Esquire wiring - resistor question

GearBoxTy

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All the wiring diagrams I've found for a classic Fender Esquire call for a 3.3k resistor.  Does anyone have an idea what the tolerance and voltage should be?  Do those things matter?

Thanks!
 
This one?

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062326&cp=&sr=1&origkw=3.3k+resistor&kw=3.3k+resistor&parentPage=search

Thanks, man!!!
 
Now I'm intrigued.

The #1 position normal "full on" tone I can see.
The middle position - now with tone control added, I can see
Its that last position that has me flipped.

You have the signal going to ground thru a .02 cap.  And thru a resistor and cap to output.

Normally the cap-to-ground cuts a lot of treble out.  Ok, still does.  And normally a series cap with resistor cuts out bass.  So whats left?  Does the #3 position give a sort of snarly upper mid tone, devoid of lows and really bright highs?  Whats it sposed to sound like?
 
-CB- said:
Now I'm intrigued.

The #1 position normal "full on" tone I can see.
The middle position - now with tone control added, I can see
Its that last position that has me flipped.

You have the signal going to ground thru a .02 cap.  And thru a resistor and cap to output.

Normally the cap-to-ground cuts a lot of treble out.  Ok, still does.  And normally a series cap with resistor cuts out bass.  So whats left?  Does the #3 position give a sort of snarly upper mid tone, devoid of lows and really bright highs?  Whats it sposed to sound like?

I have an Esquire made out of Warmoth parts -  I might add with an L-series Tele pickup in the bridge - so it's pretty authentic sounding to the way the original might have been.

But the #3 position you refer to is muddy and bassy. Kinda like you'd set if you wanted to vamp on mellowed out jazz chords with no definition on the individual strings, or play individual bass lines.

When you bear in mind that the Esquire originally came out before the bass guitar, I think Leo had it wired that way so the guitar player could double up on bass lines. I rarely use it.

The tone on #1 is unbridled and can be a real bitch to handle. #2, with the tone pot, is more subtle - or as subtle as the Tele bridge pickup can be!
 
It was specifically designed that way by Fender to play bass lines. Not too many people playing in bands go the full-on authentic wiring route these days - unless you're planning to play a style of music that nobody's ever heard of? Hmm, might there be a reason they changed it out so quick? :headbang:
 
The question I have then is - why the resistor and 2nd cap.

The "bass line" position on a regular (52) Tele is not set up the same way.  They could have done it with just a cap.  Interesting.  I think I'm gonna have to break out the books for this one.
 
I just want an "authentic" wiring scheme.  So, I'll deal with Bassy/Muddy Position #3, Regular Tone Use Position #2, and No Tone Position #1.

I was planning on using a Duncan Vintage '54 Lead pickup and the "classic" wiring from their site.  But, again, this is going to have to wait as I think my Sonic Blue hardtail Strat will actually come first.

This is the wiring diagram on Seymour Duncan's site: http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/schematics.php?schematic=standard_esquire

Time will tell!
 
CB
correct me if i'm wrong but isn't it correct that increasing a p/u's impedence always increases output even without an increase in inductance?

with more resistance the current drops and the voltage (what the amp reads) spikes so the cap actually increases voltage at lower frequencies.

a crossover is like a voltage divider that is frequency dependant. everything i think i know about voltage dividers (i say think because i've never taken a corse on electronics, it's really just a hobby) says you need a path to ground. the volume pot can be that path but won't have a significant effect untill the cumulative impeadece of the pup, the resistor and the cap are close to the pot value which is high in compaison. so the cap should in theory increase output untill a fairly low frequency.


would this be acurate?
 
DiMitriR33 said:
correct me if i'm wrong but isn't it correct that increasing a p/u's impedence always increases output even without an increase in inductance?

Lets not confuse impedance and resistance, both of which are measured in Ohms.

The pickup has impedance, and resistance, and inductance and also capacitance.  Aaak!

