Fender Esquire for Jazz?

**SamBooka** · 08-25-2012, 10:48 PM

Dont look at me like that !

**hot ford coupe** · 08-25-2012, 11:31 PM

If you can do it with a Tele, you can do it with the Esquire. I'll bet you can even play jazz on a good ol' Sears Silvertone with the amp in the case.

**Flyin' Brian** · 08-26-2012, 12:22 AM

Originally Posted by SamBooka

Dont look at me like that !

**robertm2000** · 08-26-2012, 03:38 AM

My big questions about using an Esquire for jazz would be "How do you tame the twang?" In college, 40+ years ago, I knew someone who had an original 1950's Esquire, obtained by and from his dad. That thing had twang for miles, but it was really tough to get a decent rhythm sound from it - the rhythm sound on the switch was just plain too muddy.

**mr. beaumont** · 08-26-2012, 07:23 AM

Sure...if you put a neck pickup in it.

**oldane** · 08-26-2012, 08:02 AM

Originally Posted by hot ford coupe

If you can do it with a Tele, you can do it with the Esquire. I'll bet you can even play jazz on a good ol' Sears Silvertone with the amp in the case.

Not quite. The Esquire has just one pickup in the bridge position and as such will not give the typical neck pickup jazz tone we normally prefer today. It can be regarded as a one pickup Tele (though it actually preceded the Broadcaster which very soon had to be renamed Telecaster to avoid violating an existing patent). Gibson later made their equivalent of it, the Melody Maker.

**docbop** · 08-26-2012, 11:17 AM

Checkout the Lollar Charlie Christian Tele pickups, he makes one for the bridge too.

**hot ford coupe** · 08-26-2012, 11:53 AM

Originally Posted by oldane

Not quite. The Esquire has just one pickup in the bridge position and as such will not give the typical neck pickup jazz tone we normally prefer today. It can be regarded as a one pickup Tele (though it actually preceded the Broadcaster which very soon had to be renamed Telecaster to avoid violating an existing patent). Gibson later made their equivalent of it, the Melody Maker.

I pretty much knew that. I never said it would have the traditional tone and I never said it would sound good either.

**BigDaddyLoveHandles** · 08-26-2012, 12:11 PM

I believe Fender made some "two pickup" Esquires early on. Why were they not called Teles or Broadcasters, I don't know. They had pine bodies.

**SamBooka** · 08-26-2012, 08:20 PM

Originally Posted by BigDaddyLoveHandles

I believe Fender made some "two pickup" Esquires early on. Why were they not called Teles or Broadcasters, I don't know. They had pine bodies.

and were missing trussrods IIRC .. most of the remaining ones are probably in vaults in Japan by now.

this was my first last and hopefully only troll.. but that said I am certain there are country swing guys who could find a sweet spot on the bridge pu. Remember that the Esquire had a 3 way switch with some interesting options. I read somewhere (so possibly total bs alert) that Mike Stern perfered the early 50s Tele wiring which isnt that far off from the 50s Esquire wiring.

**fws6** · 08-27-2012, 03:58 AM

"The Esquire was Fender's first electric spanish guitar. Originally introduced in June of 1950 as a black (and later blond), one or two pickup model, it was discontinued by Fender's marketing arm in September 1950. Only about 50 of these original Esquires were shipped, though Fender had a backorder of hundreds of units. And many came back to Fender to have the neck (and body!) replaced because of neck warpage, from the lack of a truss rod. In October 1950, the Broadcaster replaced the Esquire as their two pickup electric spanish guitar, with a truss rod! The Esquire was re-introduced in early 1951 as a single pickup version of the Broadcaster. The 1951 and later Esquire, because of its single pickup, does not have the value today of its two pickup brother, due to its limited tonal range with one pickup. By February 1951, the Broadcaster was renamed the Telecaster (though the guitars didn't actually have a "Telecaster" decal on them until the summer of 1951), because of a naming conflict with a trademarked Gretsch drum line. "

**oldane** · 08-27-2012, 04:14 AM

Originally Posted by BigDaddyLoveHandles

I believe Fender made some "two pickup" Esquires early on. Why were they not called Teles or Broadcasters, I don't know. They had pine bodies.

Those early Broadcasters/Telecasters without name decals were later nicknamed "Nocaster" by musicians.

**Lambosoa** · 08-27-2012, 04:40 AM

Originally Posted by Flyin' Brian

If you saw the cheapo Chinese Tele knock-off I use...

That one has a neck pick-up though.

**fws6** · 08-27-2012, 07:06 AM

>I believe Fender made some "two pickup" Esquires early on. Why were they not called Teles or Broadcasters, I don't know. They had pine bodies.
Those early Broadcasters/Telecasters without name decals were later nicknamed "Nocaster" by musicians.

No

Bigdaddy is referring to the very first prototypes of this guitar , with pine bodies, which indeed were called Esquires and available in 1 or 2 pickups

You are referring to nocasters which were about a year later

**Flint** · 08-27-2012, 12:21 PM

While you can play jazz on anything from harmonica to kazoo, among guitars the Esquire is least similar to that Charlie Christian sound.

**fws6** · 08-27-2012, 04:15 PM

Flint hit the nail on the head

**docbop** · 08-27-2012, 04:29 PM

Originally Posted by Flint

Esquire is least similar to that Charlie Christian sound.

That's like complaining about Miles and his harmon mute not sounding like Louis Armstrong. Jazz is about being individual in sound and notes.

**Atticus** · 08-27-2012, 05:35 PM

Here's a video of Ed Bickert using the bridge pickup on his Tele.

Don't think I'd want that tone for all jazz gigs, but it sounds alright, and rather than taming the twang, he's taking advantage of it.

**BigDaddyLoveHandles** · 08-27-2012, 08:27 PM

^^^ Classic Canadian TV content. I like how the hostess forgets Basso's name.

**Flint** · 08-28-2012, 05:37 PM

Originally Posted by docbop

That's like complaining about Miles and his harmon mute not sounding like Louis Armstrong. Jazz is about being individual in sound and notes.

Where is the complaint? I said you could play jazz on kazoo. Surely you can play it on an Esquire. I do.

**SamBooka** · 08-28-2012, 05:55 PM

Complaining about jazz like dancing about Internet

**bananafist** · 08-30-2012, 12:57 PM

There is a guy called Rob Di Stefano who builds an overwound bridge pickup for esquires and he claims he uses it for jazz as well. I've ordered one, apparently it doesn't get ice-picky like tele/esquire bridge pickups can do.
We'll see.

**tele jazz** · 08-31-2012, 05:11 PM

esquires have the hole for a neck pickup already there - they were always just teles with the neck cavity covered over.

just get a new pickguard and a neck pup.

but you can play jazz on anything. look at bill frizell and dudes like that

**Lionelsax** · 12-31-2015, 11:59 AM

Originally Posted by SamBooka

Dont look at me like that !

Yes you can :

**oldane** · 12-31-2015, 12:39 PM

Originally Posted by Lionelsax

Yes you can :

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 know, I know, I'm now running for shelter).

More seriously, there were neck pickups before the Esquire. After retiring the old CC PU, Gibson experimented a little with pickups and pickup placement. 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. It didn't catch on with jazz guitarists (there was not yet any rock and roll, only Louis Jordan, Lionel Hampton and the like) and soon the PU (by then the P90) was in the now classic neck position, like the old CC had been on the ES150.