Under Construction!

          Repeat after me, "Luther Perkins never played a Telecaster. He played an Esquire". This statement should elicit three respones. The first being, "Of course, everybody knows that". The second being, "That's wrong because such and such told me...” The last and most common would be, "What are a Telecaster and Esquire?” This page will detail the various equipment used by Luther Perkins throughout his career. This page was initially created in an attempt to rebuild what was lost when The Original Man Behind The Man In Black disappeared. Fortunately, the owner stumbled upon this effort and has brought the site back up! Much of the dating and acquisition information has been drawn heavily from that site. The techincal side of things and a few pieces of scattered information are this site's contribution to things. Please be sure to visit The Original Man Behind The Man In Black for some very detailed information and unique photos!

-Guitars-
          Luther Perkins was extremely partial to the Fender brand. The model he used at the start of his recording career was the Esquire. The Esquire is a single pickup derivative of the more popular Telecaster. However, it is not simply a Telecaster with the neck pickup removed. At the time, the Telecaster featured a magnetic pickup at the bridge and one near the neck. The control configuration consisted of a volume knob, a tone knob to bleed off higher frequencies, and a toggle switch to select between using the neck or bridge pick up. With the control in the rearmost position, the bridge pickup is in operation. The middle position activates the neck pickup. Placing the switch all the way forward runs the bridge pickup through a capacitor and produces a very muddy tone. This position is rather unpleasant and somewhat unpopular. Fender's '52 Telecaster reissue actually includes a wiring kit to remove this configuration!

  

          The Esquire omits the neck pickup, yet it still retains the control knobs and the toggle switch. The control knobs perform the same function; however the toggle switch provides a palette of different tones. With the toggle switch in the rear most position, the tone control is omitted from the circuit and a brighter, hotter sound is produced. Even with the tone control set all the way up, it will still bleed off some of the higher frequencies unless it is removed from the circuit. With the toggle switch in the middle position the instrument performs as a normal Telecaster running off the bridge pickup with a functioning tone control. Placing the toggle switch in the forward most position, the signal is run through a series of capacitors which bleeds off much of the higher frequencies and causes a slight decrease in output. The Sun version of "I Walk the Line" is a good example of this position. The lack of a neck pickup also places less magnetic pull on the strings and further differentiates the sound of an Esquire from a Telecaster.

          Luther got his first Esquire in the fall of 1954. It was white with a black pickguard and had a volume knob that was stuck on full. This may help explain the genesis of the "Boom-Chicka-Boom". In 1954, there were no amps with foot switchable channels or gain pedals. If you wanted more volume for you solo, you simply rolled up the volume knob on the guitar, played your piece, and turned it back down again. Palm-muting would also serve the same function of quieting the instrument during the verses if your volume knob didn't work. This guitar is only seen during the earliest pictures of Perkins. It could roughly be placed on everything before "I Walk the Line"

          Esquire number two was a little flashier than the first one. This one actually had a working volume control and was red. It was purchased from O.K. Houck Piano company in April of 1956 and was used to record "I Walk the Line". Like its predecessor, this guitar was seldom seen. However, Esquire number three appeared in late 1956 and saw much more use. This guitar was white with a black top and featured the initials "LP" in the upper left hand corner. It can be seen on the Ranch Party and Country Style U.S.A. performances. The start of 1958 brought with it one of Luther's favorite guitars, a honey blonde Esquire. This instrument seems to be the most heavily used of the Esquires and was still played into the mid-'60s even though Fender had given him the more advanced Jazzmaster and Jaguar models.