize this guitar if it disappeared. The only thing I might wish for is that the fret wire was a teensy bit wider and that the neck was a little thinner (depth not width) at the nut end.

Made late '02 in mexico. '72 Thinline Tele with dual wide range humbuckers. "Lake Placid Blue" color with white pearl pickguard. Ash, chambered body with f-hole and maple neck with skunk stripe on back and micro tilt system. Three bolt neck plate. Period correct kluson style tuners printed with "F". String through body. One volume, one tone and three way pickup selector. Vintage strat hardtail bridge with six saddles (2 3/16" E to E Spacing). The '72 thinline is the most beautiful guitar ever produced IMO.

I have upgraded the saddles, nut and string tree to Graphtech, just to up the fidelity of the instrument overall. I have also ordered a Tortoise shell pickguard which looks beautiful with this shade of blue. It will look the bee?s knee?s with that pickguard, I think!!!

It doesnt sound like a normal tele...more individual sound, but much more interesting. However it does have the tele thing happening when you dig in. Still very much a Fenderish sound not gibsonesque.

I also have the '69 thinline (crafted in japan) with single coils that i love dearly. So, I wanted to retain the look and feel of the '69 with a little more power at hand to handle more overdriven sounds and to get some thicker clean sounds aswell. Let me tell you, I have had many guitars in the past with both single coils and humbuckers but I have never heard humbuckers with this sound quality. They are truly wide open, they are deep and bright at the same time and with good strong mids?.very jangly on pristine clean sounds and just hot enough to bring about a fantastic overdriven sound with a lot more conviction than single coils. It is a very, very dynamic guitar?.very sensitive to your attack. I have only heard this beast through good tube amps, which helps to achieve the quality I?ve witnessed....cant comment for shitty transistor stuff.

My setup at the moment is 72/69 Thinline tele?s, TU-2 Tuner, Crybaby Wah, Marshall Bluesbreaker II (Boost mode for clean breakup), Ibanez TS-9 (Full rhythm overdrive), Boss Blues Driver BD-2 (Used on top of TS-9 for leads), Marshall Vibratrem (Tremolo), Boss DD-3 Delay, Electro-Harmonix Holy Grail (Reverb)??.all into my pride and joy, the VOX AC30TB. Sweet as the bejesus!!!

My setup sounds amazing with both guitars, although I have to admit I do tend to choose the ?72 over the ?69 at all times. Some of our original songs were written before I had the ?72 and I do use the ?69 to recapture the sound that inspired them. The ?72 covers more ground IMO...the cleans are as good if not a little better than the ?69 and for overdrive it leaves the ?69 sitting?.now don?t get me wrong I love the ?69??..but I adore the ?72. Its great to have both, and I am getting a standard solid body soon too, had one before and have regretted getting rid of it for years. Tele adict or what??? Well, when you finally settle on your weapon of choice anything else will leave you disapointed!!!

The guitar was set up ok when i got it but i always do my own setup when i get guitars home....set the action to my liking, set intonation to perfection and always change the strings to my preferred choice (I like D'Addario standard 10's on my tele's).
This guitar has a lovely neck and plays alot faster and smoother than the '69 even though they are both laquered maple. Must be the different radius.
MIMs are every bit as good as MIJ/CIJ or MIAs if you take the time to try alot of them and pick out the gems.
This guitar plays like a dream and the neck and body finish is flawless.

All tele's are ass kickers as far as reliability/durability is concerned....no worries here. Even the thinlines are really strong and mine take a fair hammering in the throws of passionate performances.
Any fool knows that you have to get a decent hardshell case for your guitar or you will witness its demise over time for the sake of a few quid. A word of advice...always get your hard shell while you are buying the guitar, they tend to give great prices on cases when they have just sold a guitar over 1000 quid!!! Never walk out of a shop with a naked guitar!!!

Never needed.....touch wood!!!!