The impedance is the property that makes the coil of the pickup have a bit of "variable" resistance, depending on the frequency.  When we read a pickup with an ohm meter, we're measuring the "zero Hz" impedance, also known as the DC resistance of the wire in the coil (assuming there's no field acting upon the wire.....).

The resistance is just the DC or zero Hz impedance.

An interesting aside.....  I've not done this, but it would be possible to chart the impedance of any pickup at real frequencies, and make some interesting comparisons, but ... nobody does.

Inductance is the property that opposes changes of "current" (not voltage) flow.  This results in DC and low frequencies being passed more easily than high frequencies.  Not the same as impedance, but you can say because of inductance, the impedance is X at any given frequency.  The thing with impedance in coils is a thing called Q factor.  The basics of it are - low wide coils do different things than tall skinny coils.  The two coils may have similar inductance, but will behave differently in a circuit.  OLD radio guys (Elmers) can go on and on about this.  I just know that tall boy strat pickups are totally different from jazzmaster pickups on account of it <gg>.

Capacitance - One thing on inductance, is that it works by storing a charge as a EM field... its a coil, so a electro-magnetic field is formed.  Transformers all rely on this.  Pickups do.  Etc.  Capacitance store a charge with no field.  I'm rambling here.  Capacitance will tend to do the opposite of inductance - that is it will tend to pass AC and block DC, or low frequencies.

**********

Having said all that - ok, how did we increase the impedance of the pickup?



 
-CB- said:
Having said all that - ok, how did we increase the impedance of the pickup?

(This is where I realize I went to school for the wrong thing. Journalism? JOURNALISM? Yeah, I got to meet lots of good-looking ambitious women who like to drink and have trouble sleeping, but that's not doing me any good now.)

By increasing the resistive load? I'm guessing that the note played lowers the pickup's resistance at that frequency by creating a current, and since everything is referenced to ground, a higher resistance volume pot gives that much more for that current to work against.

I probably got that wrong. I need coffee, then a beer.

Also, follow up question: if capacitance passes high and blocks low, (which explains why our tone controls do what they do) why do larger coupling caps in amps result in more bass? Is it because they block more of the DC and the DC is swamping the lower frequencies?
 
neilium said:
-CB- said:
Having said all that - ok, how did we increase the impedance of the pickup?
Also, follow up question: if capacitance passes high and blocks low, (which explains why our tone controls do what they do) why do larger coupling caps in amps result in more bass? Is it because they block more of the DC and the DC is swamping the lower frequencies?

1. instead of coffee and beer, just make it drambuie, you'll have more fun
2. In a guitar, the capacitor goes to ground, and the highs go to ground.... effectively canceling them.  In the amp, the signal goes through the capacitor to the next stage of the amp.  They're working the same way.  Both deliver more and more highs, then mids, then lows, as the value of the cap gets bigger.  In the guitar, more to ground, in the amp more to the next stage.  Simple no?
 
1. Drambuie? That stuff kinda tastes like perfume. I'm more of a scotch man.

2. Simple? Yes, once it's explained to me.

Thanks, bro.
 
Having said all that - ok, how did we increase the impedance of the pickup?


we increased the impedence of the circuit.
even the p/u itself can be viewed as a curcuit. it has resistence, it has inductence and it has capacitence. on a diagram it can be expressed as an inductor in series with a resistor and those in parallel with a capacitor.
with the measured values you can calculate the impedence curve.

check out this site.
http://buildyourguitar.com/resources/lemme/index.htm

i understand that the power put out by the pup wont increase by puting it in series with a resistor and/or a capacitor, it will decrease (slightly) as will the current. but the amp doesn't measure watts or milliamps it measures volts.
the increased imedence given by the the cap (the one in series with the pup)  or should i say the lower load at low frequencies drops current.
the lower current coresponds with a boost in voltage which the amp reads.


 
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