how to turn a tele into an esquire.....

[vanguard]

so i'm thinking i'm gonna pick up a HW1 texas tele, and turn it into an esquire. if i order an esquire wired control plate from callaham, and remove the neck pup when wiring in the new control plate, that's it, right? instant esquire? the only other differences i'm aware of are solely cosmetic....

question 2: what is the best bridge pup for an esquire? i want something quite hot, so it sounds big and middy(?), but vintage authenticity is also important... i'm a bit concerned about the maple neck/ash body/no tone control combo being overly ice-picky, so that's the reason for wanting a pup that has plenty of mids and bass, w/ some hot-output.

suggestions on my esquire project?

[Hafner]

The Callaham Esquire Control Assembly is excellent.
But you can also simply remove the neck-pu and put an esquire-pg on it ... that is a cheap solution ...
IMHO the bridge-pu is very important: if you prefer a vintage sound, then you must buy a vintage Telecaster pu, that are often offered in ebay. I bought a 74 Telecaster bridge-pu for 185$. that sounds wonderful.
I tried out my 60 Esquire with grooved saddles and with threaded saddles: I was in doubt, but I must say, it sounds better with the threaded ones. With the threaded saddles I can also vary the distance E-strings/end of fretboard. The most difficult thing is the intonation, I hate the G-string.

[daviddoubleu]

Please keep us posted on how it works out. I'm thinking about a turning my Highway into an Esquire too.

[spankdplank]

the GFS bridge pickups are not icepicky, and they are cheap. I've used them on quite a few tele's. A Lawrence Keystone is fantastic (my current faveorite) and has some of the best mids on a tele bridge going (IMHO). Also cheap. I would get a tele pickguard from GFS, take out the neck pickup, go to radio shack and get the resistor and caps you need and just wire it in with the pickup and controls you already have. This is an easy wiring job to do. If it's too Icepicky, for another $30, a Keystone is an easy addition.

[vanguard]

has anyone used a fender nocaster bridge pup in an esquire? i used to have a nocaster, and really liked the bridge pup, but i wonder if it'd be too bright in positon 3.....

[Big Steve]

You can turn it into a esquire easy enough. Yes get a good pickup for the bridge. The esquire has three tones, dark, with tone, and without tone. So you get a pretty good range of tones. If you are by Disneyland, I would suggest you call and go visit Don Mare in Long Beach. He will wind you a great pickup and help you install the esquire wiring so you won't need to buy an Esquire control from Callaham. BTW, if you can use a soldering iron, there are plenty schematics and wiring an Esquire is pretty easy.

[JohnnyCrash]

I've got a Nocaster set.

They're not overly bright at all. In fact, they're not bright enough for SOME stuff.

I've built myself a few Esquires and used GFS pickups on both of them. I love GFS pickups (I've got a P-90 for a Gibson in my mailbox tomorrow) and the prices are great to boot.

I'd suggest something with an AlNiCo III magnet like the Nocaster or '52RI OV's... but AlNiCo V's and/or Ceramic pickups can be good choices too.

To sound authentic, stick with AlNiCo's of some flavor, and nothing wound too hot.

Here's my two homemade Esquires: