'72 Reissue Fender Tele Thinline

[NSJ]

The one with the humbuckers and the single F hole. Anybody played one of these? Is there a difference in quality between US and MIM ones? Thanks!

[BigDaddyLoveHandles]

I thought the '69 and '72 Thinlines were both MIM. Are you saying there are MIA ones? I don't think so. For a Tele, I would go for SC. The HB on the '72 are nothing special.

[derek]

I have only seen MIM, and I agree, nothing special at all. I just was a part of K-Line test drive program (K-Line Home Page), and got in a lovely, natural thinline with Jason Lollar pups to tryout for a week.

All Fender Lic parts, but the fit and finish was just wonderful. The Lollar pups are some of my faves. I would strongly suggest talking to Chris if you are interested in MIA Fender guitars, as he does as good if not better job than Fender's CS for less than half the price.

I have a thinline on my list of eventual scores, and I will be talking to Chris when I do. He can config it anyway you want. No brainer for me.

[NSJ]

I just assumed they were made in various locations, sorry didn't know. How does it sound with the Humbuckers---neck pup?

[BigDaddyLoveHandles]

I'm not a fan of ordinary tonebuckers. If you're looking for a jazz sound, I think the SC neck pickup is great. One thing I've been thinking of doing myself is sinking a Charlie Christian into the neck position:



Here is a demo:

[NSJ]

I'm not a fan of ordinary tonebuckers. If you're looking for a jazz sound, I think the SC neck pickup is great. One thing I've been thinking of doing myself is sinking a Charlie Christian into the neck position:



Here is a demo:

Cool, thanks for the feedback. What's a SC neck pickup? Same as the Lollar CC for Tele?

[BigDaddyLoveHandles]

Sorry. I'm overdoing the abbreviations:

SC = single coil
HB = humbucker

[NSJ]

Sorry. I'm overdoing the abbreviations:

SC = single coil
HB = humbucker

Doh, should have known. my bad. I just did some research about this model, and got confused about "250k" vs "500k" pots, "Wide Body Pup" vs. regular pup, whether you can swap out the pups, etc.

I just saw a cheap one on sale on CL, thought I could check it out, maybe swap out the HB for a Lollar CC, but it sounds terribly confusing for a Luddite like me..

[BigDaddyLoveHandles]

I'm hopeless at modding guitars. I'm going to have a technician do my work. But when it comes to switching pickups, there's a question of different rout sizes. I vaguely recall that Mexican Teles may have a "swimming pool" rout: you take off the pickguard and there's a big hole!

On the other hand, if there's a specific-sized rout, the easiest thing to do is put in a pickup of the same size. Both Lollar and Vintage Vibe have humbucker version of their CC pickups, but I really dig the hexagonally-shaped version. That pickup is unusually wide (side to side) and deep (into the guitar), so it would need custom routing.

By the way, the '72 Tele has "wide range humbuckers". These are bigger than average humbuckers (this is just for show these days -- the cases are bigger but they hold a standard humbucker). Again, the first thing one would do is take off the pickguard and see how big the rout really is.

I suggest you go to the Tele forum and ask there: Telecaster Guitar Forum - guitars, gear, amps and strings The guys there can tell you what brand of screws were used in 1952! They know everything. Good luck!

[JohnW400]

I have a 90-93 (can't remeber when I bought it) Tele thinline in natural with tortise shell style body binding. I had the original pups changed to a Texas Special in the bridge spot and a Duncan HB in the bridge position along with a push-pull tone control. It's made in the USA.

[mr. beaumont]

i have one of the fender "wide-range" humbuckers in my tele custom (they're the reissue, regular humbucker in a big casing- pickups)

one of the big critiques on the tele page is that they sound muddy, but some of these tele freaks are used to having icepicks jammed into their ears by their tone. I think they sound quite good in a PAF-y kind of way--not too hot to play thru a tube amp clean, either, which is nice.

the '72 thinlines bum me out, overall, though. The '69's have an outstanding neck (actually the neck on my main tele is swiped from one of those) and a nice light body, the '72's have a "meh" neck (IMHO) and are significantly heavier, as they are only half hollow! So you really gain none of the benefits of a thinline there as far as weight goes.

i felt overall that previous to the price hike about a year ago, the mexican made fenders offered a pretty great "bang for the buck." Now, not so much...

and of course, everybody here knows i'll be the first to chime in and say you definitely don't need humbuckers for a good jazz tone!

