1968 Fender® Telecaster® Thinline Natural, Very Good, Hard, $7,500.00

The Telecaster Thinline was Fender’s attempt at “lightening the load” of their renowned Standard Telecaster model. Telecaster weight began its ascent as the supply of Ash that previously had been used for the Tele’s body began to dwindle, forcing Fender to adopt heavier, more easily obtainable woods. A solution, via German luthier Roger Rossmeisi, was to use a semi-hollow chambered construction with a single F-hole which greatly reduced the heft. The familiar Tele pickguard shape also received a re-design (more elongated and with pearloid material), definitely giving the Thinline its more “country-fried” appearance. This example weighs in at 7 pounds 2 ounces (contrast that to a ’69 Tele Standard we have in stock that weighs nearly 10 lbs!). It sports the standard (at the time) Natural finish as well as the original Telecaster pickups (later editions of the Thinline opted instead for Fender’s newly designed “Wide Range” Humbuckers). The pickups are chock full of Tele goodness, with a nice jangly twang for the bridge and a rounded jazzy sound for the neck. The maple cap neck sports a maple fret board, four bolt neck plate, hard tail string-thru 3-saddle bridge design (with original ashtray cover!), and Fender “F” tuning machines. It is in great shape with some mild checking throughout the body, a few spots of finish wear, and some light wear on the fret board. There is a small mark on the headstock that looks to be possibly from a cigarette burn. The frets have some wear but the guitar still plays great. It has been set-up for round wound Dunlop 10s by our in-house guitar tech. The neck is nicely broken in, as one would likely expect from a beautiful vintage piece such as this. The first name that pops into our heads at the mention of a Thinline would be the great Merle Haggard. However those of you who aren’t Okies From Muskogee should know that these guitars also have a strong association with the alternative rock scene, ending up in the hands of guitarists from bands such as Spaceman Three, Lush, Radiohead, and Blur. Overall this is one of those guitars that everyone here gets an instant crush on so it’ll be tough to pry this one out of our wanting hands! If you manage to however you will have a new favorite Tele in your collection! Includes older hard shell case.