Vintage Custom 1950 Pine Esquire Thinner body?

[francislaw63]

Today I received the Custom Shop Vintage Custom 1950 Esquire.

This link mentions "True to the original, this faithful recreation features a slightly thinner (1.5”) laminated pine body."

On the esquire I got this definitely isn't so. It's 1.75" for sure, just as thick as any other American made telecaster. Anybody else noticed this?

All the papers seem in order, it's got a lot of Case Candy and a COA but the specs are just wrong.

The neck has no truss rod, as promised, but has very thick poly like coating on it. Also not right, imo.

Anybody got thoughts on this?

 

[VillainSean]

Where did you get it from?

 

[francislaw63]

Well, a big reliable music store in Holland.
I contacted the Fender Custom Shop about this, because I think they're the ones responsible for the mess. They've been turning up so many different versions of teles and strats that I wonder if they manage to keep track of the specs themselves.

 

[VillainSean]

Poly as well? Since the specs say "flash Nitro". Please let us know what happens...

 

[Joe M]

Today I received the Custom Shop Vintage Custom 1950 Esquire.

This link mentions "True to the original, this faithful recreation features a slightly thinner (1.5”) laminated pine body."

On the esquire I got this definitely isn't so. It's 1.75" for sure, just as thick as any other American made telecaster. Anybody else noticed this?

All the papers seem in order, it's got a lot of Case Candy and a COA but the specs are just wrong.

The neck has no truss rod, as promised, but has very thick poly like coating on it. Also not right, imo.

Anybody got thoughts on this?

Made me go measure my 50's Super Heavy Relic.....yup, mine measures 1.75", just like the rest of my Teles and Esquires.

 

[francislaw63]

I don't really know what a Flash Nitro finish on a neck looks like, but this coat is thick and shiny, like poly.


And about the body, my other teles are 1.75" too, but 1950 esquires were 1.50" laminated pine, meaning two slices of pine (sometimes chambered) glued together.
Check out this video! I'm after a thin guitar like that, I bet it feels great to play!

 

[francislaw63]

As you can see in this sheet the body is '51 nocaster style.
IMO that means a regular 1.75" inch thick vintage spec'ed tele body.

Not a laminated pine esquire body.

 

[francislaw63]

 

[Fender-guy]

Just gotta say that is pretty sweet though. I do like the keeping it original with the no truss rod but yeah messed up about the thicker body and saying nocaster everywhere. My 51 pbass says 55 pbass everywhere too, not sure what they’re doing really

 

[Willie Johnson]

If you got the wrong thing or they built it to the wrong specs you've got every right to be unsatisfied, but I will say that I love the thinner bodies on the two cheapie Bullet Teles that I have, and wish that it was a Fender factory option.

 

[EsquireOK]

I've built a few to that spec, and they look and feel great. It's the same slab thickness as student models (Duo-Sonic, Musicmaster, Mustang, etc.). It is indeed one of the major defining features of the black NAMM Equires, and it should be there.

Somethin' ain't right with your guitar. The model number is identical to the one you linked to. But the specs don't match.

As for the neck, maybe you've just never seen a truly factory fresh ("N.O.S.") gloss nitro lacquer finish on a neck before. They are very shiny, and look deep and thick, even when they aren't.

The compound radius board and medium frets are glaringly "wrong" for a 1950 NAMM Esquire as well, as are several other features. But at least they match the specs list published by Fender online.

You shouldn't be going directly to Fender about this. You are your retailer's customer, and your retailer is Fender's customer. Move it up the "chain of command" in exact reverse order. Your business is with the retailer. The retailer's business is with Fender.

Bottom line, it isn't what Fender said it is. Send it back and get it replaced with one that is. And it should be your dealer handling every bit of it, not you dealing with Fender yourself.

 

[francislaw63]

If you got the wrong thing or they built it to the wrong specs you've got every right to be unsatisfied, but I will say that I love the thinner bodies on the two cheapie Bullet Teles that I have, and wish that it was a Fender factory option.

Oh yeah,
I also own a Bullet tele and I absolutely love the thinner body! They're so easy to play. You must check out the YT video I posted earlier. The Esquire on it is just as thin. I was expecting just that when I ordered the Custom Shop model. Imagine my disappointment when it arrived.

 

[francislaw63]

I've built a few to that spec, and they look and feel great. It's the same slab thickness as student models (Duo-Sonic, Musicmaster, Mustang, etc.). It is indeed one of the major defining features of the black NAMM Equires, and it should be there.

Somethin' ain't right with your guitar. The model number is identical to the one you linked to. But the specs don't match.

As for the neck, maybe you've just never seen a truly factory fresh ("N.O.S.") gloss nitro lacquer finish on a neck before. They are very shiny, and look deep and thick, even when they aren't.

The compound radius board and medium frets are glaringly "wrong" for a 1950 NAMM Esquire as well, as are several other features. But at least they match the specs list published by Fender online.

You shouldn't be going directly to Fender about this. You are your retailer's customer, and your retailer is Fender's customer. Move it up the "chain of command" in exact reverse order. Your business is with the retailer. The retailer's business is with Fender.

Bottom line, it isn't what Fender said it is. Send it back and get it replaced with one that is. And it should be your dealer handling every bit of it, not you dealing with Fender yourself.

