{"id":45,"date":"2012-01-25T22:19:47","date_gmt":"2012-01-25T22:19:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bunnyears.net\/guitar\/?page_id=45"},"modified":"2018-07-11T17:34:37","modified_gmt":"2018-07-11T17:34:37","slug":"2003-fender-esquire-gt-custom","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/bunnyears.net\/guitar\/electric-guitars\/2003-fender-esquire-gt-custom\/","title":{"rendered":"Fender Esquire Custom GT"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Year<\/strong>: 2003
\nFinish:<\/strong> Chrome Blue
\nOrigin:<\/strong> Korea
\nMods<\/strong>: Seymour Duncan SH-4, StewMac chrome bridge & pickup ring, Schaller straplocks, Allparts knob
\nAcquired:<\/strong> 2004
\nStill owned:<\/strong> Yes<\/p>\n

The Story:
\n<\/strong>When is a Telecaster not a Telecaster? When it has one pickup — then it’s an Esquire. And when it has a carved top, a set neck, a Seymour Duncan Invader, and a sexy-as-hell racing stripe, then it’s as far away from a Telecaster you can get. It’s a pop-punk monster — and something I wanted deeply. It was a limited-edition model out of Korea with a surprisingly high MSRP that inexplicably went on clearance mere months after it was introduced. I hurried to grab one before they were gone at a third of the original price. Since then they’ve creeped up in value as more players realize what a great model this is, so I feel pretty fortunate.<\/p>\n

I adore the neck; this has a nice D-shape profile and I love the finished headstock. I\u2019ve seen some variance among these Chrome Blue finishes, and I got one that was significantly lighter blue than the ones I’d seen in official photos. The only dark blue one I could find had a big scratch along the back of it, so I went with a slightly lighter one without the stockroom guy\u2019s screwup.<\/p>\n

I loved the mahogany body, the carved top and set neck, the neck profile, even the graphite nut \u2013 but I wanted to change just about everything else that could be changed. The \u201csmoked chrome\u201d hardware tarnished quickly and looked like crap, so I replaced the parts I could replace and used metal polish to remove the tint from the tuners, which were fine (and new tuners would require drilling new holes \u2013 something I really didn\u2019t want to do). The stock Seymour Duncan SH-8 Invader<\/a> humbucker is a super high-quality pickup in its own right, but it makes one aggressive sound and that\u2019s it (it was used famously by Tom Delonge in Blink-182). I wanted something a little warmer and smoother. The Yamaha RGX820Z<\/a> had a Seymour JB<\/a> in the bridge, which I adored, so I figured that was a great swap \u2013 and I could get it in white so it complemented the racing stripe.<\/p>\n

What I couldn\u2019t do was install it myself. I figured, it\u2019s one pickup and one volume knob \u2013 how hard can it be? Harder than I could handle \u2013 I messed up the soldering and ultimately took it to Greg Philpott<\/a> to make right. And make it right he did! It\u2019s awesome now and I am absolutely thrilled with how it turned out.<\/p>\n

Greg nicknamed this the Bitchin’ Camaro.<\/p>\n