Esquire?

[GG3]

Can someone tell me why I should get an Esquire over a Tele. Are there any wirings i can do to get the bridge warmer on the Esquire? If I want are the esquires easily moded into teles? Ive got a lester and casino but im realy jonesin for some esquire/tele goodness.

[numeric]

As a proud new Esquire owner, I've gotta say that I love the simplicity. When I run the pup through the volume and out this thing roars! I love the Tele bridge pup for pickin', but the mellow tone of a Tele neck pup is really good for slide IMO. It's really easy to convert an Esquire to a Telecaster. Just get a new pickguard and neck pup and rewire it.

[GG3]

Would you say that an esquire is more of a one trick pony or is it fairly versatile?

[JamonHamon]

Esquire are fun but when I took my Esquire to Redd Volkaert to play he like it but said one pickup doesn't cut it for him, I did a lot of hands on research and now my Esquire has 3 pickups 1 Don Mare Bridge Pickup "The Tweed Monster and His S-Tele in the neck the middle has a 1950 Stratotone Pickup and Don wired it with a push pull tone pot that when its pulled out it disengages everything except the bridge pickup and to me this disengagement of the other two pickups is what makes the Esquires sound so strong and bright sounding I don't think it the lesser pull of just one pickup is what make the esquire magic happen

[JamonHamon]

I forgot to add that Don Mare has a new tapped pickup with three taps one that does Roy B Nancy sound for the third position one that does 4907s pickup middle position and one that does the tweed monster sound first position for a Esquire with one pickup this would be the one I would pick

[boris bubbanov]

Originally Posted by GG3

Would you say that an esquire is more of a one trick pony or is it fairly versatile?

If you can stand in there and make the Esquire work for you, I promise you will be a better player for it. "Woodman" here has a mod that makes the position 3 into a cocked wah sound, I made that mod on mine and I like it a lot. Another mod is to set position 1 up so it bypasses the tone and volume pots and goes straight to the output jack. That will get you going'. Or you may have to make some amplifier, tube or speaker changes, or pickup changes to get a real sweet tone you can mostly live with.



Personally, I find the 60 cycle hum a challenge in certain environments with bad grounding, and radio interference from lights and neon and stuff.

[shades]

The Esquire is a very versatile guitar once you get to know it.
There are plenty of options in wiring, pickups and tone available.
The Esquire is an incredible axe. I love mine.
One trick pony? Nah...

[Hafner]

My 60 Esquire is the best-sounding guitar I own (8 vintage Telecasters, two 69 Esquires). That is simple.

[nick.s]

Originally Posted by Hafner

My 60 Esquire is the best-sounding guitar I own (8 vintage Telecasters, two 69 Esquires). That is simple.

probably the best sounding guitar within at least 200km, Manfred!

[blackbelt308]

"Woodman" here has a mod that makes the position 3 into a cocked wah sound

Anyone have a circuit diagram for this?

Thanks,
Rick

[Joe M]

blackbelt, do a google search for " Eldred Esquire" and I think you'll find the mod that boris was talking about. The latest Esquire that I have has that mod and it makes a much more usable sound.

EDIT: Here, I found it; the best diagram is from right here on TDPRI....scroll down a way to see it....


http://www.tdpri.com/forum/tele-tech...iring-mod.html

[w0odman]

Originally Posted by blackbelt308

Anyone have a circuit diagram for this?

Thanks,
Rick

Just replace the circled .050 cap with a .010

[allen st. john]

Jamon
Talk to me about Don's Tweed Monster. I just got mine but haven't installed it yet. It's replacing a Lollar vintage T in a setup with a Lollar Charlie Christian and a four-way switch.
That tapped pickup sounds very interesting? Have you played one yet.
allen

[jaydawg]

You might also want to try a .0047 for the cocked wah sound.

[numeric]

Originally Posted by w0odman

Just replace the circled .050 cap with a .010

W0odman that's a lot different than the Esquire diagram that I used. What alternatives does this one offer?

[spankdplank]

I have used the esquire wiring diagram posted by W0odman on two esquires. On the first I used a .022 cap for the fixed bass sound and found it to be too bassy when running clean--it was OK with a lot of overdrive for a Cream/Disraeli Gears tone. I didn't try it, but I would think a .047 or .050 cap would be even worse than the .022. The second esquire I did I used a .01 cap for the fixed bass position and it is far more usable. When played clean it has a warm, almost archtop type tone. With overdrive it is the perfect "cocked wah" sound. Very usable in all three positions, played either clean or dirty. I have no problem gigging with an esquire and get lots of tonal variety--definitely not a one trick pony--and becauuse you can have three different tone settings without touching your tone knob, it is very useful in live situations. That said, if I had only one guitar, it would still be a telecaster rather than an esquire. The both pickups on/middle position of a tele would be hard for me to live without.

