Fender Vintera II 70s Tele Dlx VWT

I’ve owned this Vintera II 70s Tele Deluxe since Mar-2024 (bought directly from Thomann). Over the last 18 months I logged 650+ practice hours and made multiple attempts to fix persistent playability issues (string changes, full setups, intonation). Eventually I took it to a professional luthier, who immediately confirmed a structural defect: the bridge is misaligned and effectively too wide for the neck, causing the B and high-E strings to slide off the fretboard beyond the 12th fret.
The guitar can sound good, but this fault undermines technique and confidence. Fender’s factory QC and Thomann’s outgoing checks should have prevented an instrument with such a fundamental alignment error from reaching a customer.
I have submitted a formal complaint and asked for a free-of-charge, goodwill replacement. Once resolved, I will update this review.
Tip: when you receive yours, inspect the outer strings’ path at higher frets before committing.