Fender Masterbuilt John English Custom '50s Stealth Esquire/Relic (USED, 2006)

One of 100 Masterbuilt Stealth Esquires from the late John English: a relic’d ’50s Esquire with two hand-wound single coils hidden under the pickguard.

Fender first played with the idea of hiding pickups beneath a pickguard back in the mid-’60s with the Marauder, a guitar that was photographed for the catalog but never made it into real production, and it took John English to finally bring the idea home on the one guitar where it makes the most sense. The Esquire has always looked like it was keeping a secret, since its slab body and single bridge pickup leave that broad stretch of black pickguard with nothing on it, and English, who served as the Custom Shop’s chief Master Builder and shop manager until his passing in 2007, used that space to hide not one, but two hand-wound single coils in the neck and middle positions, while leaving the guitar looking like a plain, honest blackguard Esquire from across the room. Too cool, you say? Indeed.

The result is a guitar that covers far more ground than its appearance suggests. The bridge pickup gives you the classic Esquire bite, and a 5-way switch brings in the hidden neck and middle pickups for rounder, Strat-adjacent combinations, so you can move from snarling Esquire tones to warmer, glassier sounds without changing guitars or anything about how the instrument looks on stage. Underneath it all is the ’50s foundation English knew as well as anyone (likely better than anyone): an ash body, a quartersawn maple neck carved to a 1959 Esquire U profile, a 25.5" scale, black dot inlays, and a one-ply black pickguard, with vintage-style tuners and a three-saddle bridge with brass saddles under an ashtray cover.

The run was limited to 100 guitars, and English signed his work in the details: a “Custom Built John English Fender U.S.A.” stamp on the back of the headstock and a neckplate engraved with his name, along with aged nickel hardware and a white switch tip finishing off the vintage look. This one has been well cared for, showing little beyond English’s own relic work apart from some scratches on the pickguard and very faint fret wear, and it comes with its Fender Custom Shop hardshell case, certificate of authenticity, and case candy. Like every instrument that leaves our shop, it has been fully set up by our techs, and with English’s Masterbuilt guitars becoming harder to find every year, it is a rare chance to own one of his most inventive ideas.