[spankdplank]

Numeric--The nice thing about this simplified esquire scheme is that there is no volume drop in fixed bass position like you have with the traditional cap and resistor scheme.

[jaydawg]

Just to clarify I'm talking about a .0047 not a .047.

[surfoverb]

one thing I noticed recently is that I couldn't hear much difference between the pup and volume only and the other positions so I went with a direct only/vol only/vol+tone wiring and when I set my amp levels treble 5, bass 3, mid 10 I can really hear the difference in positions.

I read about Pete Andersons amp settings and he uses an esquire and he sets his mids at 10 so I tried it and maybe its just coincidence but it works for me. You can hear the difference even at low volumes not in a band situation even.

[serialsteve]

Originally Posted by JamonHamon

Esquire are fun but when I took my Esquire to Red Volkaert to play he like it but said one pickup doesn't cut it for him, I did a lot of hands on research and know my Esquire has 3 pickups 1 Don Mare Bridge Pickup "The Tweed Monster and His S-Tele in the neck the middle has a 1950 Stratotone Pickup and Don wired it with a push pull tone that when its pulled out it disengages everything except the bridge and to me this disengagement is what makes the Esquires sound so strong

Um, what?! I can't understand what you typed.

[TwoString]

I had a chance to play a MIM Esquire and I was amazed at how versatile that single pickup was. I was also surprised to hear how very different telecasters and esquires sounded. You would think that an esquire would sound just like a tele (when using only the bridge pickup), but the esquire just has a different growl to it. I read an interview later on where Brad Paisley says the growl comes from the lack of magnetic pull from the neck pickup. He might be on to something there. While there was only one esquire to try, there were more than enough teles on hand to compare, and none matched the growl coming from that single pickup.

I fell in love with that guitar and I returned nearly a dozen times to play it after work for about a month. Sadly, it sold before I had a chance to get enough money to grab it (it was a used model in amazing condition and had a reduced price). For those that haven't had a chance, if you can, try the esquire through a Mesa Lonestar Special in 5 watt mode with the volume up enough to start some trouble...friggin' amazing!!

[GG3]

Can someone tell me if MIM Esquire has a gloss neck.

[mistermullens]

I hope this post isn't too long, but here goes. The Esquire is quite a special instrument. It probably isn't for everyone, but that may be because its different from a Telecaster. Yeah, they look the same, but there's something about the lack of a neck pickup that gives it more personality than a Tele. One trick pony? Absolutely not. Sure, it may only have one pickup, but you'd be surprised at how many sounds you can get out of it. Especially with the right bridge pickup.

Originally Posted by boris bubbanov

If you can stand in there and make the Esquire work for you, I promise you will be a better player for it.

No truer words have been spoken. Pictured in my avatar is my third Esquire. My first was a Squier Partscaster which really didn't do it for me. I think that was mainly because I had such a bad experience putting it together, I just couldn't get past it. My second was a beautiful Sunburst Partscaster. I didn't really like the neck, and to be honest I had more fun assembling it than playing it. I had given up on Esquires until about a month ago. I pulled the third one off the wall, and just knew this was a great guitar. I could go into the whole story but there's another thread here with a lot of Esquire info.

I really feel like this guitar has made me a better player. You have less to work with, so guitar volume/tone, pick attack, and how you play over all, make a huge difference. There's no neck pickup to hide behind. Can you get a fat sound out of the bridge pickup? I think so and do so. Its all about guitar and amp settings.

As for the wiring. One thing I've noticed since getting my Esquire, is that just about everyone has something else in mind for the "fixed bassy" position. I am no different. I got a couple of different caps and experimented, but finally settled on something simple. My Esquire is a 50's Classic with the stock Fender wiring and a Nocaster pickup. What I did to make the "bassy" position more usable was to completely remove the cap & resistor and replace it with wire. Pretty much gave me something I wasn't quite expecting. Even though I don't use it all that much, I do love it and I'm using it more and more.

Another great thing about getting an Esquire is if you miss the neck pup, just install one. Pretty easy job. If you're not that great at the wiring thing, you can get some pretty nice pre-wired assemblies on eBay for a good price. My suggestion would be to keep your Esquire assembly, and buy a Tele assembly. That way its a quick switcheroo, and you've got a Tele. Then if you want to go back to an Esquire, switch it back.


IMO, Esquires are nastier, twangier and look cooler than Teles.

BTW, I also think everyone should have an Esquire & a Telecaster.



Squier Esquire - My first.



Fender Esquire Partscaster - My second.



Fender 50's Classic Esquire - My third, and best guitar I've ever owned.

[mistermullens]

Oh, and yes. It does have a gloss neck.