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Fender launches Gretsch-inspired Thinline Telecaster
The Tele Thinline Super Deluxe is another unusual hybrid from the brand’s Parallel Universe series.
Fender has officially released the fifth guitar in its Parallel Universe line: the Tele Thinline Super Deluxe. And like all the other models in the series, it’s a hybrid—this time, of an old-school Gretsch, a semi-hollow Telecaster and a Cabronita.
The Gretsch element comes through in the Tele’s zingy, double-bound orange finish—with a sparkling silver pickguard—and its pickups. It deploys two TV Jones Classic Filter’Tron humbuckers, known for their grit and throaty midrange that are ideal for country, rockabilly and blood-and-guts blues. However, classic Tele controls keep things on familiar ground.
A bound, “Deep C”-shaped maple neck and Tele Deluxe hardtail bridge, both from Fender’s American Professional series, give the guitar a modern edge. Elsewhere on the Tele, you’ll find an alder body, a 9.5-inch-radius rosewood fretboard, pearl block inlays and 21 narrow-tall frets.
To promote the model, Fender released another episode of its blindfold challenge. Butch Walker, the former guitarist of SouthGang and Marvelous 3, took the hot seat. Like John 5 and Todd Wisenbaker before him, he had to play the Tele—sans eyesight—and guess the model. Watch it here:
The 2018 Limited Edition Tele Thinline Super Deluxe lists for $1,999. More information at fender.com.