Not much more to say, its exactly what i wanted!!! Get a good tube amp aswell and then worry about effects!!! I've been playing for about 13 years now.
The marriage of the tele and the vox ac30tb is made in heaven and the TS-9 is the perfect natural overdrive for the setup with the BD-2 giving leads all the power and tone i ever wanted. I'm really happy with my setup at the moment......for the moment!!!! There are a couple of pedals i have my eye on though ha ha ha!!! The usual!!!

mexico made 04 72 reissue fender thinline telecaster. two "wide range" humbucking pickups, vintage style tuners, volume and tone knobs, three position pickup selector, ash semi-hollow body, maple neck with tiny vintage frets. came with gig bag, quickly ditched it for a hardshell.

so what can you do with this guitar? well, you CAN'T play in metal band with it (at least if you want to sound convincing...) but, short of that, you could pretty much do any other style with it. rock, jazz, blues, funk, latin, pop, alternative, country, ect. it will pull off most any style convincingly. the combination of the semi-hollow body, humbucking pickups and maple neck make for an interesting pallet of tones. it has enough tele twang for country pickin' and funk, enough open, airy tone for some faux 335 jazz and blues, and enough grit from the humbuckers for some classic rock sizzle. i'm running mine into a visual sound route 66 overdrive / compressor, h20 chorus / echo, morley wah and into my peavey classic 50 2x12 tweed combo. this setup allows me to achieve any of the tones i need for my style which is allman bros, phish, galatic, santana, big wu, widespread panic, moe. ect. jam band stuff. it will do trey anastasio's clean, funky stacatto, dickey betts biting southern blues, carlos santana's singing, melodic sustain, ect. convincingly while retaining it's own unique voice.

this guitar is put together well, built to last it appears. action from the factory was sub-standard, but usually is. they set them up quick and ship them out. any seasoned guitarist will have to adjust to suit their needs. i have a light playing style so i can get away with a fairly low action. i string it with hybrid gauge 9-46 slinkys. mine is a natural finsish and the woodgrains in the top are quite striking. the white pearoid pickguard is a nice touch. frets are quite small but nicely crowned with no sharp edges.

this is not the typical "plank-o-wood" telecaster that you can drag behind your car to the gig and still play it. it is a bit more fragile by nature due to the semi-hollow body. it does seem tough enough to play for a long time though. i'd roll the dice and play this guitar without a backup since i never break strings.

have not had any occasion to deal with fender's customer service department. the web-site has a good deal of information though fender has a real "MTV" feel to them now.... not sure how leo would feel about it if he were around.

in 15 years of playing i've been through too many guitars!! i played and owned a guitar from just about evey guitar maker out there. lots of fenders though, i've always had an afinity for the strat / tele sound. keep in mind, this is not your standard tele..... it has a voice all it's own. if you're planning on playing in a country cover band, go with the classic single coil / lipstick pickup design. if you are looking for a breath of fresh air and an ax that will do a little bit of everything with a good deal of authority, this may be the guitar for you. i'd highly recommend this guitar to anyone. if someone stole mine, i'd replace it with another one right away. this guitar is an integral part of my sound!

Semi-hollow body, two "wide-range" humbuckers, one tone and one volume, 3-way switch, and well.. not much else. It's a tele after all. Mine is a daphne blue limited edition colour that they come out with every year.

Well I liked that it was semi-hollow so it has a more woody, warmer sound. But my major complaint is that it can get very trebly. I have to be careful with the tone control because it can get pretty high. When I first got it when I played anything past the 12th fret it hurt my ears. But that was due to the pickups being WAY too high. I lowered and it sounds better but I plan to lower them again. I definetly think that you might have to mess around with pickup and string height to get it sound they way you want it. I really love the neck pickup though. You can get it to sound really full and warm and woody. With both pickups on is probably my favorite for normal strumming more rock oriented stuff. I don't really like the bridge as much, to harsh. But over all very nice guitar.

Well the pickups were too high and the one strap button was loose. Also input jack was loose. So I had to open it up and tighten it up. But the action and neck was really good. However the guitar is set up with .09 gauges, which is ridiculous. Even the website says that the classic series, which this is part of, should have .10's or higher. I use .11's and have even been thinking recently of bumping it up to .12's. With thicker strings it sounds so much better.

