Fender '72 Telecaster Thinline Reissue

Fender'72 Re-issue Thinline made in 2005
21 frets
1 volume, 1 tone control, 3-way switch
2 Fender wide range humbuckers
Maple neck
Natural Ash Body
String-thru body
Fat neck, medium frets
gig bag

I was immediately taken by the look of the natural ash body Thinline Tele but when I played it, I fell in love. It is such a unique instrument - I mean how many electrics do you know that have half semi acoustic and half solid?

The Fender wide range pickups are much better than their Gibson competitors - and for most of my life I played only Gibson SG's and Gibson L6S's. They are designed to allow more high frequency through and thus give the tele that sharp, piercing sound you want with a good solid bass background.

The action is wonderful, though I always have my guitars set up by Metairie???s Guitar Tech, and the sound is gorgeous. The neck pickup has a bell tone that rivals the neck pup on my beloved Stratocaster. And the bridge pup has bite but just a bit more body than a Strat bridge pup.

The quality is first rate. The neck and all components are made in Fender's USA factory and the guitar is assembled in Mexico. But trust me; this is quality work all around.

Although this is a re-issue of the 1972 Fender Thinline Telecaster, it plays like the vintage instrument. The story behind the guitar is that Fender was losing market share to Gibson in the early 70???s since the fat sound of humbucker SG???s and Les Paul???s were the preference of rockers. Then Fender heard that Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones had pulled the factory pickups out of his telecaster and installed Gibson humbuckers ??? so Fender decided to come up with this unique Telecaster. Sad story ??? it didn???t catch on and was shortly discontinued and that???s a damn shame as this guitar is so much better than the 1968 Gibson SG Standard I played during those years.

Being a hybrid - half semi-acoustic, it is more delicate than its full solid body brothers, that said, it is very durable, keeps tune wonderfully and as long as you don't go all Townsend on it, should last a very long time in active gigging.

Never had any reasons to bother on this account but all previous dealings with Fender were painless.

Without doubt, the most beautiful guitar I've ever seen and one that plays like a dream. Always spend the money to have a good local tech set up the guitar for you as I never trust the off the racks settings.

Mexican Telecaster '72 Thinline made in 2003
21 frets
1 volume, 1 tone control, 3-way switch
2 Fender humbuckers
Maple neck
Three-colour sunburst
String-thru body
Fat neck, nedium frets
gig bag

I am playing mostly blues and rock'n'roll on Strats and thought I should overcome my prejudice and try a Tele. The Thinline attracted me because of its looks - it's a really great looking guitar, plus at my age the reduced weight of a semi-hollow is an added bonus.
I am using a Marshall 100 watt VS 100 and a Fender Dyna-touch III. Somehow I was not able to get the tones that I wanted out of the guitar. In position one it sounded dull, and in position 3 acidic. Position 2 was okay, but not enough to make me really happy. Played on the clean channels it sounded better than on the overdrive channels of both amps.
Furthermore the neck was too fat for my liking and not as smooth as I had expected. I am sure someone with more patience can get really good sounds out of it.

The strings were set-up a little high, but that was fixed easily. The pick-ups are a different matter; I couldn't make them produce the sound I wanted. The brass-saddles were alright on the day I removed the guitar from the gig-bag. After a week and several hours of playing they rusted/oxidized as did the pick-ups. I blame that one the climate here in Southeast Asia, but then I have 1986 American Stratocaster and there is not rusty speck on that one.
The tone and volume controls were and are little loose.

The way this guitar is built it seems it will last a long time. I've played it live only once and it worked ok. All the other players there who are Telecaster players wanted to play it too. They find it a great guitar.

I've been playing since more than 30 years now. My other guitars are an '86 American Stratocaster, a 2006 American Deluxe Telecaster, a 2009 American Standard Stratocaster, and a Epiphone Korina Explorer made in 2008. The last two are my favourite guitars.
I wished I had been able to play the guitar before buying it online and I would have found that I like jumbo frets better than the one the Tele is equipped with. I am sure it is a great and wonderful guitar for someone, it's just that it doesn't sound the way I like it to.

This is a Mexican made reissue purchased new this year. The guitar is a semihollow design made of ash with a maple neck. The guitar uses two Fender designed "wide range" humbuckers. This finish is natural with a pearloid white pickguard. The pickups truly are wide range in that they produce anything from classic tele sounds to a moderate humbucking roar. The guitar is striking in appearance and fun to play unplugged at night. The hardware is average at best but adequate for this guitar.

I play blues and rock music but it will do jazz well also. This guitar is killer with a Fender Blues Jr. and BBE Green Screamer peddle. This same pedel also works wonders with a 65 Deleux Reverb Reissue. The guitar is noisier than some humbucker equipted guitars but the sound is worth it. The strength of this guitar is the many sound it produces. The tone knob is very sensitive and can create pain with the bridge pickup set all the way on treble. I did change the volome pot to a 500k which did open up the pickups as some other reviewers noted, a cheap mod that is worth it.

The pickups needed some adjustment. The big negative was the fret finish. They were overhanging the fretboard and almost caused me to not buy the guitar. A quick trip to most excellent guitar repairman solved the problem but it looses two point for such sloppy work. In every other respect, this guitar was well built for it's price range.

This guitar is durable, easy to use on stage and has a tough finish. The hardware isn't the best, I could see changing tuners and bridge but it works fine now. This telecaster looks cool and tough.

No problems

I have played for 30 years, more seriously in recent years. This was somewhat of an impulse buy/trade with an old gibson. I wanted something different, with a hollowbody design. I love how it resonates and how it handles. It isn't in the same class as my Eric Johnson Stratocaster, but it is a fine second guitar. If it was lost or stolen I probably would try something else but wouldn't rule out getting another one.

Ash simi-hollow body, 2 Fender "Wide-Range" chrome covered pickups, custom Mother-of-Pearl picguard, 7 1/2" radius maple fretboard, 3-way switch

This is the most wonderful sounding Telecast I've ever played (after a few quick and easy mods - see below)! It truly does have a "wide-range" tone to it. It still has the classic Tele spank, but with lots of full and fat bottom-end. No hum. Lots of top-end sparkle and tons of bottom end.
**NOTE** These guitars come with unpotted pickups and they will squeal like a little pig if you throw a moderate amount of gain in with it. I potted my pickups and the squeal went away but not the tone. in fact, I think the tone improved after potting. I also swapped out the stock 250k volume pot for an audio-taper 500k and that helped the neck pickup bring out a little more sparkle. After these mods, the guitar has the best tone of any guitar I've ever owned, I've I've had a LOT of different guitars.

I bought the guitar used so I can't say how the factory set-up was. I do know that with the 7 1/2" radius I had to raise the high E and B strings up so that they won't "fret-out" when doing big bends. The shorter radius does make it easier to play chords - which is what I do 90% of the time anyway. The neck is just a little bit fatter than "C" shape, but just a little. I like the slightly more fat neck, as my hands don't hurt so much when playing long songs full of bar chords. The grain pattern in mine is not the best ever, but I don't care anything about that. I just love the way it plays and sounds

Like most Tele's and Strats, this guitar is strong enough to take some abuse. You can use Teles and Strats to play baseball with and they'll still hold up.

I've owned lots of Strats, Les Pauls, Tele, and everything in-between and I like this guitar the best. I want another one as a backup. I'd like one with a Bigsby tremelo. If I can find another one, I might mod it with one.

Pretty much covered in the other reviews, but here's a basic rundown:

Body - Semi-Hollow Ash
Neck - 1 Piece Maple
Frets - 21
Bridge - Vintage Style Strat Hardtail w/ Strings Through Body
Pickups - 2 Fender Wide Range Humbuckers
3 Position Toggle (Bridge, Neck/Brige, Neck)
1 Master Volume Knob
1 Master Tone Knob

From the information I've come across, the parts are manufactured in the US, but the guitar is assembled in Mexico. Not a big deal to me, but for some people this may be an issue.

There is one issue that I have that won't probably affect many people planning to purchase this guitar. The tuning pegs have a small slit running through the middle of the peg, and there is a hole inside the slit that you push the string into. I like this for standard gauge strings (50s, 52s), but anything bigger than (53s) won't fit. This isn't a HUGE issue, but it does limit the options somewhat for string usability.

This is where this guitar absolutely shines. I spent about 3-4 months playing tons of guitars (SGs, Les Pauls, Strats, Teles, Various Ibanez, Schecter, etc) and trying to find the sound that suited me best. The main problem that I had in finding a guitar was that I needed versatility. I play a lot of different styles (Blues, Rock, Metal, Thrash, Alternative, Death), and I really wanted a guitar that could cover all of those areas.

I'm happy to say that this guitar can cover all of the styles that I need it to. It tunes down well (I play in a lot of tunings ranging from Drop-B to E Standard). I'm using a Peavey Vypyr 30w as a practice amp, and I can get all kinds of different sounds based on those amp models.

Live, I play alternative/pop-punk through a Fender Deluxe (4x10) and it really sounds great if you dial the treble down and boost the mids for the crunch channel. I would normally set the gain around 5 or 6 and I get a great classic rock sound.

The guitar cleans up well and is very usable on all pickup settings. I like the clean on the bridge pickup for string skipping and heavier picking parts, and I like to throw it in the neck position for bluesier clean solos and jazz/blues rhythms.

For gain induced parts, the Wide Range on the bride is fantastic. When I'm tuned down, notes are still distinguishable and the guitar rings chords out well. I really like the mid setting for more classic rock sounds.

I had the guitar set up at Guitar Center and I think it's necessary (but I also think it's necessary to have any brand new guitar professionally set up). After the set up, the guitar played very smoothly and tuned better.

I have the Natural Maple finish and I love it. I like that you can see the grains of the wood underneath and I think it's a great classic look. I also like the pearloid pickguard.

I recommend upgrading the case if you plan on gigging/traveling with this guitar. I didn't even see the soft case. The day I got the guitar, I bought an SKB hard case (which I highly recommend).

The parts are all solid. The one issue I have here is the input jack. First of all, it won't take 90 degree cord ends, only straight. Also, it seems to come loose every once in a while. These aren't huge issues, but they were a little annoying at first.

I haven't had to deal with Fender's customer service.

I've been playing for about 10 years. I've owned this guitar for a little over a year.

As I stated before, I really needed a guitar that covered a wide range of genres, and this guitar absolutely fits the bill for me. I love the versatility and I'm able to get a bunch of sounds out of this guitar.

I recommend this guitar for rock/blues but also if you want something that won't completely break your budget and is very versatile.

Mexican made early 2,000's, 2 wide range humbuckers, maple neck and fretboard, "vintage tuning pegs". 3 bolt neck.

I've had this guitar for about 5 years and I finally made some modifications to it.

The tuning pegs stink. I put Gotoh's in.

the bridge saddles are garbage, I put heavier American standard types in.

The 250K volume pot makes the guitar sound murky..I changed it to 500K and it opens the pickups WAY up. Makes the guitar come alive.

I love the weight of the body, the resonance, but I always felt something was robbing tone, and yes indeed, it was that pot. The stock bridge pickup is not bad after this mod.

Finally, I removed 6 pole pieces from the neck pickup as per an earlier reviewer. Adds a bit more spank to the neck, which is sorely needed because it is SOOO bassy stock.

I wish the guitar had come with bigger frets, as these ones are nearly ground down to nothing. They call them "vintage", I call them "too small" and "easily worn". I'll either need a refret or a new neck very soon.

The metal pot knobs that came with it are long gone.

The string ferules in the back of the guitar fall out all the time when changing strings..I've had to track them down on dark club floors and in carpets and such...NOT FUN!!!

See above about knobs and ferrules.

Other than that, the guitar has held up well after many gigs. I just love the feel and tone of the body, that's why I don't mind spending some money to improve it.

I spent $600 on this guitar and I'm pretty content with what it's given me.

Japan, I beleive 1994, Ash, natural finish, horrible original pups, exellent tune-up, i beleive, factory 'cuz previous owner was so nasty and lazy

I'm contemporary guitar sound maniac. Mostly playing dreampop, shoegaze, experimental and other. Using POD XT PRO with all add-on stuff, couple of stompboxes before, like DUNLOP FUZZ FACE (RI, blue one), thru TECH 21 POWER ENGINE plus other nadmade strange stuff (digital and analog, i'm not a snob, it's really doesen't matter for me) . If you familiar with guitar sounds of band kinda RADIOHEAD, PLACEBO, MY BLOODY VALENTINE, THE CURE, NIN, ets., you now what i mean. Idea-first, guitar must be mystically comfortable just to catch that ideas. Stuck pickups were .... nothing. Just sad parts of exellent built a tuned-up guitar, that maybe built much beter than american ones. It's like japanese cars. Cheeper and just beter builted. I understand that nobody can duplicate original WIDE RANGE. Nobody but... Curtis Novak. I send an e-mail to him after he made for me a pair of near to absolute sounding JAZZMASTER pups for my other semi-Japanese guitar (i built it by myself with stock japanese ebay parts). Over 1 ear i was looking for person who can rewound WIDE RANGE or duplicate them. And Curtis return my e-mail with great news: he did onse with great result! After half a month he return to me rewounded pups with new magnets. Result is... i have no words. Just unexpectable. Curtis is really niciest person i now in that business. Now my guitar do everithing i need: from intrigued new level of guitar ideas to just traditional boring rock. Clean sound, especially Neck is really "tninline clean", both pups from bell like to crunch like an organic butter from mother Ukraine, and brige pup just blowed away lace sensor redred dually with tele plus of friend of mine. And everithing with absolute No Noise. You even can shread death metal with neck pup! Another words- MIJ 72 TELE THINLINE+ Curtis Novak rewounded WIDE RANGE pups=neo boutique piece of art (not just a guitar). I'm happy now. Simple happy!

MIJ guitars-just the best, much beter than standart american made.

I'm not a person who taking care a lot of that workhorse. But guitar works like a tank. Felt down a lot but still be Rembo

You now, i bot that guitar in Russia, what are you asking about? Customer support?
:))

Hmmm. One of my favorite guitar, especially after Curtis Novak did magic with that dead pups

In the features department, this my Mexi Thinline gets points for versatility. Nice cleans, okay overdrive (TS808) and it does well with high gain, too: I've got a Bass Big Muff that dishes out the chunkiest power chords with this thing. It can get sweet humbecker neck tones, but still has some twang in the bridge position that's pretty fun to play with. Two Fender Wide-Range Humbuckers that shouldn't be called that, because Seth Lover designed the Wide-Range HBs, and these were not designed by Seth Lover (barring the fact that essentially all humbucker designs came from Seth's groundbreaking work). In any case, they're different. It has a FAT maple neck, slot tuners, which some people might, but I don't since my first instrument was a jazz bass with slot tuners. Strat style bridge which, although isn't the highest quality, is easier to adjust than a Tele bridge, IMO.

I play all sorts of music: jazz, blues, hard rock, a bit of hardcore-ish stuff, avant-garde, post-rock, and I once played lead for a country recording for my friend. I play though a Blues Jr. with a Weber Ceramic Blue Dog speaker (all you need, really) and a plethora of effects, all of which this guitar takes pretty well. My TS808 copy makes it sound a bit constrained, which is odd, considering how much unoonstraining I did. See, like many with this guitar, I swapped the 250k pots (dumb idea, Fender!) for 500k pots. Now, this gave a bit more brightness and "opened up" the pickups some, but I still wasn't satisfied-- the neck pickup was just too muddy. So, after some online research, I found some advice being passed on that originally came from pickup guru Lindy Fralin. Open up the pickguard, and take a flathead screwdriver and remove the poles that you can on the back of the neck pickup (6 in all). This leaves 3 on the top part of the pickup (EAD strings) and three on the bottom (GBE strings). This is completely reversible. The result is a bit more of a Strat-y sound. It's a much clear and sweeter pickup now that I've done this. It's still humbucking, too. It's a fantastic idea, trust me.

The guitar is a bit noisy when I'm not touching the strings (grounding issue). I'm going to get it shielded and star-grounded anyhow, so it won't be noisy for long.

With these mods, the guitar is very sweet and full. It sounds really harmonically rich on the neck pickup. The bridge pickup still has a great twang, too. Very versatile.

Oh, and the cap is now a paper in oil. Slightly warmer tone rolloff.

I had the guitar's action professionally done, and it's pretty low, and I get a ton of sustain. Everything is in perfect working order, the frets, the neck (which is the best part of the guitar), the bridge. It's probably worth it to upgrade the hardware, though, just so it stays in tune better.

Albeit a 3-bolt neck, I see it lasting quite a while. the Ash body is pretty sturdy. I like the finish a lot, too. I'll use this anytime without a backup.

This guitar gets a nine because I had to spend about $100 and several hours of research to get it to sound like a 10.

Buy it for the neck, keep it for the mods.

Two knobs, a 3-way selector... simple as it gets.

I replaced the 250k knobs with 500k knobs, something everyone who gets this guitar should do, and the humbuckers are now much more open. I also had the cap replaced with a paper and oil one. Tiny detail, I know, but it does sound a bit warmer now. It can be a bit noisy if I'm not grounding it in someway with my body. Perhaps I should get that fixed. Anyhow, it's got a thick, warm sound on the neck, a twangy, still Tele sound on the bridge, and a pretty darn happy medium when you select both.

I had it set up at my local music shop. The action is just a mite higher than I'd like it to be, but the sustain is crazy! I love the finish, too. I LOVE the fat neck on it, too.

Seems pretty darn sturdy from where I'm standing.

Never dealt with 'em.

Great guitar, plays nicely, sounds great. Very happy with it.

Fender Specs:

http://www.fender.com/products/search.php?partno=0137402321

This things sounds like is descended straight from heaven.

Lots of bottom, twang at the top - a nice even and round sound. "Wide Range" is perfectly descriptive of the sound.

I play through a Fender Hot Rod Deville 212 - and IMO, this may be the perfect guitar sound.

an interesting note may be what I use this for, which is straight up hardcore death metal. For distortion I use a Ibanez SM7. Some may feel this guitar is only good for country or Blues or whatever, but I can tell you that NOTHING has the balls this tele puts under the distortion.

