PARAMOUNT ESQUIRE

From "Telesonic" to a Raucous Esquire with a Little Extra.

It started out as a sub $100 dollar Tele copy called a Telesonic. For the price I thought it was worth getting as a modding platform and it came so-well set up that I thought it was better than it had any right to be. Talk about massive value for money.

However I went ahead and modified it extensively. It's been through a couple of different iterations including having a hidden neck pickup under the pickguard. Now though the format is as follows:

Alnico 2 bridge pickup that sounds wonderful, a piezo bridge/saddle unit made by Brenner Engineering and upgraded tuners (Fender vintage kluson-style) with conversion bushings. The original tuner holes are 10mm and these tuners are made for 8mm bushings.

I love this guitar for its simplicity and it is fast becoming my go-to guitar. Soon it may end up being my main squeeze for the gigs I play with my 4-piece band "The Livewires".

I originally intended the piezo pickup to use this guitar through an acoustic Impulse Response device to turn my electric into an acoustic for both stage and studio, but I've rarely had use for that except on a small number of recordings.

Instead I live on the bridge pickup most of the time and the piezo sounds good for when I need to back off on gain and play a bit cleaner. This guitar sounds fantastic and really does a great job of nailing the tones of the fiercer side of the 1960s.

I love playing all the "Attitude" stuff on this guitar like the Who, The Sonics, The Rolling Stones. Well everything really.

It will soon be subtly modified with a new control plate that places the 3-way switch at an angle. This will allow better access to the switch for quick-flick changes on the fly.