I feel extremely lucky to be alive right now because of how enthusiastic the whole scene is around guitars right now. Your page has done so much to help push this community in such an awesome direction! THANK YOU!
I am a guitar builder. These times, as you say, are amazing for us guitar geeks. I started building in my basement about 15 years ago, and have sold over 50 handmade guitars and basses. There is no other time in history when a hobby could be this exciting.
@@ronj9448 you realize the music "world" includes countries outside the USA right? Go take a look at Finland and Japan.... Also have you not noticed that the popular music industry now is not at all independent artists found and promoted but rather fabricated bands created by the industry itself? No shit that a bunch of suits making music prefer samples over actual instruments and musicians. Thats why so many people don't give a shit about pop music anymore, meanwhile in the 50s-80s pretty much everyone felt represented in some capacity by pop music. Record breaking all time sales numbers for guitars and you don't think there's a return to our roots in the works? I hope someone else handles your investment portfolio....
@@ronj9448 this video itself and the fact that it exists disproves your statement.... this is the music world now.... there was never a market for shows like this before, and now there is, the fact that this audience exists now and didn't before should have told you everything.
I was given a Squier Thinline Telecaster with a gold finish by my son, to celebrate my 50th year as a performing musician. Nice guitar - still have it - still like it a lot.
It seems to be a recurring trend in electric guitar history that guitar designs don't get a lot of appreciation when they're first brought to market, only for players to fall in love with them many years later. The thinlines were and still are cool guitars, they just needed the right player to make them shine. It's always nice when there's a little personal history in these guitar histories. You're not just telling the story of the guitar, but how it impacted you. Gotta love that every guitar player at one point looked at David Gilmour and went: "I wanna sound like that guy."
This always happens because most big time guitar players are not technicians in the slightest. They don't look to understand the amount of versatile function you can get out of an instrument or piece of gear. They just want something that does the job and gets out of the way without having them need to think about what pickups they have on, how they are wired, etc. The Jazzmaster still gets a bad rep despite being designed to basically cancel out all negatives of guitar design at the time, as long as you knew how to use it. Things like easy to adjust truss rods and tilt adjustments should be present in every practical electric guitar or bass if you ask me. If guitarists in general would have more passion for tech over the years, we would have seen them adopted more. Players would rather fantasize about some unproven difference between bobbin colors or chase flawed guitar designs from the 50s rather than focus on getting and maintaining a guitar that is as practical as it is wonderful. This is why I have such an appreciation of modern smaller brands than the big classics. Brands like Dingwall, Ibanez and Sire make such functional instruments with so much space for creativity in both how you play them and they're setup.
@@elsienova4269 love your reply and the OP comment as well. It’s amazing how subjective guitars are because not everyone who is into them are actual working musicians anymore. Collectors, tinkerers, bedroom players, they all relate to guitars in different ways and look for different things, which generally boils down to whether or not you believe in “mojo” or not. Mojo generally includes having a loyalty to the big brands and traditional designs as well. It’s just insane because the Telecaster is literally 73 years old now and the Thinline is now 55 years old, so it seems like some players need designs to be half a century old before they acknowledge them 😉 I can’t wait for the RG to be 50 years old in that case - it’s “only” 35 years old right now!
@@davidwonpu353 Exactly this. I'm not a working musician, not even a practicing one (used to play base a long time ago). I just have a big fascination for the instruments, the engineering, the history and the cool sounds people make with them. Guitars are super subjective. One's dream instrument is unplayable to someone else.
I have a thinline ASAT and it seems to have cured my GAS. Doesn’t get much better than a semi hollow T-style imo. Also, those were some of the best tones I’ve heard John pull off. Great stuff.
@@guitrr , I've seen Tab play a bunch of times and he really gives that Thinline a workout! It's stock, too. One guitar, two combo amps, no pedals or effects. On a Premier Guitar "rig rundown" interview, Tab said, "I don't know why y'all are talkin' to me, I ain't got but the one guitar and the two amps; the guitar and the amps are just tools to get the song out to the audience".
I had wondered why they made the semi hollow design. I thought they were trying to get an 'acoustic' or Gibson look. I am glad I got a logical answer of making the body lighter. I am going to go ahead and apologize now for some nerd trivia; the holes are taken from the classic look of the Stradivarius violins. The wholes were actually 'S's (for Stradivarius). They are more accurately called 'S' holes. I know, I am kind of an 'S' hole for inserting this trivia.
The same style sound holes were used on violins that pre-date ones made by Antonio Stradivari, even though he mastered making the instrument. The core design of the modern violin, including the shape of the sound holes, appears to be attributed to Andrea Amati. Following your 'S' hole reasoning, my insertion of this trivia upon trivia about 'A'mati earns me the distinction of being some kind of an A-hole.
@@paulketchupwitheverything767 I need to go back to my college and correct the violinists who told me that old tale. I remember clearly one senior student telling me and a teacher agreeing. Volinists, hmph!
@@paulketchupwitheverything767 It kinda shows my age. I was told this before I had internet to check everything i was told. Nowadays I look into these things, but this info has sat with me since the 90's.
"...generally doing my best impression of David Gilmour on his first solo record." Well played, Mr. Williams, well played! Thanks for another superb video!
A '73 Thinline is one of those "one that got away" guitars for me. A music store I used to frequent had a little bin in the back of the store with random NOS and used parts in it and they would occasionally hang a "luthier special" guitar or two above it. Project guitars that needed various levels of finishing (sometimes just bodies and or necks). I used to raid that parts bin for parts for various projects and one day they had this '73 thinline hanging up above it for something like $200 (this was the mid 80s). It was mostly stripped, the finish was gone, and all it was was the body, neck, tuning machines and bridge (it was strung and played well). Well I really couldn't afford it and I kept thinking about that guitar for days and finally decided to heck with it, I didn't need a project but I wanted it. Went back and it had been sold. I still think of what could have been with that guitar all these years later.
