Esquire Capacitor experimetns inside

[w0odman]

Here's a pic again for Sh... and Giggles:






So it started out with a .033 cap for the bassy setting and it was still too dark for my liking. So I ordered a bunch of caps .022, .015, and .010. Since .033 was too dark I skipped right to .015. It still had the dark thing going on, but think of it as another tap down on the wah pedal in respect to how it sounded.

.015 clean was still dark sounding but put some distortion or overdrive on it and man does it sound nice. That weird distorted cocked wah thats just the right amount of nasty.

so today I tried out the .010 cap. and we have moved out of bassy territory now. at least for distorted sounds. Clean it's still bassier. But distorted it's in your face coked down wah that brings out some harmonic sounds and makes the amp sustain and feedback a little. I love it

I'll plug it into my V-amp and record some samples later on today.

For those curious about the capacitors here is a link to where I got them, man many values of caps to be had:

Caps Here

[nokaster]

i'm guessing you have the simple esquire wiring going on?

bridge pos = no tone control
middle pos = tone control, like normal tele bridge pos
neck pos = bassy sound, but without all the caps + resistor

if this is true, can you or anyone mail me the wiring diagram please?
the simple one i found in the resources has brodge and middle reversed from what i described above...

thx!

[w0odman]

Originally Posted by nokaster

i'm guessing you have the simple esquire wiring going on?

bridge pos = no tone control
middle pos = tone control, like normal tele bridge pos
neck pos = bassy sound, but without all the caps + resistor

if this is true, can you or anyone mail me the wiring diagram please?
the simple one i found in the resources has brodge and middle reversed from what i described above...

thx!

I used the simple digram from this site. So bridge pos is with tone control, middle pos is no tone control, and neck pos is wired with .010 cap.

At first I thought I wouldn't like the open pos in the middle, but it feels safer with tone control in the back pos. I won't ever knock it into the wide open pos and blow somebody's eardrums out.

[nokaster]

OK!

thanx!
and thx a lot for the cap test!

a lot of esquire content these days, i love it!

[cacibi]

w0odman - I don't know about the caps.....but you are eating entirely too many eggs.

[w0odman]

Originally Posted by nokaster

a lot of esquire content these days, i love it!

Soon to be esquired is this one... currently in les paul jr. mode. I can't wait to hear the p90 wired up like an esquire with a 3 way switch and my whacky cap values

[w0odman]

Originally Posted by cacibi

w0odman - I don't know about the caps.....but you are eating entirely too many eggs.

Went waaaaaaaay over my head until I looked at my picture again Not sure why we have those boxes. I think they say 30 Dozen eggs on them

[nokaster]

Originally Posted by w0odman

Soon to be esquired is this one... currently in les paul jr. mode. I can't wait to hear the p90 wired up like an esquire with a 3 way switch and my whacky cap values

that one looks like it has had plastic surgery!
but i like those thinline, custom or deluxe pickguard designs on esquires...
my hotrod esquire project will have a 69 thinline-ish pickguard...

[Flashback]

I gotta hear the sound clips. I have been wanting to build my ZZ Top-Esque Esquire with the Rev Zee Pickup from Don Mare. And I want my 3rd position to be the super cocked wah sound.

Plus I just gotta WHOLE bunch of Tropical Fish Capacitors and I want to use some of the values in my Casters.

That black p90 Esquire looks like it sounds mean. What pickup and pot values did you use?

[w0odman]

Originally Posted by Flashback

I gotta hear the sound clips. I have been wanting to build my ZZ Top-Esque Esquire with the Rev Zee Pickup from Don Mare. And I want my 3rd position to be the super cocked wah sound.

Plus I just gotta WHOLE bunch of Tropical Fish Capacitors and I want to use some of the values in my Casters.

That black p90 Esquire looks like it sounds mean. What pickup and pot values did you use?

The p-90 is a GFS Vintage bridge p-90 and I used 250 k pots with a .047 orange drop cap. I think I actually liked the Duncan designed p90 better.... it was a bit more aggressive. But yes it can sound mean

Esquire sound clips below. Played each riff twice on each position going from tone rolled off a little, wide open, and last the capacitor "Cocked Wah" sound. I recorded them through my V-amp into Audacity so the sounds are not as good as my blues junior sounds

ZZ Top riff with gain

Brad Paisley riff slightley overdriven

The V-amp does gain better than clean tones.

[nokaster]

i love the "Cocked Wah" sound in the clips...
which cap is that?

[w0odman]

Originally Posted by nokaster

i love the "Cocked Wah" sound in the clips...
which cap is that?

that is the .010 cap

[Mark Davis]

A pot is a variable resistor. All you have to do is use a pot on the switch in the same place the 3.3k resistor and adjust the pot to make the preset bassy sound just like you want. This actually gives you 2 tone controls this way but one you dont adjust just set to however much or little bass you want.

You can use a mini pot and just stuff it away in the control panel or use a full sized pot asd solder it to the bottom of the vol pot and cut the shaft down. Its easier to use a mini pot.

