Charvel USA Select San Dimas Style 2 HH FR vs Fender American Original 60s Telecaster Thinline
Reasons to Get
Charvel USA Select San Dimas Style 2 HH FR over Fender American Original 60s Telecaster Thinline
Reasons to Get
Fender American Original 60s Telecaster Thinline over Charvel USA Select San Dimas Style 2 HH FR
Other Key Differences
Charvel USA Select San Dimas Style 2 HH FR vs Fender American Original 60s Telecaster Thinline
Shared Features
Charvel USA Select San Dimas Style 2 HH FR vs Fender American Original 60s Telecaster Thinline
Common Strengths
- High-Quality Nut
- From a High-Quality-Standards Country
Common Weaknesses
- Neck-Through Build
- Pickup Alter Switch/Knob
- Stays in Tune (Evertune)
- High-Quality Frets
- Compound Radius Fretboard
- Luminescent Sidedots
- Strap Lock
- 21:1 Tuner Ratio
- Active/Passive Preamp
Table of Contents
Price History Comparison
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Which One is Better Overall?
After going through our comparison algorithm, the results show that the Charvel USA Select San Dimas Style 2 HH FR is probably the better product overall with its final score of 73 compared to the Fender American Original 60s Telecaster Thinline's 68 score, although not by a lot.
The Charvel USA Select San Dimas Style 2 HH FR wins when it comes to sound, playability, value for the money. On the other hand, the Fender American Original 60s Telecaster Thinline has the upper hand when it comes to.
If you got small hands, none of these instruments will make a big difference when it comes to comfortability.
Which One is Better for Beginners?
If you're looking for your first guitar to learn how to play, the Fender American Original 60s Telecaster Thinline is the better choice.
The Fender American Original 60s Telecaster Thinline meets 6 out of our 8 criteria items for beginner friendliness, while the Charvel USA Select San Dimas Style 2 HH FR meets only 4. This takes into account the type of frets, scale length, nut width, bridge type, fretboard radius, and neck profile to determine the easiest combination for new players.
New Player Friendliness
Charvel USA Select San Dimas Style 2 HH FR- Comfortable shape
- Comfortable fretboard
- Tall frets
- Comfortable neck
- Narrow nut
- Short scale
- Locking tuners
- Easy-to-use bridge
New Player Friendliness
Fender American Original 60s Telecaster Thinline- Comfortable shape
- Easy-to-use bridge
- Comfortable fretboard
- Tall frets
- Narrow nut
- Comfortable neck
- Short scale
- Locking tuners
Nevertheless, when it comes to choosing an instrument, you should pick the one more compatible with your personal style. Still, below we'll try you to give you our results as objectively as it's possible to help you decide.
Charvel USA Select San Dimas Style 2 HH FR Overview
- From Charvel's 2016 USA Select series
- Made in United States
- 6 strings
- 25.5"'' scale
- 12" to 16" Fretboard Radius
- Alder body
- Quartersawn Maple neck
- Maple fretboard
- Bridge pickup: DiMarzio Super Distortion DP100 (Humbucker/Passive)
- Neck pickup: DiMarzio PAF Pro DP151 (Humbucker/Passive)
- 1 volume and 0 tone Dome knobs
- 5-way Switch
- Floyd Rose Original Double-Locking 2-Point Tremolo bridge
- Charvel Speed Bolt-On neck
- 22 Jumbo frets
- Charvel-Branded Die-Cast tuners
- Weight around 8.35lbs (3.8kgs)
- Compare Specs >
Fender American Original 60s Telecaster Thinline Overview
- From Fender's 2018 American Original series
- Made in United States
- 6 strings
- 25.5"'' scale
- 9.5" Fretboard Radius
- Ash body
- Maple neck
- Maple fretboard
- Bridge pickup: Fender Tim Shaw Designed 60s Thinline (Single Coil/Passive)
- Neck pickup: Fender Tim Shaw Designed 60s Thinline (Single Coil/Passive)
- 1 volume and 1 tone Dome knobs
- 3-way Switch
- 3-Saddle Vintage-Style Tele with Slotted Steel Saddles bridge
- Medium C Bolt-On neck
- 21 Vintage Tall frets
- Pure Vintage 70s with Fender Logo tuners
- Compare Specs >
Sound Quality Comparison
The wood used in an electric guitar or bass is not as important to determine the final tone. However, some people prefer specific wood types, so we'll take a look at those first. Then, we'll take a look at the electronics to determine the versatility and sound quality of each instrument.
