Single Pickup Guitars

[ztikmaen]

Def. upgrade the tele and buy a Junior.

But then what about the Humbuckers :(

Haven't you already got guitars with humbuckers?  :?

Oh I meant upgraded Humbuckers :P
But then again the reason I want to upgrade the Tele is because I want more grunt. I guess my humbucker guitars already have a decent amount of power, just not tone :/ Guess I can live with it for the meantime.
I'm still dreaming about the LP Jr haha

[Loomer]

This thread.

I approve of it.

[Sancho]

The other guitar player in my recently defunct band bought a LP Jr. It instantly became his number one axe.
He loves the tone. It combines the body of a humbucker with some of the chime of a single coil.
If you don't mind the hum (anda P90 does hum pretty bad) the Jr may be the way to go.

[ztikmaen]

Naw, I'm not worried about the hum. I personally love both, but perhaps love the Esquire just a little more >_< (But I have a Tele so that would be kinda pointless I guess. Maybe one day). So I guess the Jr is for me :D
Just wondering, do Esquires have a cavity under the pickguard or is it wood? I hope it's solid wood :O That would be awesome

[Telerocker]

It's a question of budgetkeeping.

1. BKP your current guitars.
2. Buy a LP JR.

Or vice versa. You decide where the priorities are. We can't do that for you, only give some suggestions. I can only say that my BKP-ed guitars became my workhorses.  :)

[Loomer]

On a more serious note: P90s are indeed a glorious, glorious thing, and you need a P90 guitar in your life.

[Sancho]

On a more serious note: P90s are indeed a glorious, glorious thing, and you need a P90 guitar in your life.

I tend to agree, but I could never live with the hum and, from what I gather, hum cancelling P90s don't capture the sound.
I have noiseless single coils in every guitar I have that has singles. Dimarzio's Area and Virtual Vintage series hit the spot as far as I'm concerned. But noiseless P90s? I need to look into them...

[Philly Q]

I tend to agree, but I could never live with the hum and, from what I gather, hum cancelling P90s don't capture the sound.
I have noiseless single coils in every guitar I have that has singles. Dimarzio's Area and Virtual Vintage series hit the spot as far as I'm concerned. But noiseless P90s? I need to look into them...

Don't bother with Gibson P-100s, they're rubbish.

DiMarzio make a few P-90 replacements, but they're really normal humbuckers with side-by-side coils under P-90 sized covers.

Then you've got various offerings from Duncan, Lace, Fralin and Kinman.  The Duncan's a stack design so I suspect it will sound rather tame like the P-100.  I'd be interested to try the others though.  Shame Kinmans are so bloody pricey!

[dave_mc]

Just wondering, do Esquires have a cavity under the pickguard or is it wood? I hope it's solid wood :O That would be awesome

i think esquires are routed for the neck pickup. Don't quote me on it, though, i've never owned one- just what i've read.

[Philly Q]

Just wondering, do Esquires have a cavity under the pickguard or is it wood? I hope it's solid wood :O That would be awesome

i think esquires are routed for the neck pickup. Don't quote me on it, though, i've never owned one- just what i've read.

As far as I know, ever since the Broadcaster/Nocaster/Telecaster was introduced in 1950 the Esquire had exactly the same body, with the neck pickup route hidden by the scratchplate.  Even though routing the cavity's "extra work", it's probably cheaper to make all bodies the same rather than make some with, some without. 

I assume the reissues are the same.

[Ian Price]

Esquires are routed for the neck pickup - at least my CS was. I assume that if the CS version are all other versions would be. i.e. much easier for production and probably keeps costs down (if not by much). Also makes it easier for any future changes to Tele specs.

BTW I considered changing my Esquire to a Tele spec but got told off by a few people on here! I sold it a few months later to Twinfan.

[Telerocker]

I tend to agree, but I could never live with the hum and, from what I gather, hum cancelling P90s don't capture the sound.
I have noiseless single coils in every guitar I have that has singles. Dimarzio's Area and Virtual Vintage series hit the spot as far as I'm concerned. But noiseless P90s? I need to look into them...

Don't bother with Gibson P-100s, they're rubbish.

DiMarzio make a few P-90 replacements, but they're really normal humbuckers with side-by-side coils under P-90 sized covers.

Then you've got various offerings from Duncan, Lace, Fralin and Kinman.  The Duncan's a stack design so I suspect it will sound rather tame like the P-100.  I'd be interested to try the others though.  Shame Kinmans are so bloody pricey!

Not to forget Lollar (and BKP  :).

[Philly Q]

Not to forget Lollar (and BKP  :).

I don't think Lollar make a hum-cancelling P-90, though.  BKP certainly don't!   :P

[Telerocker]

I know, but if you want real p90-tone you have to live with some hum. I would rather have a stellar tone and some hum then a muffled stacked P90. Btw, I had a Yamaha SA503 (the Troy van Leeuwen-signature) with three p90's and the hum was present, but nothing out of control or annoying.

[dave_mc]

As far as I know, ever since the Broadcaster/Nocaster/Telecaster was introduced in 1950 the Esquire had exactly the same body, with the neck pickup route hidden by the scratchplate.  Even though routing the cavity's "extra work", it's probably cheaper to make all bodies the same rather than make some with, some without. 

I assume the reissues are the same.

Yeah that's what i'd read too, that the originals were routed for the neck pickup, presumably for the reason you mentioned.