Telecaster Wiring Mods (2)

Not a mod, but a different set-up. One I go back to every few years, swear I'm never leaving, but inevitably do.

The Esquire. Bridge pickup only. Epic. Some say they hear no difference between bridge pickups on an Esquire and a regular Tele with a neck pickup, but I swear I do, and in a good way. If you've never tried this, and are a fan of the bridge pickup, I strongly urge you to give it a try.

I do end up missing my jazzy neck pickups though. Can't live without em. But do I prefer the sound of an Esquire for rocking out? Yes I do, and writing this is giving me the itch to whip out the old soldering iron. I don't have an Esquire on hand, so the image above is of my Number One which I'll write about in an upcoming post.

I like to add the Eldred mod to the Esquire while I'm at it. This kicks in on switch position 3. The pickup bypasses the tone control, and goes through a capacitor and the volume control. The sound you get is referred to as a "cocked-wah" effect. No downside IMO, just another tone at your disposal. Crank the volume and enjoy!

Position 1 sends the pickup through the volume control only, with the tone control bypassed. A wide-open, hot, loud sound.

The middle position sends the pickup through both the volume and tone controls.

I'm a fan of the reverse control plate, as shown in the diagram below. The capacitor values below are 0.0047uF for the Eldred mod and my preferred 0.022uF for the tone pot. For the Eldred mod, <4700 pF will result in more highs because less treble is bled to ground and vice versa. A good range to tinker with is 1000 pF up to 6800 pF (0.001 - 0.0068)

There are loads of other ways to wire an Esquire. He's another version I've tried and liked in the past