Woods Used in Both
Maple is one of the most popular necks for good reasons. It is a strong wood that is relatively cheap to make and looks beautiful. The highest quality maple is the hardest that comes from North America. Find out more about Maple.
Woods Used in the Charvel USA Select San Dimas Style 2 HH FR
Alder is the most popular wood that Fender uses in most of their guitars nowadays. Even though they say it's because of its balanced tone with an emphasis in the upper midrange, it probably is because it isn't too expensive, and it's also pretty lightweight—more than Mahogany. Find out more about Alder.
Woods Used in the Fender American Original 60s Telecaster Thinline
Ash is a type of wood that Fender used almost exclusively in the 50s, and it's still used by many brands. It's a dense wood with a light color that works well for a transparent, natural finish because of its beautiful patterns. In terms of sound, it's known for emphasizing the mid and high frequencies, but with strong low end. Find out more about Ash.
Winner: Fender American Original 60s Telecaster Thinline.
Pickup Configuration
The Charvel USA Select San Dimas Style 2 HH FR has an HH configuration while the Fender American Original 60s Telecaster Thinline has SS pickups.
Double Humbucker (HH) is the choice for people who want a fuller, more round sound with tons of mids and lows. Humbuckers also get rid of the hum noise that plague single-coil pickups. They can work out for almost any genre going from Djent to even Jazz.
On the other hand, SS is the classic Telecaster configuration. It's used mainly for playing clean or with low-gain distortion, and it's very popular for the country genre because of their brightness. It doesn't give you as much versatility as a Strat SSS configuration, but you might like the cleaner look of a guitar body with fewer pickups.
Pickups Quality
The Charvel USA Select San Dimas Style 2 HH FR has pickups from a more specialized brand than the Fender American Original 60s Telecaster Thinline. Its pickups should simply give you a better, fuller sound, although it all depends on what type of music you're going to play. We recommend these pickups for Hard Rock and similar genres.
You can purchase similar pickups to the Charvel USA Select San Dimas Style 2 HH FR's and use them on any guitar:
Both use Passive pickups. This is what's used for most music genres. They have a regular output and will serve you for both high-gain and clean tones. The alternative (Active pickups) offer a higher output that is mostly used for heavy music.
Winner: Charvel USA Select San Dimas Style 2 HH FR.
Versatility Comparison
Some instruments offer you more ways to explore your creativity than others. Below you'll find how both compare when it comes to versatility.
Switch Options
The Charvel USA Select San Dimas Style 2 HH FR gives you 5 switch options while the Fender American Original 60s Telecaster Thinline gives you 3. This means that the Charvel USA Select San Dimas Style 2 HH FR gives you more options to find the right pickup combination for the type of sound you want to achieve
Neither of them come with some kind of coil split or pickup mod option. This makes both lacking in terms of versatility.
When evaluating versatility, we also take into consideration bridge and neck joint type, number of frets, switch options, amount of pickups and more.
Winner: Charvel USA Select San Dimas Style 2 HH FR.
Final Sound Quality Scores
Build Quality Comparison
When it comes to build quality, we like to take into account everything used to build the instrument. This includes materials, hardware and the quality control expected depending on the country where it was built. Let's see how the Charvel USA Select San Dimas Style 2 HH FR compares to the Fender American Original 60s Telecaster Thinline.
Country of Origin
The manufacturing country can tell a lot about the build quality of an instrument. Both in this comparison where made in United States.
