ugh.. esquire wiring help needed please... pics inside

[w0odman]

So I went and changed my tele to an esquire.... that doesn't work at all


At first I thought that I fried the switch de-wiring a very sloppy job done by a "guitar tech" years ago. So I got a new switch and wired it up. Still nothing but buzz. Volume and tone pots still do what they're intended to do, so I think I have a short somewhere, or didn't follow the diagram correctly.

So here's the diagram I'm going off of from this site:




And here are some pictures of my faulty job:







Could this gooped up terminal on the tone pot be the culprit?





Any help is greatly appreciated

[HullettAmps]

Looks like you have some errors on your switch...if you have a volt meter set it to ohms...I have a feeling you may have soldered a short across your pickup...once you find it and fix it...it should be ok...but as it looks your switched isnt wired like the diagram....Clay

[cacibi]

Yeah - your switch wiring looks reversed from the diagram.

[w0odman]

Originally Posted by HullettAmps

Looks like you have some errors on your switch...if you have a volt meter set it to ohms...I have a feeling you may have soldered a short across your pickup...once you find it and fix it...it should be ok...but as it looks your switched isnt wired like the diagram....Clay

Yeah, the switch should look off, because the diagrams perspective is looking down on top of the control plate as if it's see-through. So when you flip the control plate over to work on it, the terminal stagger looks opposite. Confusing stuff.

[cacibi]

Originally Posted by w0odman

Yeah, the switch should look off, because the diagrams perspective is looking down on top of the control plate as if it's see-through. So when you flip the control plate over to work on it, the terminal stagger looks opposite. Confusing stuff.

That's not usually how it works with wiring diagrams I've used. They're all drawn from the perspective of looking down on the control plate 'innards' after it has been unmounted and flipped over. I'm sure this one is drawn that way as well.

[w0odman]

Originally Posted by cacibi

That's not usually how it works with wiring diagrams I've used. They're all drawn from the perspective of looking down on the control plate 'innards' after it has been unmounted and flipped over. I'm sure this one is drawn that way as well.

well, when I get some time tomorrow I'll reverse my switch wiring and see how she goes.

[w0odman]

Good news... Turns out I was being stupid and wired the switch reversed which was shorting out the whole circuit. Doh! Thanks for the help on this one.


Everything is now fully functional. Pos. 1 is tone and volume, pos 2 is wide open with no tone but with volume control, and pos 3 has a .033 cap wired into it. I might still try other cap values. The .033 still sounds a bit darker than I want it to. Would a .022 cap brighten it up a bit?


Anyhow... here is a picture of the new esquire.

Esquire:





Before:




Oh and by the way, taking the chrome pickguard reduced the weight on this guitar noticeably. Which was at fighting weight of 10.5 pounds before Esquireization.

[w0odman]

Some more details...

Bridge pup is a fender custom nocaster. I really love the sound of it with tone control, it does sound different without the neck pup. The middle pos with no tone control is just crazy. Noticeable volume increase and all the treble you would ever need to cut through anything. Roll off the volume a bit and it tames a little of the highs. The bassy setting with the .033 cap is a neet sound with some overdrive or distortion. Still need to play with that cap I think though.

All in all I'm liking it.

[cacibi]

Yeah, .022 should brighten - then you can go to .01 if it's still to dark, been meaning to try some cap modes myself.

Looks great though - that may be the first time I've seen a Bigsby used with a standard bridgeplate and saddles. Does it operate okay? Any issues?

[w0odman]

Originally Posted by cacibi

Yeah, .022 should brighten - then you can go to .01 if it's still to dark, been meaning to try some cap modes myself.

Looks great though - that may be the first time I've seen a Bigsby used with a standard bridgeplate and saddles. Does it operate okay? Any issues?

Thanks,

The bigsby performs quite well. I have notches in the brass barrels and a roller string tree that help a lot. But the biggest thing is stuff called guitar greese I got from stewmac. Put that in the slots in the barrells and in the nut, and it makes it return almost exactly back to pitch.

I got the idea for the bigsby with vintage bridge here on the TDPRI. Not sure who did it first, but it works.