God, I love these short history videos that you do, Keith. I just recently went back and rewatched the Les Paul, Flying V and Explorer videos again. I never get tired of them. And, as usual, this one didn’t disappoint. Keep ‘em comin’!
I've got a Britt Daniel signature thinline tele and absolutely love it. Like any tele you can pretty much play any style of music on it and it still sounds great. Loved the video and the series in general. It's always good to learn more about the history of these instruments.
I've been saying this for awhile but the Classic Vibe guitars that Squire are building are excellent and their thinlines are no exception. I've found myself wanting these guitars more than most Fenders and I think they do a great job at capturing the overall vintage specs, look, and feel!
Thank you for assembling this video, Keith. It basically picked up where the short history of the Telecaster left off, and it felt like a history that needed to be put together . My assessment is that you wanted to wait until you got it right before you got it done. I was 11 years old when the film adaptation of the Commitments was shot by Alan Parker in Ireland and 12 when I first saw it with my own eyes. Glen Hansard (later known for having written and starred in the musical Once) portrayed Commitments guitar player Outspan Foster wielding a ‘72 Thinline Tele refinished in metallic blue and decked out in racing stripe decals. (That probably was the first time I took note of an electric guitar bearing a maple fingerboard.) The fact that Glenn played one would later resonate with me whenever I saw any other guitar player like Jonny Buckland wielding that same model either in original or reissue assembly. It also must’ve been an underlying influence on my decision to get my first Thinline in 2011. Between September 2010 and January 2021, I grabbed up four different Telecaster models of my own, two ‘72 reissues, one “partscaster” with Gibson H’s and a Strat-style ttem bridge and finally my current model, a Modern Payer Deluxe Thinline Tele w/ Seymour Duncan soapbar P90s. The areas where it divergence from a ‘72 Thinline include the 22nd fret, individual controls and those pickups supplanting the wide range buckers. I can recall resisting getting one of those before listening to the demos and realizing that I liked the sound of that P90s better.
i have a squier cv 70’s thinline and it’s one of my favorite guitars. i love the way telecasters feel and play, but i don’t really vibe with standard telecaster pickups, since the wide range humbuckers have a bit of a warmer sound, they work much better for me and what i play. i really love my thinline, and i think it’s the perfect telecaster, at least for me
My guitar teacher had a 72 model 2 thin line that buddy guy signed in 1995 (he signed the year) when he was still struggling to make a living, god I absolutely loved that unique guitar.
I am one of the people who when I was younger, a teenage guitarist in the 90s… I thought telecasters were ugly and then when I got older and started trying them out more, I immediately bought one ……the bridge pick up sound I just can’t live without now….. and now I think they’re so beautiful
Thank you Keith for this channel and these history lessons. I slogged thru an awful day at work fixated on this episode tonite being a reward for toughing it out. As always, your presentation was stellar. I became smitten with and purchased new in 1989 a MIJ '69 thinline reissue w/mahogany natural finish body & maple neck. It has served me all these years, loved and worn now in all the right places. The MIJs were built very well- I rewired it eventually & did a 4 way switch mod, but the original pickups remain. I call it Pegasus as the curve of it's white pearloid pickguard suggests a wing of that mythic horse. Airy but slightly darker sounding than solid, heavy ash T bodies l'd played, the versatility of this horse has flown me to any tonal palette I needed or my ears desired. Thrilled that you chose to shine a Short History spotlight on these unique Tele variants!
Awesome video! Another great V2 Thinline player is Dylan Mattheisen from the midwest emo band Tiny Moving Parts. Unreal musicianship, Dylan shreds these guitars!
I personally am not a huge fan of the Thinline, the single F-hole just doesn't do it for me. But I do love that it was a sister model to my personal favorite Fender model, the Tele Deluxe. Another excellent video Keith and crew!
Thanks, another great history lesson! One of the earlier Thinlines (Dark Sunburst) came thru the music shop I was working at early 70's. It was lovely - first time I had even considered buying a Fender (I was playing my 1968 Les Paul Custom at the time). I didn't have much time to find the money for the Thinline because 2 days later some guy bought it as soon as he tried it! I met him in 1977, our producer brought him in to arrange the strings on a couple of tracks on our album . . . asked him about it and he'd already sold it - turns out he was a very much in demand session player and arranger in NZ. Ho hum - so it goes! 😀
What a great treatise on this beautiful model. I really am, first and foremost, a Mustang man but when my wife and I walked into a Guitar Center one day back in 2009 and saw an ash body humbucker tele we went right to it. What a beautiful instrument. I’ve enjoyed it ever since.
The video brings back fond memories of the MIJ 69 Tele Thinline I played for many years in the early 2000s. Great guitars and a great video. Thanks Keith!
Thanks for anther great video. I'm in love with my MIM 72 version II reissue. The so-called "wide range" pickups on the MIM thinlines are actually humbuckers. I kept the bridge pickup as it sounds fantastic and modified the neck pickup into a real wide range to make it less muddy. This guitar has so much character!
I have a 72n thinline. Made in Japan 1995. Got it from a Japanese gentleman who kept it untouched in the gig bag for twenty years. Even had the original strings. Still like new today. My go to guitar. Love it.
I will never get tired of watching these episodes on the classic Fender and Gibson guitars. Everytime I think you got them all, then another video comes out on something I didn't think of or forgot about. I hope i am pleasantly surprised to see more of these in the future.