It's very sturdy. I have dropped it a few times and it doesn't have a scratch. I think that it would hold up in a gig, but maybe I would put new tuners on it. They aren't the worst I have seen by far, but they aren't great. I don't think that I would gig without a backup in case a string breaks and I am having trouble getting used to the tuners.

Don't know, but would be worried if I had to deal with them based on what I have heard.

I really like the warm sounds that you can get out of the guitar, but if I had it to do over again I mgiht save the money and just buy a 335 copy or a jazz box. But I don't think that I will sell it. I have been considering changing the pickups though. I would like a more jazzier, fullier sound with less treble. If anyone has suggestions feel free to e-mail me. People are endlessy complementing me though on my guitar. I haven't met anybody that doesn't say how much they like the looks of it.

2003 Mexican made, sunburst. Features as stated by previous reviewers.

For the benefit or otherwise of owners of this guitar, or others contemplating buying one, I purchased my thinline second hand but in as new condition. The neck was misaligned, pickups at varying heights, and I didn't like the saddles. I treated the guitar to a pro set up and at the same time, had a set of Graphtech saddles installed. These saddles were the best investment I've made. The difference in sound quality betwen how the guitar sounded originally and how it sounds now is chalk and cheese. They have turned what was just a reasonable sounding guitar into a really nice sounding guitar and an absolute keeper. I bought this tele knowing that it wouldn't have the typical tele sound but with the thought of using it as a tele style 335 and while originally not disappointed, I am totally wrapped in it now. Played clean or dirty the pickups are clear and there is now bags of sustain. I use this guitar through a Kustom Quad 100DFX combo, Vox Valvetronix VTX120 watt combo, and a Laney VC30 1 x 12 combo. The only pedal I use is a Zoom Powerdrive (brilliant peddle). Good guitar originally now made a great guitar with the installation of Graphtech saddles. Cannot recommend them highly enough.

it is a tele 72 reissue with 2 humbuckers and a sunburst finish
im sure you have heard by now the other features

i play classic rock and jam, fits my needs well. im using a fender princeton chours which i found in someones garbage. i replaced a speaker and fixed the cabnet. great find!!! annyhow it sounded great with this amp and i use a danelectro daddy o pedal which has a nice classic rock distortion. the only thing i can really say about its sound is that it is full and middy, which is good. it also has some good variety with the pickup sound.

seems well made, except that the bridge is sharp, and there is a flaw on one of my knobs, otherwise, it is set up well, great guitar!

as for any guitar, poper care will greatly extend its life. this guitar seems prtty durable though

never had to deal with them

i have been playing for a year, but my instructor said that i was playing at a 4-5 year level, this made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. i compaired it to a epiphone les paul,but it was to hard to decide which one, so i chose te one with a higer sell back value. also, there was a specail on all fenders, so i got 10 percent back from te fender company from a rep that was on site, and i traded in a pece of crap guitar and got about 70 bucks which suprised me because it was so crappy. so in my eyes it was a good deal.

Mine is 2003 MIM Thinline in Daphne Blue. The features are the same as everyone elses here, so I won't bore you. The tuners seem cheap to me -- die cast jobbies with the screws in a diagonal pattern on the back of the headstock, but we'll see. It came with a deluxe Fender gig bag, which I was actually impressed with.

It sounds very good. The wide-range humbuckers are very clean sounding and reasonably loud. I tend to play it on all 3 pickup settings with the tone knob down to 7 or 8 because it's too bright other wise. I'm playing through a Peavey Classic 30. The guitar has a good variety of sounds. I got it for jazz and blues and some rock solos and I think it will do fine. I may change the pickups in the future, but it looks like it won't be a simple replacement as the pickguard screw holes are in a different place from typical (les paul) humbucker screws. THe sound is a little sterile and not too much punch or drive. That's what I'd change.

This is where I was totally impressed. I bought the guitar off ebay, and it had been set-up, but still the finish on the neck, frets and body were immaculate. The neck is great -- probably the smoothest feeling neck I have. Very clean indeed. It comes with 9's but the seller had 10's put on it and it's just what I wanted.

