MIM Fender Esquire - valuation

Placidcasual79

What do you think is a fair price to pay for the above - in literally faultless condition......

meltedbuzzbox

About £3.50

thermionic

Take off what you think a neck pickup is worth off the price you’d pay for a MIM Classic 50s...

Funkfingers

What body colour? What fingerboard wood? What bridge saddle sections material? Any upgraded parts or wiring?

Placidcasual79

Funkfingers said:

What body colour? What fingerboard wood? What bridge saddle sections material? Any upgraded parts or wiring?

Its off white - no mods, saddles are brass - maple finger board......

Placidcasual79

thermionic said:

Take off what you think a neck pickup is worth off the price you’d pay for a MIM Classic 50s...

The 50's classic is still in production and is much more widely available isn't it? (I am not suggesting that a MIM Esquire is hen's teeth......)

ICBM

Placidcasual79 said:

no mods, saddles are brass

I thought they came with steel saddles?

The last one I saw a few months ago sold for £450 in similar condition, anyway. (And with steel saddles.)

Placidcasual79

ICBM said:

Placidcasual79 said:

no mods, saddles are brass

I thought they came with steel saddles?

The last one I saw a few months ago sold for £450 in similar condition, anyway. (And with steel saddles.)

I am embarrassed to say this - but they are brass coloured so....... that means they're brass? (cringes)

Ah. I paid £450 - and thought I'd had a bit of a bargain as I saw literally the same guitar for sale in a different shop 9 months ago for £600. 

Funkfingers

D'oh. You posted whilst I was typing some stuff that is now irrelevant.

ICBM said:

I thought they came with steel saddles?

Me, too. White body, steel saddles suggests late Fifties cosmetics. Brass saddles may be an improvement - especially if they are drilled at the necessary angles to provide compensated intonation.

My own taste would be to borrow the Fender Seymour Duncan signature Esquire wiring circuit and invest in a dual output pickup similar to this.

EricTheWeary

Definitely steel saddles coming out the factory. 

thermionic

Placidcasual79 said:

thermionic said:

Take off what you think a neck pickup is worth off the price you’d pay for a MIM Classic 50s...

The 50's classic is still in production and is much more widely available isn't it? (I am not suggesting that a MIM Esquire is hen's teeth......)

It may be less common, but it’s just a Classic 50s with one less pickup and a different headstock decal. Depends on how much that is worth to the buyer.

ICBM

Placidcasual79 said:

Ah. I paid £450 - and thought I'd had a bit of a bargain as I saw literally the same guitar for sale in a different shop 9 months ago for £600. 

Was that new? That was about the new price, although it would have to be quite old stock if so, they were discontinued a couple of years ago at least. Given that the Tele is now nearly £700 I think £450 is still about right - obviously to some people it's worth less because it has a pickup missing, but to others it's worth more because it's a bit more unusual - and they're certainly relatively rare.

If it has brass saddles now, I'm almost certain they've been replaced - some people prefer them. (I don't.)

Placidcasual79

ICBM said:

Placidcasual79 said:

Ah. I paid £450 - and thought I'd had a bit of a bargain as I saw literally the same guitar for sale in a different shop 9 months ago for £600. 

Was that new? That was about the new price, although it would have to be quite old stock if so, they were discontinued a couple of years ago at least. Given that the Tele is now nearly £700 I think £450 is still about right - obviously to some people it's worth less because it has a pickup missing, but to others it's worth more because it's a bit more unusual - and they're certainly relatively rare.

If it has brass saddles now, I'm almost certain they've been replaced - some people prefer them. (I don't.)

No - its not new. I'd put my self in worth more because its a bit unusual.... and maybe its just me imagining it, but I think it has a brighter, more cutting tone than my conventional MIM Tele (that I put brass saddles on)

I was very pleased to get the guitar for £450 - I saw it for sale in a different shop in June (for considerably more than £450), went back for it a week later but it was gone.....

I left my number with the shop and asked them to call me if it ever came in - I left my number in the guitar shops of the two neighbouring towns (this being a relatively rural part of mid Wales) and asked them to call me if it came in - and fair play I got the call today from one of the other shops - it had come in at the weekend - they remembered me and called! They threw in a strap and case too. 

I feel like it was meant to be (which is probably why I am imaging the tonal difference!) 

Funkfingers

Placidcasual79 said:
I think it has a brighter, more cutting tone than my conventional MIM Tele (that I put brass saddles on)

Clean, new strings might be enough to explain that. 

If the Classic 50s model has conventional Esquire wiring, the "lead" position on the selector switch bypasses the tone pot completely, removing any loading effects that the pot puts on the pickup. Regardless of the pickup quality, this selection should sound more cutting than either the middle position on the Esquire three-way switch or the bridge pickup only position on your conventional MIM telecaster.

crunchman

There is a school of thought that says the absence of magnetic pull the neck pickup damping the strings improves the tone.  I've not played enough Esquires to be able to say for certain.

Placidcasual79

Funkfingers said:

Placidcasual79 said:
I think it has a brighter, more cutting tone than my conventional MIM Tele (that I put brass saddles on)

Clean, new strings might be enough to explain that. 

Outrageous suggestion!!!!! (checks the state of current strings)......

yeah you could well be right there mate

thermionic

£450 for a faultless example including case sounds like a good price to me. The stock 50s Classic pickup is very good imo.

What is the neck like? I love the beefy neck on my 50s Tele, but I think they've changed them slightly over the years.

JezWynd

Seems like a fair price, esp considering its rarity and thae case being included. Nice score.

Placidcasual79

thermionic said:

£450 for a faultless example including case sounds like a good price to me. The stock 50s Classic pickup is very good imo.

What is the neck like? I love the beefy neck on my 50s Tele, but I think they've changed them slightly over the years.

Its a subjective thing - I like thin necks generally - but I'd say the esquire is very similar to the 50's classic series - certainly more chunky than the classic 60's or an American standard... its softer in profile than a Baja style 'v' though.... your more than welcome to have a go if your in north Wales anytime 

Jack_

thermionic said:

Take off what you think a neck pickup is worth off the price you’d pay for a MIM Classic 50s...

You joke, but you're also kinda right.

Why does it cost me more to buy a guitar with one less pickup? Especially when all I'd have to do to convert a standard Tele to an Esquire is buy a blank plate and rip out the neck pup, which I could then sell on...

I get that companies can do this when it's something like a single 'bucker Les Paul, because it's not easy to turn a dual into a single, but on a Tele...

ICBM

Placidcasual79 said:

... and maybe its just me imagining it, but I think it has a brighter, more cutting tone than my conventional MIM Tele (that I put brass saddles on)

I feel like it was meant to be (which is probably why I am imaging the tonal difference!) 

No, you’re not. It’s the lack of the neck pickup’s magnetic damping, as crunchman said.

If you want to make it sound even better, put threaded steel saddles back on it as it should have .