Beyond that though, it's just a beautiful, clean, crisp, yet round sound.

I find the action to be VERY fast - the only issue is the thickness of the finish on the neck, but I got used to it pretty quickly.

"tank" has been used more than once in these reviews, and there's a reason why.

All and all I'd say the craftmanship is EXCELLENT. Even if it was made in Mexico.

No Problems

This guitar is my soulmate forever. I have no clue why everybody in the world doesn't have one.

1999 (first year of production) Mexican version.

I got the guitar second hand, and it had a StewMac bridge and saddles (which I do prefer).

It has two wide range humbuckers which are great, not as good as the originals though (nothing ever is).

I love the sound, lovely and LOUD! Great for my heavy blues style in the bridge position, although cleaned up with some reverb the neck position sounds very jazzy, and I can recreate Peter Green well.

The finish is good, thick poly though, which is annoying.

The neck has several chips and dents because of gigging, but this is expected.

This guitar is a real tank. I've dropped it on all sorts of surfaces (by accident) and it had a cymbal dropped on it (not by me) but it barely left a dent on it. I have played this guitar into the ground. I gig this guitar with out back ups all the time.

BARE IN MIND THOUGH-- My guitar HAS HAD alot of work done. The neck pick up DID stop working at one point, although I haven't had any problems with it for a year.

I bought it second hand.

I have been playing for 6 years.
I also own a:
Fender 72 Custom (2004)
Esquire (built from parts) and many other guitars, but none of them compare. I play my guitar through a Blues Junior and it sounds great.

If you dont have a Thinline, go get one, and when you get it OVERWIND THE PICK UPS!

As the owner of an original '72 Thinline, I'm disappointed with the sound of the re-issue. I discovered that the current Fender humbuckers are very different from the original design, although they are cosmetically identical on the outside. Scoring a pair of originals may be tough or cost prohibitive, but I found out that Jonny Lang had Fender Custom Shop build a Thinline incorporating Bill Lawrence 500 series humbuckers. Based on the fact that Lang is a Thinline fan, it's presumable that the Lawrence pups must meet or exceed the tonal characteristics of Fender's original humbucker design.

Anyway, anyone looking to upgrade a reissue may want to investigate the Bill Lawrence pickups!!

See other reviews. All I will add is my neck seems much more like 9.5" radius than a 7.25" vintage radius.

This is an update to my review from a year and a half ago. I did some tinkering. Frist, swapped the vol pot from 250k to 500k. Had a nice effect. Next, put the original bridge saddles back on - like em better than Graphtech now. Finally, I scored two original '74 Wide Range buckers. Holy cow! I would not trade this guitar for $20,000 vintage piece. I like it that much now. A/B-d against a real 1974 Thinline and the RI (w/ orig PUs) blew it away...

Except for the heavy Poly finish, which I removed, this guitar is flawlessly made.

Built like a tank.

35 years on the guitar. I know a good one when I see it. Get the natural Ash model though... ;-)

2006 Mexican model. Same features as listed below. The body looks like 3 pieces on the top which is carved out and a cap on the back that is 3 pieces. Wide range humbuckers and the standard tele controls. The neck is really glossy, but not too sticky for me.

I really like the sound of this guitar. Its a different sound, though, and it may not be for everyone. The HBs are very open and not muddy like a Les Paul can be, but they are not mid rangey like a P-90. They are very much "wide range" with clear lows and clean highs. Something about them gives the bridge pickup that classic tele thwack, but with more balls. The middle position is nice, good for strumming, and the neck is very rich sounding. Acoustically, this guitar sounds really good, too. The F-hole makes it pretty loud unplugged which is nice, and gives the plugged in sound a nice woody tone. But, like I said, this guitar sounds different, so play one before you buy.

The finish is like glass! I've read that people have had issues with fret finishing and bridge placement, but mine is fine. Actually, of the guitars that I played a the store, the frets were better than some of the american made fenders. I was shocked that so many of those had such terrible frets. Some of them literally made red marks on the side of my hand from playing it. $1400 for that! No way. Sorry for the rant. There was a little bit of white residue on the f-hole, but other than that, no problems what so ever.

Its a tele, but its also a semi-hallow. This thing is solid.

No contact with fender ever.

I've been playing for about 18 years. I own a Epiphone Dot, a Fender CIJ Jaguar, a Squier Tele, and a Yamaha Acoustic. If this guitar was stolen, I would cry, and then hunt that bastard down and, and... ask him to get it back. If he said no, then I might have to look into hiring Chuck Norris to take care of the situation. That, or I would save my money and buy another. I actually was planning on buying a Gibson faded series guitar. Its tax refund time for me and I thought yes, I will buy a Gibson. I had my eye on the double cutaway with the P-90's. Well, after playing that guitar (I love the way it looks), it felt like furniture and not a guitar. I tried the SG and the LP and they did nothing for me. I was so disappointed. I desperately started playing anything to find my next guitar. Then I saw this guitar. I plugged it in and fell in love.

Telecaster, transparent/natural finish,
U shape neck 7/14 radius makes my fingers absolutley glide across the strings and with vintage frets sliding up and down you can barely feel it, overall a very comfortable instrument, i'm giving this an 8 because even though the finish is flawless and the neck is great, the electronics are limited, but that is a typical telecaster thing so doesn't really matter

Very versatile, i play alot of jazz blues classic rock and alittle classical, obvious this is not a classical guitar but it is good for everything else except for maybe death metal the sound is very similiar no matter what config, you use but depending what effects you have i have the zoom 606 effects pedal you can do pretty much anything with it.

intonation was fine when i got it, the action needed minamal adjustment, its got a strat style bridge so i didnt have to take the strings off took me 5 minutes to adjust that, everything else was fine finish is flawless trussrodd fine, pickups are fine

no matter where you go you want a backup in case of string breakage but i would gig without a backup with it, nice complete finish hardware so far (havent had it that long) havent shown any signs of wear and tear (no scratchy/funny noises) strap buttons i checked and i couldnt tightend them anymore so it was fine

been playing about 2 1/2 years, my dad plays and his friends play been playing about 34 years each so i have the advantage of being able to play with them alot and learn alot so its almost as if ive been playing 5 years, got a 335, les paul with emg active pickups and a dreghdnot acoustic. This sounds alot like the 335 because they both have very clean humbuckers, (I don't distort it overall) but the tone control is more effective so it is more versatile. Personally i love the neck on this thing and the semi hollow factor means to practice I don't have to plug in I can still hear it it isn't the greatest value though there are better buys out there but it is a very good guitar.

Check the other people's reviews for what all it has. I replaced my volume pot with a 500k model from Torres engineering and it opened it up like no other guitar I've ever heard. Also, the slotted tuning keys are a pain but you get used to them. The pickups are sweet and I have no idea why anyone would ever change them out for something else.

This is the real reason why I'm writing this review. I was in Cincinnati a couple of weeks ago and in a guitar store that had an original (not reissue) one of these guitars. Here are my thoughts.
At first I was I was very hesitent to even pick this guitar up. I love my reissue and I feel extremely lucky to have found the perfect guitar for me for only $500. No, that's not pocket change but considering how many thousands of dollars guitars can go for $500 ain't too bad. Anyway, I always say that I've honestly never picked up a guitar, at any price, that I liked better than my Thinline and was afraid that once I played an original that there's no way I could afford I'd just be lusting after something I could never have. None the less, I couldn't just pass it by and had to give it a try so I pulled off the wall and plugged into the same amp I play through at home (a Fender Hotrod Deluxe).
The two versions are supposed to be the same but the way they sound really sets them apart. They definitely sound different from each other. Some people will say that's a bad thing but my personal preferrence says its a good thing. The older one certainly had a different ring to it. While the newer ones have a nice smooth, warm sound the older ones seemed to be a bit more harsh. I can definitely see where some people will like that harshness and it would sound great for some songs. Where the new one sounds like a tele that is a bit edgy and it might had smoked some pot, the older one sounds like a tele that is a bit edgy and then did some coke. Also, with the newer ones, I can get one of the sweetest tones I've ever heard out of a guitar with the pickup switch set in the middle, the older one just didn't blend the two pickups as well. On second thought, it did blend them well but they just don't sound as different as they do on the newer ones which combine for that amazing sound the middle position gives you. Also because of the two pickups sounding so close to the same, you can't get the wide range of tones out of the guitar as you can with the newer ones.

Yes, the new ones are made in Mexico which generally means not as good of quality. It may have just been the one I was playing but to me it seems like my MIM is put together better than the original. I know that the one I was playing was over 30 years old and my guitar is probably about 3 years old but it still just seemed like the MIM went through just a little more quality control before being shipped out. The one thing that seemed to be the same on both versions, and I commend Fender for, was the size and shape of the neck. This is one of the best feeling necks I've ever put my hand around (stupid small hands, thanks mom and dad for those genetics) and was one of the things that made me want my guitar.
The only small imperfection is one small area leading into the f-hole. Other than that, perfect. Also, if you have a good local store in your area that can set up guitars well (just because someone offers the service doesn't mean they have any idea what they're doing) have them set it up for. It turned what I thought was a perfect guitar for me into an even more perfect guitar.

So far mine's been knocked over twice (having a two year old and six year old can be hard on your guitars) but you can't tell a thing. I've also bumped it up against a wall a few times but after all that its still in as good of condition as the day I bought it. I don't think I would use it as my only guitar but only because I like to change my sound up for different songs, if it's just a reliability issue I'd take this one any day of the week.

Who knows, never had to contact them. Also don't know about warranty since I bought it used.

Over all, I liked the original but after playing it for a while I was longing for my reissue. I also was feeling even better about paying only $500 for my guitar versus a few grand for an original or any other guitar I've ever played.

Frets - Thin/low type
The pickups - H/g config Fender wide range buckers mounted to the pickguard
Controls - Master gain, tone and three way pickup selector
Tuners - Vintage fender style, nedd to watch when you string up, but steady tuning wise
Headstock - 6 in a line, typical tele shape
Bridge - Strat style hard-tail
Neck - Bolt on (three bolt style) maple
Scale - 25.5 inch
Electronics - good
Accesories - Gig bag and fender booklets included whish it had two tone Controls nobbs

Guitar dudes let me tell you what i did to my telle.rember i am 51 years old.

Guitar dudes let me tell you what I did to my telle. Remember I am 51 years old.i changed the pods and changed the capacitor I used only fender parts you would not believe the difference. I tweaked the neck and lowered the action on this guitar sounds so un believable good I took it back to guitar center to let the guys play it.i didn?t think I was going to get back out with it. they kept getting outer guy to come in and play it. I also set the springs on the bridge after I selected the string I am going to use. I play it through a mesa f-50 sometimes with a keeley compressor sometimes not. what I was able to do is open the humbuckers up and add more treble. Clean this thing glassines with a beautiful tone. Crank on the gain and it bites.with the changes i made this guitar will stand up to any no one will make fun of your mexcian tellie any more it will be on steriods and be a mean jose.

i play it all the time.

i voided the warranty.

30 years.i stolen would buy another one the same day.i own nine guitars including two taylors. a gibson do-bro. a lucelle.highway 1,a mexican strat loaded with eric clappton pickups and mid range booster the bridge lowered against the body lowered action.the eric clapton and the mexican thinline are my favorites. i love them both.i play the tellie a little more.

This is a 1983 MIJ '72 Telecaster thinline, that I bought about a year ago, I absolutely LOVE it! It has the standard tone and volume knobs with the 3-way selector. Has a nice thick C-shaped neck, medium width. Nice and simple.

Awesome sound. I play this usually through a MesaBoogie Studio .22 tube amp. The humbuckers are nice and meaty on the lead channel, in any pickup position. On the clean channel, you get real nice jazz tones with the neck pickup. With both settings you get a nice warm neutral tone. And suprisingly..the bridge pickup alone still gives you that tele twang.

Although I bought this "used", it was a closet kept guitar and was pretty much untouched when I got it. Nothin else to say except that this thing was made unbelievibly well! Its almost perfect.

The only complaint I have about the hardware is that the selector fuzzes sometimes, otherwise fine. What can I say? It is Japanese made, that says it all.

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1983 was the first year that they made this reissue, which (don't hold me to it) was during the CBS transition and the guitars were made in Japan. In my opinion, the Japanese Fenders are some of the best that you can buy, everything about this guitar just feels like QUALITY. And it is. I love this guitar, and everything about it. It was exactly what I was looking for in a guitar, awesome for Jazz, awesome for rock, just good all around. Highly recommended!

The guitar in question is a dual humbucker, 21 fret chambered solidbody.

It's a mexican range Fender, a reissue of the thinline tele model made in '72.

Frets - Thin/low type
The pickups - H/g config Fender wide range buckers mounted to the pickguard
Controls - Master gain, tone and three way pickup selector
Tuners - Vintage fender style, horrible to string up, but steady as hell tuning wise
Headstock - 6 in a line, typical tele shape
Bridge - Strat style hard-tail
Neck - Bolt on (three bolt style) maple
Scale - 25.5 inch
Electronics - Passive
Accesories - Gig bag and fender booklets included

The body is Ash and has a single F-hole which opens into one of the guitars chambers. the body is not a single solid piece, it's chambers are routed out from the back, and then the cap is applied to the back of the guitar. The neck of the guitar is single piece maple.

It's a players guitar, not some shred machine trem trick beastie, as is evident from the specs.

This thing has a very unique sound, if you're after bright single coil sparkle, then simply do not buy this guitar, it's not designed to do it. The sound of the buckers is warm, round, fat and open, but it'll still produce that trebel and spank that makes it sound like a tele.

I play mostly Rock and Blues based stuff, and this thing handles them both like a charm, but it can also do so much more, from spacy coldplay style sounds, right through to jazz.

I currently play this guitar through an Engl Thunder 50 Valve/Tube head, connected to a Marshall 2 by 12 fitting with Celestion vintage 30s, and the sound is absolutley wonderful, I can dial in some seriously classic sounds. You want it to sound like an lp? It can do that. You want it to sound something unique to itself? well to be frank, thats what it does.

Played clean you can get some serious spank on the bridge pickup, but I favour the neck pickup, with a tiny bit of the trebel rolled off on the tone pot, the sound is dynamic, warm fat and open and is perfect for rythmn. That said, thats merely how I use it, it will do lead very well too.

Overdrive is also nice, as is crunch, as said before, you can make it sound like an lp with careful tweaking, but it still has that tele twang at the bridge, and it's not as muddy as an lp.

It's got a very unique sound, some people will love it, others wont, personally I love it, but do try it before you buy it.

The fit of all the parts is very good, save for a slightly loose neck pocket fit, other than that, no complaints, tuners are smooth, frets nicely dressed and all the electronics work as they should.

The neck has a lovely feel to it, it really fills your hand out and is particularly comfortable to play. No complains about the frets, minimal buzzing and the action can be brought quite low without affecting this, I prefer to have it set up so that the strings can really ring out however. The finish is gloss, but i've not found it to be overly sticky, or to hamper playing in any way. The tuning is smooth, and if strung up the way the vintage tuners are intended to be strung, it's stable as hell, once you've played the strings in, and the tuning is set, it's not going anywhere for a while.

The finish is nice throughout, although the detailing around the inside edges of the f-hole could be slightly better.

Durability? It's a Telecaster, and as such could be used to batter you way out of a bar fight if need be, or to give any unwanted intruders on stage a solid whack, Keith richards stylee...

Could it withstand live playing? Yes, yes it could, no problems on this front whatsoever. I'd be happy to use this guitar on stage without a backup, no question.

The hardware all seems solid, and I'm sure it'll last. The strap buttons are also fine, however i've since changed them out for straplocks simply for easy of use.

I've not yet had to deal with customer support.

I've been playing for roughly 5 years now and have owned a few guitars in that time, this one is my main guitar, and in the year or so i've had it, i've not become disillusioned with it at all, I still love it as much as I did when I bought it.

It's got a unique sound, and as long as you don't fight agaisnt that, you'll love it, it wont be for everyone though.

ok I confess I had at one time a MIJ thinline and I was looking for the same MOJO in the MIM thinline so I saved my pennies at the time I was stationed in Iraq So on leave I purchased this guitar well I must say I was dissapointed the neck pocket was sloppy not a tight fit also the bridge pickup did not work, what a drag its ok tho cause the Music store got a new pickup and life was good there was alot of buzz on the fret boards and that was fixed .I think a little quality control would of went a long way .the guitar stays in tune fine and lays drown some fine blues&jazz so I,m ok with it

As I said I compared it to a MIJ model which I shouldn,t have done the Japanease make a fine guitar .Word to the wise" Don,t get rid of that old guitar you,ll never get it back"

Not sure when it was made, or where to be honest.

The features have no doubt been listed to death, but it's the normal 22 frets, two wide range humbuckers, 3 way switch, tone and volume etc. You know the score by now I'm sure.

Suprisingly awesome. For some reason I didn't trust the odd looking humbuckers, and Fender are hardly known for their humbucking sounds, but this guitar had an ace sound to it.

I tried it with a Fender blues deluxe, a 40 watt 2X12 combo and it seemed to combine "Gibsony" elements with a classic telecaster sound. It was both mellower and more powerful at the same time. Rolling back the tone things did get a little muddy however, I can see why some people don't bother using it at all, but the clean sounds were suitably shimmery, and there was enough grind to satisfy all but the more contempory styles.

To be honest I wouldn't reccomend this for heavier stuff since while it could pull it off to an extent, that's not where it excells, but other guitars do excell there.

For blues and bluesy rock this is one of the nicest guitars I've heard,it sounded beautiful unplugged, so I imagine you'd have a fantastic sound if you had the pickups rewound, Tim Mills of Bare Knuckle Pickups would be my first choice, but I'm sure there are other pickup winders out there who could do a good job, admittedly maybe not as good.