[cacibi]

I'm sorry to be a Dumb Dudley about all this - but need some specific clarification on a few points.

Part of the problem is that my MIM 50's Esquire is wired very slightly different from most of the diagrams I'm seeing. It's wired like this.

So in that diagram I'm wondering how I would accomplish the two mods mentioned here. Both the replacing of the current caps/resistor setup with the .01 cap, and the use of the mini pot.

To accomplish the .01 cap mod - which cap do I replace and which do I eliminate? If I'm eliminated the cap that runs to ground - do I still need to ground that lug?

To accomplish the potentiometer mod (with the way my switch is wired) - I assume I just snip out the 3.3k resistor, wire the the .05 cap that's in series with that resistor to the wiper, and wire lug 3 to the switch lug that the other end of the current resistor is wired to.

Sorry if I'm making this more complicated than it needs to be - but appreciate the help.

[nokaster]

i can recommend the .010 cap instead of the caps + resistor wiring.
woodman did the test... i didn't listen the first time and installed a .022 = BASSY!
now i've got the .010 which is still bassy clean, but with a fuzz pedal... sweeeeeeeeet!

for wiring help... go to the resources of the tdpri.
esquire wiring scheme number one.
replace the 2 .047 caps and 3.3 resistor with a .010 cap.
solder wire from lug 6 to lug 7.
solder .010 cap from lug 7 to ground.

[Jack Knife]

Wow, I've done the simple Esquire wiring before and the cap values you guys are using sound like an order of magnitude too large! I used a .0047 cap and I thought that was a little bassy. I wanted to try a .0033. I can't imagine what a .01 would sound like!

[w0odman]

Originally Posted by Jack Knife

Wow, I've done the simple Esquire wiring before and the cap values you guys are using sound like an order of magnitude too large! I used a .0047 cap and I thought that was a little bassy. I wanted to try a .0033. I can't imagine what a .01 would sound like!

well there are still sound clips a couple of replies back.

Clean it sounds like the tone knob is rolled back just past the sweet spot, so that it cuts the highs off and sounds a little bassy. When overdrive or distortion is added it sounds more like a cocked wah with overdrive or distortion. So that it still cuts through, but it colors the tone.

Just give it a try... it's cheap and fun

[martino]

Originally Posted by w0odman

The p-90 is a GFS Vintage bridge p-90 and I used 250 k pots with a .047 orange drop cap. I think I actually liked the Duncan designed p90 better.... it was a bit more aggressive. But yes it can sound mean

Esquire sound clips below. Played each riff twice on each position going from tone rolled off a little, wide open, and last the capacitor "Cocked Wah" sound. I recorded them through my V-amp into Audacity so the sounds are not as good as my blues junior sounds

ZZ Top riff with gain

Brad Paisley riff slightley overdriven

The V-amp does gain better than clean tones.

For some reason I could not play the clip must be a mac thing.

[telex]

Originally Posted by martino

For some reason I could not play the clip must be a mac thing.

Me too .

[w0odman]

hmmm, don't know if I have the sounds files anymore.. if I do I'll try to rehost somewhere else

[boris bubbanov]

Originally Posted by w0odman

so today I tried out the .010 cap. and we have moved out of bassy territory now. at least for distorted sounds. Clean it's still bassier. But distorted it's in your face coked down wah that brings out some harmonic sounds and makes the amp sustain and feedback a little. I love it

Thank you kind sir for this excellent experiment and post. I took off the resistor and the high value ceramic caps and put on a green .010 mf Radio Shack poly film cap and insulated jumper, applying the diagram set forth in your wirings diagram section.

I think this is an excellent sound, one I cannot seem to duplicate in position two in any position on the tone pot. Very nice.

What does puzzle me, tho, is why the position #2 with the tone at the control panel dimed sounds exactly like position one, no matter how I adjust the amp, play up or down on the strings, and no matter how loud I turn up the amp. I guess it is just as well with the stock MIM pickup, it is just about as bright as I can handle any in environment I've played it in. (It was already like this, sorry for not saying so)

I also substituted Gotoh 'klusons' for the Pings, and am satisfied my time was not wasted; this 2004 set of Pings is not one of the lucky batches; the Gotohs are just consistently the very best quality.

I do need to try that baking soda and superglue trick on the nut for the high E slot. Just the slightest sitarring open, fine fretted anywhere on the board. the first fret is not uneven, the nut slot does look low. Perhaps I will replace the nut altogether, as the nut slot is extremely shallow.

The W0odman comes to the rescue again, thanks.

[w0odman]

No problem Boris. Happy to hear you like the .010 cap. It's definitely an interesting sound. As far as your problem with the other two positions sounding the same, I don't know what to tell you. When my guitar was esquireized (sp?), the wide open position def sounded a bit brighter.

I think the trick with an esquire is to have the tone rolled back already on the one position so it's a nice, not so harsh rhythm sound. So when you flip it to the other position it's more apparent. But there should be a difference. More so when used with some overdrive/distortion.