1949 Leo Fender Prototype

The Snake Head Esquire was the first solid-body electric Spanish guitar prototype built by Leo Fender in 1949.

It was inspired by the work of Paul A. Bigsby and Les Paul, with whom Fender frequently met in Southern California to discuss their work in guitar and amplification technologies. Fender’s chief innovation was the bolt-on neck, which made his instruments easy and cheap to mass produce, repair, and customize. This prototype has a neck built without a truss rod, a feature that later became standard to avoid warping due to string tension. It was the prototype for Fender’s first two 1950s production models, the Esquire and the Broadcaster (later renamed the Telecaster).

Technical Description:
Laminated pine body with single cutaway, one-piece maple neck; 25½ in. scale; white finish; bolt-on neck with painted black dot markers; unmarked symmetrical headstock; one single-coil pickup with tone and volume controls; chrome covered bridge, rectangular control surface with knobs on lower bout, tuners with Bakelite buttons, black Bakelite pickguard

This guitar was sold to a private collector for a staggering $375,000, the highest price ever paid for a guitar at that time.
 

1996 Fender Custom Shop 50th Anniversary "Snakehead" Esquire Prototype Guitar & '46 Professional Woody Amp Set, Limited Edition only 50 made

2010 Fender Custom Shop 60th Anniversary '49 Snakehead Prototype, Limited Edition only 60 made MSRP $10,000

The M5 Guitar is a 2020 Custom Leo Fender Esquire Prototype “Snakehead” Replica Fender SN V044854

• This guitar is a replica of the guitar Leo Fender built himself in 1949 to take with him to the patent office  
• Swamp ash Esquire body in slight relic condition
• 1 piece maple neck with maple cap and black Dot inlay. Frets are in excellent condition. 
• The neck is straight and the truss rod works but you have to take the neck off to adjust the truss rod just like the old Fender guitars
• Kluson tuning keys. This guitar stays in tune.
• Slot head screws on the pickguard and control cover just like the old guitars 
• 1 Seymour Duncan STK-T2b Hot Stack Lead pickup. 1 volume control. 1 tone control.

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