Colors:
STANDARD: Natural - Sunburst
CUSTOM (Since '70): Black - Blonde - Lake Placid Blue - Sonic Blue - Firemist Gold - Firemist Silver - Olympic White - Ocean Turquoise - Candy Apple Red
BODY
Wood: Mahogany or Ash
Lacquer: Thick Skin Polyester/Polyurethane (Very few '68) has Nitro
Shape: Telecaster Standard Chambered Semi Hollow / F-hole
Pickguard: 8 Hole / 3-Ply Pearloid White (and other)
Serial: Stamped on Neckplate / 6-digit
NECK
Wood: Maple
Decal: Black CBS Logo w/ Gold Trim + "Telecaster" + Pat.No´s
Fretboard Wood: Maple or Rosewood (Veneer)
Lacquer: Polyurethane (Nitro on Headstock)
Profile: Medium "C"
Headstock: Standard Tele
Nut Width: 1.614" (41mm) +/-
Scale: 25.5"
Radius: 7.25"
#Frets: 21
Fretwire: 6230 Vintage Frets
Trussrod: Vintage Heel Adjust
Bolt-On Type: 4-Bolt w/ Plastic Bracket
HARDWARE
Bridge Type: 3-Saddle Vintage String-trough Bridge / Ashtray Cover
Bridge Marking: "FENDER Pat.No DES.164227 / 2.573.254"
Saddle: Slotted Steel Saddles
Tuners: "F" Tuners
String Tree: Butterfly
Neckplate: "F" Plate
Knobs: Knurled Flat-Top
ELECTRONICS
Switch: 3-Way CRL / Top Hat Switch-Tip
Wiring Info: Standard B/BN/N (PVC wires) 1 Master Tone / 1 Master Volume
Capacitor: 50V / .05uf Dime Capacitor
Pickup Config: SS
Neck Pickup: Vintage Single Coil Staggered (6.60k)+/-
Bridge Pickup: Vintage Single Coil Staggered (6.00k) +/-
INFO
CASE: Fender Black Hardshell Plush lined Case (for additional charge)
MODEL#
#012-3000 (Sunburst) / #012-3020 (Sunburst Left Handed) / #012-3010 (Bigsby Sunbust)
#012-3001 Custom Color / #012-3021 (Custom Color Left Handed) / #012-3011 (Bigsby Custom Color)
#012-3002 (Ash) / #012-3022 (Ash Left Handed) #012-3012 (Bigsby Ash)
#012-3003 (Mahogany) / #012-3003 (Mahogany Left Handed) / #012-3013 (Bigsby Mahogany)
Custom Colorst offered from 1970. Only Natural and Suburst available 1968-1969
Bigsby Available since 1971 on orde
Designed by Roger Rossmeisl (1927-1979). The Thinline design came after the more or less little successful "smugglers" route attempt. Rossmeisl had just quit Rickenbacker and was skilled in arch tops and alike and Fender hired him to find new ways to make the heavy ash they had at the time lighter. He routed out a good portion of it and put a cap on bottom of it arch-top style complete with an F-hole. Also routing out a good portion under the controls-
They also made use of Mahogany wood as well. The SS Thinline ended after only 3 years to be replaced by the HH WideRange Thinlines . But these only use Ash wood from now on.