An All Original 1963 Custom Esquire.

1963 Fender Custom Esquire.

This 12 3/4-inch Custom Esquire weighs just 7.00 lbs. and has a nut width of just over 1 5/8 inches and a scale length of 25 1/2 inches. Double-bound, three-tone sunburst solid ash body. One-piece maple neck with Brazilian 'veneer' rosewood fretboard with 21 original medium frets and clay dot position markers. Original "spaghetti" logo with "Fender" in gold with black outline and "Custom Esquire" in black beneath. Single butterfly string tree. Individual Kluson deluxe "single-line" tuners with oval metal buttons (stamped on the underside "D-169400 / Patent No."). The neck is stamped "3 OCT 63 B". Four-bolt neckplate with serial number "L21223" between the top two screws. One black 'grey-bottom' six-polepiece pickup angled in bridgeplate with an output of 6.70k. Three-ply 'greenish' white over black plastic with eight screws. Two controls (one volume, one tone) plus three-way selector switch with "top-hat" tip, all on metal plate adjoining pickguard. The potentiometers are stamped "304 6403" (Stackpole January 1964). Chrome knobs with flat tops and knurled sides. Fender combined tailpiece and bridge. The three-tone sunburst finish shows moderate finish checking and extensive wear and 'flaking'. The back of the neck has several indentations (from a capo) behind the first five frets. Aside from the playing wear this fifty year old guitar is 100% original and plays and sounds like a banshee. The overall condition is excellent (8.50). Housed in its original Fender black hardshell case with reddish orange plush lining (8.75).

"The Custom Telecaster and Esquire models, launched by Fender in 1959, had a quite different look, finished in the sunburst style the Stratocaster and with bound white edges to the body. The original Custom Esquire would last in the company's lines until 1969, the Tele for three years longer."

"The gloriously simple Telecaster and Esquire were finding a true voice in the hands of similarly uncomplicated yet accomplished musicians. In the Stax studio in Memphis, cool-hand Steve Cropper translated the good old Fender's simplicity of design into musical terms as his lean guitar lines graced the 1962 Book T & the MGs hit 'Green Onions'. For that and other early cuts, he used a '56 Esquire, but Cropper created a fresh classic Tele look, soon opting for a new '63 Tele and its contemporary style of blond body, white 'guard, and rosewood neck. Listen for his beautifully measured opening statement and licks on Sam & Dave's 'Soul Man' hit of 967 and his contributions to Otis Redding's 'Dock Of The Bay', added to the basic track almost immediately following Redding's premature death in '67."  (Tony Bacon. The Telecaster Guitar Book. pp. 44-47).