Fender Esquire - Early Development

Early Development

The first prototype for the Esquire (and the later Telecaster) was completed by Leo Fender in the fall of 1949. The prototype shared with these guitars the now-familiar slab body shape with single cutaway to allow easier access to the upper frets. It likewise featured the distinctive combination bridge and pickup assembly, with a slanted pickup with individual pole pieces for each string, and three bridge saddles which allowed adjustment of string length in pairs and individual string height. The neck, like the first Esquires manufactured in 1950, was made from a single piece of maple without a truss rod. The neck was attached to the body with four screws and an anchor plate, unlike in traditional guitar construction, where a tenon on the neck is glued into the body. Unlike the Esquire, the neck was wider at the nut, and the head had 3 tuners on each side. The prototype differed from the later production guitars in several other respects: the body was made of pinewood, it was painted opaque white, its pickguard did not extend above the strings, it lacked a selector switch, and its volume and tone knobs were mounted on a slanted plate. Like the production models, it had a removable pickup cover, but unlike the production models, the cover had straight sides. The prototype had only one pickup, as did Esquires manufactured from 1951 onwards.

Over the winter of 1949/50, Fender refined the design. The neck width at the nut was narrowed, and the head modified to accommodate all six tuners on one side. A tone selector switch was added, and the controls were mounted on a plate parallel to the strings. The scratch plate was enlarged. Around the spring of 1950, Fender had completed a neck pickup design, which was smaller than the lead pickup and was encased in a metal shielding cover. However, this last feature was not to make it onto Fender's first commercially introduced guitar, as Fender's distributor, the Radio & Television Equipment Company (RTEC), had decided that it would be easier to sell the single pickup version of the guitar.