The United States is considered one of the best electric guitar manufacturers in the world. A guitar made in this country is supposed to have world-class quality control. Nowadays, guitars made in other countries can beat some of the ones made in the US, but most of the time, this country offers the best you can get. Of course, that comes at a price.
Winner: Tie
Nut Material
If you want your guitar to stay in tune and sound good, you need a well cut nut. Nut quality can be inconsistent even when comparing two copies of the same model. The best way to make sure you're nut will be well done is by getting a nut made by an expert company like TUSQ or Micarta.
The Charvel USA Select San Dimas Style 2 HH FR has a Locking nut. Instead of a regular nut, this guitar has a locking system that will lock down the strings at the nut, preventing it from getting out of tune. It removes one of the disadvantages of tremolo bridges, tune stability.
On the other hand, the Fender American Original 60s Telecaster Thinline comes with a Bone nut. It's a type of nut found in high-quality instruments. They sound similar to Ivory since they give a lot of sustain and a bright sound (at least when striking open strings). The only problem they can run into is that you may get a bone piece that simply doesn't sound as well as others because that's just how natural materials are.
Winner: Tie.
Fret Material
Most fret wire is made of nickel silver. This material eventually wears down after a lot of use and most instruments end up needing a complete fret replacement. However, some expensive models come with stainless steel frets. This is what you should aim for if you can afford it.
Unfortunately, none of them come with stainless steel frets.
Winner: Tie.
Bridge
The perfect bridge for you will depend on your playstyle because they all have advantages and disadvantages. However, some bridges are more expensive—like Floyd Roses and Evertunes—and thus add more value to a guitar.
The Charvel USA Select San Dimas Style 2 HH FR's brige is a Floyd Rose. This is a double-locking bridge system that allows you to perform techniques like dive bombs and pinch harmonics. The locking nut allows your guitar to stay in tune even after the most intense tremolo usage. The disadvantage is that it takes more work to change the strings and set up everything correctly.
On the other hand, the Fender American Original 60s Telecaster Thinline's is a Fixed. It's a simple bridge that is very beginner-friendly since it doesn't require any set-up. You can swap strings easily. It might also give more sustain since it doesn't have complex moving parts that make the strings lose vibration. However, it doesn't have the same versatility as a tremolo bridge.
Since we need to be objective, the most expensive type of bridge will be the winner of this section. In the end, this doesn't matter if you're not going to use the bridge for its original purpose, so choose the bridge that fits your playing style better.
Winner: Charvel USA Select San Dimas Style 2 HH FR.
Tuners
Both come with regular tuners. The Charvel USA Select San Dimas Style 2 HH FR's are Charvel-Branded Die-Cast while the Fender American Original 60s Telecaster Thinline's are Pure Vintage 70s with Fender Logo
Winner: Tie.
Neck Joint
Contrary to popular belief, the difference in sustain and tone that some neck joints give to a guitar is simply unperceivable—if they're all well built. However, some of them do have advantages over the others.
Both have a Bolt-On neck joint. This neck is joined to the body by 4 bolts that you can simply unscrew. This allows you to replace the neck or take it off for travel. It's the most common and cheapest way to build a guitar.
Winner: Tie.
Here is the list of features that were considered when choosing the winner in the Features subcategory:
Charvel USA Select San Dimas Style 2 HH FR
- Made in United States
- Locking Nut
- Top Brand Pickups
- Tremolo
- Compound Radius Fretboard
- Retainer Bar
- Cheap Fret Wire (NS)
- No Locking Tuners
- No Expensive Woods
- No Neck-Through Build
- No Push Knob or Extra Switch Option
- No Weight Relief
- No Luminescent Inlay
- No 21:1 Tuner Ratio
- No Strap Lock
Fender American Original 60s Telecaster Thinline
- Made in United States
- Expensive Wood
- Bone Nut
- Cheap Fret Wire (NS)
- No Locking Tuners
- No Top Brand Pickups
- No Neck-Through Build
- No Push Knob or Extra Switch Option
- No Luminescent Inlay
- No Tremolo
- No Compound Radius Fretboard
- No 21:1 Tuner Ratio
- No Strap Lock
Final Build Quality Scores
Playability Comparison
Let's now compare their playability. Bear in mind that the instrument will feel different depending on your hand size and play style. That's why you should always test before buying. But if you can't or want a second opinion on it, we can still take a look at each of the important measurements of the instrument for you. This way, we can predict how easy a guitar might be to play, or how different it will feel compared to the other.
