Fender Modern Player Telecaster Thinline Deluxe – A Pretty Unique Tele

Body And Neck:
Electronics:
Hardware:
Sound:
Value:

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Fender's legendary Telecaster is associated with a lot of things, but semi-hollow guitars are not one of them. After all, this model has been specifically designed to render anything with a cavity, obsolete. However, Fender Modern Player Telecaster Thinline Deluxe is there to break all the rules and simply walk into a segment where it generally doesn't belong. Is it a decent semi hollow? It's actually both one of the most interesting and one of the best sounding guitars of this type on the market. If you're into a hybrid tone that sort of swings either way, you need to check out this bad boy.

Body And Neck

Featuring the standard Telecaster body style, Thinline Deluxe looks just like your average Tele from a distance. It's only when you come closer that you notice the f-hole at the top and some other details. The body is made of mahogany, which is a pretty significant thing seeing how Alder has been the quintessential Fender tonewood for decades, and still is. It features all the same details as the regular Tele, bar the f-hole. The neck comes in form of a standard maple C shape design and features either a maple or rosewood fretboard.

Hardware

When we move on to hardware, we see a lot of the usual stuff. A classic ashtray type bridge with six fully adjustable saddles. While it's not a standard Tele component and is actually closer to a Strat in design, this bridge is pretty simple and reliable. Tuning machines are Fender's own series, which perform quite nicely when put through their paces. Overall, the hardware is nothing like you would expect on a standard semi-hollow, which can be said for the whole guitar really, but it gets the job done as usual.

Electronics

One peek at the pickups and you will find the second clue that indicates something is not quite standard about this Tele. We are looking at two MP-90 single-coils, which have a pretty vintage vibe to them. These are wired to a set of four knobs, two individual volume controls, and two individual tone controls, while you also have a three-way pickup select switch at your disposal. Seeing a standard LP style layout on a Tele feels pretty odd, but it's functional nonetheless.

Sound

Here's where some people are on the fence about this Tele. While does a great job at digging into the semi-hollow tone range, Fender Modern Player Telecaster Thinline Deluxe is still closer to its famous solid body cousin. Those pickups are full of range, color, and warmth, and are even capable of a pretty mean growl should you need that.
The tone is not as authentic as we'd like it to be, but this hybrid never intended to replace a legit semi-hollow guitar. Rather, it was designed to bridge a gap.

Conclusion

A more conservative fan of semi-hollow and hollow guitars would have a field day with this Fender, but the truth is simple. It's a super affordable Telecaster that offers a great cross section of two very different worlds. That alone gives it enough of a value to be appreciated by us as well as many other guitar players out there.

For more info about the Fender Modern Player Telecaster Thinline Deluxe, click here.
For more Hollow Body Guitars On The Market , click here.