Great video wish you would have touched on the wallpaper ones from the late 60s the flowers and the paisley and the ones Japan started making in the 90s
Keith, I would like to tell you that, one could search TH-cam for any number of documentaries and " history behind" types of videos but some how yours hit the nail right on the head EVERYTIME. You do it better than the others. ITS JUST BETTER.
wow. I sent for a Fender catalog as a 10 year old in '67 then again in '72 when i started playing. This is where i first saw these. Really didn't know anything about them. Nicely done, Keith!
Thanks Keith. I’ve always loved the Thinline. In fact it’s my current #1. It’s a fair bit of Rickenbacker DNA in the way it’s made, body-wise of course. Keep the vids coming!
I bought a used fender thinline and while I'm waiting for it to be delivered in the upcoming days, I'm binging all fender tele thinline content on youtube... and this is a very good and informative video, thank you !
Great video thank you. Good to learn some history of the thinline. I just bought a mim classic series 69 reissue made in 1998. Absolutely love it. The neck profile is amazing and sonically it has a unique vibe. It's even threatening to overtake my Esquire as being my go-to guitar
I have a Japanese Fender ’69 thinline reissue that I bought new in 1994. It a cool guitar. I use it as a sort of Kieth Richards style open g tuned guitar. I’ve always enjoyed playing it.👍🥃
jonny buckland is my biggest guitar inspiration and made me want to pick up learning the guitar, and a 2 humbucker tele at that. happy to see his signature instrument featured on the best guitar history series around. fascinating to learn that the design originated as a solution to a stock of heavy wood! i'm around a year and a half into the guitar scene so i've got a lot of catching up to do, and these histories help a lot. thanks keith!
Around 1981 when I wanted to upgrade from my initial firewood guitar, I found a 1972 Tele Delux in a small back alley store. Nobody wanted 1970s guitars and definitely no weird pickups so I got it for a price I could afford. Little did I know I was purchasing a classic! Of course I sold that guitar long ago, but recently bought a MIM re-issue that feels pretty much identical.
Thanks for the deep dive - I ❤ my MIJ Thinline ‘72 RI, it’s light, bright and punchy with the WR humbuckers. Sounds like a Tele, just with some air and slightly more refined
I acquired a '69 RI Thinline in 2001 and it's seen a lot of use since then. I had it fitted with a Fishman piezo loaded bridge and pre-amp to it about ten years ago. I also swapped out the original pickups for US Fender models which sound a bit sweeter to my ears. I have dedicated electro-acoustics that sound a little better but when I'm gigging and space for guitars is limited the Thinline is perfect to act as a backup electric as well as giving me those acoustic sounds when I need them. Interestingly I acquired a US 'Acoustasonic' Telecaster last year and whilst it's a lot more versatile the Thinline more than holds its own played through the same rig. I had both out for a local session last night and when the battery ran flat on the Acoustasonic I had no issues switching to the Thinline.
Awesome video! I've always thought the Thinline Teles were awesome guitars. And I LOVE your Strandberg! If I were to get a Thinline Tele style, I'd probably get a Strandberg too!
Can't remember when I first became aware of the Thinline Teles, but it was love at first sight. Took me thirty years-ish to actually own one. I still have no time for the stupid Tele bridge though..I may not be alone there. I'm not blowing smoke here KW, but you have had the best guitar history shows anywhere, bar none, from the start. Many thanks and blessings.
This video came to me at the perfect time. I just played a demo of a reissue one of these for my channel, and man. I really love it. Those CuNiFe pickups have all the top end you could ask for and plenty of throatyness to boot. 5 Watt World with another tremendously informative video. Nice one, Keith!
I bought a 2nd hand Squier Vintage Modified '72 Telecaster Thinline from a local equipment rental concern here in Austin and installed a set of the Fender Wide Range Pickup reissues I bought as soon as they were released. I first converted the WRH to 4-lead wiring and installed a 4-way blade selector with both series and parallel wiring options. Aside from a couple of details (3-bolt neck e.g.), I've built myself a guitar that rivals the Fender Vintage II Thinline for about one third of the cost. Finally, I'm going to swap the stock neck for a Fender Tele Deluxe 22 fret w/ 12" radius. And, yes, those pickups have a one-of-a-kind sound to go along with the one-of-a-kind design. My next CuNiFe upgrade is going to be my Squier Classic Vibe Starcaster. That guitar is gonna scream and wail on top of the Duesenberg Les Trem II that I already installed. Probably going to omit the Master Volume from the original wiring design. It already plays beautifully. I have high hopes. Clearly, I've also had my share of coffee. Cheers.
I love my thinline tele. One of tbe best things CBS did was create a thinline tele. It's great for practicing unplugged, but it also has more hum due to the hollow nature. I have done so much reading about thinlines, but I never knew there were rosewood fretboard versions! I always discover something new from your channel, thank you!
My buddy has an early 70's thinline, and I really love playing it. I think he likes hearing me play it too, as we all like to hear our guitars being played by another. It gives you a different perspective on it's tonal qualities. Great review.
THAT'S MY BOYY I've been playing guitar since January 2021 and I bought my first electric last summer: a squier thinline telecaster, her name is claire and she has the same color as my hair, a bright ginger maple color. I love her, and I'm planning to give her some upgrades when I go back to the US for the summer. Copper plating on the pickguard to remove some unwanted crackling when phones or other devices are close by, locking tuners, a string changing kit, and maybe even adding a third pick up but we'll see.
