The Fender Telecaster Thinline is a semi-hollow guitar made by the Fender company. It is a

Telecaster The Fender Telecaster, colloquially known as the Tele , is an electric guitar produced by Fender. Together with its sister model the Esquire, it is the world's first mass-produced, commercially successful Les Paul had built a prototype solid bod ...

with body cavities. Designed by German luthier

Roger Rossmeisl Roger Rossmeisl (1927 in Kiel – 1979 in Berlin) was a German luthier who designed electric guitars in the 1950s and '60s for the US companies Rickenbacker and Fender. Life and work Roger's father Wenzel Rossmeisl (June 28, 1902 in Kiel – Apr ...

in 1968, it was introduced in 1969 and updated in 1972 by replacing the standard Telecaster pickups with a pair of

Fender Wide Range The Fender Wide Range Humbucker is a humbucker guitar pickup, designed by Seth Lover for Fender in the early 1970s. This pickup was intended to break Fender's image as a " single coil guitar company", and to gain a foothold in the humbucker gui ...

humbucking pickups, bullet truss-rod and 3-bolt neck. The

design A design is a plan or specification for the construction of an object or system or for the implementation of an activity or process or the result of that plan or specification in the form of a prototype, product, or process. The verb ''to design'' ...

was originally an attempt to reduce the weight of the solid-body Telecaster guitar, which had become ever heavier throughout the 1960s due to the dwindling supply of the light ash wood Fender had formerly used. The

f-hole A sound hole is an opening in the body of a stringed musical instrument, usually the upper sound board. Sound holes have different shapes: * round in flat-top guitars and traditional bowl-back mandolins; * F-holes in instruments from the vi ...

and reshaped pickguard are the most apparent visual clues to its construction. There have been many different versions of the Telecaster Thinline over the years, although the original two are more recognizable. The 1969 version has two standard single-coil pickups and a mahogany body, while the 1972 version, based on the

Fender Telecaster Deluxe The Fender Telecaster Deluxe is a solid-body electric guitar originally produced from 1972 to 1981, and re-issued by Fender multiple times starting in 2004. History The popularity of heavy rock in the late 1960s led Fender to re-think its str ...

, has two

humbucking pickups and a natural swamp ash body. Thinline versions have been made in Mexico and Japan as a part of the Classic Series of guitars and basses, followed by higher-end American-made Factory Special Run (FSR) versions from the

Fender Custom Shop The Fender Custom Shop is a division of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, housed within their headquarters complex in Corona, Riverside County, California. The Fender Custom Shop produces special-order guitars for customers through a Custo ...

in 2005 and 2013. A much lower price Thinline design was produced in China and featured

P-90 The P-90 (sometimes written P90) is a single coil electric guitar pickup produced by Gibson since 1946. Gibson is still producing P-90s, and there are outside companies that manufacture replacement versions. Compared to other single coil desig ...

pickups and a mahogany body. While it retained the "Fender Telecaster" name on the headstock, it was not labeled as a Thinline, although the F-hole design and hollow construction makes its heritage obvious.

1990s Telecaster Thinline

This short-lived model was based on the '69 Telecaster Thinline, but used many of the modern features found on the first-generation American Standard Series guitars manufactured between 1986 and 2000. It was introduced in 1998 and discontinued at the beginning of the 21st century.

2004 FSR American Vintage Telecaster Thinline

In 2004, a few thinlines were made for the Yamano company in Japan. These are all USA Fender models made in the Corona factory. Though they were built strictly for sale in Japan, some seemed to make it straight to the United States for sale.

Fender Cabronita Thinline Telecaster

For two years, 2012 and 2013, Fender offered the Cabronita model as a Thinline in Shoreline Gold and a

swamp ash Swamp ash is a common name for several North American trees in the genus ''Fraxinus'' which may grow in swamps and other wetlands. The wood of swamp ashes is relatively low in density and is used in the construction of musical instruments, particu ...

bodied white blonde model. These were built in their

Ensenada, Mexico Ensenada is a city in Ensenada Municipality, Baja California, situated on the Pacific Coast of Mexico. Located on the Bahía de Todos Santos, the city had a population of 279,765 in 2018, making it the third-largest city in Baja California. The ...

plant.

Squier Thinline Telecasters

Fender's subsidiary company

Squier Squier is an American brand of electric guitars owned by Fender. The former manufacturing company, established as "V. C. Squier Company" was founded in 1890 by Victor Carroll Squier in Battle Creek, Michigan, producing strings for violins, banj ...

also makes entry level Thinline Telecasters. This includes the Master Series Thinline Telecaster, the Vintage Modified Series Thinline Telecaster, and the Classic Vibe Thinline Telecaster. The Master Series features twin Duncan Designed

style single coil pickups, 2 volume and 2 tone controls and a 3-position toggle switch. The Vintage Modified Series is more traditional, based around the '69 Fender Thinline, featuring 2 Duncan Designed single coil pickups, 1 volume and 1 tone control with a 3-position toggle switch. The Classic Vibe Thinline Telecaster is also based on the '69 Fender Thinline, but features a mahogany body, and Alnico V single coil pickups. However, in a break from the usual Fender standard, the master series and Vintage Modified Thinline Telecasters both feature the more Gibson-esque shorter 24.75" scale where Fender uses a 25.5" scale.

References

{{Fender Telecaster submodels Thinline