Can't say now -- it's too early to tell. Most things look reliable, save the tuners which look and feel cheap.

No idea.

I've been playing for 27 years and own a bunch of other guitars. I'd probably buy it again because it fills a niche in my collection. I really like the 70's vibe of the pickguard and the rounder tone I can get on account of the hollow body. It's not a hard-rock guitar but more for mellower blues and jazz situations and that's fine. It's nice and light which is a back saver.

1998 Crafted in Japan '72 Thinline Tele Reissue, 22 frets (upper cutaway meets neck at fret 18, lower cutaway meets neck at fret 21), beautiful natural finish semihollow ash, solid maple neck (dot design), 2 widerange humbucker pickups (passive), stock, individually adustable (6 of them!) fender adjustable (good intonation) bridge, stock tuners, gig bag - everything is stock on this guitar that I picked up on eBay for under $600. I would say the feature's on this guitar are perfect for what anyone would be looking for on a semi-hollow tele that covers just about any style of electric guitar wonderfully. My only regret is that it didn't come with a hardshell case standard (to protect this beauty, but for the great price I got at I can't complain. If it had any more features, it would be overkill - more things to go wrong, spoil the classic tele look etc.

The sound is absolutely fabulous with D'Addario Chrome, flatwound, Electric light strings (.011 high E). Nice, tubey-sounding twang when you you drive the strings, even with these humbucker pickups. I really like the wide range humbucker sound - really quiet and very versitile. The semi-hollow style (body about 1 1/2" thick) adds just the right amount of resonance and sustain.

Being a "crafted in Japan" model probably makes this one a little better than many that were made in Mexico, etc. Fit and finish are top notch, especially for this price range. I've had it for a couple of months and looked it over real will as well as the played it more than any of my other guitars. No problem with fit, finish or set-up for the flatwound strings - the nut probably wouldn't take thicker than flatwound chrome electric light (0.52 low E).

Looks and feels like it will last a lifetime, but I've only had it a few months. Still, I've had a number of guitars that have lasted very well - built solid as rocks(e.g. original 1967 Gibson J-160E)and this one strikes me the same. The only reason I'd take a back up to gig with would be to avoid replacing a string mid-set.

This I wouldn't know as I haven't had to deal with Fender.

What can I say - I currently own about a half dozen guitars (Martin D35, Gibson E135, Heritage H575, etc. and this is my favorite. It is very hard to put down. Smooth as butter feel to it. Beautiful sound and looks (if you like the classic tele look). I'd replace it(after having a fit) if some clown stole it or smashed it up.

'03 Mexican reissue ; chambered body with 'f' hole ; natural finish with all maple neck / thicker -more rounded neck true to the original in '72 ; fixed bridge with individual string saddles, non-adjustable tuners Kluson style.
2 wide range humbuckers ,3 way switch, 1 volume and 1 tone control.
Came with a gig bag.

I would rate the pickups as faithful reproductions of the originals in 1972. As I recall they were very 'wide range' compared to other guitar manufacturers and these are no exception. Deep lows and shimmering highs with ample harmonics are routine. No observable noise and the tone and sustain are good.

Finish is outstanding. Neck pocket was not as tight as other models/examples of mexican Telecasters I have seen but not unacceptable. The edges of the 'f' hole are a bit rough but I have carefully corrected this feature. Factory action and intonation is miserable but easily corrected.

Hardware is fair; the bridge will last but the tuners have way too much slop and will be replaced likely within a year. The finish is a deep lustrous clear coat and looks like it will last a lifetime. I replaced the strap buttons with straplocks and the cheesy string retainer on the headstock with an american Fender string tree ; much classier look. I use the ElectroSocket input jack.

No experience here ; I do all of my own adjustments and modifications myself.

This is a good reproduction of the original '72 Thinline. The neck profile is an exact duplicate of the original. A good value for the guitar player who appreciates these UNIQUE pickups and sound this guitar produces. I own 13 other guitars and have been playing for 43 years ; almost bought one back in '72 but it got away (one of my buddies bought it two days before I went to pick it up). Glad I got this one; it is a keeper.