The guitar played ok off the shelf, it didn't bowl me over but at the same time it felt comfortable, the action was kinda average, maybe slightly high which is no bad thing on a Fender. There didn't seem to be any obvious flaws but I must admit I didn't take a fine tooth comb to the guitar, so I can't speak for the wiring and blemishes in the finish could have escaped my atention...but neither is affecting playability.

One thing I did notice was having to retune quite often, but this could be down to a badly cut nut, or the tuners, or maybe it's something as silly as the strings never having been stretched.

Telecasters are the hardest guitars on the planet. And even the semi hollow ones are constructed in such a manner as to make destroying one all but impossible without really intending to in the first place, and unless you're slightly mad or called Pete Townsened I doubt you'll attack it with intent to harm.

That said, while it's still relatively hardy, a semi hollow guitar is never as tough as a solid body. The hardwear seemed ok, but I was suspicious of the tuners and nut due to the tuning issues, one or the other is at fault and had I purchased it I'd have investigated that.

The strap buttons are the usual affair...always, alway get strap locks. You could gig this guitar damned hard, and it'd keep coming back for more, but only mugs gig without backups. A string can break, a wire can unexpectedly come loose inside shorting your pickup, it's just not worth the risk of looking a prat on stage.

I've never dealt with fender, so I can't really comment. But there's warranties and stuff, so that's slightly reassuring that had I gone through with the purchase it'd have been covered for a while.

I've been playing about 4 years. My guitars are a '67 SG junior and a tele I made with Warmoth with bareknuckle pickups, and callahan abd schaller hardwear. I have some other guitars but they're less relevant due to them not being "gig worthy". I use Matamp amplification although at the store I used a fender blues deluxe, which suprised me. It's an ace sounding amp so was deffinitely doing the guitar justice.

The only thing I really hate is the tuning issues, if I bought it it'd be with the intention of "hotrodding it" with a Warmoth neck and replacing a lot of parts, and this simpley isn't economical. It had a really good sound though, and the body and wood was in no small part responsible.

Other guitars I tried were an American deluxe tele, which had the most resonant slab of wood I've met, but a medicore neck and terrible fender single coils, and a butterscotch american deluxe strat with fende noiseless pickups. That was the guitar that got bought, though had I been in my friends shoes I'd have gone for this tele.

When you go to buy a Fender, play lots. Out of 10 guitars 9 will be good, but one will knock you back with how good it is, you'll remember that guitar. Not all '72 thinlines will be this good, some will be better. Each guitar is a unique entity, and even runs with a bad reputation will still have a few gems in amongst them.

Made in Mexico sunburst Thinline reissue. It has the two Fender wide-range humbuckers, pearloid pickguard, one tone and one volume control, three way switch, string-through body and non-trem strat-style bridge and saddles (rather than the typical Tele bridge). The body finish shows off the grain of the underlying wood quite nicely, though on the back of mine there is a discoloration in part of the wood about an inch and a half long that is rather prominent, but it doesn't really bother me. The body is much lighter than a standard Tele because of the hollowed out cavity. The neck is nice and chunky and feels substantial in your hands. Vintage style frets (in other words, they're smaller - not medium-jumbo.) The neck has a thick glossy finish on it that was a bit too sticky for me, so I went over it with some 0000 steel wool and now it plays much faster and doesn't feel sticky. Overall the guitar feels very balanced and looks fantastic.

I absolutely love the pickups on this guitar. I know that a lot of people think they sound too dark, but I just turn up the treble a bit on my amp and I have no problems. They're much thicker sounding than typical Tele single coils and they have none of the hum (of course). The bridge pickup actually can get somewhat close to the twang of a standard Tele bridge pickup quite well, but with more bottom underneath it. The neck pickup has a powerful rounded tone that is similar to the neck pup on a Les Paul. I'm not too fond of the middle position with both pickups on because it sounds a little flat, but the fabulous tones available from the other two positions make up for that. The tone is also very resonant due, I'm sure, to the semi-hollow body. In general, it is much more full and rich than a standard Tele, which is what you would expect based on the pickups. I use this guitar through my Fender Blues Jr. and it's a fantastic combination. I have a standard Tele as well, but the Thinline/Blues Jr. combination is more rewarding. I run the guitar through an old Made in Japan Boss Overdrive pedal, a Ibanez Tube Screamer, and a Guyatone digital delay then into the amp. I generally don't have to use either of the overdrive pedals to push the amp with this guitar, which is not the case with my standard Tele which needs the peadals for that extra boost. You can get a solid, powerful lead tone from the bridge pickup and a warm, energetic rhythm tone from the neck pickup. There's never any noise. I love the tone of this guitar!

I bought it used so I don't know how well it was set-up from the factory. When I got it the action was just right for a tele: not too low and not too high. It looks beautiful, apart from the spot on the back of the guitar where the wood has a discoloration about an inch and a half long, but it doesn't bother me.

This is a very solid guitar. I have no reason to think that it will not withstand normal playing conditions.

I've been playing for about 7 years now. I also own a MIM Standard Tele, a 1978 Peavey T-60, a MIM Fender Deluxe Super Strat, a Fender Blues Jr. amp, a Martin 000-15, an old Made in Japan Boss Overdrive pedal, an Ibanez Tubescreamer, and a Guyatone Micro-Delay. If this guitar were lost or stolen I would definitely get another one, but I think I would look around for one in Daphne Blue (which are hard to find but I love the way they look.)

2005 MIM Thinline, Natural Ash, Two Seth Lover Humbuckers, One Vol & One Tone, String-thru Body, came with a soft Fender Gig Bag.

Picked it up a couple of months ago. After many years of not playing I started up again with an acoustic and after a while was of course jonzing for another electric. In my past life I was a strat guy, had owned tele or two tho. Asked a friend w/ MANY guitars what would be a good jack of all trades and he recommended this one (he owns a black MIJ one). I didn't have the time to shop around for a used deal and they had one at the local music shop, so I played it and it beat out most of the comp based primarily on action and playability (i liked the sound and relatively light weight too). Suits my style well as i play mostly "semi-clean" licks - melodic, bluesy, jazzy, country-rock type stuff. Of course Jerry Garcia is my hero. I play it thru my old '65 Fender Super and my new HRD. This guitar does a lot of things well, but only a few things outstanding. More specifically, the neck PU position is very warm and gives a great blues-jazz tone. However, the bridge PU is not bright/hot enough for my taste. The mid position is a nice split sound. I may be hallucinating but i actually think the f hole warms up the sound of the guitar, in the neck PU position at least. It's kinda fun to be able to plink around on it unplugged and actually hear it too. I think this guitar might go from "solid" to "killer" with some new top of the line pickups (just a hunch based on how it sounds unplugged). But it's very playable as it comes stock.

This guitar was set up great at the factory. It was down low. It has a chunky neck that is cool but is taking some getting used to for me. I am not real fond of the laquered neck finish, but have not yet decided whether i will sand it. There was a manufacturing flaw in that the PU poles did not line up with the strings at all, due to a poor routing job i think. Anyhoo, i cut some pieces off some playing cards and jammed them into the appropriate spaces between the pickup and the pickguard/routing and got it a little better lined up. My buddy w/ the black thinline told me i would break strings unless i changed the bridges to graphite. So, i did that. Don't know if it changed anything, but it feels better under the heel of my hand. In retorspect kinda wished i'd gotten the Ferraglides as the black saddles dont really match color-wise. BTW, the Graphtech saddles did have the added benefit of raising the action (was too low for me as it came) because they are so thick/tall they only allow you to set the action so low. Oh yeah, the natural finish on this guitar is beautiful - gorgeous. I guess you've seen the photos. The tophat PU selector has an annoying habit of flying off when it gets brushed by strumming (often). Some people bend these down to avoid that. The jack plate was of course loose and difficult to tighten w/o twist breaking the wiring. Anyhoo, i put DR tite 10s on it after the GT saddles, raised the action, played w/ string length by ear (w/o a tuner) and suddenly the guitar jumped a level in tone and "fullness."

Haven't had it long enough to testify to it's durability. I did buy a cheapo hard shell case for it for $50 new on-line.

I've not dealt with them.

Played of and on for 35+ years. I played in a few local bands way back when. Interesting that jam bands are so popular now cause that's exactly the kind of music i've always wanted to play, but way back then but nobody else wanted to - go figure. I positively love the way this guitar feels in my hands as well as the variety of sounds that can come from it undistorted. I'm still not sold on the PUs tho. They say if you switch out the stock 250k pots for 500k or 1 meg they will liven up. That's a $10 change, so I'll try that before putting in $150 worth of new pickups. On balance I think this is a solid, but not spectacular, workhorse of a guitar that will definitely hold it's own in the value department. If you could pick up a gem of a used one for under $500 you'd be getting a heck of deal/guitar.

I'm leaving this category blank for a reason. The thing I love about Telecasters (I have this one and a USA standard Tele from the mid-80s with a Seymour Duncan replacement in the bridge position) is that they don't have a lot of features. They are simple guitars. Volume, tone, 3-way selector. No fuss, no muss. My amp is a Polytone with Bass, Mid, Treble, Volume, Reverb and a dirty channel I never touch. That's plenty for me. I like simplicity and I believe that good tone comes from the hands, although a nice instrument helps. This is a nice instrument. For example, Teles are great for picking with your thumb or with a pick while rolling the volume knob up and down with your pinkie simeltaneously...giving a steel-guitar-like volume swell effect. I don't know any other guitar that you can do that with as well...it's the simplicity and the ergonomic design that makes it possible. The guitar is solid and well-built. The standard Tele-style bridge is great. Vintage frets, maple neck, 24-frets, full-scale, ash body, f-hole/ semi-hollow. The guitar came with a nice molded plastic hard case. I live in NYC so I generally leave it at home and throw this in a padded gig bag and jump on the subway.

I mostly fingerpick when playing this guitar. My style ranges from folk to jazz to mellow bluesy rock. This guitar is perfect for that stuff. The stuff I play is tonally somewhere in the realm in-between Bill Frisell's "Gone Just Like a Train" record and JJ Cale's "Naturally" (which is probably the closest tonal range this guitar compares to) as well as jazzy stuff like Jim Hall, etc. I play with absolutely no effects through a Polytone Mini-Brute. This guitar is absolutely goregeous. The pickups are humbucking but they are not as fat Gibson humbuckers. You lose a tiny little bit of what Gibson humbuckers give you in terms of bass response but you gain it all back in terms of midrange. Quiet pickups, not buzzy at all. I can get a range of tones from a really warm sound like on Stephen Stills' solo on "Wooden Ships" if I use the neck pickup and roll the tone off...or I can get a real bright, jangly twangy tone like early Jerry Garcia stuff on the bridge pickup with the tone all the way up...and everything in-between. Teles have, in my opinion, any sound I might possibly want to access. It's all about knowing how to get it. I love the way that you can hear each individual string voice clearly...due to the semi-hollow body...and yet you still get the warmth and fatness of a humbucking sound without getting all the tonal washout that you get with Gibson humbuckers...espesically on Gibson solidbody guitars. I was looking for an inexpensive semi-hollowbody guitar that wouldn't cost me an arm and a leg like a Pat Martino Les Paul or my buddy's $5k custom axe. This guitar does the job and then some.

This is a MIJ Fender from the early-to-mid 90s...not sure of the exact year. I bought this used on eBay. I've been playing guitar for about 17 years now. I've owned a LOT of great, classic guitars. This is absolutely one of my favorites. I can't believe it was so cheap! The Fender Japan factory is awesome and creates guitars that put the USA stuff to shame. This guitar was shipped to me from an eBay seller and was just about in tune when I pulled it out of the box. I have not had to adjust the action at all. There is a slight rattle in one of the tuners but that'll be an easy fix. The tuners are ok...but they stay in tune so if it ain't broke, as they say. The finish is a light wood-grain. The grain is beautiful and the pearloid pickguard is a nice touch. This guitar looks as pretty as it sounds. It's comfortable and light and is great to play!

The only thing on this guitar that worries me are the tuners but so far so good. I am generally pretty gentle on my gear so I'm not worried about this holding up. It travels well and is fine with a little bumping. But I generally play sitting down and I'm not exactly a basher. I fingerpick and don't really bang on the instrument at all. The finish is nice and seems resistant to scratching. The strap buttons are solid. It's a real solid guitar. As I said, Fender Japan is the best. I'm going to name my first child after them. I would use this guitar on a gig without a backup with great confidence.

Never had to deal with Fender. Since I got it used it's not under warranty and I probably never will. Why buy new guitars? They're way too expensive.

I've been playing for about 17 years. I own two Fender 6-string electric, both Teles, as well as a fretless Jazz Bass and a 62 P-Bass re-issue. All of them save the stock solidbody Tele are MIJ guitars. (My 2nd Tele is a USA model from the mid-80s.) The Japan stuff, in my opinion, beats the USA stuff I've owned hands-down. In the past I've owned several Strats, a couple of Jaguars, a Mustang, a Danelectro 12-string, several Les Pauls (humbucking and P-90 models), a couple of SGs, an Ibanez Artcore ES-style from the late 80s (which is the only guitar of the lot I wish I still had, oddly...who would've thought I'd own a 1971 Les Paul Goldtop with P-90s and then miss an Ibanez?) and a bunch of acoustic guitars including Yamahas and Martins. I'm probably forgetting some stuff. I also currently own a mid-1970s Hofner plywood upright bass which I use for jazz bass gigs. I know music and I'm picky about tone. Right now, in terms of 6-string guitars, I own a Guild acoustic and the two Teles. That's all I want and all I need. One single-coil guitar and one humbucking. Both Teles. I mostly play through a Polytone Mini-Brute but I also own and sometimes break out a 1962 Ampeg Reverbarocket. The Polytone is solid state and real clean. The Ampeg is tube and real warm and nice. The Teles sound awesome through both amps. If this guitar was stolen I'd cry my eyes out and then buy a new one tomorrow. I love everything about this guitar. I've been looking for a guitar to suit my sound and style for a long time and this baby is it. In fact, I'm thinking about buying one or two more of these as backups in the next year or so. The price is right and I love the instrument.

Made in Japane Tele with twin humbucker, semihollow-body, f-hole cut-out, string-thru body (I like this solid part of the design), bolt-on neck (3 bolts), each string with independent height and intonation adjustment at the bridge, shared tone and volume pots.

Independent tone and volume pots would allow more versatility during a song. I like the simple over-all design,

Pick-ups are noisier than I would like. Overall sound is thin on the low end and quite brite at the high end.

I play clean or slightly overdriven. I can't get the warm rich smooth mellow tones I like out of it. In overdrive it sounds kind of empty through my Marshall. It does not suit my music style but it is not the guitars fault.

Finish: The workmanship in the wood is excellent! The grain of all the pieces of wood in the body were matched up perfectly. Only under VERY close inspection can you tell its not a single slab. Qualitiy of the assembly is also excellent. 10 points for Finish!

Action is good but I find the neck somewhat flimsy and can almost be used as a vabrato (contibuting factors: thin neck and 3-bolt bolt-on design).

My low E nut was not cut deep enough initially. When low-E was in tune and intonated a fretted F was quite sharp and became less bad down the fretboard. A local luthier easily corrected the problem for a few bucks.

Pearliod pickguard is kind of cheesy looking.

Body is solid; I would not call this a fragile guitar at all. I prefer a stronger body-to-neck joint.

Output jack was loose and fell out the first week. Its only held in by a sharp pressed in piece of metal that gouges itself into the wood on the inside of the body.

I have no experience with Fender support.

A decent guitar for the money. I bought it as a cheap practice guitar that I could take anywhere and not worry about it. I bought it while I was in Japan on a job. With heavy strings this guitar is loud accoustically (semi-hollow body) so I could practice even when I don't have an amp available.

All of my other guitars are Gibsons (primarily Les Pauls) and this guitar just doesn't compare to what I nomally play. It doesn't suit me and my music though I'm sure many will love it.

My day-to-day guitars: Gibson LP 58 Historic/Reissue, 2 Gibson LP standards and a Gibson LP studio

maple neck swamp ash body two wide range humbuckers..crappy split type tuning keys that are absolutlely terrible...21 frets...i really screwed up on this one...traded a nice USA made kramer pacer for this thing..its a looker however....somewhat anyways..too bad it has that crappy looking pickguard covering up all that nice looking wood..

the tone is pitifull...too muddy for a decent clean...two wimpy for a decent over drive....(this is through a hughes and kettner tube 50) i tried every which way to like this guitar...played with every amp setting i could imagine...and nothing...its flat boring and un inspiring. sorry all you fender lovers...but that is how it is for me...i will never buy or play a fender again. over priced over rated and over produced garbage..and those f##king tuners...ggrrrr....this thing didnt sound good untill i made a new pickguard...because real pickups will not fit in this piece of crap...put in some vintage dimarrzios new volume and tone pots..at 500..and two series/paralell switches for each pickup.....scrappped those damn tuners..and now its a guitar...i even sanded it right down and had it custom painted...looks good now...i made the pick guard from the back of an old busted accoustic guitar..recycle kinda stuff..worked out great..with a bit of body routing to make it all fit...not much fender left in it...and that is a good thing...

this is the only good point and the only reason i aquired it....the neck is truly very nice to play...a bit chunky...but non the less...very very smoothe..and i do like the mirco tilt adjust system..and the bridge in that you can raise and lower each string individually...this guitar sets up very easily..

reliable..thats almost funny..how can a guitar not be....ooh wait....its a fender...could fall apart at any moment....no really..its not a car or anything like that..its a guitar...at least it is now...so what could possibly go wrong unless some one smacks it against an amp..bin playing off and on for 25 years never had one fly apart or spontaniously combust yet...

i am sure that the people at fender are committed to making sure i am happy with their shoddy wares..they routinely call me to make sure everything is all right..at the next board meeting it is my turn to bring the shrimp.

guess i am a bit hard on fender...huh? i bin playing on and off for 25 years...had and have alot of stuff but this guitar at stock is garbage...like i said...too muddy for cleans...too weak for some punch..tuners are crap...big time..fender tries to sell a name based on some kinda mystique that was generated only because they were the first to mass produce guitars and amps...forunately we have alot more choice today..so basically i am saying fender totally sux today...probabby did back then too...but there werent many other choices...if some one stole this guitar they way it was before i fixed it i couldnt care less...but with the mods i made..i would have to purchase a body bag for such said individual..

