Robbie McIntosh 'The Pretender' Telecaster Set

For the third release in our Signature series, we are honoured to be able to work with another legendary musician, the one and only Robbie McIntosh.

Robbie is one of the most respected guitar players out there. Whether he is leading a band or working as a sideman to some of the biggest names in music, he is always known for his exquisite tone, touch, and taste. 

Robbie came to us in 2022 with an idea for a Telecaster set, something a little unique, a Tele set that would also be an Esquire set. 

Make sense? No? Ok, let us explain…

Robbie has used many types of guitars throughout his career, but the instrument he is drawn back to for its pure versatility and utilitarian nature, is the Telecaster. In fact, his favourite guitar was the 1953 Esquire he used for many years with Paul McCartney. 

So, what is the difference between a Telecaster and an Esquire you ask? It really is quite simple, in years gone by, Fender offered a budget version of the Telecaster called the Esquire, it was the same as the Telecaster but for a couple of things, one there was no neck pickup and two the standard control plate was kept but the swich was wired with three options for the single bridge pickup.

The funny thing is even though they are very close in design, Esquires do sound different than Telecasters, even when just the bridge pickup is being used. It may be hard to believe, but the magnetic pull from the neck pickup on a Telecaster affects not only the sound of the guitar but the feel too, removing it really does do something interesting to the vibe of the guitar.

Robbie wanted a Tele neck pickup but also wanted to keep the feel of not having one. How did we approach this conundrum? To mimic the lack of magnetic field at the neck position, but still have a full and vibrant tele sound, we used custom made magnets which have very little string pull but hit the spot tonally. 

Sonically, he wanted the pickup to have the traditional sound of an early 50s Telecaster neck but with more cut. It would still have the classic front-end attack and sit well in a mix and maintain body and weight. 

When it came to the bridge Robbie explained that the pickup in his old Esquire had a nice woody character and was really fat for a Tele. We designed the pickup so when the volume is at ten it is plump and aggressive, but then with a slight turn of the knob, it can go full snap and twang of a classic tele bridge pickup effortlessly. 

Robbie has road tested the set extensively over the last year at gigs and in the studio and was so happy with it we didn’t need to make any changes from the first prototype set. 

So here it is, ‘The Pretender’