Nash Guitars Esquire

If you are reading this then I guess you already know about Nash Timewarp Guitars. This is a brand new 2006 Nash Esquire '52 Heavy relic & boy does this puppy sing! The feel of this guitar is down to one man & his absolute knowledge of how to recreate the Fender tone, how to relic properly & how to set up a guitar how it should be - these play straight from the case even after making the long flight over to the UK from Washington State. My guitar has a lightweight Ash body in Butterscotch Blonde nitrocellulose with a 1 piece maple fatback neck. Radius is a vintage correct 7.25 & comes with Dunlop 6105 frets. The pickup is the best I have EVER heard, a Lollar Special, which I believe is made especially for Bill Nash. This guitar does everything needed so a perfect 10 here.

I play in a sort of junkyard Americana band, Wilco, The Band, Crazy Horse etc. & I have hit the ground running with this guitar. The sound is awesome through my '65 Deluxe Reverb Reissue. The pickups respond well to the way I like to play, digging in for a bit of extra dirt when needed. I can get every sound I need from this set up - Cliff Gallup to Neil Young, Roy Buchanan to Paul Kossof.

Straight outta the box it played so sweet, medium low action & 10's. The finish is a heavy relic & knocks seven sorts of sh*t outta the Fender Custom Shops I've previously used. Never seen a better fitting neck or better relic'ing anywhere! This guitar will last as it has been craftsman made in the USA with high quality woods & hardware.

I got a 2 year warranty so no worries here. I will be gigging this a my one & only guitar but I don't think this will let me down. Not too worried about scratching it up either!!

Firstly, as mentioned, I got a 2 year warranty from Nash Guitars & I know he backs up his work religiously as I made enquiries through guitar playing friends in the US. Secondly, I ordered through Trans Am Guitars in England who have a great customer service record, again I asked around friends & dealers etc. Trans Am listened to what I wanted, answered all my questions patiently (and there were many believe me!) & put no pressure on me to order. I placed my order, paid my deposit & took charge of my new best friend right on time. I cannot recommend the work of Bill Nash/Nash Guitars & the customer service of Trans Am Guitars highly enough. My order for a '57 Blackie Strat has been placed but the only downside is where will it stop? Do I really need a Jaguar also?!?!

I've been playing 20 years & now own only Nash Guitars. Amps used are Fender Vibroverb Reissue & Fender Tweed Champ & Princeton both late 50's originals. Pedals used are Catalinbread Semaphore Tremolo, Fulltone Fulldrive 2 & EH Small Stone. If my Esquire ever gets stolen I would get straight on the phone to place an order for an identical guitar. I chose this make after many conversations with friends & dealers many of whom are Fender Custom Shop ownners/dealers who said Nash is best so the rest is history...!

An extremely great take on a vintage Esquire guitar. If you know the guitar, you know that it has 21 frets, a non-bound solid alder (I think, could be ash) body, a nice fat "C" type neck (thicker in the shoulder area than most), a very thick slab-board rose wood neck (thicker than the stuff found on the "other" custom shop '63 model-- more like the custom '60 model), vintage tuners and hardware. It has brass saddles, but they are the slightly "kinked" version (ala Danny Gatton) for better intonation. When you look at the Bill Nash Guitar site, he has two standard Esquires -- a '52 and a '63. This guitar seems to be more like the '63 than the '52, but I'm not sure. Nice size frets as well. If you looking for something that is identical to what was made "way back when", then you may want to get smaller frets on this guitar and a more vintage style neck (size wise). If your looking for something that plays so good you don't want to put it down, then this is the guitar for you. One Rio Grande pick-up in the bridge position. Three way selector. Unlike some of the other Esquires reviewed here, mine does NOT come with the hidden pick-up, but there is a second volume control found underneath the control panel, so here's what you get. Rear position, bridge pick-up wired directly to the output so the volume and tone do not work -- middle position is the pick-up with volume and tone control -- the front position is the same as the middle, but since it also has the hidden volume control, it is not as loud and you do have some different tonal things happending when you turn it down or up. Very cool. The hidden pick-up thing is cool as well, but in my mind if you want that, go get the tele version (just my opinion here -- I would have bought this guitar if it had it or not). Three ply white pick guard completes the look. No manufacture name on the guitar. I rate this a "10" knowing that it's a single pick-up guitar, but since you can get a ton of tonal possibilities with it, it scores high in my book.

