Fender Custom Shop
VC 59 Esquire

I admit to being a little puzzled the first time I encountered an Esquire like this Fender Custom Shop Vintage Custom 59 Esquire … a single pickup with a 3 way switch? But it’s brilliant in its own way … position one goes straight out, volume only, position two gives you the volume and tone control, and position three rolls off the high end, which sounds great with a lot of overdrive, think Clapton’s classic “woman tone.” Doesn’t get any simpler than that. Time Capsule finish in natural blonde.

Fender sez: “There are few guitars as formidable as the Esquire, a stripped-down workingman’s instrument that will chisel through any mix. And the simplicity of having just one pickup gives the guitar an extra edge of character that only Esquire players know about and that lets players create tones and sounds strictly based on inflections of the hands. The Vintage Custom ’59 Esquire features a two-piece select ash body and rift-sawn maple neck with a fat 1959 “D” profile, vintage compound-radius fingerboard (7.25″- 9.5″) and 21 medium vintage frets.

A hand-wound ’58 Tele bridge pickup is wired to a vintage Esquire control assembly with a three-position blade switch. Other features include a single-ply parchment pickguard, ’59 Esquire bridge assembly, vintage-style tuning machines, bone nut and single wing string tree with metal spacer. Includes deluxe hardshell case, strap and certificate of authenticity.”