Sold: 2003 Fender Custom Shop '59 Esquire/Tele, blonde/maple

JohnPerry

2003 Custom Shop '59 Esquire R-serial in vintage blonde/maple, currently wired as a Tele with a Seymour Duncan (not sure which) in the neck. Comes in original case with candy and COA.

It is an NOS spec, rather than reliced, but it being 16 years old has a couple of chips and some tasty checking now.

Sounds magnificent, big and resonant. Neck is vintage radius, quite skinny, C/D shape. Little fretwear.

N.B. This one has a string-through body situation. I thought these 59s were toploaders and indeed the spec sheet (see below the pics) says it was. But Fender in the States swear blind - having checked their records - that the string-through was also standard on this model and the spec was "subject to change" (I have an email exchange from last year to that effect). It looks like a later mod to me, I must say, though the bridge would then not be original and it certainly looks original. Who knows? It's more resonant than my other '59, which is a toploader.


N.B. Please see learned discussion in thread below!


Couple of pix follow (one simply to show how it looks with an Esquire pickguard (included). More on request - PM me your email.

Would much prefer pickup in Oxford or rendezvous in the area but can do insured shipping in this price.

£1599. Not looking for trades or offers at the mo.











Fender spec sheet:

Manufactured 10/2003
Model Name: ‘59 Esquire® NOS
Model Number: 015-3002-(Color#)
Series: Time MachineTM Series
Body: Premium Ash
Neck: 1-Piece Maple Neck, Late ‘50s “C” Shape,
(Nitrocellulose Lacquer Finish)
Fingerboard: Maple, 7.25” Radius (184mm)
No. of Frets: 21 Vintage Style Frets
Scale Length: 25.5” (648 mm)
Width @ Nut: 1.650” (42 mm)
Hardware: Nickel/Chrome
Machine Heads: Fender®/Gotoh® Vintage Style Tuning Machines
Bridge: Vintage Style Top-load Tele Bridge
Pickguard: 1-Ply Parchment
Pickups: 1 Vintage Tele Bridge Pickup
Pickup Switching: Custom-Wired 3-Position Blade:
Position 1. Volume Control with Cap. Only, No Tone Control
Position 2. Volume Control with Cap. and Tone Control with Cap.
Position 3. Volume Control Only No Cap., No Tone Control
Controls: Volume, Tone
Colors:
(807) Vintage Blonde,
(Nitrocellulose Lacquer Finish)
Strings: Fender Super 250R, Nickel Plated Steel,
Gauges: (.010, .013, .017, .026, .036, .046),
p/n 073-0250-006
Other Features: Built as if bought new in its respective year and brought forward in time.
Source: U.S. Fender Custom Shop
Accessories: Vintage Tweed Case (Gold Interior), Strap, Cable, “Ash Tray” Bridge Cover
U.S. MSRP: $3,124.99
INTRODUCED: 1/2003
DISCONTINUED: 1/2008

Strat54

That is an odd one. I ordered one of these on release at the NAMM show and it was the first in the UK, its finish was much whiter too. The bridge on yours is an oddball too as mine came with the threaded steel saddles correct for the year and all of these were given RXXXXX serial numbers as all the Time Machine guitars were. The control knobs had flatter non domed heads and a top hat selector switch tip too.
However (and this is where it gets interesting) the NAMM guitars were a much blonder finish like yours as was the one shown in the Fender Frontline catalog of that year. To be honest when I received mine I was a little disappointed as it looked anemic. Fast forward to quite a few years later and low and behold the actual guitar from the catalog in Relic finish came for sale, I was seriously tempted but it was $4k. However bizarrely it had a through bridge on it like yours! How could this be? The seller had an letter from Fender stating it was a proto '59 guitar and the grain was identical so that wasn't in doubt .
So that meant only one thing....the model/pic shown in the catalog produced for distribution at NAMM had been photo shopped and given a toploader bridge. I asked Mike Eldred the question and he dismissed it. I then passed the pic to a friend who worked in the catalog design business and they confirmed it had been altered . So I'm thinking that yes Fender did in fact produce '59s with through string bridges! Sorry bit long winded. So I guess this makes yours a rare one! If a bit historically incorrect. 
What is the date on the COA? Have you looked in the neck pocket, that might reveal some more info. In the meantime Here's the photoshopped Esquire from the Fender catalog and featured in many book. Note the mismatch of chrome from the bridge to the control plate.....

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e128/Telesquire/catalogEsquire_zpsub4pjifw.jpg

JohnPerry

The date is March 2003 and it has an R serial. 

What is also interesting is that the original owner lost the COA. To get another I had to get a Fender dealer (PMT, Oxford) to take the guitar apart (which revealed the embossed stamp saying "59" and "NOS"), photograph it inside and out and top to bottom and send them all off to the Custom Shop in California.

They checked it all over, confirmed it to be all in order and three months later sent me the new COA. I am told they don't do that if a guitar has been modded. Whether that's true I don't know. But you may be right and it's just as it left the Custom Shop, bar the neck pickup which I guess they would allow. 

I have another of these which I bought from MiserNeil which is indeed paler - a white blonde as opposed to the yellower vintage blonde. But some of the yellowing is just age - under the pickguard it's a little paler.


 

Strat54

Oh right, I can't see the R on the bridge from the pic just the 22xxx number. Yes, thats right they wouldn't re-issue a COA if it wasn't 100%. I suspect it is correct and that it did leave the factory like that. There are no concrete rules there and anomalies do exist like this. Thats why when I see stuff like this and the catalog guitar I keep the pics. 
Here's the real life pic of the photoshopped '59.....note the bridge and its real neck which I forgot they photoshopped too!
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e128/Telesquire/Esquire1_zpsmhcsz4uz.gif

JohnPerry

Bump

JohnPerry

Bump

JohnPerry

bumping this from the dead to gauge any new interest

monquixote

Still no interest in trades?

JohnPerry

Sorry, don't really need anything

Strat54

When they gave you a new COA did it have R22810 as its number because that doesn't show up on Fender's serial number search? What's on the neck plate of your guitar? I have a late 90's Esquire that has a similar serial number to yours i.e just five digits on the bridge and no R. It too was not a relic and strictly speaking NOS although just prior to the Time Machine Guitars of 1999. Curious.

JohnPerry

no, it's R168XX on the neck and COA. Checks out on the Fender site.

JohnPerry

Bump