This is what you buy this guitar for. When you hit the pick-up selector in the rear position, you get that classic "wired directly to the output jack", Esquire tone. Loud and bright, but not the "ice pick in the ear" thing. The middle position is classic tele tone and the front position is similar to the middle position, just not as loud. The cool feature here is that you can do chord work in the first position then hit the middle position for solo work. It almost works like a volume pedal in that manner. The pick-up is not noisy at all, though Bill does offer other "upgraded" pick-ups. The Rio Grande are standard pick-ups and it sounds very good to my ear. If you stay away from the rear position, this guitar can handle all kinds of music. For some, the rear position maybe a bit too agressive, but that's why you have other options with this guitar. I love it the way it is. Tons of tone and with only one pick-up. Extremely simple, and it sounds killer.

This is where this guitar really shines. IMO, nobody does a better relic job on the body than Bill Nash. Yes, it's much better than that "other" company relic job (and a heck of lot less $$$). He does something with the paint that just makes is feel and even smell old. In comparason, (and I have both), the relic job with the "other" company seems to be just a scrapping of a newly painted guitar. Bill's finish just feels old. The relic job he does on the neck is good as well, but not quite up to the standard of the body (too much finish left on the upper register of the neck, IMO). Still, a good job. He used all high end licensed necks and bodies, so the raw materials are first rate and the workmanship is what you expect from a custom shop piece. My guitar is a tad under 7 pounds, not bad. Received the guitar and it played out of the box perfect. What more can I saw? You buy a guitar for the tone, but this one also has the look. If I could rate this an 11, I would.

I see no reason to bring another guitar to a gig when using this one. I has one pick-up and is built like a tank. What could go wrong?

I wrote Mr. Nash about three times and he replied within 24 hours. I was about to get a custom one made for me until I saw one for sale at Phil's Guitars (he is the only dealer who carries Nash Guitars). If you do have Bill make you one from scratch, he will set up a online system for you where you can see how your guitar is progressing. How cool is that? Two year warranty and a three day "return for any reason" warranty. Can't ask for more than that.

Been playing over 30 years. Yes, if this was lost or stolen, I would get another one -- may get another one even if this one isn't lost or stolen. I have way to many guitars to mention, but this one will be one of the four that I will grab (the other is a '54 Les Paul, '68 345, a '68 Jag, and a few other teles). The question you have to ask yourself is that for $1,000.00, can you get a better USA made guitar out there? The answer is maybe, but you will be hard to find one. If your into the vintage thing, you really owe it to yourself to check out these guitars. Only issue is that they are not being produced in big numbers, so check out Phil's Guitars web site. If you see something you like, call Phil and let him describe it to you. He's the real deal and will give you the staight scoop. If it sounds like something you like, then take a shot. Compared to what I paid for my '63 Custom Shop Tele "relic" this is a very good deal. Don't know what it will bring on the used market, but I really don't care since I'm not selling it.

2004 cutom shop made in usa,21 frets, solid body,pick up configuration s/s seymour duncan 54 bridge telecaster and hidden pick up neck ssl3 seymour duncan.passive electronic. 2 piece swamp ash body , maple neck with rosewood ,finish relic nitro vintage white a la robben ford .telecaster style with vintage kluson.neck shape medium c 60 and 6105 frets.case

rock, blues and jazz.i use a boogie studio caliber with fulltone choralflange,barber dd super sport,vox wha and boss delay dd3 in loop.very quiet electronic(copper shield in pick up cavity).soun is amazing very rich with a lot of bite and midrange in bridge.the hidden pick up is very vintage strat style.warm. bridge and neck together are killer tone .perfect tone

action was too low for me.relic finsh is amazing.the axe looks like a 40 years old tele.wood quality is optimum and harware too

with a 10 ' radius playability is fantastic. you can spend hours to play.it's built for live and for life!!

bill nash is fantastic .he answers very quickly and you can watch the building of your instrument through pictures step by step.

been playing for 18 years.have owned a lot of great guitars include fender custom shop,real vintage strat ,grosh strat,gibson les paul...etc.this is one of the best (with a jeff beck signature strat from 96) will buy another like this if it's stolen or lost.this esquire is very fun with extra features (hidden pick up)modern playability with vintage look.i have ordered another guitar to nash ( a strat style)