Tell me about your Fender CS Double Esquires!

[RocknRollShakeUp]

I’m looking to possibly get one of these.

How do you like the Handwound 50-51 Blackguard pickups, the blend pot, the lack of tone knob, the neck, etc.?

Did you change to a standard wiring harness?

What kind of music do you play with it?

I wanna know everything!

 

[Asbury]

No

 

[RocknRollShakeUp]

Thank you to the mod that moved this post to the CS forum!

Come on Double Esquire owners, lay down the 411 on these!

 

[LCW]

See my NGD

 

[RocknRollShakeUp]

See my NGD

I’ll check it out thanks!

Edit: gorgeous guitar man! But I see a Loaded 51 Nocaster in the bridge. I wonder how that handwound 50-51 blackguard pickup differs
How do you like the Esquire wiring with the blend pot and no tone, if you have that?

 

[bsman]

Perhaps the nichiest niche post I've seen here. Well done, sir!!!

 

[LCW]

I’ll check it out thanks!

Edit: gorgeous guitar man! But I see a Loaded 51 Nocaster in the bridge. I wonder how that handwound 50-51 blackguard pickup differs
How do you like the Esquire wiring with the blend pot and no tone, if you have that?

This is regular wiring. Volume and tone. Called Fat 50s which I think is just a tone bleed added to regular modern wiring.

 

[RocknRollShakeUp]

This is regular wiring. Volume and tone. Called Fat 50s which I think is just a tone bleed added to regular modern wiring.

View attachment 1408211

Got it. The Double Esquire I’m looking at comes with the blender circuit installed and a complete Fat 50’s assembly on a control plate in the case also.
Thanks for the info on your guitar, it’s a killer!

 

[RocknRollShakeUp]

Perhaps the nichiest niche post I've seen here. Well done, sir!!!

A brother’s gots ta know wat a brother’s gots ta know !

But on a serious note these seem to be pretty rare out there in the wild!

 

[LCW]

What’s the history on “Double Esquire”. Isn’t a 2 pickup Esquire just a Tele?

Don’t get me wrong it’s cool and mine is a CS modded build so no real vintage accuracy. Just curious on the background of the name.

 

[gwjensen]

Can't tell you anything other than I wish I had one. Definitely on my short list guitars I want...

 

[Jasonpatrick]

A brother’s gots ta know wat a brother’s gots ta know !

But on a serious note these seem to be pretty rare out there in the wild!

I’ve been trying to find anything on these pickups and it’s crickets

 

[LCW]

I’ve been trying to find anything on these pickups and it’s crickets

The specs are in the Custom Shop order guide.

https://www.fmicassets.com/sites/fender.com/themes/img/customshop/2025/2025_Custom_Shop_Design_Guide.pdf

 

[gwjensen]

I’ve been trying to find anything on these pickups and it’s crickets

If your talking about the 50/51 Blackguards, Fender will be offering them a la cart, coming soon.

https://www.fender.com/products/custom-shop-50-51-blackguard-telecaster-pickup-set

 

[Jasonpatrick]

The specs are in the Custom Shop order guide.

https://www.fmicassets.com/sites/fender.com/themes/img/customshop/2025/2025_Custom_Shop_Design_Guide.pdf

Where? Not seeing them listed but also, I was asking more about real person reviews. I’ve seen what fender says about them.

 

[Jasonpatrick]

If your talking about the 50/51 Blackguards, Fender will be offering them a la cart, coming soon.

https://www.fender.com/products/custom-shop-50-51-blackguard-telecaster-pickup-set

Yep, I know. I’m trying to find reviews on them.

 

[LCW]

Where? Not seeing them listed but also, I was asking more about real person reviews. I’ve seen what fender says about them.

Very back pages of the guide.

 

[Jasonpatrick]

So I just installed these pickups. Yeah they really really really good.

 

[Pips]

Looks like a rare one

 

[RocknRollShakeUp]

What’s the history on “Double Esquire”. Isn’t a 2 pickup Esquire just a Tele?

Don’t get me wrong it’s cool and mine is a CS modded build so no real vintage accuracy. Just curious on the background of the name.

OK, I'm no Fender historian, but:

The way I understand it is that Fender decided to offer their regular two pick up model that was supposed to be the "Broadcaster." Then because of the Gretsch cease and desist over the Broadcaster name, they just cut the Broadcaster off the decal and sold the guitars with just "Fender" on the headstock. These became known later as "NoCasters."

Fender also offered the one pickup (bridge) "Esquire."
However, one could buy an Esquire, and have the neck factory mounted for an extra price, which I think ended up being more economical than buying the two pickup guitar outright!
As I understand it even the Esquires had the route for the neck pickup already there under the pick guard.
These two pickup "Esquires" eventually became referred to as a "Double Esquire".

OK...now, the Broadcaster/Nocasters had the original wiring harness which was: Position 1: bridge and blend pot, Position 2: Neck no tone cap, Position 3: Neck with bassy tone cap so for a "bass guitar" like tone. The two knobs are volume and blend pot, there is no tone pot. The blend pot is also only active when in Position 1.

The reissue Double Nocasters that I'm lookin at came with a "Modified Nocaster" wiring harness, which differs from the original, by the fact that the cap present in Position 3 is a lot less bassy than the original 50's guitars. It basically sounds like a pretty normal neck pickup tone, but definitely warmer than Position 2 which is the neck pickup wired directly to the volume pot.

Now; the reissue Double Esquires that I originally saw some years ago at Rainbow Guitars also came with a complete control plate and Fat 50's wiring harness in the case, in case the customer wanted a modern 3 way Tele harness/switching system.

Also the CS Double Esquire reissues have a pretty fat neck, like .92"/1.00" or thereabouts.

But it looks like nobody on this world renown "Tele" forum knows much at all about these darn Double Esquires!