MIM '03 with features already stated.

I like this guitar, because it has it's own "thing" going. It doesn't sound like a true hollowbody or semi-hollow body, but sort of a blend of a solid and semi-hollow body sound. It's got a little Fender twang in the bridge position, but still has some warm woody type tones in the neck and middle position. I use a 1966 Tremolux amp that I've had since '72 and believe or not a Fender Dyna Touch II
900. The latter weighs 33 lbs. has great effects, sounds almost like a tube type and really portable for an old guy.

This one wasn't too badly set up, but I'm a fair guitar tech, so I set up my own stuff. What disturbs me on many new more expensive guitar are the crappy fret jobs, uneven frets, etc. In other words fret flaws that are hard to fix. The average person can tweak the bridge adjustment, pickup height, and even neck bow, especially since these are individual tastes according to how you want it to feel, sound and play. But when one fret is way too high and needs to be filed to make it playable beyond the say, 8th fret--that pisses me off. Of course your dealer should take care of this or you should get your money back. That said (and gotten off my chest) this guitar has a decent fret job, but I always get my Dremel out and polish the frets on almost every thing I buy. Two guitars that I didn't have to do this to were my PRS and my American Deluxe Telecaster.
Finish was fine except a little too thick.

These are tough as a boot, but you can't use them like a personal defense weapon like you can a regular solid-body Tele.

I don't gig without a backup, but I mainly bring a spare that is tonally different just to change up the tones and keep from being bored.

Hoo cares...I dont and never do deal with the company.

I'm 60, been playing since I was 11, in bands since 13 for money. I still play in 2 bands, one is a country club type variety band and the other is a blues band. Mostly weekend warrior bands, but for many years we were playing 75 times and more a year. I've had all types of guitars: '55 Les Paul, '57 Strat, 3 PRS's, many 335's, etc. blah-blah. Here's what I would like to share: The guitars made today are every bit as good as the vintage ones, if not better. There's no magic in them bubba's...it comes from your fingers. You can make great music with this one as you can say a '52 Tele.
Value for the dollar is exceptional. Great bang for the buck.

Same ol' deal: Mexican thinline with natural ash finish. It is completely stock with the 250k pots and wide range p'ups...and it will stay that way (more on that later). Features wise its a tele, its a basic guitar plus semihollow and humbuckers.

Alright. Im a Nashville professional musician. Im still sleepy from coming in from a sold out show that went til 2am. I know guitars a good tone. I play in a band that requires me to have tones from Duane Allman to Trey Anastasio, Clapton to Adam Levy, and of course....me. Go to www.tylerflowersband.com for samples thought not with this guitar. This guitar is amazing. I bought it as a back up for my 50's reissue Tele...but the thinline steals the show. Ive read that the guitar need to be doctored to get the best tone this, and 500k pots that. Bologna. Last night was the first time since last used my 1968 Deluxe Reverb that I could hear myself. This guitar cuts through and sounds brilliant. More people commented on my tone/playing last night than ever. Guys/Girls you know how important it is to be confident in your guitar's tone when youre in front of a crowd. This guitars tone is rediculously good. I was up against a Semi-hollow guild bluesbird plugged into a EmerySound Stage Baby (killer amp), and a Strat into a Deluxe Reverb....This guitar and my Rivera Chubster smoked them...and I was un-mic'd! My set up is: Guitar>tu2>Keeley 808+>Rumble MOD>Keeley Comp>EBS bass IQ>EB jr>DD5>Rotosphere>Rivera Chubster 40 w/ v30

I have owned PRS's, Fenders, LP's. P-90's, SC's, and Buckers. This is THE guitar that I will take to stage with me. It is by far the best sounding guitar for my band ...at this price point.

Lightning fast neck. I was able to play "face-melters". The guitar feels solid and looks great too inside and out.

we'll see. i'll bring a back up. One minor gripe. While playing with my p'up selector last night, it broke off never to return again. Glue it on.

hahahaha

Ive been playing professionally in town for eight years. Im very pleased with my purchase, and if stolen, I'd file a claim and get another. Coming from a gear trader/seller/buyer...it is rare to hear "Im gonna keep this one"...well this is a killer guitar that is a keeper. 10: Fantasic value

Natural finish Made in Mexico. I have an American Strat, and aside from the action/intonation set-up I can't tell the difference between the USA and the Mexican workmanship.I love it.

THE PROBLEM: My MIM thinline was too dark sounding, and as you all know they don't make replacement pick-ups for the odd-sized stock "wide-range" humbuckers.

THE SOLUTION: Quick, cheap and easy. In an hour, and for under 10 bucks, I switched the volume and tone pots from 250k to 500k and really opened up the sound of the humbuckers. Voila! Keith Fucking Richards forever!

I did some research and found that original thinlines came with "icepick-like" 1meg volume and tones pots. The Made in Japan ones, which everyone seems to think sound a little better than the MIMs use 500K pots(which is fairly standard for humbuckers), and my MIM came stock with 250k humbuckers (which are generally used to dampen the high end on single coil guitars).

No cosmetic difference, don't hesitate to do this.

Factory set-up is what you'd expect. I usually have to redo the action/intonation to accomadte 11 guage strings anyway. The guitar looks gorgeous, and plays like a dream

Fender guitars are pretty bulletproof. Although this is a hollow body so you don't want to kick it around like you would a Strat.

Fender is a great company, I got my Start through the artist relations program several years back. They must have realized I was a has-been-wanna-be because they stopped taking my calls. I got this one from Musician's friend. I use either Harmony Central for advice or the fender Discussion Forum for tech tips.

Ever since I changed the pots on my made in Mexico Thinline, I would never dream of selling it. I would consider trading my natural finish for for a surfgreen, or shellpink but that's as far as I would go.

Today a friend and I went to the local music shop to compare his original 72 thinline to a new 2004 Made In Mexico reissue. From the reviews I've read, I expected to find a very similar sounding instrument. While I must say they got nearly all the aesthetic details down pat, the sound was not what I expected.

First off, we compared the guitars on a new Twin Reverb amp with no effects - just switched the plug between two guitars. Listening to the same phrases played on each, I TOTALLY preferred the original. It just had "balls" - i.e. a very pronounced midbass roundness, solid, yet sweet mids, and a light high end that sort of soars in the highest frequencies.

Both sounded kind of twangy, yet still smooth. The reissue, however, had WAY more high end, and left me feeling empty in the mids and low registers.

Also, the output appeared to be louder on the vintage. Imagine that!

I liked the sound of the reissue. It was nice, and I may even buy one some day. But it was really nothing at all like the real, beat-to-shit warped yellowing pickguard sportin' 72 thinline that David Sullivan plays! And honestly, to look at a worn old 72 up to a shiney new reissue? You know which one I'd pick!

Great looking guitar. Cheap-o tuners and bridge, but if your so damn picky, replace them.

Matched up to the original ALMOST perfectly. The body was EXACTLY the same. Pickguard too. The neck was exactly the same, until you got to the joint. On the reissue, it squares out about 3/4" before the joint, and the vintage was rounded right up to the joint. Feels better that way to me.

The only immediate cosmetic problem was the cheap looking screws on the face of the pickup. They don't line up perfectly and do not fill the wholes in the chrome pickup cover. Just looked sorty chinsy.

I can only assume that a big reason the reissue didn't have the sustain and full tone as the original is the much lighter wood that was used. Not sure what kind either guitar is made of, but the reissue was certainly good bit lighter.

Well David still has all original parts on his 72, so I'd say they're pretty reliable. The pots and switches felt smooth on the new one, it feels like a solid build.

CLINICAL ERRORS in GUITAR COMPARISON:
- vintage: 8 month old strings, with a low E string in the A position also.
-reissue: barely played strings, probably 9's vs. the 10's on the vintage 72 we brought.

David's guitar is 33 years old. I'm sure every other real 72 sounds a little different from his.

I would buy a 72 reissue for the feel of it, but not necessarily for the sound. I'll stick with borrowing David's when I need it!

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.

Brand new (i'm thinking 2002 or '03) mexican-made. single volume and tone knobs with the classis tele 3-way selector. unlike other teles this features dual humbuckers and a semi-hollow body with a single f-hole which really changes the tone. not as "twangy" as other teles but more a rich, warm tone that borders on acoustic. natural finish, maple neck, and extra large pearloid pickguard are incredibly easy on the eyes...i get so many compliments on this guitar before i even plug it in.

my band has an incubus-influenced sound which benefits from the semi-hollow sound this beauty gives. i plug it through my homemade pedalboard into a marshall combo. the only sound complaint i have is that the higher frequencies are a little much, so i usually turn the tone knob to about 1/2 to 3/4. but i can also use that to my advantage if i want that kinda sound maybe for more of a funk jam or when i play ska. but with the tone rolled down and the selector in the neck position i have a nice, warm jazz tone and i can play anywhere in between.

i love how this guitar plays. the action is nice and low, the pickups were set up nicely. but what attracted me to this guitar was its looks. i've always been a sucker for natural finishes. this one combined with the maple fretboard and pearloid pickguard made my wanna cry it was so beautiful.

the only problem i've ever had on stage was my own stupid fault. i had to loosen the nut around the input jack for a small adjustment and i didn't tighten it enough so the jack cover came off when i took my wireless out. i think i can make this guitar last at least a decade or 2 before it starts to look aged. i trust fenders so i would gig wihtout a backup...even though i keep my ibanez on me for alternate tunings anyway

havn't had to contact them for this guitar or any of my other fenders

i have about 5 years experience and this is one of the best guitars i've come across. it's better than even the american fenders i've tried but isn't exactly up there with the prs's and brian moore's. if i had to replace it i probably would...it's always impressive to have something that looks this nice and sounds/plays good as well.

Made in 1997, Japan, Swamp Ash body, natural finish, two fender humbuckers with adjustable polepieces, 3 way switch, tone and volume control (don't know the resistance of the pots...)
21 fret maple neck, trussrod screw at headstock
stratstyle hard-tail bridge, strings-through-body
nice f-hole, looks beautiful, though simple

Sound? I play Blues, Jazz and some weird metal... The guitar does it all.
Very sweet fat tone, singing overtones over my Hughes&Kettner Tube 50...
I use 12 gauge precision faltwound string by ghs only, and they sound terrific... awesome is the right word...
You get a very nice jazz sound, real sweet, yet dry and honest and beautiful bell-like blues sounds when overdriven. Metal is hot...
You have to play with string setting, pole-piece adjustment and height-adjustment of the humbcukers, though... but experimentation will give you very satisfying results (took me nearly two years...but, hey! It was worth the effort!)

Action, pick-up adjustment... I adjusted everything to my personal needs: 12 gauge flatwound strings tuned to Eb Ab etc., pick-upadjustment, trussrod adjustment, intonation...
No flaws,but intonation was not right (took me some hours to set it right...;o)

Live gigs every week... bounced on the floor several times, still working perfectly, use only makes it look better...

Can't tell...

I checked every other type of guitar before, and then (after desperately finding MY guitar) I got a glimpse of this beauty ... Played it and never stopped...
If lost or stolen? Don't know, I'm working on a Custom Tele and probably would use that one afterwards... but I'm looking after my guitar, so it won't be stolen...
I simply love the sound and versatility of it. It gives you a very personal and distinct sound in all genres of music from Jazz, to Metal, or classical music. It's awesome and gives me just THE right sound (and lets me produce that wonderful tone with my fingers...)
I don't like the endpins, I think I'll replace them with SChaller security locks one day... and maybe buy another saddle... But only if necessary one day...
By the way, I played a Mexican-made one, and I don't think it's the same quality. Tuners were not as good and the feel of whole guitar was different... but maybe I'm blinded by love...
Test this guitar and make something out of it!

It is a very simple guitar. 2 pickups, 3 way switch, 1 volume, 1 tone. It has a very cool natual finish. Very cool looking.

It sounds nothing like my gibson sg or my american strat. Cool in that respect. Really fat sound when you use .11 strings or thicker. Open chords through my 65 twin rock hard especially with my ts-9. Great funk sounds.

You pay for what you get. Nothing like my gibson or american strat in terms of little fixable things like intonation or finish but what can you expect for the price tag.

So far so good. I've had it for 6 months.

Cant comment

If you can't afford anything made in america, this is great. Play it first however. It has a distict sound.

Wonderful electronics....wide range of volumes and tones.

I play funk, blues, and jazz with this guitar, and is perfect for them all. I play through a Fender Blues Junior for the funk and blues with a tube screamer and playing funk. When playing blues, I crank the amp's volume and master up to 10, treble up to 10, and the bass and middle at 3 when using this guitar. I keep my guitar volume at 4 for rhythm and open it all the way for rippin leads. Anything bassier would muddy out the lows. When playing funk, I turn the master down to 4 or 5 to clean up the sound and use the tube screamer for my leads. I use the same volume technique on the guitar for lead and rhythm as when playing blues, but hit the tube screamer for the extra edge. Has a great Tower of Power or Earth, Wind, and Fire sound.

Great fat neck and lovely gloss finish.

Stays in tune, never broken a string since I bought it 2 months ago off of ebay.

I've been playing for 6 years and own 2 American strats to compliment this beauty. I would definitely replace it if it were lost. I used it as a back-up my last gig, had to grab it when I broke a string on my strat as they often do, and felt like I sounded really right when playing the tele instead. The tele is now my main axe.

Mex made Tele Thinline 72 reissue. Ash bosy with single F hole. Maple neck and fingerboard. 21 frets. Strat non-trem bridge. Two wide-range humbuckers. 3 way pickup selecter. Both pickups selected produce an in-phase rather than out of phase sound that the strat is famous for. Master volume and tone. Bullet truss rod. Pearl scratch plate. String winders are open slat type rather than feed through holes.

One of this guitar's best features. The two wide-range humbuckers produce a very distinctive sound. It's definitely NOT like a Gibson sound and not like a tele sound. It's more open and breezy than most humbucker guitars but with more fullness than single coils. It's a new sound for me and I'm still getting used to it but it's versatile and I find that I can get a nice mellow sound for jazz using the neck p.u. and lowering the tone while still being able to get enough edginess in the bridge p.u. to do funk and rock. I can almost guarantee that you've never played a guitar with quite the same sound as this. Only concern for me at present is less sustain than I would have hoped for from humbuckers but some experimentation with p.u. height may help with this.
Very little noise from the p.u.s even when through a multi fx rack.

Best factory setup I've ever seen! Action was perfect for me - on the low side of medium. Nut grooves weren't cut too low, allowing the strings to ring well. Fret work was first class in terms of radiusing and fitting. Intonation was almost perfect - and I'm a stickler. Finish was awesome. This is one of the most gorgeous guitars you will ever see. The top looks like it is a single piece of wood - you have to look really hard to see the join. And the finish and grain on the back is very well matched to the top. No dings or imperfections on the body. Only two minor niggles - some excess varnish near the nut and some rawness to the inside of the F hole where the varnish hadn't been applied properly. It took the shop's guitar tech 20 mins to sort out these and reset the intonation.
Mexican craftmanship seems damn good.

Early days for me to comment on this but the hardware looks good quality and the p.u. selecter is reassuringly stiff. Applying some pressure to the neck/body joint produces no creaking or movement. Finish of this guitar is very high quality with a deep gloss on the body and neck.

I bought this guitar as I wanted something different sounding and versatile. I couldn't be happier with it in that respect. It fits my moods very well and I can use it for jazz and blues as well as for rock and funk and I wouldn't hesitate to buy another if it were stolen. I have to confess that I was partly seduced by this guitar's looks even before I played it, but the quality of construction and it's sound have surpassed my expectations.
Only one thing that may be worth mentioning is that I'd forgotten how gloss maple fingerboards can slow your playing down, so if you're a speed guitarist (perhaps looking to replace your BC Rich Warlock ;)) then make sure you can get the speed you need out of the fingerboard.

features include, Ash body, one F hole, Strat style bridge, 2 Fender Wide Range Humbuckers, 3 way selector switch, one volume and one tone, maple neck, natural finish, white pearloid pick guard

This is not your average Tele, the dual Wide Range Humbuckers provide a thicker less twangier sound, the pick ups were designed by Seth Lover, who i believed designed PAF's for Les Pauls, the bridge gives a nice over driven sound, can cover most styles, and the neck pup is good for jazzy clean sounds, i play lots of different styles, jazzy instrumental indie stuff, and some stuff with lots of over drive, i play this through a Sunn Model T head going thru a Marshall 1960BV 4X12 cab loaded with Celestion V30's, sounds great, it also sound superb with a Fender Twin Reverb, amazing clean sound.

the factory set up was ok, nothing great, i had it set up by a luthier, played excelent, the neck plays nice, and i hate maple, this one won me over, the finish on the guitar is beautiful, and the construction, it rivals any US made Fender out there, i also found this guitar to be perfect for my needs as stock.

iv had this for a year and a half and it has given me one problem, iv dropped it many a times, and it stays in tune everytime, played many shows, never needed a back up, other than the occasional broken string, never any electrical problems.

never had deal with them

iv been playing about 7 years, iv owned mostly Strats, and a Mustang, with this guitar i finaly found somthing i love and will always be happy with, its perfect.

This particular one was crafted in Japan (probably by an american Fender employee)no kiddin'.The instrument is a beauty. Top is laminated, done magnificent though, had to look twice to see the difference.It's got a three way selectorswitch and two knobs, vol.& treb.Fender wide range humbuckers passive configuration, but... I can even make a Strat neckposition sound. I know, because I also own an american Fender Stratocaster.Neck is maple. body I don't really know but I think it is ash.. Finish transparant. Shape a real fine Telecaster with one F hole. Bridge string thru. Tuners Fender non locking Fat neck with vintage frets, maple massive.No accessoires.

