Esquire with toggle switch instead of blade swich

The Switchcraft toggle has three pins on one side (the two of the three on the outside are where the neck and bridge pickup hot leads go, with the middle one being the ground.) And on the other side of the switch has two output pins, which you fuse together with the lead going out to the volume pot.

Esquire wiring, though, I'm not familiar with. An internet search should quickly turn up some diagrams for you.

I've also seen another brand of toggle switch where the ground and the output are swapped around. If you take a good close look at your toggle switch when you operate it, you can see what connects to what when in the different positions.

I replace the blade switches on most of my Teles with Switchcraft toggles, as I much prefer their operation and ergonomics.

 

If you only have one pickup then why do you need a switch?

 

Duplicate post

 

Different capacitors/tone circuits.

 

You can't get Esquire wiring with a typical guitar toggle switch (i.e. Gibson style). Those switches place the outer two positions in parallel when in the middle position, and that doesn't work for Esquire wiring. You need a switch with three independent positions. You can get it from a more typical style of toggle switch, probably not the kind you would find at a guitar parts retailer. Try Mouser electronics online, or some place like that.

That said, I don't think said Mouser-sourced switch would hold up to the constant hard use like it would see on a guitar. Electronics components these days are really just garbage in terms of build quality. You can't just go buy a nice quality switch that will outlive you at any old electronics store on the corner, like you used to be able to do. So you might actually do better being patient on E-Bay and buying an old stock switch, or one that has been pulled from something old.

There is also the issue that these types of switches usually have a much stiffer action than you'd want on a guitar switch. So you can't really win totally. There will be some sort of compromise somewhere. In short, the stock style Esquire blade switch is really the way to go, if there's any way you can (perhaps an angled switch slot would make you like the blade switch better).