Fender Telecaster Modern Player Thinline Deluxe Review

Hi everyone, it's been a while since I wrote anything but true to form I've just picked up another guitar, secondhand of course, and at a great price.  This time its a guitar I've had my eye on for years, but have never got to the point of actually buying one.  However when the price is right then you'll probably find me there, thinking that a year or two down the line I can easily make my money back to move onto something new if I don't like what I have bought.  In reality this doesn't usually happen I just add to the collection!

The Modern Player series of guitars was a huge step for Fender testing out the waters in China. It does make me smile reading the forums to see how conservative guitar players can be. This is particularly evident in discussion about the geographical location of a guitar factory.  There has been a long love/hate relationship with Fender guitars made in Japan over the years.  Now the same debate rages over guitars made in China and Indonesia.

If you've read more of my blogs you'll know that I think that Asian made guitars can be excellent purchases with a quality and attention to detail that would cost substantially more on a guitar made in Europe or America, but of course you can get poor attention to detail and manufacture evident in a factory made guitar anywhere in the world.  If you are buying new there may be some deep moral questions to be faced concerning the relocation of manufacturing globally from West to East that has happened in almost every industry over my life time, but it is a fact of life we live with, from the cars we drive to the computer I'm typing this blog on.

The Fender Modern Player series broke the mould by 'crafting' Fender branded guitars in China, with some quite avant guard (for Fender) designs, and some really attractive (for Fender) pricing.  I'm a cheapskate and I still baulked in 2011 at spending the best part of £500 for a guitar that had a Fender logo rather than Squier on the headstock.  I ended up at that time  with a Squier CV Tele, which is a lovely guitar with a similar pedigree to the Modern Player.  It's interesting to note how short lived this MP series of guitars was, mine has a 2017 serial number but in effect most production seems to have stopped by about 2015 if I understand it correctly.

So what of the guitar itself?

I've always liked the Thinline versions of the Telecaster.  I like a more resonant body on a guitar, and the associated lightness that comes from removing wood from the body.  I also like the look and the italicised 'f' that Fender chose for the sound hole.

This guitar definitely doesn't disappoint.  It comes with a very nicely executed three piece mahogany back with a thick one piece mahogany plate on the front.  This makes it look head on like a one piece body.  The neck is a good straight grained piece of maple with a rosewood skunk stripe.  The fretwork is good and when I set the guitar up there were no obvious high or low frets.  The poly finish is mirror and on mine pretty much unblemished.  The tuners are typical vintage which I guess you will either like or hate, but they are well fitted and function well.  The bridge is the equivalent of a vintage hard tail Strat, with the usual vintage style Fender branded bent steel saddles, that are as uncomfortable as ever, but part of the history!  I've heard some people even trying to argue that they change the tone of the guitar...  The controls are Les Paul style with a three way throw switch and four pots.

The pickups are P90s which I like and have on a couple of other guitars, they give a sound somewhere between a humbucker and a standard set of tele single coils.  The MP90s are maybe a bit focused towards the mid range and sound a bit woolier than a Wilkinson set I have on a another guitar.  This is not necessarily bad, just different, less jangly.

I was intrigued that this guitar was so cheap, less than half its original selling price, secondhand.  It's odd to be able to pick up a big brand guitar for so little money and it got me to wondering why it hasn't yet found more appeal in the used market.  This is a really good guitar, it plays well, it is light, it sounds good, it is well made - the materials and craftsmanship are excellent.  No-one in the audience except another guitarist is going to know that it is a Fender MiC.  They'll all be photographing the band with iPhones MiC anyway, driving home in cars made in Turkey or India, and wearing designer clothes made in Bangladesh.

Maybe part of the problem lies in the fact that where a big brand, factory guitar is made is one of the only unique selling points left and therefore this has become a major marketing and reselling point. I know I mention it when selling stuff on EBay. In almost every other aspect Asian guitars are there in terms of quality, from raw materials to craftsmanship.  Everything depends on how much the manufacturer puts into and monitors the process of the build.

The MP series guitar is unique in having a 'Fender' transfer on the headstock of a MiC guitar.  Labels and brand is almost everything in this fashion conscious time...I'm not immune to this influence. I must admit I like having 'Fender' on the headstock, and if the guitar is well made and sounds good who am I to argue with paying a few pounds more than a Squier for the privilege.

Alden Monte Carlo Guitar

I came across this guitar used. It was in excellent condition sold with good quality gig bag included.  I picked it up and had a good look, walked away and then after some consideration went back to the shop the next day and tested it out and came home with it!  It was in really wonderful condition, except for one slight ding which I have now repaired, still just visible, but smooth to the touch.  I gave it a clean, new strings and oiled the fretboard which was a bit dry, then set it up to play as well as any guitar in my collection.

Something about this guitar really appealed to me, I can't quite say what it is, but there are some times when you pick up an instrument and it seems to be more than the sum of its parts, even with old tarnished strings and badly in need of a clean and set up.  Suddenly against your better judgment you end up adding it into the family...




This guitar is an evolution of the the Epiphone Casino, and new is not too far off the price of that guitar.  However it has some important mods which I like.  The neck join is at the 19th fret which gives improved access to the upper neck.  The top, sides and back are in a very attractive flamed maple, not very highly figured, but good to look at.  This is not a hollow body guitar like the Casino but has a centre block which carries the pickups and bridge - this makes it a lot more feedback resistant.  That being said it is still a very light guitar to hold and play, very resonant, and very well balanced.  Mine sounds amazing unplugged and I think that is what attracted me to it in the first instance.  The maple neck is a comfortable profile and well made, using scarf joins at the headstock and heel.  The parralelogram block work is expertly done and the mother of plastic inlay has a deep quality and catches the light nicely. 

Plugged in through a Hughes and Kettner valve amp the sound has a very mellow single coil defintion to it.  People describe P90s as having something between a humbucker and a fender style single coil tone.  I have another guitar with P90s on a tele thinline body.  That guitar sounds more jangly.  I think the Monte Carlo is the next step on towards the humbucker sound but still very much a single coil with lovely bell like sounds using the neck pickup.  Maybe the semi-hollow body and metal pickup covers add to this.  I find it works extremely well with strumming open chords - giving an almost acoustic feel to the playing.  I like the trapeze tail which seems to change the responsiveness of the strings, but that might just be my imagination.

So what about the negatives?  A few cosmetic grumbles, but no deal breakers. The neck pickup sits rather proud of the body where the body is contoured around the neck.  The 18th fret was slightly high at the B string and needed filing to get the action spot on where I like it.  The flame top is not finished to the very highest of standards noticeable only where it meets the binding it looks as if the routing was done with a rather blunt tool (but you do have to really look close up to see this).  I had to tighten up the tuners, as when I took off the strings to oil the fretboard, they were rattling about, maybe due to slight shrinkage.

Would I recommend this guitar?  Well, it is a bit of a one off - no-one else is offering quite this combination, and it is fast becoming one of my favourites.  It has perhaps some of the appeal that attracted the Beatles to their Epiphones all those years ago, but addresses some of the issues of upper neck access and feedback inherent in that model.  It is reasonably finished for the price, there is nothing, in my mind, construction wise that rules it out.   The lightness makes it a joy to play standing up without getting back ache.  Certainly as a used guitar it is amazing value for money - I couldn't buy a kit to make my own guitar for that price, new it is probably not going to hold its value, but if you bond with it then it is a lot of guitar for the money.