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King Loudness « Another cool thinline »
Published on 12/30/11 at 08:32The Squier Vintage Modified thinline Tele was the company's first real attempt at doing one of these semi-hollow guitars. It's definitely got a unique vibe to it that's part Tele, part Gibson, and works well for a range of tones that a normal Fender might not cover as well. It features an alder body, a maple neck with rosewood fretboard and 22 frets, sealed chrome tuners, standard Tele style bridge, and a pair of Seymour Duncan designed single coil pickups wired to a single volume and tone control along with a 3 way pickup selector. It's available in the really groovy shoreline gold finish, as well as basic black.
UTILIZATION
The design of this guitar is reasonably ergonomic. Because it's a thinline design, this guitar is definitely lighter and easier to play than a typical Telecaster for long periods of time. Despite having no contours, it forms to the body well and feels good. The neck has a nice fast finish and the upper fret access is decent enough considering the body and neck are joined by that standard 4 bolt neck joint.
Getting a good sound out of this Tele is pretty easy. In this case, the stock Duncan Designed pickups work quite well in this guitar and offer a range of tones that stick to the Fender ethos, but can veer off into some blatantly Gibson territory when set up right... very cool!
SOUNDS
The tones out of this guitar are quite good considering the price point it's built to. The stock pickups have a nice jangle and chime to them that is perfect for country or blues type tones when used with a good clean sounding amp. They're a mild pickup, so the tone doesn't clip overly which is nice for vintage tones. The neck pickup is great for jazzier sounds, and the bridge pickup is the go to for country or brighter blues sounds. Switching to a drive sound brings in some really raunchy and bright tones that have very nice harmonic content. Unfortunately the design of the guitar and pickups prohibits using too much gain or else you'll get lots of noise and squealing, but that's par for the course. The stock pickups break up well and work excellently for classic rock and even some biting lead work here and there.
OVERALL OPINION
All in all I think the Squier Vintage Modified Tele Thinline is a great buy for someone looking for a great semi hollow Tele that looks cool, feels like a good quality instrument, and sounds great. They sell new for about $350 which is a good deal considering the quality that goes into the instrument. If you're into the more Fendery tone of alder, this one is ideal. If you want more of a Gibson type texture, look into the Classic Vibe thinline, which is made of mahogany.
UTILIZATION
The design of this guitar is reasonably ergonomic. Because it's a thinline design, this guitar is definitely lighter and easier to play than a typical Telecaster for long periods of time. Despite having no contours, it forms to the body well and feels good. The neck has a nice fast finish and the upper fret access is decent enough considering the body and neck are joined by that standard 4 bolt neck joint.
Getting a good sound out of this Tele is pretty easy. In this case, the stock Duncan Designed pickups work quite well in this guitar and offer a range of tones that stick to the Fender ethos, but can veer off into some blatantly Gibson territory when set up right... very cool!
SOUNDS
The tones out of this guitar are quite good considering the price point it's built to. The stock pickups have a nice jangle and chime to them that is perfect for country or blues type tones when used with a good clean sounding amp. They're a mild pickup, so the tone doesn't clip overly which is nice for vintage tones. The neck pickup is great for jazzier sounds, and the bridge pickup is the go to for country or brighter blues sounds. Switching to a drive sound brings in some really raunchy and bright tones that have very nice harmonic content. Unfortunately the design of the guitar and pickups prohibits using too much gain or else you'll get lots of noise and squealing, but that's par for the course. The stock pickups break up well and work excellently for classic rock and even some biting lead work here and there.
OVERALL OPINION
All in all I think the Squier Vintage Modified Tele Thinline is a great buy for someone looking for a great semi hollow Tele that looks cool, feels like a good quality instrument, and sounds great. They sell new for about $350 which is a good deal considering the quality that goes into the instrument. If you're into the more Fendery tone of alder, this one is ideal. If you want more of a Gibson type texture, look into the Classic Vibe thinline, which is made of mahogany.