I put together a thin line, but really did not follow anything historically wise, just used parts I like. using a American original 60s tele neck, rosewood fingerboard, almost flat sawn. A great sounding neck. The body was done by guitar mill, and is super light swamp ash, I used no pick guard, a standard tele bridge , in a cool transparent sonic blue , done in nitro. It shows the swamp ash grain pattern in a subdued way, really dig it. Pickups are custom shop 51 no casters. This guitar was a happy surprise once finished and became one of my best sounding guitars. Sometimes builds are great, sometimes not so much, This one tone and looks wise to me was perfect. I really did not know the thin line history, thanks for the video!
Follow up to my previous comment: I bought a 2022 Squier FSR Classic Vibe 60s Telecaster Thinline in Sonic Blue for an incredibly low price at GCSF. It's a very light very playable and comfortable guitar. It features a gold anodized aluminum pickguard which I think is a wonderful design feature. The only mod I did to this guitar is swapping out the stock 3 chrome barrel saddles for 3 compensated brass saddles. Otherwise this little Squire is perfect. The Fender-Designed Alnico 5 pickups sound great and only needed some fussing over the optimal height which took me about 5 minutes to figure out. Turns out this is a "hard to find" Squire guitar ... so lucky me.
Nooooo No no no no, Not another video about telecasters, Videos about telecasters always makes me want to buy more telecasters, I love buying telecasters..... But my wife doesn't. I can hear her now saying "Why do you need a Thinline telecaster?" and "Aren't four enough?" Oh God they'll be hell to pay but it will be worth it.
I have the Fender Thinline Select with Gold Hardware that came out in 2012/13. It is my #1 love that guitar. I have Gibson customs and a lot of nice guitars and I always come back to this one. Great video on this guitar.
Keith, thanks for highlighting the versatility of these great instruments. Both versions of the Thinline Telecaster deserve a place in the pantheon of great "do all" electrics right alongside the solidbody Telly and the 335. I love my thinlines not only for the light weight, but because they are much more easily led into musical feedback than a solidbody Telecaster. They just seem alive at a decent stage volume in a way a traditional Telecaster never does for me.
Great video like always! I was thinking recently it would be cool if you guys did "a short history" on the Rolling Stones mobile tour bus. I feel like a lot of people don't know about it and the amount of very successful musicians that have used it back in the day is crazy. Anyway, thank you for all that you do! You guys do great research and great presenting.
A couple of years ago I had a Fender American Pro ii routed out like a smugglers Tele and 2 cunife p/u’s installed with a 1mg pot. It has a roasted pine body, and it sounds amazing and unique, I have tried a couple of the new stock versions Fe 18:39 nder has put out, but to my ears mine sounds better and it weighs 6 lbs. 14 oz. Great video, Thank you Keith!
A few years ago I picked up a 1976 Aria Pro II "Backaroo" (maybe something was lost in translation). It is the first year of Matsumoku production of copying the Thinline Telecaster II. I have never before gravitated towards Telecasters but this guitar is wonderful. The humbucking pickups sound great and like you said in the video it is a really cool look. In my modest family of guitars, this is the least expensive I own but tends to be my "go-to guitar" for a lot of playing I do. I so appreciate all your videos and the philosophy of 5 Watt. Thank you.
Keith. Thank you so much for this. It was nice to hear all the variations in tone between the different versions! There are elements there of the best of both worlds, right? You have a classic Tele sound and then the warmth of the thinline. I love innovation.
I feel extremely lucky to be alive right now because of how enthusiastic the whole scene is around guitars right now. Your page has done so much to help push this community in such an awesome direction! THANK YOU!
I am a guitar builder. These times, as you say, are amazing for us guitar geeks. I started building in my basement about 15 years ago, and have sold over 50 handmade guitars and basses. There is no other time in history when a hobby could be this exciting.
Here here!
And yet the guitar has lost its social stature in the music world (as compared to the 1950s-80s).
@@ronj9448 you realize the music "world" includes countries outside the USA right? Go take a look at Finland and Japan.... Also have you not noticed that the popular music industry now is not at all independent artists found and promoted but rather fabricated bands created by the industry itself? No shit that a bunch of suits making music prefer samples over actual instruments and musicians. Thats why so many people don't give a shit about pop music anymore, meanwhile in the 50s-80s pretty much everyone felt represented in some capacity by pop music. Record breaking all time sales numbers for guitars and you don't think there's a return to our roots in the works? I hope someone else handles your investment portfolio....
@@ronj9448 this video itself and the fact that it exists disproves your statement.... this is the music world now.... there was never a market for shows like this before, and now there is, the fact that this audience exists now and didn't before should have told you everything.
I was given a Squier Thinline Telecaster with a gold finish by my son, to celebrate my 50th year as a performing musician. Nice guitar - still have it - still like it a lot.
It seems to be a recurring trend in electric guitar history that guitar designs don't get a lot of appreciation when they're first brought to market, only for players to fall in love with them many years later. The thinlines were and still are cool guitars, they just needed the right player to make them shine.
It's always nice when there's a little personal history in these guitar histories. You're not just telling the story of the guitar, but how it impacted you. Gotta love that every guitar player at one point looked at David Gilmour and went: "I wanna sound like that guy."
This always happens because most big time guitar players are not technicians in the slightest. They don't look to understand the amount of versatile function you can get out of an instrument or piece of gear. They just want something that does the job and gets out of the way without having them need to think about what pickups they have on, how they are wired, etc. The Jazzmaster still gets a bad rep despite being designed to basically cancel out all negatives of guitar design at the time, as long as you knew how to use it.
Things like easy to adjust truss rods and tilt adjustments should be present in every practical electric guitar or bass if you ask me. If guitarists in general would have more passion for tech over the years, we would have seen them adopted more.