I play different styles, Shadows, Dire straits, Eagles, Crosby Stills etc.A lot of 60ties and 70ties . Including the blues rock stuff. That's where this Tele Thinline kicks in beautifully, Sounds real clean on all three positions and are pretty noiseless.Sound is full and rich it can be switched to a Les Paul ( I play a Les Paul Custom '69)and a Strat. No dislikes. I use a Crate GXT410 120 watts two channel amp. Boss Super Chorus, Noise surpressor,Compression Sustain, and a Digital Reverb/Delay also Boss and a Jim Dunlop Crybaby.

Action was a bit high, but easily ajusted.Pickups were set o.k. Top just fine. Totally flawless alltogethher.

Had a few gigs, no problems, but i am a carefull player no crazy stuff.Hardware is doin'allright. That's why the finish will last nearly forever. Strapbuttons are solid and Yes I can and will depend on it.As for backups I do have other guitars Strat end a Les Paul, but If I didn't have them I would rely on my Thinline.

I have been playing since 1961 As for my other gear Strat, Les Paul, Crafter Jumbo acoustic. If I would lose it I would go to find another one.My favourite feature, it is versatile. Screamin', twangy, clean Shadows sound it's all there. The thing I like most that is nearly half the weight from my Les Paul. A four hour gig saves my shoulder with this Tele.

Mexican '72 Thinline reissue, probably 2000 model. Natural finish, maple neck, 6-piece ash body with f-hole. Hardtail Strat-style bridge, 3-bolt neck, generic tuners, volume and tone controls, and three-way switch. Two humbuckers, Fender 'wide-range' model from the '70s. Nothing earth-shattering here, but nothing missing. Traded in included gig bag towards hardshell case, wise move I think.

What this guitar offers: fat tones that aren't Gibson-esque. Each pickup position is very full and rich-sounding, neck his nice sustain and bridge is trebly without being very twangy. Doesn't give up distortion like Gibsons do but that's what I love about it. You have to work a little harder but these pickups sing with great tone and sustain. High-gain settings not a problem, though the guitar really excels doing blues, classic rock, and even punk. With a Prosonic you can also do metal (I think a Prosonic could get anything to do metal) but there are probably better guitars for that purpose.
What you don't get: twang, 'normal' tele sounds, thinner, acoustic-like sounds, the strat in-between settings. There's plenty of treble for most applications, but if those tones are your primary goal look to single-coil Fenders. This guitar does not do anything amazingly well, but it covers lots of sonic ground and is not into Gibson-like mega-distortion.

Setup was good, haven't had to change action/intonation or anything. No finish flaws. One small chip out of inner f-hole (not visible casually), and lots of sawdust glued inside the f-hole. Little dark marks on nut. Nothing that bothers me, but not perfect. If this sort of stuff does bother you, inspect CAREFULLY before buying, don't complain after the fact.

Mexican-made Fenders seem to be very well-made, I'd have no concerns gigging without a backup (done it before). Never broken a string, it's never spun wildly out of tune, and it accepts new strings happily with a short adjustment period.

Never dealt with Fender, they may be a big company but the guitars hold up.

Been playing 4+ years, my first 'serious' electric. Play indie/blues/classic rock. Also own a Fender Prosonic, a Taylor 410, and some effects (notably a Fulltone Fulldrive 2, which brings this guitar to life). What can I say? I love it, no matter how much I get off on playing other electrics in stores this one always feels right. The sound isn't everything I want (serious single-coil jones lately, don't know if it's for a strat or a tele though), but I would never dream of getting rid of it. It's versatile, a bit unusual, and very 'right' for me.

My Thinline Tele is Mexican - si! It is natural finish with the maple neck and fretboard. I've had it for about 1 1/2 years. The fretboard has been planed to a flatter radius, to match my American Tele, which I bought new last year around the same time.

I bought this instrument after going in to buy a Gibson semi-acoustic. After playing four or five vintage Gibsons this Tele caught my eye. So did the price! After a few minutes of playing I knew this is the one. OK, so it's not a Gibson and doesn't sound like one but I actually like the humbuckers on the Tele better. They have more to offer. They are bright when the tone is opened up and can be adjusted for a jazzier, more mellow tone. I generally leave the tone set about halfway. I later found out from a book on the history of the Tele that Seth Lover was hired by Fender to design these humbuckers in the early '70s. He implemented the improvements he thought of since the original Gibson humbuckers. I play it through an all-tube Fender Custom Vibrolux Reverb combo. It matches Fender amps perfectly. I read recently that Keith Richards always plays his Tele through Fender amps. I tried it through my Marshall Silver Jubilee combo and now I know why he says that.

Very well made and set up from the start. The service tech at the store I bought it from did a set up with 10's when he worked on the neck to flatten the radius. The tuners are stiff compared to my American Tele and I need to adjust them more often.

The guitar is solid. It has a very nice neck. The tuners are stiff compared to my American Tele and I need to adjust them more often. And I noticed that the surface plastic on the pickguard has just recently started to crinkle and bubble up in one area about an inch and a half in diameter. I've had the guitar about a year and a half. I will replace it eventually.

Never had a problem. I deal with the store.

I have no regrets. This is a great guitar for the money. Not like some of the ones made in Asia. I love Fender guitars, especially the finish on the necks. They are fast and easy to play compared to other necks. I've been playing about 25 years, on electrics about 12 years. I now have two Teles, one with humbuckers and one with single-coil pickups, both with an ash body. Perfect! I keep going in to play other guitars, just for comparison, but haven't found anything yet that I like better.

this japanese tele sounded brilliant at long and Mcquades where I plugged into a jcm 2000, a fender and a boogie 50 watter but I took it home and no deal I tried for three days using my vst amp sims and my vintage elk prosonic and I could'nt get the tone I wanted. bear this in mind though i am looking for a really specific tone. if your into oasis this comes close but it wont nail it. fender hardtail bridge, stock fender humbucker pu's, kluson style pegs, f holes ash body, maple neck and fret board. excellent workmanship

I'm into oasis + stone roses and like I said this particular guitar does'nt quite rock in the way I want. mushes itself up when the gain stage is set too high but I am a sloppy player and that has a lot to do with it
quiet enough but my evans single coils are even quieter lots of variety due to it's responsiveness to playing dynamics
i am using it with some vst amp simulators in Cubase
and an old elk prosonic 2x10 with el34's in the power amp
the stock fender pu in the neck sounds good clean
and the lead pick up sounds good just as it is starting to get dirty
but dont think you'll be delving into any hi gain areas
kind of good for a tomm petty type thing

the lads in japan really out did themselves here this is a 97 it is a beaut!! next to my early 1980's squier silver bullet it is immaculate
the grain of the ash is very nicely figured everything is tight!

too good looking to gig with on a reg basis. very well put together though. do your self a favour buy a 69 style if you have to have a nocaster/ broadcaster style bridge it is sapparently nothing but heartbreak to replace the strattish hardtail.

the lads at long and mcquade relly do their best
never had to deal w/ fender directly

been playing seventeen years should've brought in my own amp will be trading this in for a les paul semi hollow epiphone If it were stolen I would kill the thief but take the money into get a proper hollow body love the wood like the tone I will probably replace this with a epiphone les paul style semi hollow

this japanese tele sounded brilliant at long and Mcquades where I plugged into a jcm 2000, a fender and a boogie 50 watter but I took it home and no deal I tried for three days using my vst amp sims and my vintage elk prosonic and I could'nt get the tone I wanted. bear tgis in mind though i am looking for a reall specific tone. if your into oasis this comes close but it wont nail it. fender hardtail bridge, stock fender humbucker pu's, kluson style pegs, f hole ash body maple neck and fret boards excellent workmanship

I'm into oasis + stone roses and like I said this particular does'nt quite rock in the way I want. mushes itself up when the gain stage is set too high but I am a sloppy player and that has a lot to do with it
quiet enough but my evans single coils are even quiter lots of variety due to it's responsiveness to playing dynamics

the lads in japan reall out did themselves here this is a 97 it is a beaut!!

to good looking to gig with on a reg basis very well put together though. do your self a favour buy a 69 style if you have to have a nocaster/ broadcaster style bridge it is sapparently nothing but heartbreak to replace the strattish hardtail

the lads at long and mcquade relly do their best
never had to deal w/ fender direct

been playing seventeen years shouldve brought in my own amp will be trading this in for a les paul semi hollow epiphone If it were stolen I would kill the thief but take the money into get a proper hollow body love the wood like the tone

Made in Mexico,bought new new in the end of 2001. Partially hollow Telecaster body, 21 frets, thin maple neck, body probably ash, nice looking transparent glossy finish. 1 master volume and 1 master one control, three-way PU selector, two Seth Lover humbuckers. String-through stop tailpiece, non-locking tuners with Fender logo. Included gig bag and two allen wrenches for neck and bridge adjustment.

This is basically a Blues / Jazz guitar. It has a mellow, bright sound with lots of highs, and almost no bass. However, when the instrument is played a little harder, the sound gets more Fender-ish, like a standard Tele. The tone control is quite effective, when properly set, it can make the guitar sound like a semi-acoustic.
The sound of the guitar is very dependent of the PU adjustment. It is important that the PUs are not too close to the strings, otherwise the instrument will sound muddy and distorted.

The woodwork on my instrument is just perfect. The neck feels unbelievably fast, the fretwork is without flaws. The whole instrument feels light but at the same time solid and undestructible.
However, when I received the instrument, the neck was terribly misaligned, the nut on the plug was loose, the bridge made rattling noises of all kinds, one of the knobs was loose after a few days. Nothing that could not be fixed with simple tools and a little effort, but you don't expect these things on a 750$ Fender guitar.
The guitar showed a tendency to go out of tune, but this was completely cured by applying a small amount of grease under the string retainers on the peghead and also under the strings where they go through the saddle.

Basically , the guitar is solid and durable. But... see above.

Did not use it so far.

I have been playing this thing for 6 months now, and I am still surprised by the variety of sounds and tones it can produce. Before, I had a clone Les Paul and a clone SG, these instruments aren't used much anymore. The Fender sounds just better. If stolen, I would look for something else, however. I wish Fender would have better quality control.

This is the standard deal from Musicians Friend. Nothing special extra when I got it. Just like all the other ones on this list. But the included ones are awesome.

I play ska/punk stuff, and this guitar is amazing for me! The tone is just to die for. Undistorted clean, but enough power with the humbuckers to push some heavy distortion. Awesome! The sound has good highs and lows, I don't really like a sound with a bunch of meaty middle, and this guitar does fine with it. Many people on here have mentioned that it is nice for a blues rock sound, and it is (I use this in my schools jazz band along with my band) but I am here saying it would be good for anyone who plays more of skacore style. Very awesome sound.

I have the natural finish and the maple neck. This guitar is the 2nd electric I bought, I have since bought a Epiphone SG-400, and I must say, once you experience the maple neck that this has, you will never want to go back to rosewood! Seriously, I don't think I will ever want to play anything else but this type of neck, superb. Also, it stays in tune like a dream. I don't know how anyone could not like the fender locking tuners. They are great!!!

This guitar has held up for me as my main guitar (gigging and just playing by myself) for over 4 years with no major troubles. It even accidentally fell in my garage and got a chip in the finish, but still is staying strong. I am going to play this guitar till it falls apart.

Didn't have to deal with the company for anything.

I have been playing for 6 years and absolutely love this guitar! The feel of this guitar is out of this world! Truly amazing. I am extremely glad i purchased it, and would reccomend it to anyone who was debating to get it or not.

semi-hollow ash body. two fender wide-range humbuckers. i was mainly attracted to this guitar for these two reasons. i previously played an SG, and just adore the double humbucker configuration. two knobs, volume and tone. three-way pickup selection: neck, neck/bridge and bridge. the neck has a great 7 1/4 inch radius. the only thing i dislike about fenders are the enormous necks, which coming from playing gibson (and even earlier, ibanez) can be a bit disconserting. needless to say, the thinline tele has great playability. very smooth.

i am a huge fan of artists along the lines of Jeff Buckley, Elliott Smtih etc. (singer-songwriters). personally, i prefer to play trough the bridge pickup with the neck pickup selected. i just love the sound, nice and full and less distorted when clean. i am also a big fan of the early Brad Wood recordings (Liz Phair, Sunny Day Real Estate, Hum), so normally i keep the highs and lows cranked and the mids down. nice sound with this guitar on any amp. it sounds great with my boss hi-band flanger; very clean and very low noise.

this guitar was so new that i could still smell the finish :) it is absolutely beautiful. natural finish with matching maple neck and a white pearly pickguard. very gaudy seventies-looking TELECASTER logo on the headstock :) umm...the nut is a bit small for larger guage strings. i usually play 9's, but a friend suggested i try 10's on this guitar. believe me, it changes the sound dramtically. altogether fuller and brighter.

i've only had it a few weeks, so i am as of yet not sure how it will stand up to live playing. so far, it has impressed me more than any previous guitar i've owned. playing live should not be a problem, however, considering its extremely low weight :) one could easily play for hours a la phish etc.

haven't dealt with fender yet. they do produce instruments in mexico and (i believe) malaysia. be wary of that :)

i've been playing for nearly 8 years and i've never been so impressed by a guitar. maybe i'm just not playing the right ones, but i generally stay in a reasonable price range. for the money, this is a great guitar. if it were stolen or lost, i would embark on a journey a la 'peewee's big adventure' to retrieve it.

A Tele with a twist. Thinline style with "Wide Range" humbuckers. Bought mine in 1997, so I've been playing it a while. Made in Japan.
Standard tele control layout. You know the features.

I play alternative Blues/Jazz/Rock/Ambient and like my tone through a
Line 6 DL4 and straight to the amp. Fingerstyle and pick. Play through Fender 4x10 DeVille, Boogie 1x10 Subway Blues and a vintage Ampeg VL-503 w/cab. This guitar is a sleeper. Very nice Seth Lover inspired humbuckers which break-up very smoothly and sound fantastic clean or dirty. Neck pick-up can get tubby if your not careful, middle position is great for ryhthm/dynamics and the bridge absolutely wails in overdrive. This thing sings through a good tube amp

Overall MIJ set-up quality is really good. I don't know about the later MIM versions, but this one is clean with a remarkably matched natural ash construction. Very sweet wood quality for this price range.

This guitar is solid, even though it is partially hollow. Even the vintage tuners hang in there. String-through strat bridge works well for this design and adds to the sustain of the pups. Reliability over the years has been surprisingly good. This is a solid guitar for gigging.

Hope I don't have to deal with them or the dealer.

Been playing since the 70's. Acoustic and electric. I have a bunch of single-coil and humbucking guitars, but this guitar occupies such a unique sonic niche that it deserves mention. The highly microphonic "Wide-Range", Seth Lover inspired humbuckers are super dynamic and sound great through a wide variety of amps and processors. The small vintage fretwire can be a handful sometimes, but the Rubinesque neck shape and wider than normal Fender string-spacing makes for a comfortable and powerful grip. Great for serious bends and killer vibrato (blues fans take note). Good looks, unique tone and great playability - this one get's a 9. Yeah baby.

As stated by others, this is an odd bird of a Tele (but one I really like a lot). Semi-hollow, two Fender wide-range humbuckers, maple neck, 7.25" radius neck and vintage frets, mine is 3-tone sunburst. Made in Mexico. Mine was made in late 1999 and purchased in early 1970.

I played about 80 guitars before selecting this one a year and a half ago...and about four of this model as well.

One caveat; this neck is PERFECT for me. For you it may not be. I VASTLY prefer a maple neck to a rosewood fretboard...you may not. I really like the curve in the fretboard...you may prefer something flatter. Vintage frets are my thing...you may like playing on a washboard.

I play mostly blues, rock, and a little jazz. This guitar works well with all of those styles. If you're into heavy distortion, you're wasting the subtle tones of this guitar. I play through a Fender Blues Jr.

I play with both a flatpick and some fingerpicking.

This guitar is very versatile. Although not to be confused with a Les Paul, the pickups are darker and meatier than the standard single coil Fender pickups. On my guitar at least, you get a wide range of sounds, and each pickup position yields distinctly different tones. I play mostly with the neck pickup, a little with both, and rarely with the bridge pickup alone (it should be pointed out that if you're into traditional Tele twang, there's still a hint of it even with the humbuckers). The air contributed by the semi-hollow body gives this instrument some real character.

The only criticism that I have...in fact, the only thing I'm critical of on the entire instrument...is the pickups (and only a little). I like them and prefer them to the hotter Gibson buckers, but they could have more clarity and definition. A/B'd with my son's Les Paul Jr. Lite with its P-100's (not the best pickups in the Gibson line), the Gibby's were simply clearer with more definition. I still like my Fender pickups and they have a better range of tones over the three switch positions (by far) than the LP Jr (or my brother's LP Custom), but there is room for improvement.

My instrument was flat out perfect. I knew that I was going to buy it within 5 seconds of putting my hand around that neck. Like anything, you may have to kiss a few frogs to find the real thing, so make sure you play as many of your chosen model as possible before you find one that says "take me home." The action, fit and finish were exemplary, and my local shop did an excellent setup before putting it on the floor. The quality of this particular instrument ranks with any electric guitar I've ever played. Some advocate putting heavier guage strings on it, and you may well wish to try 10's or even 11's. You'll also most likely improve the sound as well, but the 9's are fine for me. They're a nice contrast to the 12's on my Martin.

I don't gig, so I have no opinion, but I play about 10 hours per week and have no problem at all. It looks and plays as well as the day I bought it.

Haven't needed to call Fender, so I can't say.

I've been playing for 37 years. Although I played electrics in the 60's, I changed over to acoustics in 1969 and have been playing Martins exclusively since 1974. My experience with Martins most likely played a role in my choice of a 7.25" neck and vintage frets. They just feel more like "home" to me. Being a long-time Martin -owner also gave me an eye for quality, and although the Mexi-Tele's can vary in quality, you should be able to pick a supurb guitar out of the bunch if you are patient and play as many as you can.

