The Beginning of It All…

This beautifully crafted instrument from the Fender Custom Shop is an exact replica, inside and out, of the 1949 Esquire "Snakehead." This incredibly lightweight guitar weighs just 5.80 lbs. and has a nut width of slightly under 1 11/16 inches and a scale length of 25 1/2 inches. Solid pine body, "C"-shape maple neck, and one-piece maple neck with 21 frets and a single "dowel" dot marker at the fifteenth fret. On the back of the headstock is a "Fender® Custom Shop" decal in black. Four-bolt neck plate with "Fender Custom Instruments Corona California." Unique three-on-a-side headstock with single "dowel" inlay on face and Kluson "Deluxe" three-in-a-row strip tuners with white plastic oval buttons and slot-head screws. Black decal on the back of the headstock reads "06 of 50 Custom Shop USA." Single-coil black flush six-polepiece pickup, angled in bridgeplate, with an incredibly strong output of 9.50k. Single-layer black bakelite pickguard with three slot-head screws. Two controls (one volume, one tone) with "taller" type chrome knobs with heavily knurled sides and pronounced "dome" tops, on metal plate with slot-head screws. Original Vintage Style Tele Bridge with three steel saddles and slot-head screws. This guitar is in mint (9.50) condition, having never been played since being purchased by the original owner in 1996. Housed in the original tweed form-fit hardshell case with dark brown plush lining, which is itself enclosed in a specially custom made metal "flight-case" (9.50).

The guitar is based on the prototype of the first solid body (pine) electric guitar that Leo Fender built in 1949, known as the Snake Head Esquire, and is an exact duplicate of the original in every detail. For Fender's 50th Anniversary the Custom Shop made fifty of these guitars. This guitar is prototype "No. 6" and has the original certificate of authenticity, dated April 16, 1996, which reads: "Certificate of Authenticity/Fender(R)/Date 4/19/96/This document certifies that this/Fender Musical Instrument,/Model Fender Electric Spanish Guitar/Serial # 06 of 50/ is a product of the Fender Custom Shop/in Corona, California./This instrument has been custom built by Fender's finest/craftsment to bring you years of playing enjoyment./Thank you for purchasing Fender's best./[signed]Mike Eldred/Custom Shop Manager/Fender/Custom Shop/Fender Custom Shop. 311 Cessna Circle. Corona California. 91720." The guitar comes in a form-fit Tweed case within a custom flight case. The original Esquire Prototype sold for $375,000!

As far as we can ascertain, this limited run was an immediate "sell-out" in 1996 and they were sold together with a reproduction 1946 Fender Professional Amplifier for around $10,000! This guitar does not have the amplifier.