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NGD: Classic 50s Esquire

883 Views 21 Replies 11 Participants Last post by  exhausted
I traded my Les Paul for a Tele today. Ive pinned down what I want in guitars, and Les Pauls aren't it.

It's a slightly modded Fender Classic 50s Esquire.

The previous owner added a couple of push pull pots, and changed the pickups. It has a SD Rails in the bridge slot, and a hidden Quarter Pounder under the black guard. I'll have pictures up shortly.
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Heres a teaser picture til I can get some good ones got yall.

http://instagr.am/p/BZ91c4MFCbX%5B%2FMEDIA/
Heres a teaser picture til I can get some good ones got yall.

http://instagr.am/p/BZ91c4MFCbX%5B%2FMEDIA/
I don't see anything either... you're a real tease.
That's mo' better! Love the black and white!
And a reversed control plate, Cool. I never realized how versatile a tele was until I bought a Classic Vibe a year ago. My son favors it over the Strat and LP.

Enjoy that Tele!
Nice, like the white and black too. What does the selector do then, coil split?
Not a criticism, but I would imagine that the bridge dual rails is going to present a much stronger output than the "stealth" neck pickup, if only because it is that much closer to the strings. As such, the hidden neck pickup is not so much a "choice" to be used, as a sort of background texture to vary the sound of the bridge. Or am I woefully underestimating the capabilities of the neck pickup?

BTW, were early Esquires only routed for a single pickup, or did they have two routes for two pickups, only one of which was used? One hears rumours and myths. My wife got me a book dedicated to the Telecaster a couple years ago. I'm going to have to dig it up and take a reading break.
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And a reversed control plate, Cool. I never realized how versatile a tele was until I bought a Classic Vibe a year ago. My son favors it over the Strat and LP.

Enjoy that Tele!
I'm not real fond of the reversed control plate. The tele is a Swiss army knife.
Not a criticism, but I would imagine that the bridge dual rails is going to present a much stronger output than the "stealth" neck pickup, if only because it is that much closer to the strings. As such, the hidden neck pickup is not so much a "choice" to be used, as a sort of background texture to vary the sound of the bridge. Or am I woefully underestimating the capabilities of the neck pickup?

BTW, were early Esquires only routed for a single pickup, or did they have two routes for two pickups, only one of which was used? One hears rumours and myths. My wife got me a book dedicated to the Telecaster a couple years ago. I'm going to have to dig it up and take a reading break.
The bride is much hotter than the neck pickup for obvious reasons. The neck however is just loud enough to be used for a nice warm jazzy blues tone. You just can't switch back and forth without a big volume switch.

It's not staying this way anyways. It's either going to be a conventional Tele or Esquire setup.
The bride is much hotter than the neck pickup for obvious reasons.
I would hope so!!!
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Not a criticism, but I would imagine that the bridge dual rails is going to present a much stronger output than the "stealth" neck pickup, if only because it is that much closer to the strings. As such, the hidden neck pickup is not so much a "choice" to be used, as a sort of background texture to vary the sound of the bridge. Or am I woefully underestimating the capabilities of the neck pickup?

BTW, were early Esquires only routed for a single pickup, or did they have two routes for two pickups, only one of which was used? One hears rumours and myths. My wife got me a book dedicated to the Telecaster a couple years ago. I'm going to have to dig it up and take a reading break.
All Esquires had a neck pickup route in case you wanted to add a neck pickup later.
The bride is much hotter than the neck pickup for obvious reasons. The neck however is just loud enough to be used for a nice warm jazzy blues tone. You just can't switch back and forth without a big volume switch.

It's not staying this way anyways. It's either going to be a conventional Tele or Esquire setup.
You can tap the bridge pickup if you want.
The bride is much hotter than the neck pickup for obvious reasons. The neck however is just loud enough to be used for a nice warm jazzy blues tone. You just can't switch back and forth without a big volume switch.

It's not staying this way anyways. It's either going to be a conventional Tele or Esquire setup.
Does this setup give you a good middle position sound?

I personally like the sound of a neck
Pickup being real low to the body but you might have better results with a pickup that has screw pole pieces.
A p90 or fralin steel pole.

Nathan
Whoops just noticed that you're going to go to standard tele or esquire.

Should have read the whole thing I guess lol

Nathan
Does this setup give you a good middle position sound?

I personally like the sound of a neck
Pickup being real low to the body but you might have better results with a pickup that has screw pole pieces.
A p90 or fralin steel pole.

Nathan
I haven't had it plugged in since the test drive. The middle position sounded good to my ears, especially with the bridge split. But I wasn't playing through my rig. Hard not to sound good through a Dr. Z
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Well, I pulled the pickups and rewired it tonight. I messed something up along the way, but the one setting that works sounds amazing haha.

I took the two pickups out and loaded it with a single Fender Broadcaster bridge pickup. The setting that currently works is tone control bypass, and the sound is lovely. It's a very spanky upper midrange tone. Think Brad Paisley without his overdrive pedal, or Vince Gill with less high end.
Nice! Love Esquires...and pretty much any other one pickup guitar.
I bought a parts caster Esquire from a forum member here and the back position is bridge straight to the jack-no tone or volume control
The middle position is the bridge with tone and volume
The front position is the Eldred mod with volume only.
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