c.2014 US-made Esquire-style Electric Guitar

September 30, 2014

c.2014 US-made Esquire-style Electric Guitar

I can't divulge the original maker of this instrument (it's been wiped off the headstock, too) for several reasons (modding being one of them) but I can tell you that it's American-made. I picked this up in trade and $$ a couple months back and since then I changed it over from a Tele into a black-pickguard Esquire. Why? I like one-pickup instruments. It also distilled this thing down to what it wanted to be in the first place: simplistic twang-picker.

I've been using it a lot since working on it and figured I'd share as I'm moving stuff around in the collection today.

This one feels really "vintage" and in fact it's got some play and use-wear under its belt. I'm not sure how old it is exactly -- maybe about 10 years? Anyhow, it's fun. The body is ash or alder, I think -- not sure which or even if it is -- but it does feel like that and sounds like that. It's got a "sort of Olympic" white finish that's thin and, like I was saying, feels quite "vintage."

All the parts have aged-in a bit as well and the wiring is full of all good-quality stuff.

Bone nut, lightly curly/flamey maple neck with buttery-yellow vintage tint... and a faux "Alex Burns" label plate that I had in my parts bin off of an old chip case. The board is rosewood and has a typical quick modern Fendery-feeling radius and C-shape to the back profile.

The old-style Kluson tuners give it, yes, that vintage feel. When you put this in your hands it's not quite vintage-spec Fender in feel but it is definitely that in vibe.

Pearl dots. I should also mention that the board goes to 22 frets.

I wired the three-way lever to up = tone/vol pot engaged, mid = vol pot only engaged and down = straight to jack. This is super-useful because tonally you can basically make this sound like a 2-pickup guitar plus a really hot, twangy "lead" guitar when all the way switched down.

The bridge pickup, as I recall, is a Lollar of some sort and the bridge plate is an authentic Fender unit. The saddles are 3-saddle brass with compensated angling to their adjuster screws. Love it!

I popped some lettering decals from the hardware store on the back to save myself some breath while playing live... all you have to do is flip the guitar up after the song ends. This is after the fashion of Jimmie Rodgers who had the same thing on his Martin.