A Mint Surf Green Custom Shop '50s Esquire

From the Fender Custom Shop -- an Esquire as it would have been in 1955! This beautifully crafted instrument weighs 7.80 lbs. and has a nut width of 1 11/16 inches and a scale length of 25 1/2 inches. Solid ash body and one-piece "C"-shape birdseye maple neck with 21 frets and black dot position markers. Single circular string tree. Headstock decal with Fender "spaghetti" logo in silver with black trim and "ESQUIRE" in black beneath it. On the back of the headstock is a "Fender® Custom Shop" decal in black. Four-bolt neck plate with serial number ("CN96348") between the top two screws and the Fender backward "F" logo and "Custom Shop USA" in the center. Individual Kluson "no-line" tuners with oval metal buttons. One vintage-style black flat-polepiece pickup angled in bridgeplate with an output of 6.71k. White plastic pickguard with five screws. Two controls (one volume, one tone) plus a three-way selector switch, all on metal plate adjoining pickguard. Chrome knobs with knurled sides and domed tops. Black plastic "barrel-like" switch tip. Original vintage-style string-through-body Telecaster bridge with three brass saddles and original "ash tray" bridge cover. This guitar, in a special Custom Shop color, is in mint (9.50) condition. With the original owner's manual and "Fender Certificate of Authenticity" with matching serial number, signed by Gordon Parkman, and dated "09/28/02." Housed in the original Fender "tweed" hardshell case with imitation leather ends and dark orange plush lining (9.50).

"The Esquire is among the most sought-after instruments in our entire family of Telecaster guitars. Introduced in 1950, its unique circuitry and biting bridge pickup created a tonal sensation. It later became the weapon of choice for greats including Jeff Beck and Bruce Springsteen, and has re-emerged time and again in the hands of many other great players. Our '50s Esquire features an ash body, a C-shaped maple neck, a vintage-style three-saddle string-through-body Telecaster bridge, and a vintage-style single-coil Telecaster pickup with custom-wired three-way switching. Basically, three-way switching on a single-pickup guitar gives you three preset tones. In the bridge position, the pickup is connected only to the volume control (the tone control is disconnected); this minimal circuitry produces more top-end sparkle than is possible with a Telecaster. In the middle position, the standard tone control circuit is activated. In the neck position, the tone control is again disengaged, but a tone-shaping capacitor rolls off much of the top end and some bottom, producing a darker tone and slight volume loss" (http://www.fender.com/products/search.php?partno=0131502301).

Welcome to the Dream Factory! "It's no wonder that our celebrated Custom Shop is called the ultimate dream factory. Located within the walls of our facility in Corona, California are the finest luthiers, woodworkers and artisans in the world, creating exquisitely hand-crafter musical masterpieces from scratch. Since its inception in 1987, it has grown from just two builders to the more than 50 that we employ today. The Custom Shop does it all, from one-of-a-kind 'art' pieces featuring outrageous inlay, carving and airbrush designs, to Team Built guitars that replicate a vintage Strat® or Tele®, to customised stock instruments with unique finishes, artwork and hardware...By 1995, a fair amount of artists had been asking the Custom Shop to make them a replica of a favourite old guitar or two, usually because the original was much too valuable and precious to risk taking on the road. But then, Keith Richards told the Shop that some replicas made for him for a Stones tour looked too new. 'Bash 'em up a bit and I'll play 'em', suggested Richards. So the Custom Shop set about making a 'distressed' guitar for Mr. Richards, which, when finished, had all the scratches, varnish cracks, 'dings' and rusted hardware of a battered old original. Then, J.W Black, a master builder at the Custom Shop, came up with the idea of offering these aged replica guitars as regular catalogue items, and naming them Relics. In 1998, the Custom Shop went to further lengths to reproduce the look and feel of the originals by offering three finish packages: N.O.S. (New Old Stock): As if the guitar was discovered in a warehouse after many years, never played and showing no signs of wear. Closet Classic: As if the guitar had been stashed in a closet. The guitar is worn a bit, yellowed with age; the finish is slightly checked with hairline finish cracks that are typical of an instrument that's been exposed to years of humidity and temperature variations. Relic: Heavily worn-in and showing natural wear and tear of years of heavy use -- nicks, scratches, worn finish, rusty hardware and aged plastic parts, making it look, feel and play like it's taken the punishment of many long nightclub hours. By 2000, the Time Machine Series, as it became known as, would include a '64 Jazz Bass®, '51 Nocaster®, '56, '60 and '69 Stratocaster® guitars, and a '63 Telecaster®. Recent additions to the series have been the '59 Esquire®, '60 Tele® Custom, '65 Stratocaster®, and the '55 and '59 Precision® Basses" ("Inside the Fender Custom Shop" at http://www.fendereurope.com/fenderfiles/InsidetheFenderCustomShop.asp).