New Old Stock!

An exceptional and near mint example of one of the earliest versions of Fender's hollow body thinline Telecaster, with serial number "253682." This guitar weighs just 6.90 lbs. and has a nut width of 1 5/8 inches and a scale length of 25 1/2 inches. Hollow mahogany body and one-piece fretted maple neck with 21 frets and black dot position markers. Headstock decal with "Fender" logo in black with gold trim, with two patent numbers in black below it, and "TELECASTER" in black in bold lettering beside it (without "Thinline" on headstock). Single "butterfly" string tree. Individual Fender "F" closed-back tuners with octagonal metal buttons. Four-bolt neck plate with large Fender "F" logo and serial number above it. Two hot pickups (single-coil neck pickup encased in metal shell and single-coil staggered pole bridge pickup) with outputs of 6.46k and 6.22k. Original three-layer "pearloid" ("mother-of-toilet-seat") over black and white plastic pickguard. Two controls (one volume, one tone) plus three-way selector switch. Chrome knobs with flat tops and knurled sides. Combination Telecaster three-saddle bridge/tailpiece, with "FENDER/PAT.NO./DES.164227/2,573,254" on the base plate. One tiny surface chip on the bottom of the horn and a few other minuscule edge marks are all that prevent this guitar from being totally mint. The neck is dated "3 MAY 69 B" and the neck pocket has the two green circular number "4's." The pots are dated "3046545" (November 1965). Complete with original hang tag, case keys, unused Fender strap, and bridge cover ("ashtray"). Housed in its original Fender black hardshell case with reddish orange plush lining (9.50).

"Introduced in 1968, this model was an attempt by Fender to reduce the weight of the solid Telecaster by hollowing out sections of the body -- and the guitar even included a token f-hole as a visual clue to its semi-solid status. The Thinline at first retained the standard Tele pickup layout, but with a restyled pickguard" (Tony Bacon and Paul Day, The Fender Book, p. 47).

The Telecaster Thinline was "basically a Telecaster body with pockets hollowed-out from the rear, including a bigger one opening into the top via an 'f' hole. With the exception of the pickguard shape modified to accomodate [sic] the new semi-acoustic design, the Thinline was otherwise identical to a regular '68 Telecaster in terms of neck, electronics and hardware. But its body was about half the weight of a regular Telecaster. The new variant was first listed in July 1968 for $319.50…To convey the idea of a lighter, almost acoustic guitar, the Thinline was at first released in only natural ash and mahogany finishes with a 2-piece maple neck…By 1969, it also became available with a 3-tone sunburst finish and an optional rosewood-capped neck" (A.R. Duchossoir, The Fender Telecaster, p. 23).

"The Thinline type I originally came out in 1968 with natural ash and mahogany as its two standard finishes, but Sunburst was quickly added. Shortly after the advent of the Thinline type II (with humbuckers) mahogany was deleted from the standard finishes" (A.R. Duchossoir, The Fender Telecaster, p. 56). This is a wonderful opportunity for the discerning collector to own a near mint and unplayed example of the rarer version with Mahogany finish.