[lpdeluxe]

one of the big critiques on the tele page is that they sound muddy, but some of these tele freaks are used to having icepicks jammed into their ears by their tone. I think they sound quite good in a PAF-y kind of way--not too hot to play thru a tube amp clean, either, which is nice.

I'm not sure I would put my money on a tone dissertation by a dedicated Tele single-coil guy. I recall a discussion on another forum, the topic of which was, "Tele players -- do you EVER use the neck pickup?"

Predictably, the answer was "No, of course not."

[BigDaddyLoveHandles]

The big music store in my town has a whole "wall a Teles" (including a GE Smith). One thing I've come to appreciate is that there's a lot of variation in what may look like nearly identical models, to the non-guitarists.

And one thing that varies from Tele model to Tele model is the neck. C, Modern C, V, soft V, U, deep U, D etc... You have to try them and see which works for you. For example, some people love Vs while they give cramps to others.

And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Fret wire, nut width, radius, wood choice, the list goes on if you're picky and I haven't even gotten to the body!

[BigDaddyLoveHandles]

one of the big critiques on the tele page is that they sound muddy, but some of these tele freaks are used to having icepicks jammed into their ears by their tone. I think they sound quite good in a PAF-y kind of way--not too hot to play thru a tube amp clean, either, which is nice.

On TDPRI there was a recent thread: humbuckers, I just don't like them, or words to that effect. They seem to have make exceptions for ones like TV JOnes:

[JohnW400]

I'm not sure I would put my money on a tone dissertation by a dedicated Tele single-coil guy. I recall a discussion on another forum, the topic of which was, "Tele players -- do you EVER use the neck pickup?"

Predictably, the answer was "No, of course not."

That's funny.

Players like Danny Gatton used both pups and so did Roy Buchanan (yes I read that you're not fond of his tone). I'm sure George Harrison did so as well on Let It Be with his famed rosewood tele. Either that or the Leslie speaker really mellowed out the rear pup.

[lpdeluxe]

That's funny.

Players like Danny Gatton used both pups and so did Roy Buchanan (yes I read that you're not fond of his tone). I'm sure George Harrison did so as well on Let It Be with his famed rosewood tele. Either that or the Leslie speaker really mellowed out the rear pup.

I know I'm dealing with a stereotype. So far I have somehow not heard any of the better-known players (Bill Frizell, among others), but Roy Buchanan had a shrieking sound in it that made his music unlistenable to me; and a good friend, who never owned a guitar other than his Tele, was equally piercing. I don't seek out music on the basis of what instruments are being played, and no doubt I have heard attractive sounds from a Tele that I did not recognize as being from that source.

I hope to add to my education in that area, as in all things.

Some day, I'll hear the ones I'm missing -- but for now, I'm unlikely to trade my 335 for a Telecaster.

[BigDaddyLoveHandles]

[mr. beaumont]

ah yes, ed, thru the quintessential jazz rig.

lpdeluxe, we're out there, y'know. tele playing jazzers. oh yes, we're out there...occasionally we record too:ezFolk: Jeff matz


on a side note, this must have been filmed back when women listened to jazz too, huh?

[lpdeluxe]

Oh yes, I forgot Ed Bickert! The epitome of the aw shucks, I'm just playing an ol' guitar.

I LOVE the concept of the Telecaster. It is a testament to Leo Fender's remarkable vision, tenacity and thoroughness. I have tried to imagine just how revolutionary the thing looked back in 1949 or so, when swing players were trying them out for the first time (I do remember seeing a cutaway arch top on B&W TV when I was about 12, and thinking "that guitar is lopsided!"). While the Telecaster appeals to me conceptually, my Gibsons do much more for me musically...that is, as long as we're talking about guitars.

