Quote:
Originally Posted by AJ Love
My 2006 AV '52 RI is a spectacular Telecaster, no doubt about it.
My personal opinion (based on very little evidence, almost all snap-judgement) is that the quality of the "Thin Skin AV '52 RI limited editions" put out by Fender and sold at places like Wildwood and Dave's Guitar in 2006 and 2007 was slightly better than the previous factory models (however they had/have 9.5 inch radius and/or 6105 frets, which I don't like, but the overall quality was better) and that after those batches came out, Fender production stepped up the quality on the regular AV '52 RI's a bit: more attention to detail, less of the pumpkin orange finish, etc (this was in the second half of '06 and in '07, and I bet will continue in '08)
Pure opinion, but I'd say some of the best AV '52 RI's ever were made in '06 and '07 and likely in '08
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Mine's a jan.2004 regular '52RI, while my friend has a 2006 "Thin Skin", both purchased from Wildwood. There's absolutely no foundation for the assertion that the "Thin Skin" is of a higher quality. They are different as to the radius/frets and the finish, but the overall quality seems to be very similar. If anything, mine appears to have even smoother fretboard edges, but that may be due to the thicker finish.
But then there are always variations I guess...