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The Fender Esquire is a solid body electric guitar manufactured by Fender, and was the first guitar sold by Fender, in 1950. Shortly after its introduction, the two-pickup version of the Esquire was first renamed Broadcaster, and then Telecaster, while the one-pickup version retained the Esquire name. Although the one-pickup Esquire was manufactured first, it is now generally regarded as a variant of the more popular Telecaster.
Early development The first prototype for the Esquire (and the later Telecaster) was completed by Leo Fender in the fall of 1949. The prototype shared with these guitars the now-familiar slab body shape with single cutaway to allow easier access to the upper frets. It likewise featured the distinctive combination bridge and pickup assembly, with a slanted pickup with individual pole pieces for each string, and three bridge saddles which allowed adjustment of string length in pairs and individual string height. The neck, like the first Esquires manufactured in 1950, was made from a single piece of maple without a truss rod. The neck was attached to the body with four screws and an anchor plate, unlike in traditional guitar construction, where the neck is glued to the body. Unlike the Esquire, the neck was wider at the nut, and the head had 3 tuners on each side. The prototype differed from the later production guitars in several other respects: the body was made of pinewood, it was painted opaque white, its scratch plate covered the lower bout only, it lacked a selector switch, and its volume and tone knobs were mounted on a slanted plate. Like the production models, it had a removable pickup cover, but unlike on the production models, the cover had straight sides. Like all Esquires manufactured from 1951 onwards, the prototype had only one pickup. Over the winter of 1949/50, Fender refined the design. The neck width at the nut was narrowed, and the head modified to accommodate all six tuners on one side. A tone selector switch was added, and the controls were mounted on a plate parallel to the strings. The scratch plate was enlarged. Around the spring of 1950, Fender had completed a neck pickup design, which was smaller than the lead pickup and was encased in a metal shielding cover. However, this last feature was not to make it onto Fender's first commercially introduced guitar, as Fender's distributor, the Radio & Television Equipment Company (RTEC), had decided that it would be easier to sell the single pickup version of the guitar. The 1950 Esquire The single pickup guitar was first manufactured in April of 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 a similarly-named drum kit, this name was dropped, and some guitars were shipped without names until the name Telecaster was adopted. These unlabelled instruments are now referred to as Nocasters. The Esquire from 1951 to present
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