The Low Down on the Fender Telecaster Thinline Super Deluxe

Part Cabronita in style, part hot rod rebel   03-Nov-12

Wow. If a guitar can be judged purely on looks, then this baby is a beaut. But as we all know, looks are only half the story (maybe 3/4 of the story if you are as superficial as this writer), and Fender have thrown a lot of premium parts at the Fender Telecaster Thinline Super Deluxe (as well as a lot of words).

Their parenthood over Gretsch is telling in this guitar, this is like a hot-rodded countrified version of a deluxe Telecaster, and if you can put to one side the impression that Fender seem to be reinventing the wheel every few months when it comes to the Tele, this looks like it could be a great addition to the family.

It will be available in Black and Olympic White, and the spec is enough to wet the appetite of any self-confessed Telecaster buff. The resonant semi-hollow basswood body is set off with double binding and a single f hole, matching painted headstock, 7.25"-radius bound rosewood fingerboard with pearloid block inlays, and a pair of Fideli’Tron™ humbucking pickups.

It's those pickups we're interested in, the Fideli’Tron™ is like the hard-working little sister of the beauty queen Gretsch Filtertron. It doesn't get noticed so much at parties, but it's sophisticated and beautiful in its own way. The Fideli’Tron™ cancels out some of the Tele twang, but not all of it.

For crunchier rock and roll sounds this should be a great little guitar, and it will clean up nicely on the neck pickup to give you something resembling a jazzy sound. But these pickups will not kick out a distortion tone as thick as that of the Filtertrons, which is just as well, as that would feel almost inappropriate on a Telecaster!

Other features include a modern C-shaped maple neck with bone nut, 21 wide vintage-style frets, three-way blade switching with "top hat" switch tip, single-ply pickguard (gold on Olympic White model; silver on Black model), gold (Olympic White model) and chrome (Black model) hardware, vintage-style Stratocaster® hard-tail bridge, three-bolt "F"-stamped neck plate with Micro-Tilt™ adjustment.

All-in-all, the guitar is a 'looker', and will have character in bundles, this is almost as exciting as the Cabronita Telecaster, actually, it could be even more exciting.

Click here to see both colours of the Telecaster Thinline Super Deluxe, side by side.

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