Reader Guitar of the Month: An Esquire-inspired Solidbody on the Cheap

Reader: Andrew WaughHometown: Stockton-on-Tees, EnglandGuitar: EbenezerI'm always impressed by the luthier skills and/or expense invested in other reader's guitars. This guitar, however, is the complete opposite. I call it “Ebenezer” after a certain Dickens character who would have been delighted by how little I spent on it.Intrigued by the design’s simplicity and the idea that the tone is purer without the extra magnetic pull of a neck pickup, I’ve wanted to try a Fender Esquire-type instrument for a long time. Near where I live in the U.K. I found a Telecaster copy on a local forum for a ridiculously low £15. It turned out to be almost as-new and played pretty well. Sure, it’s in-your-face yellow; butterscotch blonde would have been nice, but beggars can’t be choosers! I ordered an Esquire-type pickguard, compensated brass saddles, and a budget-line alnico bridge pickup to replace the ceramic one the guitar came with. Total: £43. You can’t do Esquire-type wiring with an inexpensive sealed 3-terminal selector switch, so I had to fork out £7 for a blade-type switch.“Ebenezer’s Esquire-style wiring gives me loads of sustain and upper harmonics to work with.”With the whole thing now costing a wallet-wrenching £65, I only had to choose which wiring scheme to adopt. It might have been interesting to go authentically Leo Fender and use his original wiring, but I just couldn’t see myself ever employing the “imitation bass” neck-position setting, so, I went for the Eldred mod, further modified by Premier Guitar’s very own Dirk Wacker. In this scheme, the forward position introduces a series capacitor that scoops the output and the tone knob is bypassed. In the middle position the volume and tone are engaged. And in the bridge position the guitar runs full bore, with the tone control removed from circuit. There was a little head-scratching involved with mapping the wiring onto a control plate that reverses position of the tone and volume controls (which I prefer on T-style guitars). I also tried a little experimentation with cap values.Ebenezer’s Esquire-style wiring gives me loads of sustain and upper harmonics to work with. In the middle position the tone knob shapes three very distinct and useful tones. And I just have to select the bridge position to bring out a fill or a lead line. All other aspects of tone are down to my fingers, which is part of the challenge that attracted me in the first place.One problem I didn’t anticipate came to light when I tried playing Ebenezer in church. The rented building we use has a hearing-aid loop installed, and with only one pickup there’s no way to cancel out the squealing interference. I swapped Ebenezer for a black Telecaster and I told my pastor I couldn’t use the yellow guitar in church. He replied in all seriousness that he had no idea the color made such a difference. I’m under no illusions here. Things are cheap for a reason, and you usually get what you pay for. If I were a serious gigging musician, Ebenezer might be dead in a couple of years. But I’m not, and Ebenezer lives (for now). I hope its existence proves that a fun guitar project doesn’t always have to be expensive or require fine woodworking skills.