My basses are all Fender Precisions, encompassing a '51 (brother to the Tele), a '50s Classic and an American Vintage '57 (both close replicas of the early second-generation P) and a fretless.

They stand as avatars of Leo's utilitarian, un-artsy approach. There is a bright line separating the wholly Leo-designed instruments and the later, Freddie Tavares-designed models. My '51, played through a friend's Ampeg B15N, will practically drown its audience in rich chocolate warmth; the later ones will drive any number of dancer's butts around the dance floor by the hour.

But the sound of a Telecaster is annoying to me, at least in the hands of the mere mortals I find myself surrounded by (and, no doubt, they are all saying "why doesn't he ditch that Gibson and get something you can hear!").

De gustibus non est disputadum. Or, in other words, Comment un homme traite la bête, il faut qu'il traite également la machine. Wait a minute, that's not quite right....

[mr. beaumont]

But the sound of a Telecaster is annoying to me, at least in the hands of the mere mortals I find myself surrounded by....

riiiggghhhht...thanks for listening

[lpdeluxe]

riiiggghhhht...thanks for listening

C'mon, mr beaumont, I was speaking of the locals around here. I'm afraid the stereotypes are true in this little corner of East Texas. I would not apply them to anyone here at the Jazz Guitar Forum. I have found that there is a depth of experience here not on display in my little town.

I'm happy for an audience for my parochial rants -- who knows, in those random and necessarily few gaps in my verbal expositions, I might even listen and thereby learn something.

Not that I'm making any promises....

[mr. beaumont]

i'm just razzing ya!

i just wanted to point out, i'm most definitely a "mere mortal" but i can pull off a decent jazz tone with my tele...

[lpdeluxe]

I know that, but I preferred to disavow to prevent any misunderstanding. This forum has the remarkable and unexpected aspect of attracting mature participants and I don't want to be responsible for moving it into a new, and unwanted, direction.

Now, if we were members of a couple of other fora that shall remain unnamed, we could happily hurl shrapnel grenades at each other, just to hear the racket.

I've always wondered, why is the typical guitar forum so prone to testosterone-fueled combat? I have been member of talkbass.com for 6 or 7 years, and the conflicts there revolve around whether it's cheating to have lines on fretless fingerboards, and the relative merits of Precisions vs Jazz basses (guess which side I'm on). I used to visit guitar.com (and have a lovely black tee shirt with their logo to wear when I want to pretend I'm a teenager) where a number of us formed a group called "AO21" ("All Over [age] 21") so that we could discuss adult issues such as whether a person could really play jazz on a hair-band-era pointy superstrat (one of the participants proved beyond all refute that yes, one can). Most of the other individuals there attacked each other for their choice of amplifiers, or argued about the relative value of pink vs fiesta red, or indulged in other endless and ill-willed debates of urgent issues.

So let's be friends: I'll overlook your use of the Telecaster, and you may feel free to overlook, oh, any number of things about me that grate your sensibilities.

[randyc]

Well, this discussion really throws me because I can't pick a side !

You guys that are taking opposite sides of the "discussion" are just so darned reasonable and articulate that I can't find solid ground to stand and argue.

But I will say this: no collection is complete without a Telecaster and for the life of me, I don't know why there isn't one in MINE. Probably just due to innate snobbishness which suggests - to ME - that bolted together, solid body guitars shouldn't be priced to run with archtops, the market notwithstanding.

So my attitude has prevented me from picking up a Tele for stupid/low prices over the years and now they cost as much as many archtops. And I STILL can't talk myself into buying one (although I didn't have a problem with buying TWO Heritages this week, for which I have absolutely no use).

So keep it up, guys, I'm enjoying this and it may jell my ambivalent attitude about Tele's into a permanent set.

[mr. beaumont]

I've always wondered, why is the typical guitar forum so prone to testosterone-fueled combat?

because, lets face it, the guitar is a big 'ol wooden phallic extension.

and mine is long scale.