![]() Rossmeisl then turned to product manager Virgilio “Babe” Simoni, who suggested they cut a thin slice off the back of a body, use a router to hollow-out the bass and treble bouts, then glue the slice back in place. He next tried routing areas under the pickguard but the overall effect on weight was minimal, and very few were made this way today, collectors call them the “smuggler’s Tele.” Fender has offered several reissues, including the Classic Series ’72 Telecaster Thinline ( Top Left), American Elite Tele Thinline ( Top Right), Squier Classic Vibe Telecaster Thinline ( Bottom Left), and Squier Vintage Modified ’72 Telecaster Thinline ( Bottom Right). Rossmeisl’s early Tele Thinline prototypes included one with a hollow rosewood body overlaid with a bound spruce top, creating an instrument that looked very much like a normal Telecaster. At Fender, Rossmeisl’s first tasks had been to create the flat-top acoustic King and Concert guitars, followed by the very 335-ish Coronado, and then the hollowbody Montego and LTD archtop electrics aimed at the jazzer market. Regardless, creation of the lighter Tele fell to Roger Rossmeisl, who had been hired by Leo Fender because of his design work at Rickenbacker, including the renowned semi-hollow 300 series guitars that debuted in ’58. If this was the impetus for the Tele Thinline, it was a very slow response, as the SG body had debuted way back in early ’61. Fender’s Groovy Naturals ad for the Thinline.Īnother possibility is the Thinline was a reaction to Gibson’s SG, which was created after the original single-cut Les Paul had been unfairly dogged by its weight. Fender accountants then suggested the folks in R&D find a way to utilize readily available – but heavier – grades of the wood. And while the Telecaster had always been a basic, frills-free instrument that sold well, even it was impacted when lightweight ash, the near-exclusive wood used to make its body, started to become scarce. But it does not lack for devotees.īy the summer of 1967, multimedia conglomerate CBS had taken full control of Fender and was beginning to exhibit a greater regard for cost-consciousness than the sound, feel, and playability of its instruments. ![]() Born in turbulent times on the downslope of the “guitar boom,” Fender’s Telecaster Thinline has always existed in the shadow of its classic older sibling. Production numbers are unknown for the original Telecaster Thinline, introduced in 1968. ![]()
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