ESQUIRE WIRING

[Gstring]

I am helping to “Esquire” a far eastern made telecaster type guitar. The headstock is blank but the heel plate tells me that it probably once said Stagg. Fret ends are excellent, pups are DMs and pots are CTS so it has had some attention in the past. 3 way is import type with only one com. Owner does not want the usual Fender Esquire type wiring with the bassy tone option but 1. Blower (direct to jack) 2.Vol only 3. Vol plus Tone. He is a competent guitarist who gigs (or did before lock down) with more than one outfit, so I am sure he knows what he wants. The guitar actually has a good Tele sound and I would personally keep as is. I never did understand the enthusiasm for the simplicity of the Esquire.

My 75 year old brain has deduced that the logical way to do the wiring is as per the schematic above But, I thought before getting out the soldering iron, I would check with the Gurus that there is not a better way of doing it. Please excuse my usual low standard of sketching,

Apologies if this has been a topic before. Nothing relevant came up when I searched

 

[Lewguitar]

Check this out: https://www.premierguitar.com/articl...Esquire_Wiring

 

[Artie]

Yeah. Your drawing won't work. Imagine your volume control all the way down. That shorts the output to ground regardless of your switch position.

Here's Seymours take: (Probably the same as Lew posted.)

https://www.seymourduncan.com/images/wiring-diagrams/Esq_Standard.jpg

 

[Lewguitar]

Yeah. Your drawing won't work. Imagine your volume control all the way down. That shorts the output to ground regardless of your switch position.

Here's Seymours take: (Probably the same as Lew posted.)

https://www.seymourduncan.com/images/wiring-diagrams/Esq_Standard.jpg

Not quite Artie. The Eldred Mod from the Fender Custom Shop offers a "cocked wah wah" setting instead of the awful and totally muffled third setting on a single pickup Esquire.

 

[Artie]

Not quite Artie. The Eldred Mod from the Fender Custom Shop offers a "cocked wah wah" setting instead of the awful and totally muffled third setting on a single pickup Esquire.

Yeah. I read the article after I posted. I should have read it first.

But it looks like an interesting Esquire mod.

 

[Gstring]

Artie and Lew . Thanks for the responses but I am not sure what the relevance of the refered to schematics is to my post. These appear to be Fender type wirings. I specifically stated in my post that this is not what was wanted. Or am I missing something?. Obviously neither of these seem to me to give the by pass option.

Artie, I presume you are saying that position 1 and position 2 are basicly the same as the volume pot will ground the signal as the output lug is always connected to the output socket and will therefore always be in the circuit. Obviously I will need to come up with a wiring that takes the vol pot completely out of the circuit or nulify it. As this would invovle "disconnecting" both the input and output sides of the vol pot I don't think that is doable on a standard 3 way. Do you think it would be possible to acheive something by somehow ungrounding the vol pot in that position.. Or am I just trying to do something that's just not possible. without using a push pull to make a blower? Also I am thinking that a 3 way with 2 coms might give more options.

 

[Artie]

Let me chew on this for a moment. I think, to do the vol/no-vol, you need two "commons." In other words, a more standard 3-way. But, let me chew on it for a moment.

 

[Lewguitar]

I looked on https://www.tdpri.com/ and it seems that some players there have wired Esquires to do what you are asking for.

No one I saw posted a diagram though.

I don't feel like searching but you might want to.

There's a thread there called something like "3rd position options for Esquire".

If you join the TDPRI you can send a message to one of the guys there who has done it.

I'm not a member and don't feel like joining.

But maybe you should.

 

[Gstring]

Lew Guitar...Thanks for getting back. I had done quite a bit of research including the TDPRI forum.. I read the 3rd Option thread. There is a reference to the Custom Shop Esquire coming standard with the wiring I am trying to do,but,as you say.No schematic. I wonder if the CS Esquire had some form of 3 way super switch whch would make things much easier.

Artie Thanks for giving this your valuable time. I have done quite abit of scribbling based on a 2 comm switch 3way but don't think its doable. You can get bypass and Vol only in a couple of ways but getting the tone pot in is difficult because of bridging wires between terminals means you only really get effectively 2 positions. Not sure if I am making myself clear. However it would be good to hear its a non starter from the Master Guru. Have also been thinking of what might be possible with a 5 way switch but have a way to go yet.

 

[Mincer]

I'd have to try a bunch of different wiring schemes in an Esquire to see what I'd like. I don't generally care about tradition, so I am sure I'd come up with something off-the-wall, but it might make sense to me.

 

[Gstring]

Artie,have been thinking about how a pot works. As there is no continuity between the "outside" lugs, surely disconnecting the central wiper lug instead of the "imput" will solve the problem of grounding the signal in position No 1.

See amended diagram. I don't think the mandatory 50s wiring will be an issue.

 

[Lewguitar]

I don't like 50's wiring on Fender guitars and they weren't wired that way. Too bright. Rolling down the volume and having the treble soften a bit is a must for me when I'm playing rhythm on my Fenders.

 

[Artie]

See amended diagram. I don't think the mandatory 50s wiring will be an issue.

That looks like it should work. The pup will always see the load of the pot, but that shouldn't hurt anything.

 

[Gstring]

Don't disagree with you Lew . I have 50s wiring on most of my HB guitars. ...On 2 vols and 1 tone you don't get an option. But my "Strat" ( it actually says says FRET KING on the headstock which is a cool brand here in the UK) is modern. However the reason I don't think it will be an issue here (assuming my latest schematic gets Artie's blessing) is that this guitar will be mainly gigged thru a big valve amp with pedals and computerised effects. The subtleties of the tone control sometimes get a little lost in those circumstances and I wonder if you even need any tone control.

Ok since writing I seem to have the blessing.

 

[Gstring]

Artie. Thanks for the blessing. Appreciate you pointing out the Gremlin in my initial effort which enabled me, after a lot of head scratching, to correct it.

 

[jeremy]

let us know once you get it wired up

 

[Gstring]

jeremy...Wiring seems OK . Owner has ordered a new snazzy pick guard to give a bit of stage presence. Won't be able to report how it gigs for a while as semi pro bands have found /are finding lock down has destroyed the pub circuit.

FWIW my 10 cents is that I would not bother with an Esquire if I had a decent Tele although I suspect there are many who would totally disagree with me.

I have 5, all have different pup configurations but they all have 2..

 

[Lewguitar]

It's nice to have at least ONE guitar with just a bridge pickup. It DOES allow the strings to ring longer and more naturally. But if I only had one guitar it would have to have both a neck and bridge pickup.

 

[jeremy]

i have one esquire and have done whole gigs with it and a 5e3. simple tools that have a lot of capability if you learn to use it

 

[Lewguitar]

Worked for Steve Cropper too. For a long time!