I simply love this guitar and would look for another one immediately if this one were lost or damaged beyond repair.

It has a wide range of tones and is suitable for a wide range of styles. It isn't your traditional Tele...or your traditional Fender for that matter...but it's a gem. If you're looking for another guitar, give this one a try. It may not be as perfect for you as it is for me, but then again maybe it would be.

Natural Ash finish, "F" hole. Made in Japan. 2 Humbuckers, 3 way switch, 1 volume, 1 tone. Maple neck and fingerboard.

Sounds Great. I play mainly country, and old rock. I play though a Fender Hot Rod Deville 212 amp and sometimes a Crybaby pedal and Ibanez phaser. It has a really nice sound on any style I've played.

I've found no flaws in this guitar. The action was a little high when I got it, but that was easily fixed.

The guitar has very good quality hardware and nothing about it has ever given me any trouble. I've played it live a few times and it has done fine.

Never needed them

I've been playing for about 15 years and mainly play telecasters. If it were stolen I'd definitely buy another. I only wish it had 2 volumes and 2 tone knobs.

Two fender 'wide-range' humbuckers, on top of the usual Telecaster set up with the addition of thinline 'semi-hollow' body construction. In comparison to original guitars this reissue comes up trumps, with all the classic features of the early seveties models intact. I will give this 9 because it is a very acurate, well-featured reissue.

I use this guitar though either a seventies silverface Bassman 10 combo or a Marshall JCM600 stack, depending upon the situation and it has performed superbly both live and in the studio. This is a very hard-wearing guitar that can take a lot of abuse in a gig situation and still remain rock-solid tuning wise, in part due to the advantage of the hard tail bridge. I have seen people complain about this guitar sounding thin, but i suspect that that is partly due to choice of strings. Obviously, weedy 9s will make a telecaster sound grating, but if, like me, you use 11s then this guitar sounds great with most musical styles - it's great for indie-rock, percussive Clash-esque rhythms and clean arpeggiated parts on the bridge and middle settings, while the neck pickup is rich and chocolately, as long as it is EQ'd properly to prevent a touch of muddiness with thicker string gauges. A fantastic bonus for rock is the raucous edge that the semi-hollow body gives to the tone - great for Pete Townshend style kamikaze feedback lead part. Quite simply - this guitar is perfect for my set-up and sound...poodle-rockers and Limp Bizkit heads probably won't even be reading this, let alone getting a decent guitar...

If you take my advice and use 11s, make sure you get the guitar properly set up to cope with them, and you should have a great time with it. Mine actually plays and holds its tune better than any original 70s model have played, due in part to a great set up.

I've used this at gigs without an equivalent backup - I'm actually looking for another one to go with the one I have...

The only minor point is that serious gigging has left the chrome peeling from the volume and tone knobs, and the pick-up selector switch a little crackly, but that is par for the course with anything you gig hard, and this stands up much better than other guitars I own.

N/A

I think I have had superb value, especially for the reduced price I paid - I would just like a few more of the buggers, and maybe some sexier colour options than just natural and sunburst!

Features are simple and easy just like any other guitars, two nobs (master and volume), 3 way selecter switch, 2 fender "wide range" humbuckers (they are pretty decent for pickups that are made by fender, but as we all know, they don't make the best, so if you get this guitar CHANGE PICKUPS, you will get a better tone), maple neck (to much gloss on it if you ask me, get rosewood!!!), bridge like a strat (needs graph tech string savers, not the traditional barrel bridge that would think of on a tele), it's a pretty good guitar....

The tele suits blues real well, think Jonny Lang... Humbuckers give it a nice fat sound when you ease back on the tone nob, but it can also get real thin if you use the bridge humbucker with the tone all the way up. My music styles are blues and rock and this guitar is very decent for it... I like the sound that comes out of this puppy, that is why I bought it... However, it is the little things that bother me, like maple neck instead of rosewood. It is the best guitar that came out of mexico, I can tell you that much. It is the best tele that I ever heard, these are my favorite teles, I don't particulary like the traditional teles, but these are sweet... Don't be discuraged of buying because it was made in mexico, it is a lot better then many american made fenders I have heard. I plug it in my a hand made Holland amp (which is incredible)!!!

The action is pretty good and I had no trouble with how the pickups were adjusted, but you should always make sure that they are ajusted just right to bring out the best the guitar can offer.

No problems so far...

Fender doesn't usually deal dirrect with the customer, unless you get a master built guitar.

I've been playing for a couple years... This has been the best sounding guitar that I had so far. But I am going to have a tele very similar as this one custom built by Kenny "Blue" Ray... It will be awesome and 100 times better!!! Hand wired, Flame maple top (awesome), graph tech string savers, light body wood (swamp ash) for that better blues tone, indian rosewood neck, 2 tone sunburst, flame maple neck, it is going to be GREAT!!!!

Features are the f-hole for the semi-hollow body, "wide-range" humbuckers for the neck and bridge, natural finish, v-neck, 7.25" fretboard radius, small frets, vintage style tuners (sort of a pain to restring if you haven't done the slotted peg style before), and I think that is pretty much it. Oh yeah, the body is ash, the neck is maple, as is the fretboard. And the neck is a 3 bolt design, not 4.

It's got the features I was looking for.

My style varies from mood to mood, but what I was looking for was a guitar with a fatter sound than my strat, for when the occasion arose that that was desired. I generally run the guitar straight into my Hot Rod Deluxe, or into a version 2.0 POD for the stage (it is easier for the sound guys to dial in a POD and the stage I play on is tight, so the Hot Rod is a little large and loud for that). All in all, the Tele sounds great through either the POD or the Hot Rod Deluxe. I love the middle position and the bridge for anything; chords, single note riffs, and solos, and the neck pickup is great for woman tone solos and riffs (although a bit muddy on the low end if you are playing cowboy chords). This guitar is actually brighter in all positions than what I was expecting, but the sound is great once I got used to the difference between that and my strat.

This item was a scratch and dent from Musicians friend, cause I usually ding up my guitars anyway I didn't figure it would matter. I was pleasantly suprised to find no flaws on the guitar when I received it, so I don't know what Musician's friend was talking about. The finish is good, although the grains on the two piece top are slightly different shades, which is somewhat noticeable in certain light. There was also white residue in the f-hole which seems determined to stay there, but I bought the guitar to play, not look at, so I am not to critical about the finish. The neck pocket is exremely tight, the action from the factory is just how I like it, even after I put heavier strings on it (11-56). I have huge frets on my customized strat, and these tiny frets took some getting used to, but they work well even when bending or digging into a chord.

This guitar is a Fender, and my strat has taken it's knocks very well, so I expect this guitar will last a long time. Being hollow-body I was a little concerned that it would be fragile, but the top-piece is a solid 1/4" thick and the rest of the guitar feels very solid. I have more trouble with the tuners on this than I do with my strat, but I have the locking variety on my strat and the Tele still manages to stay in tune well, it just requires some work with a new set of strings to get the new strings on and in tune. I always gig without a backup, simply because I have never broken a string except when installing, and the electronics and other hardware are very solid.

I have been playing for about 4 years, and I play for a church band once a week, as well as a practice and jam sessions about twice a week. I love this guitar as it is a nice change of pace from my strat, as well as getting a lot of comments about how good the guitar looks. I like the meaty sound this beast can produce, I'm a big Jonny Lang fan and this is a similar guitar to the one he uses, and that was the tone I was after with this purchase, and with a tubescreamer and my Hot Rod I get pretty close. I would buy this guitar again, and there isn't much I would change, except maybe slightly bigger frets and a little more attention to detail as far as the residue in the f-hole.

Natural finish, semi-hollow, maple neck, Mexican made with the standard 3 way switch and master tone and volume controlling two fender humbuckers.

But I'll bet you knew that already.

I've been playing a strat exclusively for the last 3 years and I find that these guitars compliment each other well. The bridge pickup on the tele is sweeeeeeet! A bright but potent tone that had me picking out Santana licks one minute and cruching power chords the next. The neck pickup is also nice, a bit muddy on the low end though. I actually prefer the Strat's neck pickup for 'jazz' tones.

All Fender Mexican guitars are not made equally but I think I got a good one. I like the tobacco finish of the '69 reissue better but the natural finish on this guitar is nice, no flaws that I can see. I have the action fairly low yet still manage to avoid fret buzz. The neck plays nicely top to bottom. There is a bit of noise coming from somewhere, possibly the input jack, its not bad, but I think I'll replace it anyway.

I haven't owned very long but this guitar 'feels' very solid for what its worth.

I've played guitar on and off for 20 odd years. I haven't gigged for a while though, all my playing these days is at home on a practise amp writing songs or just noodling for fun.

I play very clean, no pedals at all, just a little amp overdrive so the natural tone of the guitar is obviously very important. Which is why I love this guitar. Its the perfect antidote for those times when I want/need something different then my strat single coil sound. The 2 humbuckers on this guitar have a sound unlike any other 2 humbucker guitar I've owned. Its bright yet beefy, with a hint of that telecaster twang, lots of fun to pick and strum.

Basically I wound up buying this guitar because it was a deal at my local guitar shop. Some guy bought it then sold it back after just 2 months in like new shape (the $495 price included a Fender hard shell case). I was initially leary because of the made in Mexico tag but after playing this in the store for awhile I fell in love with it.

I would recommend this guitar to anyone who loves Fenders (like me) and wants to try something a bit different tone-wise.

This guitar was made in 2000 in Mexico. It has 21 frets. It has one, metallic chromish volume knob and one tone knob of the same stlye. There is a 3 way tone selector. The guitar is equipped with two Fender Humbuckers and a pearl pickguard. The fretboard is made of maple. On the body of the guitar is an F hole, which gives is more of an acoustic sound. It has a natural finish. The fretboard has dot inlays on the 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, ( double dots ) 12th, 15th, 17th, 19th and 21st frets. The headstock is the classic Telecaster style with metal machineheads.It has a Mahogany body. Tele-style bridge , comes with a piece of crap gig bag.

I usually like to play Alternative to Southern Blues rock and Jazz. I'm using this axe trough an Orange guitar amp, made in Great Britain. The amp sounds awsome through other guitars, not this one. The sound it rather, twangy, and does not have much variety at all. Simply put this guitar sucks and does not stay in tune wroth a rat's ass.

The guitars was put together pretty well from what I can see, except for loose machine heads.

I would not take this guitar to a gig, because it tends to go out of tune very quickly. I wouldnt use it without a backup. The strap buttons are basicaly solid, but not exceptionaly.

I have tried to repair the guitar of some minor flaws, but the guitar was put together like it was a makeshift and it very difficult to figure out.

I've been playing for about 13 years and I own 3 Taylor acoustics, along with the one I just reviewed and a PRS. If this guitar were stolen, I would probably make fun of the person who stole it, because they will feel stupid once they hear what they've stolen. Fender needs to burn all the remaining models of this guitar,urinate on the ashes, put the ashes into acid, and send the acid in to space, never to been seen or heard again.

Semi-hollow ash body (natural finish), maple neck and fingerboard, dual wide field Fender humbuckers, vintage tuners, 3 position switch, one volume and one tone pot. Simple, straight-forward set up. I wasn't really interested in this guitar for its features, I loved the tones of the combination of a thinline tele and those Seth Lover designed pickups (I only knew that bit of information courtesy of one of my dear guitar buds). So, if it's tons of features you're after, this, and probably MOST Fender guitars, is not for you, IMO.

Comparing the RI to my '74 Fender Tele Thinline, their neck profiles, ergonomics, and feel are EXTREMELY similar. The major difference I can find is that the vintage thinline's frets are positively MINISCULE whereas the RI's are merely TEENIE. The other difference is in string height. My RI's action is set in the medium area, whereas my '74's action is very low and fast, although not uncomfortably so. The '74 plays phenomenally with no fret buzz or
other problem. The RI plays fine, but feels more set up for middle of the road rhythm/lead compromise.
My MIJ RI Thinline came with an old, semi-beat up Fender case, but they usually only come with a gig bag. The case was a nice addition by a good private seller.

After hearing Tab Benoit play a pair of real '72 Thinline Teles, I fell in love with their sound. Of course, reissues being what they are, I was very unsure if the '72 foreign-made reissue would even be in the vicinity of those vintage guitars. I ended buying a 1998 MIJ RI Tele Thinline AND happened upon an actual '74 Thinline that I traded for as well. GREAT opportunity for comparison!

I'm primarily a blues player (of limited ability, but a blues player none the less). I play through iether a Fender Super Amp (4x10" alnico RI speakers and 60 watts all-tube), or my dream amp Matchless Clubman 35 head. I also use a Tech 21 Trademark 60 pretty frequently. I'm not much of an effects user, in fact, my only pedals are a 80's Ibanez TS-9, a Fulltone Supa-Trem, and a Boss CE-5 Chorus. I play straight into my amp with no effects about 90% of the time.

I have sort of put myself in a unique position to compare my MIJ Reissue, because I located and purchased a "real" '74 Fender Tele Thinline shortly after buying the MIJ Reissue.

First of all, the MIJ RI does a fine job replicating the tones I hear coming from my '74 Thinline. Tonally, you hear nuances of ES-335, "standard" Telecaster, and even some Gretsch-like tones as well. The tone is very spanky and punchy, with a smoothness and fatness that you don't tend to hear from the stock Tele single coil pickup configuration. Changes in pick attack bring on tastey changes in tone, and can range from jazzy, creamy-smooth sounds out of the neck pup to considerable bark and bite out of the bridge pup when your string attack turns more aggressive. This Tele does not have the cut-through-anything bite of a standard Tele, but I DOES have a very good amount of cut. On the other hand, it does NOT have the shrillness I have heard out of some Tele's (especially out of that bridge pup).

The pickups on my Reissue are significantly higher output than on my '74, and display quite a bit less sweetness of tone than the vintage version as well. Heard by itself, it sounds really fat, spanky, and full of attitude. Heard side by side with my '74, it's relative lack of harmonic sweetness becomes noticeably evident to my ears. The reissue has some VERY nice sounds, but it isn't a vintage axe, that's all.

Having closely examined my MIJ '72 Reissue, I can say that the fit, finish and build quality are excellent. The neck pocket is well-fitted, the TINY vintage frets are crowned and dressed very well, all parts fit together very nicely. The switch and pots operate smoothly and quietly, and the input jack seems solid. The body has some nice grain to it, and even though the face is two pieces, it's evident that considerable effort was put into matching the two pieces. The grain in the back is likewise well matched.

Many people have spoken about concerns regarding the 3 bolt neck plate used on this era of Fenders, describing them as suspect and less stable than the 4 bolt alternative. I had actually avoided ANY bolt ons with a 3 bolt plate until buying this guitar. I loved the tone of the humbucker loaded Tele Thinline so much, that I decided to give it a personal try instead of depending on what I've heard and read.

After some pretty agressive playing, big hard bends, and heavy pick attack, I can honestly say that this RI AND the '74 both seem very solid, very stable.

I would have no qualms gigging live (IF I were to ever actually GET the chance to gig live again!!) with either the RI or the vintage thinline. They both feel VERY solid. In fact, I fully intend to use these two guitars as my main playing out guitars for the forseeable future, with the '74 taking main duty and the RI acting as the backup.

Haven't ever had any dealings with Fender's factory support.

I've played for over 30 years, some of the time "professionally" and most of the time as a hobbyist. In addition to the two Thinlines, I also own a Gibson '56 RI Les Paul Goldtop, a Reverend Slingshot, a Fender 40th Anniversary '54 RI Stratocaster, and a '52 RI Tele. I bought each one of their respective tone, and have not been disappointed in the least with any of them.

If the RI or vintage Thinline were lost or stolen, I would get another RI, and/or a vintage one IF I could find one at a reasonable price. These are both "keepers" in my guitar lineup.

I bought the Thinline's for what they offered, and I don't really wish there was anything different about either one of them. They're great guitars, with a unqiue tone and vibe all their own. They find an unusual tonal place for bolt neck Fender guitars, and I love it!

I don't even want to THINK about losing the '74 Thinline, and I deeply pity the poor soul who would try to get it away from me. The Reissue I can replace ... not so sure about the vintage one. The '74 gets a STRONG 10. It does what I expected it would, and does it sweetly with VERY cool feel and tone. The RI is not too far behind, and I rate it as a good solid 8.

1999 MIM. 21 small "vintage" frets. Solid Ash (mine is 6 piece) with a F-hole on the bass side. 2 passive humbuckers with 3-way selector. One piece Maple neck with same fretboard. Clear gloss finish on decently joined ash. Strat type non-tremelo bridge...Vintage tuners. Rather thick C-shaped back of neck, very sweet. Came with a bag and some dents...

I play blues, classical and easy listening, mellow stuff. I run this into a 70s "silverface" Bassman 50 along with a dunlop crybaby, dano overdrive, dod chorus, Small Stone phaser, and Arion eq...I also run it into one channel of a Presonus tube preamp and then into a mixer for home recording. It is quieter than my strat with emg single coils. Very quiet. Very rich sound, fuller than a regular strat and tele, not quite as full as a Les Paul, so you get the bright twang of a fender and the midrange of a Paul. Neck humbucker is very dark sounding, almost no treble, mid position is perfect, bridge is a bit harsh and pronounced but I am very critical about sound. It is good for just about anything...I like it a lot

I went into the store to buy a smaller Fender tube amp since I was moving into an apartment to finish college, and I used the tele to test the Deluxe Reverb amp and bought the tele instead...The action and set-up was horrible.. I love the sound and the feel of the neck so much that I overlooked this area. I got home and noticed the bass E string was right on the edge of the neck on the 19-21st frets. So I emailed Fender to tell them and the dude said that the Mexican manufactured guitars can be inconsistant. Not the answer I wanted but...So I loosened up the neck and stuck 2 playing cards between the neck and pocket so that the strings lined up...So basically the pocket wasn't cut correctly at the factory due to loose tolerances in the computer controlled routers. The truss rod needed adjustment, I am again very picky about string height and action so I had to fine tune these areas. I restrung with ernie ball 11's and this made a world of differnce in the sound and I was used to 10's so I had to sacrifice comfort for sound but this was cured in about 2 weeks. The slot under the high E string is not cut low enough so it sits up too high on the lower frets. I still have not fixed this because the clear coat on the fretboard is so thick and I am afarid to damage it since some of the coat is on the nut. I built some guitars out of Warmoth parts so fit and finish is compare to my experience putting these things together, and Warmoth's neck pocket fit is remarkable, and Fender's wasn't so...But I went to a couple of other stores and checked out other Fenders and I think they are getting better about the neck to body joint. Some are great, some just aren't You gotta check it out.

