Fender Classic Series '69 Telecaster Thinline Electric Guitar 

Comments about Fender Classic Series '69 Telecaster Thinline Electric Guitar:

great guitar, misleading photo. it looks like a natural ash finish but when i got it it was a natural mahogony body. nice, but not what i expected.

Comments about Fender Classic Series '69 Telecaster Thinline Electric Guitar:

I bought this guitar prior to the universal price hike that has occurred on instruments within the past couple of years, I believe it cost me around 5ish - which, considering, is a real bargain. At the base the guitar is chock-full of mojo, but it needs a few upgrades to make it a truly dependable gig guitar. As other reviewers have mentioned, a pickup swap is important, i put lindy fralins on mine, the 250k pot is subjective, but i feel it gives more warmth to the overall character. I also put in glendale compensated saddles for perfect intonation, new tone capacitor, and the 4 way switch (that gives you a bridge and neck in series option creating an almost faux humbucker - like a warm lead boost). Last, I put an electrosocket input jack, for stability. Overall, with the exception of pickups, these are all relatively inexpensive upgrades which will make this or any part-caster great

Comments about Fender Classic Series '69 Telecaster Thinline Electric Guitar:

I really like this guitar a lot. Everything else I say will be positive after I get one negative out of the way. The only thing that caused me not to give it 5s across the board was, as I see some other reviewers have noted, the stock pickups are pretty harsh and too trebly. Although I really like single coil vintage twang and deliberately want that sound much of the time, I am always trying to find the right balance on tone control and amp settings to get it where I like it without the treble having too much of the icepick factor. The stock pickups on this guitar, especially the bridge pickup, seemed to go straight to the icepick factor. I could never really get the balance I was looking for, so I swapped them out for some other vintage tele type pickups from a particular pickup manufacturer and it's better now (also much more output now, which I wasn't necessarily expecting), although I still have to watch the treble to stay short of the "too much treble" mark that moves into icepick territory. With that out of the way, the rest is really positive. I have the 3-tone sunburst and it is a big-time beauty. It gets plenty of compliments for its looks. In person it looks even better than in the pictures, especially the lighter colored part of the wood near the bridge. It's nice and light, no problem to have strapped over the shoulder for hours at a time. I really love the look and feel of the maple fretboard and neck. I have not found a single finish or quality control flaw. I have found the tuning performance to be fine (big humidity/climate changes will cause it to wander a little, but to me that's not the guitar's fault, and one retune seems to take care of it). Unplugged this guitar is a lot of fun as well, as a semi-hollow. This guitar falls into the category of instruments I choose not to take out very often because I want to protect it. I have not gigged with it because I have less expensive instruments that I have modified and I would rather see one of those damaged or stolen than this one. I do have to add, though, that if I were going to do it again, I might actually opt for the Squier Thinline tele instead (the mahogany one). In case some purist is reading this in disbelief, that is not a criticism of Fender, though, just an acknowledgement of how well the Squier falls in line with the idea of this particular guitar. I have played the Squier unplugged and plugged in at 2 different places, and I like it about as much as my MIM Fender version (and the Squier is about half what I paid). Really, if you like thinline teles -- and there is a lot to like about them -- you can't go wrong with either the Squier or the Fender.

Comments about Fender Classic Series '69 Telecaster Thinline Electric Guitar:

I got mine on a trade, the moment I saw it I had to play it. Amazing. I have owned tele's, I own a strat. I play the tele around the house through either my Line 6 guitar port or my vintage 30 watt ampeg bass amp w/ a 15" speaker and run the guitar through my Digitech aritst pedal and between the two I come up withy some cool stuff. I also play the thinline and my strat through a '72 randall bluesman w/4x10 65 watt combo.The Tele is true to it's older brothers and the mahogany body and maple neck are the greatest wood combinations for any high quality guitar. I erecommend this Thinline for any genre of music. I play most of it,Jazz,blues,country and rock. Nothing sounds better. Not even the strat.

Comments about Fender Classic Series '69 Telecaster Thinline Electric Guitar:

garbage pickups, not much sustain and strings go SLIGHTLY out of tune quite fast but remain just barely out of tune forever. however it's very playable, comfortable and just has a charm to it... i rated low but i still love it

Comments about Fender Classic Series '69 Telecaster Thinline Electric Guitar:

I bought this guitar at a local music store and have fallen in love! I'm playing it through a Fender Hotrod Deville 212 Combo, and it sounds amazing! It was definitely a God thing that I was able to buy this GORGEOUS guitar. The pics really don't do it justice. The tone is professional. Sounds GREAT clean and overdriven. Great feel. Love the tuners. Intonation is nearly flawless and holds it's tune for a long time even when played hard. GREAT guitar!

Comments about Fender Classic Series '69 Telecaster Thinline Electric Guitar:

i received my thinline as a gift from my girlfriend (now wife) who didn't know anything about guitars, but liked the looks of this one. i initially loved the way it plays (it's really light, so you can hold it for hours), and i loved the neck. but hated the stock pickups, especially in the neck. The bridge was ok at low volumes. but overall it was *way* too trebly and muddy to be useful for much more than a novelty.rather than let it gather dust, i put some work into it -- had a pair of duncan alnico II's put in, got a nice setup, swapped out the 500k pots for 250ks, and WOW! now this thing is a great tele, definitely my favorite electric. still trebly, but you can roll back the tone a bit and it sounds killer. the bridge is full of twang, and the neck is clean and full, the way a tele should be. very versatile, and great for alt rock (no wonder the guys in coldplay and radiohead play thinlines)...i wish i would have had the tech throw in a 4-way switch so i could get the humbucker-like setting that the new tele's have. i didn't think of it at the time...maybe someday. i suspect that setting might be really juicy on this axe...So here's the thing -- if you are willing to put something extra into this guitar, you can still get a sa-weet looking, sounding and playing axe for not much more than a grand. that's a bargain, and well worth the effort.

Comments about Fender Classic Series '69 Telecaster Thinline Electric Guitar:

This is a good guitar at it's core, but don't even think about buying it unless you are willing to perform modifications:1- The stock pick ups are TERRIBLE. I couldn't believe how harsh and noisy they were. Replace with either Vintage Telecaster Noiseless Pick-Ups or Seymore Duncans.2- Wiring and grounding was not as good as it should have been and this contributes to a lot of hum and noise in the guitar. This guitar needs to be re-wired properly.Once these two modifications are performed, you will have a great sounding guitar. It sounds quite different than a normal tele, and it has a really "open" sound because of the F-Hole.

Comments about Fender Classic Series '69 Telecaster Thinline Electric Guitar:

I picked up a '69 thinline in a trade. I am completely blown away. This could be my main axe for life. I can't think of one thing to modify. For the price this has to be the best deal ever on any Fender guitar. You won't be sorry for trying this guitar.

Comments about Fender Classic Series '69 Telecaster Thinline Electric Guitar:

I've had this guitar for about 2 years now. I have to say that this is one amazing guitar. I play everything from classic rock to metal on it, and it handles it with no problems. It's held up well to all the abuse that I have given it with the only repair needed was an input jack.