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.

I used to own an original 72 Thinline Tele that was my favorite guitar for years. After it was stolen, I bought one of the reissues with a sense of trepidation. Reissues are usually not as good as the originals, no matter what the company may say about original specs and all. This guitar is the exception. The sound is even meatier and it stays in tune much better than the original model. My only gripe (and it is a minor one) is that the frets are not finished as well as the original was. But this is a great guitar, especailly if you love the tone of '70's rock. This guitar really delivers!

In the 80's, I used to play a friends Tele Custom in a band a lot. I always liked the sound of the humbucker tele, but switchgear and noisy pots kept me from buying one. After playing the reissue custom and thinline models, I bought a '72 thinline because it has the humbuckers, but the semi-hollow sound gives a distinctive tone.

I was skeptical of the micro-tilt neck, with 3 screws securing it, but the neck action is terrific, and solid. The 6 saddle bridge avoids the "always out of tune" problem with old Fenders. And the new pickups don't have the noise problems I remember from the old model.

This is my first maple neck Fender. the action is good and the finish work on the frets and neck are as good as most American teles I have played. The only quality blemish I notices was the finish within the f-hole is a bit rough. A little detail work will take care of that, though.

And, I still love the sound. Great for blues, country and alt rock. It has a great semi-hollow body tone. I use Roland Blues Driver, distortion and chorus pedals with it through a Roland Cube or Peavey tube amp.

I did purchase a real case for it. The gig bag is lightweight and offers no protection for the guitar.