Players would rather fantasize about some unproven difference between bobbin colors or chase flawed guitar designs from the 50s rather than focus on getting and maintaining a guitar that is as practical as it is wonderful. This is why I have such an appreciation of modern smaller brands than the big classics. Brands like Dingwall, Ibanez and Sire make such functional instruments with so much space for creativity in both how you play them and they're setup.
@@elsienova4269 love your reply and the OP comment as well. It’s amazing how subjective guitars are because not everyone who is into them are actual working musicians anymore. Collectors, tinkerers, bedroom players, they all relate to guitars in different ways and look for different things, which generally boils down to whether or not you believe in “mojo” or not. Mojo generally includes having a loyalty to the big brands and traditional designs as well. It’s just insane because the Telecaster is literally 73 years old now and the Thinline is now 55 years old, so it seems like some players need designs to be half a century old before they acknowledge them 😉 I can’t wait for the RG to be 50 years old in that case - it’s “only” 35 years old right now!
It’s also a testament to how much of an effect having an influential artist playing a guitar is for a guitar’s popularity over time
@@davidwonpu353 Exactly this. I'm not a working musician, not even a practicing one (used to play base a long time ago). I just have a big fascination for the instruments, the engineering, the history and the cool sounds people make with them.
Guitars are super subjective. One's dream instrument is unplayable to someone else.
@@elsienova4269 I need to check out that 1st solo album.Of david gilmore
You can always count on a great 5 watt history lesson. With ridiculous demo playing. Massively appreciated as always.
I recorded my first 3 albums with one of these so I'm pumped up for this one!
I have a thinline ASAT and it seems to have cured my GAS. Doesn’t get much better than a semi hollow T-style imo. Also, those were some of the best tones I’ve heard John pull off. Great stuff.
Tab Benoit is the first who comes in my mind, when I think of a 72 Telecaster Thinline.
Came here to say that. I feel it is essential to his percussive sound.
Me too, Tab certainly knows how to rock a Thinline
@@guitrr , I've seen Tab play a bunch of times and he really gives that Thinline a workout! It's stock, too. One guitar, two combo amps, no pedals or effects. On a Premier Guitar "rig rundown" interview, Tab said, "I don't know why y'all are talkin' to me, I ain't got but the one guitar and the two amps; the guitar and the amps are just tools to get the song out to the audience".
Tab destroys on that thinline of his. Glad you mentioned him here!
I had wondered why they made the semi hollow design. I thought they were trying to get an 'acoustic' or Gibson look. I am glad I got a logical answer of making the body lighter. I am going to go ahead and apologize now for some nerd trivia; the holes are taken from the classic look of the Stradivarius violins. The wholes were actually 'S's (for Stradivarius). They are more accurately called 'S' holes. I know, I am kind of an 'S' hole for inserting this trivia.
The same style sound holes were used on violins that pre-date ones made by Antonio Stradivari, even though he mastered making the instrument. The core design of the modern violin, including the shape of the sound holes, appears to be attributed to Andrea Amati.
Following your 'S' hole reasoning, my insertion of this trivia upon trivia about 'A'mati earns me the distinction of being some kind of an A-hole.
@@paulketchupwitheverything767 Brilliant, thank you. I am going to go learn more about this.
@@paulketchupwitheverything767 I need to go back to my college and correct the violinists who told me that old tale. I remember clearly one senior student telling me and a teacher agreeing. Volinists, hmph!
@@paulketchupwitheverything767 It kinda shows my age. I was told this before I had internet to check everything i was told. Nowadays I look into these things, but this info has sat with me since the 90's.
Not at all. I have learnt something. Thank you.
"...generally doing my best impression of David Gilmour on his first solo record." Well played, Mr. Williams, well played! Thanks for another superb video!
These are my favorite Teles, and to me one of the coolest designs ever. Such a great video, Keith!
Thanks JB! Hope you’re well man!
Cheers for having me OF! Enjoyed trying a Thinline...I never finished building mine...
I just got one and I think it makes the most wonderful sounds. Plus it’s just plain beautiful.
A '73 Thinline is one of those "one that got away" guitars for me. A music store I used to frequent had a little bin in the back of the store with random NOS and used parts in it and they would occasionally hang a "luthier special" guitar or two above it. Project guitars that needed various levels of finishing (sometimes just bodies and or necks). I used to raid that parts bin for parts for various projects and one day they had this '73 thinline hanging up above it for something like $200 (this was the mid 80s). It was mostly stripped, the finish was gone, and all it was was the body, neck, tuning machines and bridge (it was strung and played well). Well I really couldn't afford it and I kept thinking about that guitar for days and finally decided to heck with it, I didn't need a project but I wanted it. Went back and it had been sold. I still think of what could have been with that guitar all these years later.
God, I love these short history videos that you do, Keith. I just recently went back and rewatched the Les Paul, Flying V and Explorer videos again. I never get tired of them. And, as usual, this one didn’t disappoint. Keep ‘em comin’!
Thanks again, for the history lesson! I always watch these with excitement, no matter how many times I heard these old tales.
I've got a Britt Daniel signature thinline tele and absolutely love it. Like any tele you can pretty much play any style of music on it and it still sounds great. Loved the video and the series in general. It's always good to learn more about the history of these instruments.
I've been saying this for awhile but the Classic Vibe guitars that Squire are building are excellent and their thinlines are no exception. I've found myself wanting these guitars more than most Fenders and I think they do a great job at capturing the overall vintage specs, look, and feel!
Couldn’t agree more. Seems like we’re reliving the introduction of the Squier JV years but Indonesia and China
Thank you for assembling this video, Keith. It basically picked up where the short history of the Telecaster left off, and it felt like a history that needed to be put together . My assessment is that you wanted to wait until you got it right before you got it done.
