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Debating selling my Squier Esquire... please help me decide!

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  • #1

    Debating selling my Squier Esquire... please help me decide!

    OK, so hear me out.

    On one hand, I like it because it sounds radically different from my Les Paul. It's thin and wiry acoustically. It has a Duncan Quarter Pound in there, which balances that out to an extent, but it still certainly doesn't sound like a Les Paul running on a 500T. The neck profile is more or less comfy. At least, it's not a baseball bat like the Gibson. It looks pretty, especially from afar. It's a great mod platform that I really decked out with a Gotoh bridge, Grover tuners, a Duncan pickup, Fender pots and switch, Dunlop Straplocks, etc., and I TRULY enjoyed doing so.

    However! Right now, I'm not happy with the QP. Well, not really. I love the QP, I just feel like I want something higher output and more aggressive in there for now. But I'm stuck with SC-sized pickups. I don't wanna chop it up inside, because I'm not even convinced I want to keep it right now. Plus to do so, I'm going to have to buy a new bridge, a Dremmel, and a humbucker, more than likely.

    The things that I've never loved, but that I have been able to look past becuase it is, after all, a cheapie guitar, is the body has a couple of pretty evident seams in there which makes it look cheap as hell. The neck is not the most stable either. It's not unusable, and I don't mind having to adjust it every once a week or whatever, but it's definitely not rock solid either. The fretboard is kinda round for my taste. Not horrible, but not ideal either. But the biggest issues is the frets are showing signs of wear even if I don't play it nearly as much as my Gibson.

    At that point, I'm not going to replace both the body and neck, right? Especially knowing those are kind of nitpicks

    I think my biggest problem is that I kinda dig playing guitars that don't really *look* Metal, but I do play Metal. Strats and Les Pauls can pull that off no problem. I'm sure the right Tele can as well... but is it worth further modding this guitar to make it do so?

    I was thinking I could sell it, remove the upgrades I have in it, and keep them for maybe another (better) Tele down the line, and then put the money towards upgrading my Strat (I still need a better neck for it), or maybe save it up towards a better Tele or an SG.

    At the same time... I kinda like it being trashy. It's awesome, I don't feel like I have to baby it, and it reminds me of how awesome my other guitars are.

    So... opinions?
    Last edited by Rex_Rocker; 12-21-2023, 09:40 PM.
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  • #2
    This is it.

    Click image for larger version Name: WhatsApp Image 2023-12-21 at 19.33.53.jpg Views: 132 Size: 30.7 KB ID: 6264096

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    • #3
      There are so many Tele configurations out there, I'd get rid of it and buy one that has the wood, neck, routing configuration you want to mod up to your liking.
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      • #4
        Why not route it? It isn't a vintage piece, and it isn't a USA Fender, so you won't hurt the value. If it plays well but doesn't sound good plugged in, then get pickups (like a SC-size humbucker) that will make it sound good. If it doesn't play well, and you don't like the ergonomics, sell it and buy something closer to an LP.
        Administrator of the SDUGF
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        • #5
          Put a SD Hot Rails for Tele in that Esquire and you will fall in love with it all over again!
          "It is easier to fool people than to convince them they have been fooled" - Mark Twain

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          • #6
            Originally posted by Mincer View Post
            Why not route it? It isn't a vintage piece, and it isn't a USA Fender, so you won't hurt the value. If it plays well but doesn't sound good plugged in, then get pickups (like a SC-size humbucker) that will make it sound good. If it doesn't play well, and you don't like the ergonomics, sell it and buy something closer to an LP.
            It's not my dream guitar, but I don't dislike playing it. It plays well, TBH. It plays as good as a vintage-y-ish guitar can, but I'm certainly more at home with Ibanez, but I do like the Gibson 60's neck of the LTD Thin U too, and this isn't THAT far off from an LTD Thin U, just a tad more Fender-y.

            The reason why I'm dubuious about routing it is becuase doing so means more of an investment.

            I'd have to get a bridge that can fit a humbucker now. I certainly don't want to downgrade the bridge which I have in it now, so I'd have to at least get something on par. So at least what? 30-40, right? Then a routerer or a Dremmel. I'm sure I could get a non-Dremmel-branded Dremmel for like 30-40 bucks. Then another humbucker because the only high output hum I have right now is the Black Winter which is not trem-spaced, and I do get kind of OCD about that. Plus if I'm going through the trouble of routing, I might as well go all-out and try something I haven't before, so a Duncan Jupiter or a DiMarzio Super 3 or a Gibson Dirty Fingers or whatever is like 90-110? Then swapping pickups in a Tele is kind of a pain because you have to remove the saddles and the whole bridge to do so, changing the pickup means ressing the height and intonation as well. And I mean... I totally would if I knew with certainty this is a guitar I'd want to keep in the long run... but is it?