It will probably withstand live playing but I am skeptical about the neck joint. The finish will last. Strap buttons are acceptable but why does Fender use such small screws for them? Good thing this guitar is light. Yeah I like it, its my main axe.

They are okay, very polite, but also very corporate, so individual help is a joke.

I've been playing for 13 years and have owned dozen of electrics and took most of them apart. Now I have one good Warmoth Strat with emgs, an American standard Strat, and this thinline tele. Also an Ibanez Classical and an 80s Sigma by Martin with a solid spruce top (the time when they gave a damn about cheap acoustics)...Anyway, I use the tele the most, it is "pretty" and sounds thick compared to the emg strat. I am concentrating on digital recording now and it sounds better for clean stuff than the "acclaimed" emg pickups ($280) If it were stolen, I would probably have to get another or make my own with those warmoth parts, but finishing a guitar is a b*tch. I wish this tele had one of those piezo pickups on the bridge like Fishman makes, that would make the perfect guitar to me. One more thing, with the right equipment, I play a whole lot longer than with stuff I don't like. This guitar is right. But it isn't perfect. So it gets an...

The guitar was made in Mexico. It is a reissue of a 1972 Thinline Telecaster. The sound is unlike a standard Tele due to the F-hole and the dual wide range humbuckers. The guitar sounds great. I am playing through a Fender Deville (2x12) and a Crate 4x12 Cabinet. This guitar goes great with the other guitars i own which are: a Guild Bluesbird, Guild S-100 Polara, and a Fender '87 Jap Strat which i put a Seymore Duncan Quarter Pound in the neck and Bridge and a Seymore Duncan Reverse Wound Vintage Staggered in the middle position. The Tele Fits very well in this collection. The frets are nicely filed at tight fit. The neck is Maple. there are 20 frets. I restrung the guitar with 10's instread of 9's. The action was lowered just alittle bit after the string change. The electronics are Passive. The semi-hollow body gives it a very woody/earthy tone. Very nice even for unplugged use. The finish was natural and flawless. The bridge I have not had any problems with and the tuners are working fine. It has no problem holding tune. The only problem I had with the Tuners were that the 6th string tuner when i went to 10's the hole for the string to go into was too small for the 48 guage string so after i fixed that it was fine. The neck is fatter than normal i believe a very large u-shaped neck and the radius is the standard tele 7.25". The gig-bag that came with it is fine when i leave it works fine if im traveling a long way i use a hardshell.

The sound of this tele is nice and fat. its not that thin tele sound. Im playing alot os Southern Rock and it fits very well to this style but it also is good for old Blues slide and some heavier stuff as well. I also play some Cream, and Zeppelin on it with which it sounds great.

The Setup of the guitar was fine when i got it it was alittle high on the action to what i am use to but that was fixed when i went to 10's and lowered it alittle more. The neck was fine. The pickups were adjusted very nicely for a good all around tone variety. the top was great had very nice markings and birth marks.

I havent really had any porblems with fender and i have a feeling i wont with this one either. The finish is Thick the strap buttons are Solid havent had string breakage problems or intonation problems. it seems like it will hold up very well on the road. but since i havent had it out much ill give it an 8 since its not road tested yet.

Never dealt with them

Well ive been playing for almost 9 years. I have 2 Guilds, and now 2 Fenders, and well as 3 Basses. I really like the tele it plays very nicely and sounds great. if it was stolen your damn right id buy another one.

Brand new (2000) made in Japan 72 Tele Reissue. 2 humbucking pickups with a 3 wat selector, master volume, and master tone control. The guitar is semi hollow with an F hole. Passive electronics. Maple and Ash construction. Natural finish. String through body at bridge. 6 in line tuners. Came with Gig Bag. There aren't a lot of features but it has everything I need. Eventually, I may change the hardware or pickups. A cover for the bridge would be nice (I rest my hand there and it is a bit rough).

I play rock. My style has always been melodic, ringy, with some crunch (think Pete Townsend, Mike Campbell). Lately, I have been looking for a more distinctive clean sound so I don't have to bring both acoustic and electric guitars to rehearsal / gigs. The Tele is well suited to this.

I own a Fender Twin (with pull out master volume) and Crate Vintage Club amps. At the rehearsal space we use, I play through a Fender Hot Rod Deville or a Marshall stack. For upcoming recording I will play through the Twin and / or a Marshall.

The Tele has a nice full sound using the neck pickup or both. The bridge pickup is bright and thinner. I generally don't like mid range tone on guitar, but with both pickups on the Tele may be a bit lite on midrange punch.

The Tele makes a nice varity of sounds. I wish that the tone would stay intact when I use the master volume on the guitar, though.

The guitar was set up very well form the factory. It feels great in my hands; only flaw was some extra glue inside one of the F holes. A quick fix with the aid of a file. I tested a mexican Tele Thinline side by side; the MIJ sounded a bit louder and clearer.

This is my first Fender (I have always owned Gibsons), so I have no prior experience to draw on. I can't see why this guitar shouldn't be reliable. I always bring a backup guitar, regardless. Fender extends a lifetime warranty, so that is reassuring.

No experience with Fender.

I've been playing for 20 years. I always wanted one of these, and now with the reissues I can get one brand new at a reasonable price. I would definately replace it if it were lost or stolen. I love the look and feel of this guitar. My only gripe is the master volume; I like having only 1 knob but I should be able to lower the volume without changing the tone.

Just bought a new Tele Thinline (72 Reissue). Japanese made model (I compared it side by side with Mexican made and preferred MIJ). You know the details; f-hole, 2 humbucking pickups, 3 way selector, 1 volume and 1 tone control, 6 in line tuners, string through body, etc... Natural finish. Came with gig bag. No frills - but that's what I wanted; who uses 2 volume knobs to blend pickups anyway? So, not a lot of features - but it has the right ones. Only thing I would like is a cover for the bridge, I rest my hand back there and (saddles?) it is a bit rough on the right hand.

I play rock; some songs are heavier than others and I am still working out if the Tele will be the only guitar I use, or if I will switch back to my Gibson for the crunchier songs. Most of the time I am looking for some tube crunch with a ring, and this guitar seems well suited to the task.

I will be playing through a Fender Twin live (has the pull out master volume), and through a Fender Hot Rod Deville or Marshall at rehearsal / recording.

Second day of ownership, and I haven't found any noise yet. Full sound and bright sounds both possible with this guitar. Variety is better than the Teles with single coil pickups. I just really like the sound this model Tele delivers; 10 years ago I would have had less interest (used to play with more distortion), but hey - I'm getting older.

I've heard that Fenders generally need to be set up after purchase, but this model plays perfectly. Action is great, neck is the right width and depth for me, etc... Only flaw I found was some extra glue on the edge of an F hole. I took a nail file to it.

I am not a huge fan of the tuners and the string trees, but it is a Fender, after all.

Reliability should be fine. I have been playing the same Gibson for 17 years and never had a problem; this guitar seems about as solid. Strap buttons seem good, I used to go right for starplocks - but I'll try this guitar without them and see what happens.

I never gig without a backup guitar (and I will start bringing a backup amp, as well).

I have never conatacted any musical instrument manufacturer about anything. This guitar is supposed to have a lifetime warranty, so Fender must be pretty confident about it.

I've been playing for 20 years. I have always been partial to Fender amps (2 Twins, 1 Super Reverb, 2 Princetons), but have also owned Acoustic, Peavey, Crate, and Sunn amps. My main guitar is a Gibson Spirit (bought new in 1983) - it is like a LP Junior. I gave away all my effects pedals long ago, I just don't see the point. You can get distortion out of your amp and all the other stuff (chorus, flange) can get lost when you've got the whole band playing. I do have a wirless unit, a tuner, and a Lexicon on top of the amp for a better reverb sound or some delay. Keeping it simple; and a Tele through a Twin is a sweet combination.

If I lost this guitar I would buy another one; for the price (I was quoted 539 - 689 depending on the store and case) it is hard to beat.

Hollow, ash-bodied tele with maple neck/fretboard.
solid woods. No plywood. Has a solid 1/4" ash back glued onto the 2-piece ash body.
2 fender oversize humbucking pickups. 3 bolt neck. strat-style hard-tail tailpiece.
Excellent 3-tone sunburst finish.
El-cheapo tuners.
Cool pearl pickguard.
Not tons of features- so i give it a 9.

It sounds really, really great. when i got it home and set the action up like i liked it- i thought it would be fairly cool. this guitar really shines at the gig. it sustains like crazy- you really notice it more on the clean sounds- which are pristine.
I run it through a fender hot-rod deluxe with a mesa-boogie speaker and a dan-electro daddy-o pedal. i also run a dan-echo through the FX loop.

WHAT A SET-UP !!!!
it will rock your balls!

Action was typical- medium. i like mine a certain way- so i know im always gonna have to set one up to suit me.
Fit was also very good. the store i bought this guitar in had 2 guitars alike. the other had the neck put on mis-aligned. where the strings werent lined up on the fretboard. Needless to say, its still hanging there.
Finsh was 11/10. very very nice. glassy.

Seems to be reliable. i looked at 2 others before this one that had the back coming off. the store wasnt sure what happened. one might have fallen off of the rack. the other was brand-new- in-the-box. maybe UPS did it. i'm keeping an eye on mine-hoping its not a construction flaw.
The tuners are of the El-cheapo brand. they will be replaced as soon as i find the ones with the fender 'F' on the case. (anyone know where to get the replacements?)

I try to be objective about a new axe- 'cause I dont NEED a guitar- i have several. so, if it doesnt cut it- i'll return it.

The guitar is absolutely killer (except for the crappy tuners). it sounds exactly twice as big as my strat- with NO hum. the sound is somewhere between a hard-tail strat and a gibson HB sound. Open and airy- with no hum. yet, glassy and brilliant. I have several other great guitars ( Les Paul, 335, Strat, Tele, Guild Bluesbird, Guild Starfire III)so i'm fairly picky about what sounds good. This guitar will really do it all. Rock, Jazz, Country, Blues. I take the strat to the gigs- but it stays in the case. This one is definitely a KEEPER.
If any of my guitars were stolen , i'd replace it with this one. it will do anything any of the others will (with some knob-tweaking).

She's an American made, Mexican assembled thinline tele which I bought back in early April at Venneman's musical instruments (On sale for $529). Basically, shes a god, but if you wanna get anal, here are the feature problems:

- Frets: They looked almost too small when I first saw them, much smaller than a strat's. Seems like the whole guitar was built for rythm, but it actually seems better at lead. Bending is very easy (I play blues and use 13-62 guage strings, tuned flat) and I have no problem with the 3-step bends. Frets have held up well compared to my Yamaha Pacifica 112, which are totally dead after 2 years.
- Neck: Its a 1 piece maple neck, no seperate fretboard. Feels very smooth and never develops the stickiness that some rosewood will. Nicely rounded, including the fretboard (VERY small 7.25" radius)It really has a great feeling, so that you're playing the guitar, not the strings. 21 frets, won't buzz anywhere with a very low action, and again, I play very heavy guage strings.
- Tuners: As with any guitar being bent into hell, it will go out of tune, but they all seem to go out evenly, so you never notice until you plug into a tuner. The 2 string nuts are kind of annoying, but they could easily be removed to get them to ring freely when you pick above the nut. You do get an interesting sound when you leave them on though, it sort of starts off loud, then immeadiatly dies, then slowly fades back in, kind of cool.
- Electronics: Very cool, vintage sound if you want it. The two humbuckers can give you anything from a very low treble, woman-tone sound, to an ear-piercing and dizzying treble-based scream. Flicking the pickup selector while bending gives a very cool sound also. The knobs on the pot are tightened to the shaft with 1 brass screw through the side of each. I guarantee you won't lose 'em. The only potential problem I see with them is that they seem to ride to close to the pick guard. When you turn them it feels like you're scratching the surface.
- The rest: The bridge and strap-locks seem to have very sharp edges to them. Granted, it doesn't effect your tone, but it will beat the hell out of your right hand trying to do the Townshend-windmill thing. The string ferrules on the back are not held in place by anything but the string, and it seems like an excellent way to have to go buy a new set, so keep an eye on them while changing the strings. Strap buttons hold straps very well, and you can acually get two straps on there, should you ever find a reason to.... The F-Hole definately changes the tone, and the only problem with it was some white, powdery substance inside of it (Hardened nitro-cellulose?) I rubbed most of it loose with my finger, after which my dumb ass decieded to blow into it to clear the rest out. Needlessly to say it all exited directly into my eyes and mouth. Oops.

It suits my style perfectly, which is blues, in every form. You can get an eerily accurate 'Crossroads' tone, you can get that screaming 'Scuttlebuttin'' sound, or you can clean it up and take a slide to it to get Muddy or Sumlin with it. I play through a Crate GX-20R and get every tone mentioned above. Any noise comes from the amp, as the humbuckers cancel any electronic noise. Basically, no problems with the sound at all.

I actually kept the original factory strings on this one for awhile. They wern't my normal gauge, but they held up well. The setup was easy to adjust when I stepped up the guage, and everything stayed perfectly balanced. I haven't even touched the pickups, though I may get experimental sometime soon just to see what else they can do. The top doesn't look like it was bookmatched, or if it was somebody didn't do a good job. The grain on the wood is interesting though, so I guess it makes up for it. All of the holes are cleanly routed, and the finish is flawless. No problems with any of the wiring or hardware as of yet, and she probably has about 300+ hours of playing time on her. Frets, again, are dead even. Just that foreign white substance which is still in the hole cavity, but I leave it alone and it leaves me alone.

The guitar would, and has, withstood live playing. I daily stick it in a gig bag and haul it to friends' houses, school, or anywhere else I need/want it to be, with no quirks from her. Strings seem to break hardly ever (Only had 1 break)and the sound is always even. Strap buttons, again, are solid as hell. I would definitely use her with a backup, and I have been for months. Only giving it a nine because I haven't had her for too long.

The guys I bought the guitar from were friendly and helpfully (Sorry, dont know their names) It didn't come with the gig bag, but I already had the one it would usually come with, so I didn't bother asking about it. Never had to get it repaired, and I figure anything that goes wrong with it I could repair myself, as the design is pretty simple. Definately wouldn't want to send it to Fender, I've heard quite a few horror stories...

I've been playing for about 2 years, and over the last year and a half I was looking at various Fenders. I ended up playing about 12 or 13 of these guitars before I found this one, which I bought immeadiately. Why? It just felt right. I would definitely recommend shopping around first, as any guitar is a matter of preference, but this one fit me. I'm also planning on picking up a '57 strat sometime soon, so that I have something with a tremelo and more pickups. But as far as tele's are concerned, this is the best I've played. Only thing I plan on changing is the Pearloid pickguard, it just seems to formal to me. I'm trying to find a black one, but I may end up cutting one from stock. It would be nice with a tremelo, but I've discovered that I can mimic on by pulling on the neck. All in all, an excellent guitar

I didn't even get that far.

BAdly fitting scratchplate and neck. Weird phantom string vibration (nut badly cut?) which caused weird oscillating noises and loads of fret buzz, even though the action was pretty high. Pick-ups screwed right into body. Sh*t, basically.

I complained, and the shop refused to believe there was a problem. I got a letter from a professional lutherier, and sent it and the guitar to them, and I got ofered a refund. But I just found that Fender are threatening the lutherier over the letter he wrote! What the f*ck? That is not my idea of service. Service was sh*t basically. 6 for the shop, 0 for Fender.

This guitar was awful, my Squire Strat is much better. Really poorly made (what the f*ck is with the quality control?) and service was terrible. Opps, I better not be too critical or else Fender might sue me for not liking one of their instruments!
If I payed #99 for this guitar, I would not have been disappointed, but for the price I payed, it was sh*t.
After the threatened legal suit, I'd be very reluctant ever to deal with Fender again.

This is a MIM tele. It's a three piece ash body with solid maple neck; 21 frets; 3-color burst; single volume & single tone control; 2 Fender humbuckers; three way switch; Fender vintage fretboard radius of 7.25 inches; three bolt micro-tilt neck. It was made in December of 1999. Included a Fender gig bag. Pretty standard features. Oh, yeah, it also has a strat style bridge with six individual saddles... a nice feature.

I play a variety of styles: a bit of classic rock, jazz, blues, and when my son plays with us, a bit of heavy metal. The tele is not really suited to the heavy metal but does well with the others. I'm currently using it through a Tech 21 Trademark 60 for the rock and blues, and a mid '70s silverface Fender Princeton for the Jazz... no effects with either amp. It has the typical humbucker bit and warmth, but with a fairly wide range. The bridge pickup is remarkably clean and punchy. The bridge pickup is warm, but tends to be a bit heavy in the middle. Overall, I like the sounds it produces.

This is my second '72 reissue. The first is a MIJ model. Unfortunately, this MIM was not as well setup or finished as the Japaneese one. First, the neck was misaligned. The 6th string is much closer to the edge of the fretboard than the 1st string. A relatively easy fix, but perhaps not for a beginner. Next, the intonation wasn't even close. Once, again an easy fix. The neck pickup also failed the first day I had it home. All it needed was resoldering of the cold joints and it was working fine. When I pulled the pickguard off, however, I was in for a real surprise. The routed out cavities were filled with about 1/2 inch of sawdust! I thought the thing had termites at first. It was clear that who ever put it together wasn't being real careful on this one. As I said, all of this was fixable stuff. I would rather have not had to fix it though. The finish on the guitar was excellent. In fact it was the primary reason I picked up this as a second 72 reissue. The 3-color burst was perfect and the three chunks of wood used in the body had very nice grain and were matched up to be very attractive. I understand the bodies are made in USA, and it was clear that someone paid attention to how this guitar would look in it's very early stages of life. Same is true for the finish at the Mexican plant. Who ever did the finish, paid attention to what they were doing. Now if only the person doing the wiring....