I was 11 years old when the film adaptation of the Commitments was shot by Alan Parker in Ireland and 12 when I first saw it with my own eyes. Glen Hansard (later known for having written and starred in the musical Once) portrayed Commitments guitar player Outspan Foster wielding a ‘72 Thinline Tele refinished in metallic blue and decked out in racing stripe decals. (That probably was the first time I took note of an electric guitar bearing a maple fingerboard.) The fact that Glenn played one would later resonate with me whenever I saw any other guitar player like Jonny Buckland wielding that same model either in original or reissue assembly. It also must’ve been an underlying influence on my decision to get my first Thinline in 2011.
Between September 2010 and January 2021, I grabbed up four different Telecaster models of my own, two ‘72 reissues, one “partscaster” with Gibson H’s and a Strat-style ttem bridge and finally my current model, a Modern Payer Deluxe Thinline Tele w/ Seymour Duncan soapbar P90s. The areas where it divergence from a ‘72 Thinline include the 22nd fret, individual controls and those pickups supplanting the wide range buckers. I can recall resisting getting one of those before listening to the demos and realizing that I liked the sound of that P90s better.
As a traditional tele owner/lover i had often said “why” when i see a thin-line. This video tells me why and now i want one :).Great work.
A friend had a Tele Thinline in the 70s. It was a very nice guitar. I had a Les Paul at the time and the sound each made was incredible.
i have a squier cv 70’s thinline and it’s one of my favorite guitars. i love the way telecasters feel and play, but i don’t really vibe with standard telecaster pickups, since the wide range humbuckers have a bit of a warmer sound, they work much better for me and what i play. i really love my thinline, and i think it’s the perfect telecaster, at least for me
My guitar teacher had a 72 model 2 thin line that buddy guy signed in 1995 (he signed the year) when he was still struggling to make a living, god I absolutely loved that unique guitar.
I am one of the people who when I was younger, a teenage guitarist in the 90s… I thought telecasters were ugly and then when I got older and started trying them out more, I immediately bought one ……the bridge pick up sound I just can’t live without now….. and now I think they’re so beautiful
Thank you Keith for this channel and these history lessons. I slogged thru an awful day at work fixated on this episode tonite being a reward for toughing it out. As always, your presentation was stellar. I became smitten with and purchased new in 1989 a MIJ '69 thinline reissue w/mahogany natural finish body & maple neck. It has served me all these years, loved and worn now in all the right places. The MIJs were built very well- I rewired it eventually & did a 4 way switch mod, but the original pickups remain. I call it Pegasus as the curve of it's white pearloid pickguard suggests a wing of that mythic horse. Airy but slightly darker sounding than solid, heavy ash T bodies l'd played, the versatility of this horse has flown me to any tonal palette I needed or my ears desired. Thrilled that you chose to shine a Short History spotlight on these unique Tele variants!
Awesome video! Another great V2 Thinline player is Dylan Mattheisen from the midwest emo band Tiny Moving Parts. Unreal musicianship, Dylan shreds these guitars!
I personally am not a huge fan of the Thinline, the single F-hole just doesn't do it for me. But I do love that it was a sister model to my personal favorite Fender model, the Tele Deluxe. Another excellent video Keith and crew!
Thanks Keith and all involved in this Short History episode!
What a lovely instrument.
Big fan of things like that.
The thinline tele with wide range humbuckers is one of the best guitars in history. I'm so happy Fender is building them again. I love mine.
Thanks, another great history lesson! One of the earlier Thinlines (Dark Sunburst) came thru the music shop I was working at early 70's. It was lovely - first time I had even considered buying a Fender (I was playing my 1968 Les Paul Custom at the time). I didn't have much time to find the money for the Thinline because 2 days later some guy bought it as soon as he tried it! I met him in 1977, our producer brought him in to arrange the strings on a couple of tracks on our album . . . asked him about it and he'd already sold it - turns out he was a very much in demand session player and arranger in NZ. Ho hum - so it goes! 😀
Got my hands on a couple Thinlines over the lockdown and absolutely love them. Thanks for this
once again, a very interesting history lesson!
Thanks for sharing it!!
What a great treatise on this beautiful model. I really am, first and foremost, a Mustang man but when my wife and I walked into a Guitar Center one day back in 2009 and saw an ash body humbucker tele we went right to it. What a beautiful instrument. I’ve enjoyed it ever since.
The video brings back fond memories of the MIJ 69 Tele Thinline I played for many years in the early 2000s. Great guitars and a great video. Thanks Keith!
0:36 I love how part of the catchphrase has condensed to “whinchested” 😂 love what you do thanks
Thanks for anther great video. I'm in love with my MIM 72 version II reissue. The so-called "wide range" pickups on the MIM thinlines are actually humbuckers. I kept the bridge pickup as it sounds fantastic and modified the neck pickup into a real wide range to make it less muddy. This guitar has so much character!
Thank you Mate for your love of guitars and their stories . Carry on
I love the way you present your content.....thank you for all your hard work!!!!
Jeff
I have a 72n thinline. Made in Japan 1995. Got it from a Japanese gentleman who kept it untouched in the gig bag for twenty years. Even had the original strings. Still like new today. My go to guitar. Love it.
“Smuggler” Tele. Awesome! I learned something new today!
I will never get tired of watching these episodes on the classic Fender and Gibson guitars. Everytime I think you got them all, then another video comes out on something I didn't think of or forgot about. I hope i am pleasantly surprised to see more of these in the future.
