Hey ArtieToo and mrfjones, check it out!

[Alvin Lee Fan]

It only took me 3.5 hours, one burnt finger and had to redo two connections, but here it is!! My custom-built Tele converted to an Esquire

My first soldering project, and it actually works! Thanks to ArtieToo for drawing up a totally cool wiring diagram that was brilliantly simple. mrfjones gave a few suggestions too that helped me understand how the wiring and switching works.

It's wired up like a standard Esquire, like this:

Normal bridge position = Pickup direct to volume, no tone
Normal middle position = Pickup w/normal vol and tone controls
Normal neck position = Pickup w/vol and special darker tone setting

I got a mod for the Esquire wiring that replaces the regular darker tone setting, which is normally two caps and a resistor and most consider unusable, with a single 4700 pf cap. It sounds like a wah that's a little over half c0cked. It's a tone you can't recreate with the tone control.

I wired the vol control backwards at first, so I had to swap the tone cap and hot leads, but it actually worked!! I'm so excited

(Artie, I followed your diagram exactly at first and the vol control ended up working backwards. I swapped the connections for the pickup lead and tone cap and that fixed it.)

Here's a couple shots of the wiring job I did, just prior to hooking up the output wire. I redid all the stock wiring and added a Mallory cap for the tone control. I got a few free from a guy on the LPF. It was fun and I'll definately be doing more of this in the future!!

 

[Farkus]

Re: Hey ArtieToo and mrfjones, check it out!

Do you notice a change in the tone with the neck pup gone? If you do, what's the new tone like?

Mark

 

[mrfjones]

Re: Hey ArtieToo and mrfjones, check it out!

that looks great. you really did a good job with the wiring, mine doesn't always look so neat. I would love to hear clips. by the way what pickup is in there?

how does it sound knowing that you did it yourself?

 

[XSSIVE]

Re: Hey ArtieToo and mrfjones, check it out!

wow, that's some neat work...very nice!!

-Mike

 

[Biu]

Re: Hey ArtieToo and mrfjones, check it out!

Slick! I'm also curious as to how it sounds now.

 

[Artie]

Re: Hey ArtieToo and mrfjones, check it out!

Very cool ALF. But I just wouldn't feel right without rechecking those solder joints for you. Send me the guitar. Shouldn't take me more than a couple months or so. :laugh2:

Seriously though, very nice job. I bet that thing sounds killer.

Sorry about that mistake on the volume control. I'll have to double-check my drawing. Sometimes things don't go from drawing board to reality perfectly.

But . . . very cool axe. That should be fun.

Artie

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Hey ArtieToo and mrfjones, check it out!

Damn...that soldering looks killer! My stuff is never so neat! I LOVE Esquires!!! I really wanna try that set-up with the finky setting...sounds cool! BTW, what is that pickup? It looks like a QP but I see writing on the cover.

 

[Dave]

Re: Hey ArtieToo and mrfjones, check it out!

Very Nice-I love that wiring setup. My buddy had the same setup that you have-makes you wonder why they even bothered to put in a neck pup.

Excellent!

 

[Alvin Lee Fan]

Re: Hey ArtieToo and mrfjones, check it out!

Thanks a lot guys!

The tone definately changed. The middle position is now just like the old bridge position was, vol and tone controls. Even in that position I can tell a difference. The sound seems more open or alive. Many say it's due to not having a neck pickup pulling on the strings. I tend to agree now. Of course, the wide open lead position just screams. Very bright and ballsy!

The pickup is a Rio Muy Grande. I had a Rio Vintage Tallboy in the neck spot, so I just pulled that and left the Muy Grande bridge. It's got a lot of balls, but still can twang with the best of them. In the new lead position with the volume rolled back a bit, it's pure chicken pickin'.

Artie, I wasn't sure if pots had a right or wrong way to get connected. When I hooked it up like in the drawing, the vol control worked backwards. Also, with the switch I have, I had to hook up the lugs in this order, from the bottom right side: common, neck, middle, bridge. So, my wiring looks a little different than your drawing, but thanks to your clear explanation I was able to see which lug went with which position and hooked it up right the first try.

It's a cool guitar to play, surprising how many tone variations you can get with only one pickup. It just seems more "alive", for lack of a better word. I'm happy

 

[Artie]

Re: Hey ArtieToo and mrfjones, check it out!

Hey ALF; I got looking at this a bit closer, and you definitely have the volume control wired backwards.

As you look at the guitar, clockwise rotation should turn the volume up. Unless you have the image reversed somehow, yours is backwards.

Which isn't a big deal. It doesn't matter from an electrical point of view. Its just that if someone else plays your guitar, they'll be confused.

 

[Alvin Lee Fan]

Re: Hey ArtieToo and mrfjones, check it out!

Weird, because it works normally now the way I hooked it up. Clockwise rotation raises the volume. The way I originally hooked it up, clockwise rotation would lower the volume. It plays right now. Maybe the whole thing is wired backwards?! But, the tone control always did work right.

Question, I hooked up the cap on the tone control by connecting it to the tone control as shown, then running it to the lug on the volume control that goes to ground and grounded the cap (and thereby the vol lug) to the back of the vol control. Would that have any effect on this situation? The guitar was originally wired this way, so I just repeated it when I put my new cap in there.

 

[Artie]

Re: Hey ArtieToo and mrfjones, check it out!

Hmmm . . . weird. The important thing is that it works. I just don't see how.

If you feel like it, and just to satisfy my curiosity, could you take one more pic of the control plate, turned upside down, like you show there, but have the camera looking straight down on the pots?

Thanks. But its not a big deal. Just if you feel like it.

 

[xerxes]

Re: Hey ArtieToo and mrfjones, check it out!

nice man! i cant wait to here some rockabilly with that thing in the clips section!

 

[Alvin Lee Fan]

Re: Hey ArtieToo and mrfjones, check it out!

Thanks, xerxes! I'll have to work up a little something to smaple it

Artie, the control plate won't flip completely over anymore, the output wire to the jack is too short. I had to lay it on its side to solder the output up, then in she went.

 

[mrfjones]

Re: Hey ArtieToo and mrfjones, check it out!

hhhmmm i see what artie means, that looks like the opposite of mine, but as long as it works thats all thet really matters.