This particular instrument is lighter than my first. I'm not sure how it will hold up... I'm a big guy and sometimes my stuff gets knocked around with a bit more force than most folks migh give their instruments. The hardware is not the best, but seems sturdy. If it's anything like my first one, it should be fine. Oh, I put strap locks on it before a strap ever touched it... I do this with all my instruments.

Haven't dealt with them directly. Figured the stuff that needed straightening out would help me get to know the guitar a bit better.

I've been playing for a while. I tend to buy and sell guitars on a farily regular basis. In the last two years I owned: LP Standard, Peavy T-60, Taylor 412, Gibson ES135, Gibson SG, Ibanez Ghostrider, Ibanez AS180, Fender American Delux Fat Strat, Guild Manhattan X-170, Martin D35, MIJ 72 reissue thinline, and an Ibanez Pro series. I don't know if I'd buy it again. I like it alot, but then again there are so many guitar to like... What I really like about it is that it's a good humbucker sound in something not quite as heavy as a Les Paul... it's also a different humbucker sound... a bonus in my book.

Semi-hollow body Telecaster style guitar with a swamp ash body and two passive Fender humbucking pickups, maple neck, Kluson-style tuners, '70s style headstock, clear finish, three way switch, volume and tone controls. Uses a hardtail strat-style bridge, not the usual Telecaster ashtray. 25 3/4" scale neck. Mine came with a gig bag and a strap.

This is a lovely sounding guitar with a bright, open voiced quality that lends itself well to many styles. Although the pickups are humbuckers, they are nicely voiced and not too hot. They have a rounded, open tone which is probably due to the semi-hollow body which adds resonance and air. The bridge humbucker does a fair-to-middlin' Telecaster bridge single coil imitation. It doesn't have as much breath or chime, but the twang is there. The neck humbucker sounds great in clean mode (something very few humbuckers can boast) and is great for producing faux ES-335 tones and smoky jazz sounds. If you want a good combnation of Fender Telecaster twang and ES-335 sweetness and warmth, this guitar could be the axe for you. I play in my church band and this guitar covers jsut about the whole spectrum of tones I need: from gospel funk, to clean, to gritty rock. The pickups sound great in overdrive mode, churning out lots of Stonesey grind in the bridge and sweet woman tone at the neck. They aren't tight enough for heavy metal and extreem gain playing, but those who dig classic rock humbucer tones (i.e. Santana, Dickey Betts, Cream-era Clapton) will enjoy the vibe.

The action was set up very well. I use .10s so I had to lower the bridge saddles a tad. The neck fits snugly into the neck pocket with no gaps, and the allignment seemed right on. Finish was excellent overall (those Japanese paint guys know their stuff) but I didn't dig the clear wood look, so I had a freind of mine spray a transparent red topcoat over the body and now I love it! Pickup height was right on when I bought it, but I lowered them a bit when I put the heavier strings on so I wouldn't get wolf tones. The hardware is ho-hum as is the case with most Asian-built axes. The tuners feel okay, but I can see myself replacing them with higher quality ones in the future. The bridge and control plate seem to have good nickel plating. I ended up replacing the switch, pots and jack with higher quality parts from Torrez engineering, and I would recommend to anyone who buys an Asian axe to do this. It is not hard and can be kind of fun. The ash used for the body is quite nice, although it would be cool if they could find a way to make the top a two piece instead of a three piece.

This is a great gig axe because it is sooooo lightweight. After you replace the pots, switch and jack it should be a dependable stage guitar. Mine has never missed a beat, and I use it for just about all my playing now. The humbuckers sound great: you should not need to replace them. Some players may think they have to be real carefull with it because of its hollowbody construction, but I wouldn't be too worried. The top is a good 1/4" thick and plenty solid. The only worry I have is over the three bolt neck joint. I have never had any experience with these and am not sure how it will hold up over the long haul.

Ive used strats for the last ten years and bought this axe because I wanted a guitar with humbuckers. (I'm not a Les Paul or shred-axe fan). A friend of mine told me about the '72 Thinline and so I checked it out and loved it immediately. It has replaced my old beat to heck Strat. If this thing were stolen I would cry and then probably buy another one. The '72 Thinline's ability to offer both Fender tones and ES-335 cream is what I love most about it. It sounds great clean and dirty, which is not something I can say about most of the guitars I've owned. I just wish Fender offered it in more colors. (Clear and sunburst are the only choices.) If I could wish for anything more it would be a phase switch. Putting one of those in it would allow you to get more quack with the humbuckers combined.

collectible series'72 thinline tele reissue,made in Japan. Natural ash semi-hollow body w/F-hole,2 fender 'wide range'humbuckers,7.25'radius maple neck,nicely lacquered. 3 way switch,master tone and vol knobs. Vintage 'open top'tuners,6-saddle string-tru-body bridge,'bullet'truss rod..blah blah...didn't come with a case i give it a 9 because it's got the features its supposed to have,including the cool '70s fender telecaster logo on the headstock...the triangular 3 bolt neckplate with 'F' engraved on it..and the white pearl pickgaurd.

i play blues (SRV..well i try,at least..=P)...some alternative (matchbox20,wallflowers,collective soul)and i like Bryan Adams songs. This guitar is good for playing Bryan Adams-style rhythms,especially those on his more recent albums where he uses mostly Gretschs...you can almost get that mellow Gretsch sound on a tube crunch witht he neck or neck/middle position.The neck pickup is very thick and FAT,great for meaty licks.The bridge pickup is twangy and thick at the same time,but not as twangy as a solid tele though. This guitar has its own character though,and it costs way less than a Gretsch,hehe.It's good for most alternative/blues rhythm work,too. Oh yeah,i lent it to my friend who plays jazz,and he loves this guitar on clean.
I'm using a Marshall JTM series 2x10 tube combo as well as a Valvestate 30R.This guitar sounds good through both amps...but the guitar has a somewhat muffled bottom end,you would like to back off on the bass and turn up the treble sometimes.
This is not particularly an SRV guitar,i use my strats for that.

Ah, the guitar came set up with 9's but i put 10's on it without adjusting the action and had no problems with it. The ash on the body had a beautiful grain...and the neck was lacquered...nice and glossy and smooth. I could find no flaws on the guitar, the only problem was with the pickup selector switch,it's kinda noisy when you flip it(the other guys in this review have the same problem too) but i can live with it for now...maybe i'll change it later. 8 because of the switch.

I've had it for about 2 months,played 3-4 gigs with it and it's ok...have to get used to the squarish tele shape though,i usually play strats...=P The hardware is nicely chrome plated and the strap buttons solid. You have to take care not to bang it around though, it hollow,not as tough as the solid teles(no Pete Townshed stuff,heh) i guess i could gig with it with no backup,but i'd bring my strat as i have to get other sounds too.

hmm,i've heard stories but i guess they're ok havven't dealt with them though. Lifetime warranty? hmm....really?

i've been playing for about 5 years. I play contemporary/funk music for church,as well as jamming with friends. i also have a '57 reissue strat and a duncan-equipped mexican strat. i love this guitar becasue it's so beautiful...the finish, the wood...everything. It has that nice hollobody mellow-ness not found on other fenders. oh yeah, mine is the only one in Singapore for now...heh. i got it in june 99. if someone stole this guitar, i'd cry 'cos i wouldn't be able to get another one easily( the store only brought in one). *sob* well guys...gimme a mail sometime...by the way, i'm 17 years old and my name's ben.

Crafted in Japan, semi-hollow two piece ash body, routed from the back, with a two piece ash cap on the back. One f-hole. Natural glossy finish shows the very attractive grain, and reveals how it was put together! Number of pieces of wood used in the construction of the body and the back varies from guitar to guitar. Two Fender humbuckers with master volume, master tone and 3-way selector switch, all mounted on large pearloid scratchplate. Strat-style string-through-body non-trem bridge. One piece maple neck, 21 frets, 7 1/4" radius, bullet truss rod, vintage slotted tuners, three-bolt neck plate with micro-tilt adjustment, gloss finish. This is a sturdy, functional guitar which also happens to be rather cute.

Excellent! I play mostly covers: pop, rock, and funk. After growing up with Gibsons (an LP Standard way back and more recently a 335) I've been a committed single coil lover for a few years. I found Gibsons too middly and one level, but (not surprisingly) his guitar doesn't bear much resemblance to a Gibson at all. I really like the sound of these twin humbuckers, and the whole guitar is very responsive. I guess the ash/maple semi-hollow construction has a lot to do with that, and the slightly lower output of the pickups c.f. Gibsons. Played through a Trace Elliot Speed Twin C30 class A 30W combo (check out the Harmony-Central reviews valve freaks!) the neck pickup is warm and full, while the bridge is bright and edgy, with that distinctive Fender twang, but never sounding thin. As I said, the output isn't particularly high, but those Keef moments never sounded better. Clean or dirty, this guitar has an excellent range of sounds for all but the highest gain applications.

My current 72 Thinline is actually my second. On the first one the action wasn't great, and, after failing to remedy the rattles and buzzes, I eventually I worked out that this was largely due to the fact that the neck wasn't set quite straight. Also I discovered a small crack in the lacquer at the heal. In fact, looking back I can't imagine why I bought it! Blinded and seduced by the looks and sounds, I guess. The store took it back after failing to resolve the action or the way the neck was set, or managing to convince me that the crack was superficial. Tating: 2. Second time around, and with a pro setup, the guitar plays fine. The chunky neck, the curvy fretboard and the heavily lacquered finish took a bit of getting used to when compared to my satin finished USA Standard Strat and most other modern Fender-style instruments. After all, it's a vintage re-issue, so what do you expect? It's certainly not for speed freaks, but hey, why hurry? Just relax and enjoy the tone! Rating: 8.

Once I got my hands on a decent model I've been very happy with this guitar. There is a little crackling with the rotary controls, but nothing a bit of switch cleaner couldn't handle. I changed the strap buttons for a larger size. I would happily gig without a backup.

Haven't had any contact with Fender. The store didn't quibble when I returned the first one.

I like this instrument a lot. Most importantly it sounds great. It also looks great, hangs nicely, doesn't weigh a ton, and didn't cost so much that I worry about it all the time. I get tense having an expensive glossy guitar slung around my neck, especially on a cramped stage, with lots of cymbals close by! I've been playing around twenty years now (not that you would know it) and this is probably the most pleasing guitar I've owned in that time. It's replaced a battered 10 year old USA Standard Strat as my no. 1. This instrument gives great tones and cool looks for a very reasonable price. It's a Fender.

A semi-hollow ash body Telecaster with two Fender humbuckers, a master volume and master tone control, 21 frets, strat string through body style non-trem bridge, maple neck with micro-adjust and bullet truss rod. Also has a 3-position pickup switch and vintage style machine heads with a slot and hole for the string end. Finish is natural with a white shell mother-of-toliet-seat pick guard... I actually like the look of this guitar. The f-hole, natural finish, humbuckers and pickguard create a very balanced, yet work oriented appearance. Mine did not come with a case. My rating is based on it being a working instrument not eye candy.

This thing has great tone. I have to confess that I was very unsure of trying this instrument. I currently have an Ibanez AS180, Gibson SG Standard, and was playing a Fender American Delux Fat Strat (which I unloaded for the poor tones this monster produced). Right now, I seem to pick up the tele more often than any of the others... just for the great tone. It's capable of Crooper style twang and Gibson warmth and depth... without a whole lot of electronics involved. I use it with a Tech21 TM60 and a Boss ME30. Frankly, there aren't many sounds I can't get from this thing. It can move from a chord melody arrangement of Somewhere Over the Rainbow to vintage Ventures, on to classic rock and into EVH stuff without missing a beat. I don't play any heavy metal... so, I'm not sure about this.

Action and fit were ok from the factory... At least I think so. This was a floor model at Sam Ash, and a great number of hands had played it before I found it and gave it a home. The only real problem was that the intonation was out just a bit, but this was easily brought back into line. I love the rounder 7.25 inch radius fretboard. It may not be everyone's cup of tea, but my hands are wide, but I have short fingers, don't play with speed that would set anything on fire, but love to bend my notes. The feel of this thing is perfect. The real danger is that you can noodle around on it for hours. The attention to matching grain on was unbelievable. I couldn't find where the different pieces of would actually started without some serious, close examination. I also love the lighter weight of the semi-hollow compared with a standard tele or a strat. It's right in there with the Gibson SG in terms of comfort. Only real complaint is that the pickup selector is a bit noisy when moving to the center position from either of the end positions.

I have not had the instrument long enough to make a fair assessment on this. Maybe in another 12 to 18 months.

Haven't had any contact with them.

I would be really, really unhappy if I lost this instrument. I'd definitely look to get another. It's one of those rare instruments that just seem to fit me. I know all the talk about tele's requiring that you give in to them and that they are unforgiving, but this instrument just feels right to me. It's not the fastest, most comfortable, or prettiest instrument I've ever played, but it's the one that keep calling out, "Come pick me up. Listen to the sounds we can make. Ignore those others. I'm the one you want to hold." It's a pretty addictive guitar.

This one is a few years old, but they're still available now (1998). I LOVE this guitar, it is pure rock and roll. It is a semi-hollow made in Japan Telecaster with two huge humbuckers, 3-way switch, one volume, one tone, non-tremolo strat bridge (not the regular Telecaster plate bridge, but still sting through body). The neck is maple with a maple fingerboard. The finish is natural, and the wood is well selected and beautiful (I'm not sure if it's ash or basswood.) It is a regular Tele shape with an f-hole on the left side, and a pearloid pickguard which covers the other side. Tuners are vintage style with split open tops (they could be a little better, but Fender was going for the re-issue thing here.)
I have played an original 1972 Thinline Telecaster, and this reissue looks exactly the same. There are a few differences overall, though. The re-issue's neck is a little thinner, and feels like it might have a flatter radius, which makes it feel much more comfortable to me. Also, the electronics are a lot quieter (extremely quiet, actually).
Nothing fancy like coil splitting, but it's a Telecaster, what do you want? Since a rating of 10 means "TONS OF FEATURES", I'll give it a 9.

I play good old rock and roll, and this guitar is perfect for that. The semi hollow body and nice humbuckers give it tons of sustain and a very full sound. I use mine with a Fender Hot Rod Deville 212 and a Korg 411fx multi-pedal. WHOA!!! I am so happy with the sound. The bridge is actually kind of twangy, but not too trebly, and the neck pickup is FAT! If you put six strings on a big juicy steak, it would sound like this guitar on the neck pickup. It's amazing that such a tone comes from a guitar this light. The tone knob actually provides very useful tone variations, and the volume knob retains trebles when rolled down (I think it may have a capacitor on the volume knob for that).

I bought this used, and the action was a little high, but I'm going to leave it that way to do slide. Fender did a really god job on this one, and I am really impressed with a lot of the stuff that comes out of their Japanese factories. One weird thing it's actually heavier toward the neck end since the body is so light. This doesn't present a problem, but I'm used to a very heavy-bodied Strat. The natural finish is excellent, and the wood is very attractive.

Will definitely withstand live playing, although I'm sure it's more fragile than a regular Telecaster, being hollow and all. Everything is solid and of great quality, with the possible exception of the tuning machines.

Fender is a little hard to reach sometimes, and slow to repond, but still very helpful. I don't think this is of much concern to people buying Fenders.

Honestly, I was first attracted to this guitar because of the look (beautiful guitar), and the 2 humbucker configuration. After playing one, I had to have it. This is a great value for a guitar. They're only between $500-600 new. Get one of these!

Made in Japan 21 Frets Volume and tone controles with 3 way tophat selector swich 2 Fender reissue humbuckers 6 individualy adgustable pole pieces each body is made of swamp ash and neck of rock maple body has a natural finish and nech has a clear normal glue tipe finish Tele body shape semi holow with one F hole 70s strat non trem bridge string thrugh body fender cast tuners maple neck/scale normal fender frets bulet truss rod and micro tilt neck plate with 3 bolts and hex adgustable tilt for neck bidy tilt adgustment

I like bleus and this is a good guitar for it has nice strong output well you can see yohny lang playing one usualy( not that Im a bing fan) I use a fender 63 reverb unit and boss blues driver it has humbuckers so itsnot that noisy The neck pickup has a particularly dark and full soud the combinatioin of both is rather a normal seting and requiers no special coments the bridge pick up is not as dark and full but also not as twangy as a normal tele I guess its the tipical bridge humbucker sound I wounder what new sound could come out of it if it had coil taping wired in?

the guitar come set up ok not wonder ful but ok this is a very personal thing so I dont think any one can expect a guitar to come perfectly set up from the factory The pickups were not allthat well adgusted but its a five min job so that doesnt bother me I chose from several of the same model so the wood on mine is very beytiful the workmanship on this one was very good for this proce guitar I like the curvature of the neck that is a 7something( doesnt come to mind right now) inch radious. my opinion on rating hereis after personal adgustments made by me at home.

This is a very beutiful instument but is not as ruged as the usual slab of wood teles it requires a little more care not to ruin the finish but hey its not like I wana bang it around any way its toughf enoughf for me. the Hardwae is not the top of the top but it wil last and is good I replace d the strap butons for straplock and the sadle and nut for graphtecks but hte original sadles were good and didnt break the strings

never delt with them

I am very satisfied with this instument but I do recongnise that it is not for everone it has its particularities like the look the pickup configuration and the neck curvature but for me it is great so check it out for yourself ( go to the fender home page and look it up then go to the nmusic shop and try it out foryourself first if you are still interested ) I dont give 10 and since thee could be brter tings on this guitar like coil taping I give it an 8