            That's what I want to decide. Because... I mean... if I do keep it, I'm certain I don't want to keep it in the form it's in. But is the guitar woth investing more on?

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            • #7
              Originally posted by Fender_Punk View Post
              Put a SD Hot Rails for Tele in that Esquire and you will fall in love with it all over again!
              I already did, and I didn't love it. It was dark. Like... really dark.

              I actually had two different Hot Rails in it at some point. First one I had was weird, and it didn't sound like it was supposed to. It read really strange on the multimeter too, so I figured it was deffective, and I sent it back.

              Then I got a DiMazrio Super Distortion T which I liked, but it was also defective (it was microphonic). A guy here wanted to buy it anyways, and so I sold it to him for cheap.

              Then I found a used Hot Rails which I liked at first... until I compared it to all of my other guitars, and realized it was super dark (even if both other guitars were Les Pauls, one with an X2N which I also didn't like because it was too dark, the other was a Black Winter). Sold it. Maybe I should've tried it with a 1 Meg pot, though.

              Then I got the QP which sounds great, I just wished it was hotter and more aggressive.
              Last edited by Rex_Rocker; 12-22-2023, 01:06 AM.

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              • #8
                I don't know if it is worth investing in- that's up to you. Keeping a Tele for what it does well is only worth it to you if you like and can use that sound. Making it into a guitar that sounds like your other guitars is a fun project, too, but why? You already have other guitars that do what you love. If you want to mod it for fun, I say go for it!
                Administrator of the SDUGF
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                • #9
                  So the stock Esquire pickup is too bright and with a hot rails it's too dark? The guitar is clearly defective. Send it to me and I'll dispose of it for you.
                  "It is easier to fool people than to convince them they have been fooled" - Mark Twain

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                  • #10
                    Get a DiMarzio Chopper T. I had one in an Esquire build and it's a fantastic pickup. I ended up parting out and selling that whole build and slapping together a Warmoth Strat, which I still have. Tele's just don't work for me.

                    Something like this is where I weigh the pros and cons and what I could ultimately get for it if you were to sell it. In the case of a Squier, in the end, it's still a Squier and would fetch what the market says it would. Upgrades very rarely affect the value. If anything, upgrades help validate the price being at the upper end of what they sell for used.
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                    • #11
                      Telecasters suck ergonomically, and your Tele doesn't even have a neck pickup. Ditch it for a better guitar.
                      Join me in the fight against muscular atrophy!

                      Originally posted by Douglas Adams
                      This planet has - or rather had - a problem, which was this: most of the people living on it were unhappy for pretty much of the time. Many solutions were suggested for this problem, but most of these were largely concerned with the movements of small green pieces of paper, which is odd because on the whole it wasn't the small green pieces of paper that were unhappy.

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                      • #12
                        I have a purple sparkle tele cutom with a Tone Zone T in it and it sounds great. If you're looking for something humbucking that will do metal but keeps it as a "sleeper" in terms of looks, that might be an option for you. If you can find one used, you can definitely flip it if you don't like it.

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                        • #13
                          Originally posted by Fender_Punk View Post
                          So the stock Esquire pickup is too bright and with a hot rails it's too dark? The guitar is clearly defective. Send it to me and I'll dispose of it for you.
                          The stock Esquire pickup is horrible, LOL. The QP is not. The HR was not horrible either, it just wasn't my thing. I'd totally get another Super Distortion for it, though... but do I really want to?

                          I'd gladly send it to you for disposal if you pay the shipping rate from Canada plus and the cost of me taking it to get shipped, hahaha.
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                          • #14
                            Originally posted by GuitarStv View Post
                            Telecasters suck ergonomically, and your Tele doesn't even have a neck pickup. Ditch it for a better guitar.
                            Yeah, that's kind of its charm, LOL, and that's exactly the argument why I want to keep it. It's trashy, and I love it for that because a. I don't feel inhibited to beat on it, and b. because it makes me appreciate my other guitars more.

                            And I agree, Teles suck ergonomically, but honestly, even if Les Pauls and regular vintage-inspired Strats are a bit better, they're not THAT much better.

                            I haven't played a super modern headless Strandberg with the endurneck or anything, but for me, Ibanez is as comfy as it gets. LTD/ESP is a good middle ground. But neither sound like a Les Paul.

                            I like my guitars to play well, but at the same time, I can get along on a Gibson with a 50's neck just fine. It's not my preference, but it's doable. The only things that I won't play (although, I bet I could if I wanted to) are V-shaped necks, 58-ish LP necks, those Norlin-era wide low frets, or 7.25" fretboards
                            Last edited by Rex_Rocker; 12-22-2023, 11:58 AM.

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                            • #15
                              If I do decide to keep it, I think I'd order another Super Distortion T hoping I don't get another dud, LOL. But at the same time... is it worth it?

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