Fender has a new Brad Paisley Esquire in a Black Sparkle finish – with a secret pickup
When is an Esquire not an Esquire? When its a Brad Paisley Esquire!
5,0 / 5,0 | 
The new Fender Brad Paisley Esquire signature model comes in a fetching Black Sparkle finish, with his signature paisley pickguard. But unlike most Esquires, this one has a little surprise under the pickguard.
Fender Brad Paisley Esquire
Brad Paisley already has a fantastic looking sparkling silver signature Telecaster model that is very popular, due to its super light weight and large neck profile. The singer-songwriter has once again teamed up with Fender for a new Esquire model in a Black Sparkle finish. However, this particular Esquire hides a secret under its hood.
Fender Brad Paisley Esquire with a secret neck pickup · Source: Fender
Secret Agent
The body is a Spruce/Paulownia/Spruce sandwich and designed to be as lightweight as possible. This should help with the resonance of the instrument and, in theory, make it a pretty lively guitar that responds well to playing dynamics. Esquires normally only have a single bridge pickup, and the three-way switch selects a tone filter, access to the tone control, or bypasses all the tone circuits completely, thus providing three core sounds to choose from.
The Brad Paisley Esquire, on the other hand, not only has his custom-wound ’64 Tele pickup in the bridge position, like on his signature Telecaster, but also a Seymour Duncan Custom Shop Secret Agent neck pickup, hidden under the pickguard. The pickup selector works as it would on a traditional T-style guitar. So essentially, it is a Telecaster disguised as an Esquire.
Elsewhere we have a traditional 3-saddle string-through Tele bridge with compensated brass barrel saddles and vintage-style tuners. The maple neck has an Enhanced-V profile neck and 22 medium jumbo frets, with a synthetic bone nut.
Brad Paisley Black Sparkel aged · Source: Fender
Aged to perfection?
I think the worn Black Sparkle finish on this guitar looks really good. It can be easy to spoil a good looking instrument by ageing it, and I’m pleased they didn’t go overboard on this model. This new version is slightly more expensive than the previous Telecaster signature model, but it does have that extra hidden Custom Shop pickup, which I suppose will bump the price up a bit.
I have played the silver version a few times and love them. The larger V profile neck sits well in my hand, and the overall feel and sound of the guitar is very nice. Think classic Telecaster twang and you are on the right road with these models. Hopefully, this new Esquire version will be just as tasty, and I look forward to trying one out as soon as they are released. Currently, they are available to pre-order.
RRP – USD 1399
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