NGD Esquire Partscaster

[playloud]

Partscasters might not get much love on internet forums (or Ebay), but I spent over a year waiting for the parts for this, so I'm going to share it anyway

I've been wanting a decent Esquire for a while, but not one of the "tasteful" ones the Fender CS tend to put out. I saw a 90s "Cunetto" Strat with gold hardware a few years ago that I really liked, and decided I wanted that aesthetic. I also wanted a thick early 50s neck with a rosewood board - at that point, I realized I'd have to make my own.

I think it turned out ok:




The body is pine from MJT, sold via one of their Ebay auctions. The neck is Musikraft. It has a CS Nocaster "U" neck profile (special order) with heavy rolled edges, 4A birdseye maple and compound 7 3/4 to 9 1/2 radius. I had it finished by MJT, who matched the tint perfectly to the Cunetto example I sent them.

I also ordered "aged gold hardware" from MJT, but they unfortunately sent a lefty bridge (after 5 months of waiting!) I ended up getting a Fender bridge and doing the aging myself - you can get pretty far with steel wool and etchant solution.

The pickup is a Don Mare 0038. That alone took over a year to arrive, but it was well worth it. It's aggressive, with plenty of cool overtones.

I wired it in the "Eldred mod" style, using a mustard 47nF and Lemco 4.7nF that I had in my parts drawer. I also had some 250k Clarostat pots that I was hoping to use, but they didn't fit inside the control cavity, so went with Alpha (as I prefer the taper to CTS).



The guitar itself sounds incredible. Similar resonance to my CS Strat, if not slightly louder due to the steel bridge. The fretwork by MJT was impeccable.

For those wondering whether an Esquire is a "one trick pony", here's a brief clip that I hope demonstrates its range:

 

[Whatwhatringrang]

Love parts casters. That looks and sounds great . Who is MJT?

About to do a parts caster Fender pickup/electronics rewiring thing in a Les Paul soon. I want to try series in the middle with old single coils with duo sonic rwrp wiring .

It would be cool to have an Esquire . Having just the one pickup makes it rock more I think .

That neck is really beautiful Birds Eye also .I like the gold hardware with the red.

Only bad news with partscasters like you mention is if you need to sell them. Just what I have found out myself . No love in the used market.

Is that a veneer board or a slab ?

I like those real thin veneers rosewood boards they where doing around late 63/early 64. Not a huge fan of Custom Shop Fenders personally for some reasons. Partscaster all the way !

 

[playloud]

MJT is these guys: https://www.mjtagedfinishes.com/

They offer necks also (after acquiring USACG) but they're more constrained than Musikraft in what they can do. They aren't licensed by Fender either, so headstocks are subtly different.

My board is slab, but Musikraft does offer veneer also. The amount of options they offer is really something: https://musikraft.com/product/tele-2-piece-constructed/

One other handy thing I learned (when applying the waterslide decal)... Rustoleum Gloss (this stuff) is "real" nitro. At least it was compatible with the stuff MJT used - the clear coats I applied over the logo have blended imperceptibly after wet sanding.

I agree that single p/u gtrs rock more!

 

[anitoli]

Your guitar looks nice, the neck is gorgeous.

Yeah partscasters are fun. I built one with a USACG neck way back in 2004. Simple setup three way switch, two DP103 Dimarzio's stock Fender hardware.
9 1/2 radius and smaller more traditional style Fender frets. Here is my experiment:

 

[lespaul339]

Congrats! Parts casters are cool! I loved the parts caster tele that I built better than my USA Tele. So I sold the USA Tele.

 

[BlueX]

Partscasters might not get much love on internet forums (or Ebay), but I spent over a year waiting for the parts for this, so I'm going to share it anyway

I've been wanting a decent Esquire for a while, but not one of the "tasteful" ones the Fender CS tend to put out. I saw a 90s "Cunetto" Strat with gold hardware a few years ago that I really liked, and decided I wanted that aesthetic. I also wanted a thick early 50s neck with a rosewood board - at that point, I realized I'd have to make my own.

I think it turned out ok:




The body is pine from MJT, sold via one of their Ebay auctions. The neck is Musikraft. It has a CS Nocaster "U" neck profile (special order) with heavy rolled edges, 4A birdseye maple and compound 7 3/4 to 9 1/2 radius. I had it finished by MJT, who matched the tint perfectly to the Cunetto example I sent them.

I also ordered "aged gold hardware" from MJT, but they unfortunately sent a lefty bridge (after 5 months of waiting!) I ended up getting a Fender bridge and doing the aging myself - you can get pretty far with steel wool and etchant solution.

The pickup is a Don Mare 0038. That alone took over a year to arrive, but it was well worth it. It's aggressive, with plenty of cool overtones.