Thanks for your comment!
You are absolutely right. I sent it back and will follow your advice on not taking this up with Fender myself.
If those specs were right on Namm's Esquires, it probably means that FCS built a couple of them and then switched to the nocaster bodies. I say that because the one I sent back is not the only one around. I checked with a big store in Germany and the sales person there was so kind as to check the thickness of the body on the same model. Guess what, 1.75".
Shame on FCS. These models are not cheap, and they should have the right specs!

As for the neck finish, you are right. Up until now I'd never laid eyes on a new gloss nitro finish before.

By the way, my first guitar was a 1969 Fender Bronco, which, like the student models you mentioned, has the thinner body.
I love the fact that you've built som guitars to that spec. Cheers!

 

[francislaw63]

Just gotta say that is pretty sweet though. I do like the keeping it original with the no truss rod but yeah messed up about the thicker body and saying nocaster everywhere. My 51 pbass says 55 pbass everywhere too, not sure what they’re doing reallyView attachment 794930 View attachment 794931

Yeah,

It feels like you've been had, doesn't it?
If I order a vintage custom Fender 1950 Esquire, I don't want to read '51 nocaster anywhere. Just like in your case, it should read 51 instead of 55.
It sounds like nitpicking, but it's not. If you pay a considerable amount of money for a Fender Custom Shop Guitar, the specs should be spot on.

 

[Mondoslug]

Today I received the Custom Shop Vintage Custom 1950 Esquire.

This link mentions "True to the original, this faithful recreation features a slightly thinner (1.5”) laminated pine body."

On the esquire I got this definitely isn't so. It's 1.75" for sure, just as thick as any other American made telecaster. Anybody else noticed this?

All the papers seem in order, it's got a lot of Case Candy and a COA but the specs are just wrong.

The neck has no truss rod, as promised, but has very thick poly like coating on it. Also not right, imo.

Anybody got thoughts on this?

Hhhmmm...well good luck. The whole Nitro thing, definitely not an authority on any of it but just picked up a 70th Anniversary Esquire which isn't advertised as Flash Coating Nitro but rather "Gloss Nitrocellulose Lacquer". I myself couldn't tell that it's not Poly, it looks like it, it feels like it, this stuff is not going to wear. I have another Thin Skin Strat with about the same finish on the neck & it's the same so I dunno. Sorry to derail your thread for a second, interested to hear what you find about your new instrument. BTW congrats on the NGD, it looks like it's a very sweet instrument although not exactly what you were thinking it would be.

 

[EsquireOK]

FWIW the body finishes of the originals was not nitrocellulose lacquer. It was cellulose acetate butyrate. Basically a sprayable version of what early Gibson humbucker bobbins were made of. It’s an unstable antiquated plastic usually used to saturate and stiffen the cloth used as a skin on airplanes. And some of the black prototypes appear to have had this goop brushed on rather than sprayed. And the guards were a different material than the vinyl used for Strat and Tele white guards. Fender has never even come close to nailing a reproduction of these guitars.

 

[Fender-guy]

It doesn’t really bother me and I didn’t notice until someone pointed it out to me.

When it would become a problem is when you buy a custom shop guitar without and paperwork and you want the actual specs. Just get fender to send a floor traveller, that’s when it could become a issue.

In your case they have the correct body that it says on the floor traveller but not what fenders description says and really the whole point of the guitar.

Mine is the correct 51 slab body but wrong floor traveller. Still if either of us didn’t have the floor traveller and for some crazy reason sold these, someone reached out to fender and got the specs, I’d be getting a phone call

 

[Willie Johnson]

Oh yeah,
I also own a Bullet tele and I absolutely love the thinner body! They're so easy to play. You must check out the YT video I posted earlier. The Esquire on it is just as thin. I was expecting just that when I ordered the Custom Shop model. Imagine my disappointment when it arrived.

Whoof, that thing is cool.

 

[VillainSean]

Obviously, the shop traveler shouldn't read "51 Nocaster" for the body style for this model. Sounds like someone screwed up in the shop. Work with your retailer to get it remedied. Judging from what I can see on Reverb, you're not the only one with this issue.

 

[Joe M]

Remember everyone, the OP's shop traveller, as well as the one I have, says "base model 51 Nocaster". Just like Fender-guy's 51 P-bass says "base model 55 P-bass". Is Fender trying to pull a fast one?? I don't think so, I think it's just the methodology they use. Is it wrong?? Again, I don't think so. I suppose if I had read the specs of the guitar on Fender's site, I may have questioned some of the specs on the actual guitar. Honestly, when my dealer called me about my guitar, I was just blown away by it, not because of any specs that may or may not have been listed on Fender's site. FWIW, mine does have a skunk stripe on the neck and also has compensated saddles on the D and G strings. That sure isn't anything like an original 1950 Pine Body Esquire. And, there never was a "Full Throttle" wiring on the original Esquire like mine has and as the site describes. Plus, there was no compound radii or "medium vintage frets either. Sorta like some of the "Nocasters" that Fender produced in different colors, weren't any such guitars. So, my advice to the OP is to return it if you're not happy about some of the specs on the guitar that didn't meet your expectations. For me, mine is a killer guitar that plays and sounds as good as any CS guitar I've got or ever owned.

Oh, and for what it's worth, I have no affiliation with Fender and don't get anything from them without paying for it like most everyone else. I sure don't want to be accused of being a shill for them, I just feel that their guitars, and especially their CS models, are some of the finest ones made, past or present.