parts o esquire

[Kap'n]

Picked up a nice quality parts o esquire at a so Cal pawn shop...nice feel but messed up wiring.

Any thoughts for how to wire it?

[chuckocaster]

I just wire mine up vol & tone. I've tried the switching, me no likey. So KISS it is for me.

[Kap'n]

I think you're on to something Chuck.

It's funny, whoever built this thing brought it to 99%. RW Mighty Mite neck with a forbidden decal, frets all seem nice and polished, brushed finish Sperzels, decent home finish on ash body, electrosonic jack, solid brass knobs, Corona neckplate, nice neck fit, duncan pickup. Unsoldered switch and pots?

I paid a buck and a quarter to the pawn shop. I talked 'em down from $199, because it didn't work, and somebody would need to fix it.

They were happy. I was happy. I stuck it in the trunk of the rental car, and took off.

[chuckocaster]

Sounds like the time I opened up a Marshall 4x10 only to find Fender speakers... Sad part is they wouldn't come down on the price.

Great score dude!

[Don]

Nice price! I like Chucko's recommendation, but as long as you have a switch...

...I'd wire one position for normal operation, another with no tone control and I'm not sure what to do with the other.

I had originally wired my T-Style like a Broadcaster with no tone control and liked it a lot.

[Kap'n]

I'm not sure what to do with the other.

That is the crux of the Esquire dilemma. WTF do you do with the third position?

[Don]

You might be able to find an old two position switch cheap.

[Kap'n]

Fixed it, and strung it up. Sounds real nice - nice and 'spanky' whatever that means, but the nut needs to be recut/replaced. Off to the store.

Pickup is an alnico 2 pro.

[chuckocaster]

One of these days I'm gonna sit down with a decade box and a capacitance box and figure out a usable sound for that third position. I've been thinking that a "combined" tone would be useful. Like DON I sometimes wire it "blow", vol/tone, and then ?. Or I just do like I posted before and just wire it vol/tone, I do however leave the switch in so it doesn't look goofy.

[Gravity Jim]

That is the crux of the Esquire dilemma. WTF do you do with the third position?

Kill switch. For those Buckethead solos.

[Kap'n]

That actually had crossed my mind, but I was thinking more of Mick Ronson.

If I decide to replace the pickup - no plans yet - I might get a tapped pickup.

[Don]

I did that briefly with an Esquire setup. I had some kind of a tapped hot Duncan pickup.

[Kap'n]

How did you like it?

I'm sort of bummed. I got the guitar together, and promptly brought it out to get the nut worked on. So I had it in my hands for an hour.

I'll get it back on Monday.

[Don]

It was hot and muddy when it wasn't tapped. I only ever used it tapped. I sold the pickup after a short while.

You don't do your own nut work?

[Kap'n]

You don't do your own nut work?

No. I'm not to be trusted with cutting objects.

[chuckocaster]

In the past I've wired HB's so they're in parallel, that seems to clear up the mud. I was jamming on my hollow esquire last night and with some distortion the it sounded good on the "cocked wah"" setting which is a .0033 cap to ground. Doesn't sound good clean, but dirty you get a faux strat combo sound with light gain and a sort of HB tone really dirty.

[Offshore Angler]

I have mine as

1) no tone
2) tone
3) cocked wah (With a mini trim pot I used to dial it in.)

[refin]

Hey Kap'n,nice snag!

Here is the obligatory Esquire wiring from the Seymour Duncan site.


Some things I did to my Equire that made ALOT of difference was---
(1) Instead of hardwiring the front switch position to the cap/resistor unusable woof tone,I used a trim pot and experimented with different value caps.When I found one I liked,I slowly turned the trim pot with a screwdriver till I got the desired warmth,and then super glued the pot and taped it off (sorry,can't remember the value--but I think it might have been an .047)
(2) For the tone pot,I used a push/pull DPDT pot....this switches me between a standard .022 and the .0047 "cocked wah" sound,which sounds really good for slide.
Here is a short sample I did about 5 years ago---excuse the clams.
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page...songID=4309597

[Kap'n]

Thanks!

[refin]

You're welcome---keep us posted!

[Kap'n]

Ordered a Zhang "Paul Bunyan" pickup today. I'm looking forward to it.

[chuckocaster]

You're gonna dig it, I loved the one I had in my 70's RI strat.

[chuckocaster]

Or if you can find one try a G&L ASAT classic! $40

[Kap'n]

David makes great stuff.

[chuckocaster]

Yes he does, and a nice guy to boot!

[refin]

Ordered a Zhang "Paul Bunyan" pickup today. I'm looking forward to it.

Wiring my 2nd Paul Bunyan in my Esquire as we speak!

[refin]

Some pics of my Esquire wiring---
disclaimer: I had to reverse the cap and wire going from the switch to the trim pot

[Kap'n]

Interesting. What does the push/pull do?

I used an old white Aero cap I grabbed from an old O-scope I was junking for the tone cap, and used a linear pot for the tone knob.

For the "Eldred" cap (similar to a the brighter of the two tone switches on a Gretsch), I just used a yellow Weber cap.

[refin]

The push/pull switches me between a standard .047 cap and a .0047.With the latter backed off,it is a gnarly slide tone,kind of cocked wah sound.You can hear it in post #18.
Post some clips,Kap'n......I'd love to hear those caps!

[Kap'n]

I need a web host.

[refin]

I need a web host.

Use soundclick......http://www.soundclick.com/

[Kap'n]

New headstock decal


I went with a 50's location, rather than the later one, which just looks wrong.

[chuckocaster]

Nice!

[Gravity Jim]

That's trick!

[Don]

I like it!

[Kap'n]

Of course, it is the Esquire that is to be feared, not me.

[Gravity Jim]

I just mostly dig that you sanded off the standard symbol of component insecurity and replaced it with something cool. No less than I would expect from The Kap'n.