Great video wish you would have touched on the wallpaper ones from the late 60s the flowers and the paisley and the ones Japan started making in the 90s
I have the JA 90 Jim Atkins model, I assume it is still considered a thinline?....it is one of my favorites.....thanks Keith
Delightfully surprised about this one. Had no idea about the these!
I finally got round to seeing this. A great video and I have my first thinline tele, which my friend made for me.
Keith, I would like to tell you that, one could search TH-cam for any number of documentaries and " history behind" types of videos but some how yours hit the nail right on the head EVERYTIME. You do it better than the others. ITS JUST BETTER.
Love this guitar, thanks Keith.🎸🎵🔥
wow. I sent for a Fender catalog as a 10 year old in '67 then again in '72 when i started playing.
This is where i first saw these. Really didn't know anything about them.
Nicely done, Keith!
The playing (and tone) at 4:30 is incredible, thanks!
Thanks Keith. I’ve always loved the Thinline. In fact it’s my current #1. It’s a fair bit of Rickenbacker DNA in the way it’s made, body-wise of course. Keep the vids coming!
I bought a used fender thinline and while I'm waiting for it to be delivered in the upcoming days, I'm binging all fender tele thinline content on youtube... and this is a very good and informative video, thank you !
Great video thank you. Good to learn some history of the thinline. I just bought a mim classic series 69 reissue made in 1998. Absolutely love it. The neck profile is amazing and sonically it has a unique vibe. It's even threatening to overtake my Esquire as being my go-to guitar
I have a Japanese Fender ’69 thinline reissue that I bought new in 1994.
It a cool guitar.
I use it as a sort of Kieth Richards style open g tuned guitar.
I’ve always enjoyed playing it.👍🥃
Perfect. Those melodies and sounds... it picked me.
jonny buckland is my biggest guitar inspiration and made me want to pick up learning the guitar, and a 2 humbucker tele at that. happy to see his signature instrument featured on the best guitar history series around. fascinating to learn that the design originated as a solution to a stock of heavy wood! i'm around a year and a half into the guitar scene so i've got a lot of catching up to do, and these histories help a lot. thanks keith!
6:19 GUITARGASM!!! That is just perfection.
Thanks for yet another excellent presentation Five Watt World. Number one guitar history channel.
This is one of my favorites as I knew very little about these. I recall Bob Seager playing one.
I bought a 72 mij reissue in 93. Added cunife pups when they came out. It has now become my "#1"....and all my favorite player play strats.
My 1969 copy is exact and has perfect tones. What an awesome piece of gear! A little reverb, a little delay. Perfect.
Around 1981 when I wanted to upgrade from my initial firewood guitar, I found a 1972 Tele Delux in a small back alley store. Nobody wanted 1970s guitars and definitely no weird pickups so I got it for a price I could afford. Little did I know I was purchasing a classic! Of course I sold that guitar long ago, but recently bought a MIM re-issue that feels pretty much identical.
What a great and informative shirt video. Thank you.
Thanks for the deep dive - I ❤ my MIJ Thinline ‘72 RI, it’s light, bright and punchy with the WR humbuckers. Sounds like a Tele, just with some air and slightly more refined
What a fantastic video I actually enjoyed it have a good weekend
I owned the Jim Atkins model for a while and it is a fantastic guitar!
I have a ‘72 thinline and it’s amazing. Thanks so much for the video
I acquired a '69 RI Thinline in 2001 and it's seen a lot of use since then. I had it fitted with a Fishman piezo loaded bridge and pre-amp to it about ten years ago. I also swapped out the original pickups for US Fender models which sound a bit sweeter to my ears. I have dedicated electro-acoustics that sound a little better but when I'm gigging and space for guitars is limited the Thinline is perfect to act as a backup electric as well as giving me those acoustic sounds when I need them. Interestingly I acquired a US 'Acoustasonic' Telecaster last year and whilst it's a lot more versatile the Thinline more than holds its own played through the same rig. I had both out for a local session last night and when the battery ran flat on the Acoustasonic I had no issues switching to the Thinline.
Awesome video! I've always thought the Thinline Teles were awesome guitars. And I LOVE your Strandberg! If I were to get a Thinline Tele style, I'd probably get a Strandberg too!
Aaah! I would have loved to be a small tiny part of this.
Can't remember when I first became aware of the Thinline Teles, but it was love at first sight. Took me thirty years-ish to actually own one. I still have no time for the stupid Tele bridge though..I may not be alone there.
I'm not blowing smoke here KW, but you have had the best guitar history shows anywhere, bar none, from the start.
Many thanks and blessings.
Thanks Ian
Roger Rossmeisl was craaaaazy talented as a luthier. Definitely was behind a lot of the innovation in the guitar that we take for granted today
loved this video - I just bought a thin line after falling in love with teles over the last few years. very nicely done!
This video came to me at the perfect time. I just played a demo of a reissue one of these for my channel, and man. I really love it. Those CuNiFe pickups have all the top end you could ask for and plenty of throatyness to boot. 5 Watt World with another tremendously informative video. Nice one, Keith!
I bought a 2nd hand Squier Vintage Modified '72 Telecaster Thinline from a local equipment rental concern here in Austin and installed a set of the Fender Wide Range Pickup reissues I bought as soon as they were released. I first converted the WRH to 4-lead wiring and installed a 4-way blade selector with both series and parallel wiring options. Aside from a couple of details (3-bolt neck e.g.), I've built myself a guitar that rivals the Fender Vintage II Thinline for about one third of the cost. Finally, I'm going to swap the stock neck for a Fender Tele Deluxe 22 fret w/ 12" radius. And, yes, those pickups have a one-of-a-kind sound to go along with the one-of-a-kind design.