I wired it in the "Eldred mod" style, using a mustard 47nF and Lemco 4.7nF that I had in my parts drawer. I also had some 250k Clarostat pots that I was hoping to use, but they didn't fit inside the control cavity, so went with Alpha (as I prefer the taper to CTS).



The guitar itself sounds incredible. Similar resonance to my CS Strat, if not slightly louder due to the steel bridge. The fretwork by MJT was impeccable.

For those wondering whether an Esquire is a "one trick pony", here's a brief clip that I hope demonstrates its range:

Love your partscaster! It's got the vibes of Muddy Waters Tele, and looks like a loved workhorse that's been played extensively. Really nice birdseye neck, too. Good playing and tone in the clip!

Here's my take on esquire. Started as a kit, but got some changes. Also Eldred wiring, and a push/pull tone knob to select between two different tone caps (in the "normal" switch position.

 

[Dgd73]

Really cool. I dig the whole thing but that neck just stands out. Very nice.

 

[Central Scrutinizer]

That turned out very nice!


Great sound clip. Great playing.

 

[paul-e-mann]

Partscasters might not get much love on internet forums (or Ebay), but I spent over a year waiting for the parts for this, so I'm going to share it anyway

I've been wanting a decent Esquire for a while, but not one of the "tasteful" ones the Fender CS tend to put out. I saw a 90s "Cunetto" Strat with gold hardware a few years ago that I really liked, and decided I wanted that aesthetic. I also wanted a thick early 50s neck with a rosewood board - at that point, I realized I'd have to make my own.

I think it turned out ok:




The body is pine from MJT, sold via one of their Ebay auctions. The neck is Musikraft. It has a CS Nocaster "U" neck profile (special order) with heavy rolled edges, 4A birdseye maple and compound 7 3/4 to 9 1/2 radius. I had it finished by MJT, who matched the tint perfectly to the Cunetto example I sent them.

I also ordered "aged gold hardware" from MJT, but they unfortunately sent a lefty bridge (after 5 months of waiting!) I ended up getting a Fender bridge and doing the aging myself - you can get pretty far with steel wool and etchant solution.

The pickup is a Don Mare 0038. That alone took over a year to arrive, but it was well worth it. It's aggressive, with plenty of cool overtones.

I wired it in the "Eldred mod" style, using a mustard 47nF and Lemco 4.7nF that I had in my parts drawer. I also had some 250k Clarostat pots that I was hoping to use, but they didn't fit inside the control cavity, so went with Alpha (as I prefer the taper to CTS).



The guitar itself sounds incredible. Similar resonance to my CS Strat, if not slightly louder due to the steel bridge. The fretwork by MJT was impeccable.

For those wondering whether an Esquire is a "one trick pony", here's a brief clip that I hope demonstrates its range:

That looks frikkin cool as hell! And sounds cool! How many years in the making??

 

[coffeecupman]

oh hell yeah!

I've been working on a mountain of great parts for a while now.

It's the only way to get away from "The dreaded medium C" when it comes to Fenders.

I too prefer rosewood and a thick V profile. I still have a few more test necks to try before I'm sure about my preferred fret size and nut width, and then I'll start custom ordering from Musikraft.

 

[DreamerDeceiver]

Awesome

Rock on !

 

[playloud]

That looks frikkin cool as hell! And sounds cool! How many years in the making??

Thankfully only 18 months! I placed the pickup order in May last year. Don has very reasonable prices, as well as being one-man operation, so the wait times are understandably long. And I'm gonna stop talking about how superb they sound in case I want to order more in future

Love your partscaster! It's got the vibes of Muddy Waters Tele, and looks like a loved workhorse that's been played extensively. Really nice birdseye neck, too. Good playing and tone in the clip!

Here's my take on esquire. Started as a kit, but got some changes. Also Eldred wiring, and a push/pull tone knob to select between two different tone caps (in the "normal" switch position.

View attachment 140206

Very classy look! I would still like to get a butterscotch Tele in the future.

Didn't think about the Muddy Waters thing, but I've been noodling the riff to "Rolling Stone" for almost 20 years now, so perhaps that has a subconscious influence...

 

[DirtySteve]

Yeah, that sounds great! I love the cocked wah mod.

 

[thaynes]

I love partscasters. I have a tele and strat and currently working on another strat. Since no love on the used market, might as well build them the way you want it because you can't sell it. Don't skimp on the pickups...these you could sell if you find something else that you like.

Your esquire looks fantastic! I would rock that ax! Good job!

 

[Mitchell Pearrow]

Congratulations on a fine build
Sounds great as well.

 

[Marshman]

I have been jonesing an Esquire for a long time, but the used market seemed loaded with $179 Squiers and $3k+ custom-shop wonders. For a while I thought about finding a '52 reissue and converting it, but that seemed expensive for a hobbyist. Then, I started collecting parts for a partscaster, but over the summer I scored an MIM in the same year/color as the tele I already have, so it's in the project queue for conversion.