You might consider something like the Seymour Duncan Secret Agent pickup (Brad Paisley) that mounts under the pickguard. No pickguard to change, no visible difference from how it looks now. I assume that the body is routed for a neck pickup?

 

Yes guitar is routed out from factory and that’s an excellent suggestion, thanks.

 

I've purchased many an Esquire with two pickups. As long as you keep the original guard, I don't think it would be a negative thing to add the neck pickup.

 

If you are concerned about resale you could buy a new pickguard and complete wiring harness…. That way it would be painless to turn it back to stock.

Nathan

 

I have a CS Esquire, too, I think it's from 2018 and it shipped with a neck pick up, second pick guard, and second wiring harness all in the case from the factory. I've got it installed but it's easily reversible as Nathan said.

 

Good suggestion 👍

 

Do it! I added a neck pickup to a partscaster with a MIM Esquire body (routed for both). I watched the parts ads here until a Lollar A3 neck pickup came up. Most of the Tele pickups listed seemed to be sets or bridge pickups. But, you will be rewarded with patience. Watch for out of phase pickups when you find one, however (ask me how I know ).

 

Thank’s for your suggestion, I will keep an eye open

 

I like the idea of getting another pickguard. Reversible mods are the best.

But I like a particular floating humbucker pickup from Kent Armstrong Handmade USA, and I would probably that pickup anywhere I could fit it.

 

If the modification is clean neat professional, it won't really hurt value.
Adding a neck PU is OK.
Now you need a PU switch, and you might want volume + tone controls.
Will you get back all the money you put into it? Probably not.

 

The neck pickup screws into the body. Are there already holes for it or would you have to drill those in first?

 

Looks like the secret agent pickup is an awesome option. Zero mod, no screws, etc.

 

If you are concerned with drilling holes in the guard or top surface of the body, you can mount a regular PU, without going to a specialty PU (most of those types are higher priced than regular PUs), using a Warwick PU Mounting Insert Set that is mounted in the PU cavity.

Edit: one possible wiring scheme:

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Really any pickup could work if it fits under the guard. I think the secret agent is lower profile and you’d just put in some foam to keep it from rattling around.

Has anyone put in a standard tele neck pickup in an Esquire cavity under the guard?

im only curious for B_nads’s old Esquire I’m selling.. in case someone wants to do that.

 

Either Secret Agent, or another pickguard.

Really any pickup could work if it fits under the guard. I think the secret agent is lower profile and you’d just put in some foam to keep it from rattling around.

It is also much higher output, to try and make up for the fact that it is so far from the strings. Though, that only helps a little.

Has anyone put in a standard tele neck pickup in an Esquire cavity under the guard?

The result is a significant difference in both volume and tone between the neck and bridge pickup. If you want an idea of what it will sound like, take any guitar where you can adjust the height of the pickups, and lower the neck pickup down to below the level of the pickguard/wood (if you can even get it that low). Then play the guitar through your amp, and switch between the bridge and neck pickups. The neck will sound very weak and lifeless compared to the bridge. Unfortunately, that's just physics. They improved the issue a little with the Secret Agent, but it's still a pretty big difference.

If you scour the demos, you can find many examples of the Secret Agent sounding great. But, if you pay attention, they dialed in their sound for that pickup. Notice they never switch to the bridge pickup, or go back and forth. You can make the Secret Agent sound good if you dial in your tone for it, but then the bridge will sound super hot/loud in comparison. You can get a compressor to boost the neck and squish the bridge a little to balance them a little more. But, then you have a compressed bridge tone, which you may not want. Or, you can add a boost to your signal chain that you only engage when you're in the neck position. The point is, it will take work to dial things in so both sounds are usable together, switching back and forth.

I vote for an alternative pickguard with both pickups. Reversible for re-sale value, and will ultimately sound better. You lose the "look" of the Esquire, but gain the tone you're looking for without significant effort.

 

Kay guitars used a pickup on some models that had a bar magnet sticking up. On the Thin Twin model, popularized by Jimmy Reed, ONLY the bar magnet sticks up through the pickguard. That could be a somewhat unobtrusive neck pickup, except that the pickup itself is larger than a standard Tele neck pickup.

Some, but not very many, pickups are low enough profile that one doesn't have to either route a slot, or even cut the pickguard, to mount them. The feasibility, of course, depends on the height of the fingerboard, relative to the body, and how much higher one has the strings above that. My sense is that Jazzmaster pickups will not fit in that vertical space.

But what hasn't been spoken about yet is the electronics. Traditional Esquires used a 3-position switch, but assumed only one pickup, using two of the positions for tone settings. Installing a 2nd pickup would mean reconfiguring the electronics at the switch. Not a dealbreaker, but something to consider.