My next CuNiFe upgrade is going to be my Squier Classic Vibe Starcaster. That guitar is gonna scream and wail on top of the Duesenberg Les Trem II that I already installed. Probably going to omit the Master Volume from the original wiring design. It already plays beautifully. I have high hopes. Clearly, I've also had my share of coffee. Cheers.
I love thinline teles. Probably building a dual humbucker one this summer, which would complete my tele collection (for now)
Seeing Nathanial and Tobias, et al, was a real treat! I always appreciate your work, Keith! Thank you, sir!! ♥
I love my thinline tele. One of tbe best things CBS did was create a thinline tele.
It's great for practicing unplugged, but it also has more hum due to the hollow nature. I have done so much reading about thinlines, but I never knew there were rosewood fretboard versions! I always discover something new from your channel, thank you!
My buddy has an early 70's thinline, and I really love playing it. I think he likes hearing me play it too, as we all like to hear our guitars being played by another. It gives you a different perspective on it's tonal qualities. Great review.
A wealth of great information... Five Watt World is Awesome.
THAT'S MY BOYY
I've been playing guitar since January 2021 and I bought my first electric last summer: a squier thinline telecaster, her name is claire and she has the same color as my hair, a bright ginger maple color. I love her, and I'm planning to give her some upgrades when I go back to the US for the summer. Copper plating on the pickguard to remove some unwanted crackling when phones or other devices are close by, locking tuners, a string changing kit, and maybe even adding a third pick up but we'll see.
That is a lovely partscaster that John plays so well.
I put together a thin line, but really did not follow anything historically wise, just used parts I like.
using a American original 60s tele neck, rosewood fingerboard, almost flat sawn. A great sounding neck.
The body was done by guitar mill, and is super light swamp ash, I used no pick guard, a standard tele bridge , in a cool transparent sonic blue , done in nitro.
It shows the swamp ash grain pattern in a subdued way, really dig it.
Pickups are custom shop 51 no casters.
This guitar was a happy surprise once finished and became one of my best sounding guitars. Sometimes builds are great, sometimes not so much,
This one tone and looks wise to me was perfect.
I really did not know the thin line history, thanks for the video!
Follow up to my previous comment: I bought a 2022 Squier FSR Classic Vibe 60s Telecaster Thinline in Sonic Blue for an incredibly low price at GCSF. It's a very light very playable and comfortable guitar. It features a gold anodized aluminum pickguard which I think is a wonderful design feature. The only mod I did to this guitar is swapping out the stock 3 chrome barrel saddles for 3 compensated brass saddles. Otherwise this little Squire is perfect. The Fender-Designed Alnico 5 pickups sound great and only needed some fussing over the optimal height which took me about 5 minutes to figure out. Turns out this is a "hard to find" Squire guitar ... so lucky me.
Just bought a classic series 69 thinline off reverb last week and it arrived yesterday.
It's gorgeous.
Nooooo No no no no, Not another video about telecasters, Videos about telecasters always makes me want to buy more telecasters, I love buying telecasters..... But my wife doesn't. I can hear her now saying "Why do you need a Thinline telecaster?" and "Aren't four enough?"
Oh God they'll be hell to pay but it will be worth it.
Loved this video thanks Keith 👍
I have the Fender Thinline Select with Gold Hardware that came out in 2012/13. It is my #1 love that guitar. I have Gibson customs and a lot of nice guitars and I always come back to this one. Great video on this guitar.
Thank you-I’ve been thinking about one. They look and sound great; grateful for your work.
Keith, thanks for highlighting the versatility of these great instruments. Both versions of the Thinline Telecaster deserve a place in the pantheon of great "do all" electrics right alongside the solidbody Telly and the 335. I love my thinlines not only for the light weight, but because they are much more easily led into musical feedback than a solidbody Telecaster. They just seem alive at a decent stage volume in a way a traditional Telecaster never does for me.
Great video like always! I was thinking recently it would be cool if you guys did "a short history" on the Rolling Stones mobile tour bus. I feel like a lot of people don't know about it and the amount of very successful musicians that have used it back in the day is crazy. Anyway, thank you for all that you do! You guys do great research and great presenting.
Thanks Keith, another great video.
Beautiful video 🤙
Wow…, thanks Keith!!!
Thanks for a very informative and enjoyable video about the history of the Thinline. 🌞
I have a Squier vintage modified thinline tele,and on any given day it might be my fav guitar. Thats among Gibsons, US fenders, mex fenders etc etc
Cool stuff KW!!
The most music with the least notice. 😂
A couple of years ago I had a Fender American Pro ii routed out like a smugglers Tele and 2 cunife p/u’s installed with a 1mg pot. It has a roasted pine body, and it sounds amazing and unique, I have tried a couple of the new stock versions Fe 18:39 nder has put out, but to my ears mine sounds better and it weighs 6 lbs. 14 oz. Great video, Thank you Keith!
Great video. I've listened to Frisell's Big Sur an uncountable amount of times. I didn't know he used a Thinline on it.
A few years ago I picked up a 1976 Aria Pro II "Backaroo" (maybe something was lost in translation). It is the first year of Matsumoku production of copying the Thinline Telecaster II. I have never before gravitated towards Telecasters but this guitar is wonderful. The humbucking pickups sound great and like you said in the video it is a really cool look. In my modest family of guitars, this is the least expensive I own but tends to be my "go-to guitar" for a lot of playing I do. I so appreciate all your videos and the philosophy of 5 Watt. Thank you.
Keith. Thank you so much for this. It was nice to hear all the variations in tone between the different versions! There are elements there of the best of both worlds, right? You have a classic Tele sound and then the warmth of the thinline. I love innovation.
It was lovely to hear Tobias playing Rory Gallagher on that thinline.