Fender Esquire - The 1950 Esquire

The 1950 Esquire

The single pickup guitar was first manufactured in April 1950, and made its commercial debut as the Esquire in RTEC's Spring catalogue of that year. While the guitar pictured in the catalogue was painted black and had a white scratch plate, most of the Esquires produced at the time were painted semi-transparent "butterscotch" blonde and had a black scratch plate. Unlike the pinewood prototype, the bodies (thinner than the Broadcaster's at 1.5", instead of 1.75") were made of solid ash. The dual pickup version was first manufactured in June of that year. Neither version had a truss rod at that time, though in November, the dual pickup version acquired one and was renamed the Broadcaster. Following objections from Gretsch who produced the "Broadkaster" drum kit, this name was dropped, and some guitars were shipped with only the "Fender" logo decal and no model name (commonly referred to these days as the "Nocaster.") until the name Telecaster was adopted.