I bought one of these Fender thinline 72 RI a few months ago. It was a used 2006 model that appeared to have been hardly played and came with the original strings to boot. Once I changed out the strings, it really came alive through my vox amp. I am sceptical about making modifications to a guitar, believing that the manufacturer would make changes if a product becomes unpopular. Clearly this one has not. I did lower the neck pickup and it did improve the sound. I would be hesitant to change out the volume pot because that type of modification would tend to lower the value of the instrument since it could no longer be changed back to its original condition. As far as the saddles and tuners go, they seem to be sufficient to make this guitar function properly. It is hard, I know, to resist making "upgrades" to instruments in the search of the perfect sound. My experience is that these modifications may make a change that is greater than marginal, but at the same time you give up forever the original intent of the manufacturer. That is why I will keep my thinline just as it is unless something malfunctions that affects it in a major way. One thing you should be aware of is the vintage frets that come with this guitar. These frets are very small and require a much different touch on the neck. All you have to do is play one for a few minutes to see what I mean. The other thing that sets this guitar apart from the rest is the three bolt neck. I have no experience with this type of neck joint so I can not form an opinion. The one thing that suprised me about this guitar is that I saw a picture of Bob Dylan playing one in Rolling Stone magazine. Dylan has played the same sunburst Stratocacter for the last forty years or so and I took it to be a sign of approval that he would pick up the thinline. Just an observation that has no particular meaning. As far as the pickups go, I think they are truly different from fender single coils and gibson humbuckers. But in the end, it all has to do with the sound that you like.

I tried this guitar out at a few stores before ordering it up. I knew it was what I wanted, but had reservations about what modifications would be required to make it playable. I only ended up changing the saddles (I cut my fingers too often on the vintage-style ones). The tuning machines hold up much better than anticipated, and of course, the pickups are what I wanted in the first place- not too bright not too thick/muddy. I play clean most of the time, but when overdriven it is very warm. I did a recent one-off AC/DC cover show (I was Malcolm) and I thought I'd borrow a friend's Gibson, but used this for the first rehearsal and it nailed the Malcolm tone using a Marshall straight up. Anything needing much more gain than that, however, this guitar doesn't hold up as well, but that's not what it's designed for. This is my main guitar, the other is an American standard tele, being that the '72 has a richer and more versatile sound than the standard.

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.

The only downside I have with this guitar is that it keeps me from playing my Start which I also love.

I really wanted this guitar to be something it isn't. To give a frame of reference, I play through a Vox AC30 that's been re/hand-wired. My main guitar is a Gibson Dot reissue, an amazing guitar. I was and am still looking for a guitar with a different but distinct, maybe brighter sound.

I've been researching and reading reviews and thought this might be the other sound I'm looking for. It's not, I just played it at a music store through an AC30, it sounds thin and brittle. It reminds me of the squire I bought for $200 when I was 14.

I don't have it out for fender or anything, it just really was offensive to my ears.

I've heard there's an american made custom shop version of this, I'd be interested in hearing that, but this one is not that good especially for the price, really, really overpriced.

I tried a few other guitars and I think I'm going to go with the SG Classic. It's right in the same price range, american made and it has a great bright, but not thin, brittle tone.

I bought this guitar at the last minute when I was trying to upgrade from a epiphone les paul. I wanted something that would cut through on solos and provide a beafy tone on chords. I play a wide range of music styles and I fell in love when I played this one. The tone of the humbuckers will give you a big stadium rock type sound and the maple neck gives you the ability to move fast along the neck. If you are looking for a unique guitar that does it all, this is the guitar for you.