Remember that, even though the difference might seem small, every inch counts when it comes to feeling of the instrument in your hands. Any variation can completely change how comfortable a guitar feels in your hands.
Nut Width
The nut width will affect the separation between strings at the nut. In this comparison, the Charvel USA Select San Dimas Style 2 HH FR has the wider nut with 42.9mm (1.688'') vs 42mm (1.654''). This is a 0.9mm (0.034'') difference
This means that it will be more difficult to do bar chords on the Charvel USA Select San Dimas Style 2 HH FR, especially closer to the nut. However, it's also easier to play without muting strings accidently. This favors people with big hands.
Scale Length
The scale length is one of the things that influences playability the most. This is the distance between the nut and the bridge and will affect everything from low action allowance, difficulty to perform bends, fret separation, and even tone.
In this case, both have a scale length of 25.5".
This is the scale used in most Stratocasters. It's slightly longer than the typical 24.75'' size found in Les Pauls, and it's one of the main reasons why Stratocasters have such a bright sound in general. A longer scale also means that the strings will have higher tension. This will help you get lower action without suffering fret buzz, which will also be helpful when playing in lower tunings without having to increase your string gauge.
However, this also means that there will be more separation between frets, which can make it more difficult to play. Also, bending the strings will require more strengths due to the increased tension, but remember that a tremolo guitar will offset this difficulty.
Lastly, remember that you can also affect the tension of the strings by changing your string gauge. You can use a thicker gauge for more tension and a lighter one for less tension.
Neck Profile
No single neck shape is better than others. However, most people tend to prefer a thinner necks because it doesn't get in their way when playing fast and most hand sizes can adapt to it pretty well. However, some people still prefer thicker necks for a better grip, especially if they have big hands.
Both the Charvel USA Select San Dimas Style 2 HH FR and the Fender American Original 60s Telecaster Thinline have a C-shaped neck. This is what you'll find in most modern guitars. Most people feel like the thickness of a C neck is simply the less intrusive one for playing fast, while at the same time allowing you to grab the neck easily for resting if you want to.
Fretboard Radius
Most guitar fretboards are not flat; they usually have a curve or arc across their width. A curved fretboard will make it easier to perform chords without muting strings, while a flatter one will make it easier to play single notes, which is good for bending and soloing in general. The best fretboards have a compound radius that varies across the fingerboard, but they're not common since they take a lot more work to build.
In this case, the Charvel USA Select San Dimas Style 2 HH FR is the only one with a compound radius. This is a huge win because it will give you the best of both worlds: a more curved radius in the first few frets for chords, and flatter as you come closer to the body for soloing.
Hand Size Comfortability
Everyone has a different hand size, and that's why it's recommended to try a guitar before buying, even if others tell you that it's comfortable to play. However, we can know whether a guitar favors small or large hands just by knowing its exact measurements.
After taking into account the scale length, nut width, neck profile and fretboard radius, we can conclude that both in this comparison favor small hands .
Charvel USA Select San Dimas Style 2 HH FR:
Fender American Original 60s Telecaster Thinline:
Fret Size
The Charvel USA Select San Dimas Style 2 HH FR has Jumbo frets, which should be taller than the Fender American Original 60s Telecaster Thinline's Vintage Tall frets.
Some people prefer taller frets because they result in more sustain since the strings get pressed cleanly without interference from the fretboard. However, if they're too tall—like Jumbo frets—, you might change the pitch of the strings accidentally if you press too hard because you won't be touching the fretboard with your fingers. This is also why some guitarists with a heavy grip prefer smaller frets. They like to feel the fingerboard to avoid pressing down too hard and getting out of pitch.
