Fender Esquire

Mid-eighties Made in Japan Fender Esquire.
Maple neck 22 medium frets.
Ash body with thick yellow/butterscotch "Mary Kay" see-through translucent goop glossy finish.
Three steel "all-thread" saddles on "ashtray" type bridge.
Vintage style metal button split shaft tuners.

It doesn't need any other "features."

It's one of the most basic electric guitars ever marketed (first in the early fifties by Leo Fender as a predecessor to the Broadcaster/Telecaster, later as an econo-Tele).

Very twangy.
Good for very twangy guitar styles like Country steel parts, Rock rhythm or leads, anything you dare attempt with it really.
You WILL be heard!
Lots of "cut" and penetration.
Extremely bright and crisp unless the selector switch is in the forward position, which engages a big capacitor to null high frequencies, then it's subdued and somewhat muffled. Interesting, but not largely useful with the capacitor engaged.
In the middle position the tone pot is engaged, and in the rearward switch position the pickup is straight out with no tone pot at all, just the volume pot.
Somewhat noisey. No shielding except the brass plate under the pickup, the bridge plate, and the control plate.

I toyed with the idea of replacing the pickup with a Fender Original Vintage Tele lead pickup, but opted for an EMG instead, since the stock pu sounded ok, but I wanted more range. I added the midrange tone boost EMG tone pot too.

Now it's much quieter, more versatile, and hotter sounding. More usable as a stand alone guitar for bright rhythms and crunch, and soloing.

Somebody had set this guitar up for chicken-pickin' (low action; straight neck; light strings). Lowest action I've EVER seen and still playable. Pretty buzzy fretting, but still intelligible!

I raised the action, added some relief, and that's all!

Everything lines up and is straight.

The back ferrals are flush.

This bridge doesn't seem to break strings, though I've had others of this type (three saddle "all-thread") that were hard on string breakage.
Rare one!

Are you kidding?

Rock solid.

I gig it with no backup.

Just bring a spare nine-volt (for the EMG), fuses, solder, strings, etc.

Bought well used.

"Relic'd" by previous owner(s)!

The Japanese Fenders were generally outstandingly luthiered, but the electronic parts weren't quite as good as Switchcraft stuff.

I don't care for the thick goopy finish, but it's protective.

I happen to like this guitar very much!

It's simple, twangy, and plays and sounds great (even with the original pu and wiring scheme, though the EMG setup makes it more sophisticated sounding and a little more versatile [and quieter for hum]).

It has better sustain than any other bolt-neck guitar I've ever played.
Neck is great, and the frets are really nicely done.

I love the brightness from the ash body, maple neck/fretboard, and steel saddles.
I can set my three channel Tech 21 Trademark 120 for different tones and amounts of crunch, etc.

The Esquire lacks a lush Jazz tone, but its limitations force me to explore different volume and tone combinations.
It can get a hollow, airey tone, then turn right around and romp and stomp some crashing Rock/blues chords.

1957 Fender Esquire. Swamp ash body, maple neck and fretboard. The Esquire came out before the tele. The Broadcaster had the addded neck pickup, and the esquire had just a single coil in the bridge. I added a soapbar pickup in the neck position. (body came routed from the factory for it.)

It has a real twangy sound with the bridge pickup, a nice jazzy tone from the neck pickup and a well balanced sound with both pickups on. Lots of punch with my Fender Super Reverb tube amp. I think you really need a tube amp for this type of guitar.

Action? well it's a tele. The action is not bad, not super low. but not bad.

11 + This guitar is almost 50 years old and the neck is perfect. I have never even adjusted the truss rod. The original tone and volume pots are as smooth and quiet as anything you could buy new.
I play it almost everyday

I haven't dealt with them.

This guitar really is amazing. I really hope that the guy who posted the review before me was making up the whole bonehead story.

1950's Fender Esquire(Like Telecaster)Found it at a garage sale for 25 dollars. The seller was an older woman who said she bought it for he late husband sometime in the 1950's...he never played it and it had been collecting dust.

This guitar had the twangiest sound I have ever heard. It was really thin sounding and did not stay in tune. I put some seymore duncan humbuckers in it(it took a little routing but it fit pretty good. Sort of sounds like Angus Young now...the way a guitar should! I fixed the tuning problem with some old grovers I took off an older guitar...the holes did not line up but I managed to make it work by driling a few extra holes...stays in tune like a breeze now.

I thought the action was kind of high and the bridge was really dorkiy looking so I added a Floyd rose to it...my router really worked well on the installation...I also added a locking nut to keep it in tune when I take a dive on the whammy bar! I would have given it a 3 but with my modification it is now a ten!!!

Must be pretty reliable because it has been around for nearly 50 years.

Don't know don't care.

This guitar looked ok when I bought it...not many dings and a kind of yellow looking finish...I think it will looke better if I get it refinished. It is overall a great guitar after my modifications. I play really hard rock and mainly play my BC Rich which is a much superior guitar I might say. It is good to have a Fender even if it is just a $25 piece of junk. With a little help it has turned out to be pretty adequete for a backup axe. I would not have paid very much for this guitar but what the hell!