Joe Bonamassa - The 1952 Fender Esquire | Guitar World
TALES FROM NERDVILLE by Joe Bonamassa
TOOLS OF THE TRADE, PART 3
OVER THE LAST two columns, Joe Bonamassa demonstrated the attributes of two of his favorite guitars: the 1954 Gibson Les Paul goldtop with P90 pickups, and the 1961 Gibson dot- neck ES-335. This month, he’ll continue our expedition with another guitar he considers to be an essential tool of the trade — the 1952 Fender Esquire.
#JoeBonamassa #FenderEsquire
TOOLS OF THE TRADE, PART 3
OVER THE LAST two columns, Joe Bonamassa demonstrated the attributes of two of his favorite guitars: the 1954 Gibson Les Paul goldtop with P90 pickups, and the 1961 Gibson dot- neck ES-335. This month, he’ll continue our expedition with another guitar he considers to be an essential tool of the trade — the 1952 Fender Esquire.
#JoeBonamassa #FenderEsquire
Transcript
00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:01 I'm still winging it hard as, climbing after pouring rain.
00:06 Hey, guys.
00:10 Joe Bonamassa here.
00:12 And we're broadcasting from my apartment.
00:15 Still recovering from a little neck surgery, so don't mind me.
00:17 I look a little puffy around the face.
00:19 It is what it is.
00:20 You know, ibuprofen is my new best friend.
00:23 We're talking about telecasting or Esquiring today.
00:27 Well, this is a single pickup Fender Esquire 1952.
00:32 And, you know, when I'm at home, I kind of
00:34 like playing with the Astreon.
00:36 There's something about it.
00:37 It just creates a different angle.
00:38 And, you know, it just gives you, I don't know,
00:41 a few more tonal options.
00:43 By the way, if you want to do an Albert Collins--
00:46 dead on Albert Collins impersonation,
00:48 you got to leave the Astreon.
00:50 I did this a few years ago, and I figured it out.
00:54 It's because he left the Astreon.
00:56 There's a little bit of reverb and a little bit
00:58 of a ping that happens.
00:59 So there's a lot of cool things about an Esquire and a Tele.
01:04 I mean, you can rule the world with one pickup,
01:06 I mean, if you have a good song.
01:08 So, you know, here's the thing.
01:10 There's so many different sounds on this instrument.
01:13 We're going to go through them, and we'll
01:15 see what you guys think.
01:17 So check it out.
01:18 [MUSIC PLAYING]
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01:52 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:54 Here's some cool sounds on the Esquire.
01:57 This switch, I don't know why there's one pickup,
01:59 but there's three positions.
02:00 It does something.
02:01 This one here has a filter cap on it,
02:03 or a little cap on it that makes it go dead tone.
02:05 But you get some cool things happening.
02:07 Check it out.
02:08 [MUSIC PLAYING]
02:11 [MUSIC PLAYING]
02:15 [MUSIC PLAYING]
02:18 The middle position allows you to use the tone knob
02:21 and the volume knob at the same time.
02:24 Very traditional.
02:25 [MUSIC PLAYING]
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02:46 [MUSIC PLAYING]
02:49 Go all the way back, the tone knob is disconnected.
02:54 And you just have the volume straight to the jack.
02:56 So--
02:57 [MUSIC PLAYING]
03:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
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03:22 Fun for the whole family with one pickup.
03:25 You know, you reach for a Telecaster or an Esquire
03:28 any time you want to be heard, because they
03:32 cut through the mix.
03:34 And they do something very special.
03:35 I mean, to think about the design, the innovation.
03:40 This guitar is 70 years old, or maybe 71 years old this year,
03:44 because it was built in May of '52.
03:46 And you're sitting there going, wow,
03:48 nothing's really changed about the design in 71 years.
03:51 Leo got it right the first time.
03:53 And you use it.
03:54 There's so many specific things you can do.
03:59 You can rock with the guitar.
04:01 You can play country music.
04:02 You can play blues.
04:03 I mean, there's those great pictures of Bebe with an Esquire.
04:07 Clarence Gatemouth Brown had an Esquire.
04:09 So, you know, I mean, it's one of those things where you just go--
04:12 they're so versatile.
04:14 And you can play any style of music that you want,
04:18 and do it and service the song the right way.
04:22 So that's why I always reach for a Tali or an Esquire.
04:26 It's always fun to mess around with these things.
04:30 [MUSIC PLAYING]
04:33 (upbeat music)
04:35 (upbeat music)