Fender Esquire for Jazz?

[Lionelsax]

Admitted, that sounds OK. But the last post was from august 2012, and if it takes more than 3 years to find a clip with an OK jazz tone from a bridge PU .........

I'm pretty agree, but the problem, I guess, comes from a kind of normalisation, people let us believe we can't play every style with an only one guitar.
Yes, it works better with a neck pick-up but if there is a bridge pick-up on many jazz guitars, it must have a sense.

[mr. beaumont]

people let us believe we can't play every style with an only one guitar.

Thank goodness, then I get to have more than one.


I prefer to use my old adage about guitars...they are tools. And you can pound in a nail with a socket wrench if you try hard enough, but a hammer's a better tool for that job.

[docbop]

I'm pretty agree, but the problem, I guess, comes from a kind of normalisation, people let us believe we can't play every style with an only one guitar.

Those of us that came up playing in the 60's and 70's know that all can be done on one guitar, look at the legends most settled on one guitar and played the hell out of it playing thru whatever amp that the gig provided. Ya got a guitar and learn how to get all the sound it had out of it. Having a second guitar was a luxury most could not afford and in long run I think better off for it.

[Greentone]

It would be criminal to add a neck pickup to a vintage Esquire at this point. Keep a vintage 50s Fender stock. Sell it, if you like, and get yourself a closet full of good jazz guitars.

[pubylakeg]

They had the ES300 with that odd long oblique PU. Later (or was it before the oblique PU?) they put the forerunner of the P90 near the bridge at some point in the first half of the 1940s. Barney Kessel used such a guitar for a short while. I heard a recording with it, and it didn't sound too good to my ears.

Pretty sure Kessel used that ES-300 on the "Jammin The Blues" soundtrack.

[Keira Witherkay]

well the esquire ....is a 1 pickup guitar with a 3 way switch so..... it offers 3 sounds the position 1 is just the bridge pickup without the tone a bypass...so country heaven ........... the middle position is the pickup with tone control which can roll off to get some nice jazzy tone...then the 3rd position is the pickup with a preset cap on it and in fact is a very cool vintage jazz tone if you into old school style fat round tone ..

here's a video the 1st half shows the switching and some tones which is very usable for jazz.....but as always the guy demoing isn't playing straight ahead jazz but you sure can hear the potential

so what i'm saying is it's a lot more versatile than many think ..... and i think one can mess with /mod that tone cap in 3rd position to give you more tops or less ...to taste ....caps are cheap ...

[Keira Witherkay]

again more noise rock that jazz BUT in this video at about 1.12 min he plays the middle position using some jazzy chords/feel ...sounds cool and in a dark amp it may work really well

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hxmuO6XcNE

btw love tele's for jazz so i guess i'm biased in my opinion ...but i like the esquire