This guitar is a commission sale. If you have a high-end or vintage guitar you are interested in selling please contact us.
 
Here for sale we have a Fender Custom Shop LTD Roasted Pine Double Esquire Relic electric guitar in Black Relic finish. The Esquire was the first solid-body electric guitar manufactured by Fender, and was introduced in 1950. The Esquire featured just one pickup in the bridge position, although some 'Double Esquire' guitars were also shipped with two pickups. This dual-pickup design proved popular thanks to it's improved versatility, and by late 1950 had been renamed the Broadcaster. For a period of time after objections from Gretsch who had a similarly named 'Broadkaster', Fender's new guitar left the factory with no model name on the headstock, gaining the title of 'Nocaster'. By mid '51, the Telecaster name had been selected, and the instrument entered continuous production. The model has of course gone on to be one of the most recognisable and celebrated electric guitars in history.  
 
Made in the USA by Fender's finest luthiers in 2020, this Limited Edition instrument features a bolt-on construction comprising a Roasted Pine body & a one-piece Rift Sawn Maple neck and 21 fret fingerboard, just the same as the first Esquires were back in the '50s. Nickel hardware is fitted including a 1950 Esquire bridge with barrel saddles & Fender vintage-style split-post tuning machines. A pair of hand-wound Fender Custom Shop 50-51 Blackguard single-coil pickups are installed, & are wired to a 3-way blade switch, master volume & master tone controls. 
 
The Maple neck plays beautifully, and features a 1950 Blackguard profile which might be described as a 'U' shape. Certainly on the thicker side when compared with modern necks, there is a real character to the playing experience which is very inspiring in the hands. The wear to the rear of the neck, added as part of the relic finish includes considerable wear to the finish at the rear of the neck, leaving a large section without any lacquer. This section is incredibly smooth to the touch and feels absolutely fantastic in the hand. In a departure from the original specification, the fingerboard features a compound radius, transitioning smoothly & gently from 7.25" in the lower register to 9.5" at the top of the neck. Whilst not strictly vintage correct, this adds a nice bit of modern practicality for string bending and vibrato techniques.
 
The pair of Fender Custom Shop Hand-Wound '50-'51 Blackguard Single-Coils provide a rich, varied and authentically vintage set of tones. The controls feature the Fender Custom Shop ‘51 Nocaster Mod wiring, bringing them closer to the authentic layout that the original guitars shipped with. In position 1 the bridge pickup is heard on its own, but the neck pickup can be blended in using the ‘tone’ knob. This allows you to temper the brightness of the bridge for a more subtle sound. In the middle position we hear the neck pickup on its own, whilst the forward position 3 sends the neck pickup through a 0.001uf capacitor. This takes some of the top end off the sound for quite a jazzy tone - truly unique amongst today’s more common Telecaster wiring layout. This guitar is an excellent example of why Fender have long been renowned as the pinnacle of guitar building, and why their designs have stood the test of time. A great opportunity to own a vintage-accurate instrument with very lightly updated playability features.
 
This guitar is a commission sale. If you have a high-end or vintage guitar you are interested in selling please contact us.
 
Please be aware that for international buyers import fees are not included in our postage and packaging cost, this only covers the cost of the guitar being sent to you. Import fees will be charged by Customs upon the guitar's arrival in the recipient country. Due to Brexit, this also applies to EU buyers. We advise checking the total import cost with Customs as this is not information we are able to accurately provide.