Fender Custom Shop Esquire Custom Built 1982
£1,995.00
Fender Custom Shop Esquire Custom Built 1982
- Built as a gift for Tom Nolan for signing up Jeff Beck for a signature Fender model
- Masterbuilt neck by JW Black
- Hardcase
Out of stock
Description
Here’s a one-off Fender Esquire, custom built for Tom Nolan who was responsible for setting up the (now disbanded) Artist Relations Hub in London when Fender Custom Shop was first established over 40 years ago. This guitar was put together according to Tom’s spec, and includes a glorious JW Black master built neck, along with a Seymour Duncan HotRails pickup and Bigsby vibrato.
This is what Tom says about this unique Esquire:
“This superb Esquire was put together for me when I ran the now defunct Fender A&R Centre at London’s Nomis Studios. The A&R Centre was an artist relations project, based at the very busy Nomis rehearsal and recording complex. The Custom Shop opened in California in 1987, and I was set up at Nomis in June ’88 to promote Fender’s most prestigious guitars to top professional guitarists.
The Esquire has been my favourite Fender since seeing the late great and much-missed Jeff Beck wielding one with the Yardbirds in 1965. Jeff often rehearsed at Nomis, and we got to know each other well. This one-off Esquire sports a superb neck made especially for me by by one of Fender’s top Masterbuilders, JW Black, as a gift after Jeff and I agreed a Fender signature Strat deal. It was a huge pleasure for everybody concerned to be working with Jeff, and JWB had the honour of putting the prototypes together. This particular neck is crafted from a beautiful piece of flamed maple, with a distinctive ‘v’ profile. We added a Fender logo-stamped Bigsby to the swamp ash body. For my blues style incorporating a lot of slide playing I installed a single Seymour Duncan Hot Rails at the bridge. ( Seymour incidentally was a great friend of Jeff’s, and owns the famous Esquire which I first saw Jeff playing in the Yardbirds ). This pickup is often associated with heavier rock sounds, but here it provides elegant full mid-range tones, with the added bite from the vintage-style highly resonant ash body.
This Esquire features a unique example of JW Black’s exceptional craftsmanship, demonstrating all the care and skill that goes into the finest top-of-the-range Fender guitars. It is a well-used and much loved journeyman-style instrument, embodying all the very best of the Custom Shop builders’ expertise, and is there to be played and enjoyed to the full.”
This fantastic unique guitar is in superb condition with and comes with a tweed hardcase and letter of provenance signed by Tom Nolan.
Here’s the specification:
- Brand: Fender Custom Shop
- Model: Esquire
- Origin: USA
- Year: 1982
- Weight: 7lb 2oz / 3.30 kg
- Finish: Natural, poly base coat
- Body: Ash
- Pickguard: 1-Ply White
- Neck: Masterbuilt JW Black Flamed Maple
- Profile: Soft V profile
- Fretboard: 7.25″ radius
- Scale length: 25.5″
- Frets: 21 Vintage Style
- Bridge Pickup: Seymour Duncan HotRails Humbucker
- Controls: 1 x Volume, 1 x Tone, 3-way pickup selector
- Wiring: Back position, pure . (Neck Pickup), Tone 2. (Middle Pickup)
- Bridge: Tele bridge with Bigsby vibrato
- Tuners: Fender Vintage Style
- Case: Thomann tweed hardcase
