Budget guitars

[JimN]

Does the Squier Esquire body need to be routed for a neck pickup?

Fender Esquires never did and were easily converted (as long as suitable pickups were available).

[dave robinson]

Does the Squier Esquire body need to be routed for a neck pickup?

Fender Esquires never did and were easily converted (as long as suitable pickups were available).

There's no rout for a neck pickup on Classic Vibe Squiers, so yes it does, unless I use one of my other Teles to test it out first.
The thing is, the Esquire is too limited with only the one pickup, disappointingly, there's not enough variation in tone.
The thing is, I like the look of the Esquire, so I'll make it work .

[dave robinson]

Does the Squier Esquire body need to be routed for a neck pickup?

Fender Esquires never did and were easily converted (as long as suitable pickups were available).

There's no rout for a neck pickup on Classic Vibe Squiers, so yes it does, unless I use one of my other Teles to test it out first.
The thing is, the Esquire is too limited with only the one pickup, disappointingly, there's not enough variation in tone.
I like the look of the Esquire, so I'll make it work to get the sound I want as well as the look.

[dave robinson]

I've just got in from our weekly rehearsal/set up session at our residency and I thoroughly checked out the Esquire on a number of tunes, comparing with my Custom 62 Telecaster and my new Harley Benton Telecaster each equipped with a tremolo system and it was quite clear that the Esquire lacks variation and reinforced my decision to do the 'stealth' pickup modification.
I have a Classic Vibe Telecaster which has a neck Humbucker rout. although it's a Tele pickup that's in there, so I'm going to use that body for my initial experiment, I'll fit DiMarzio Humbucker under the pick guard and wire it as a coil tap as well to give options. I'll then have a good idea if I want to take the router to the Esquire - or not.
I love these little projects and whilst I was doing the comparing, I tried my recently acquired Electro Harmonix 'Knockout' pedal, which is a Hi Pass & Low Pass Filter in pedal form and helps do the job of thinning out or fattening the sound in the manner I have been discussing in recent posts regarding getting accuaracy in Hank's early tone. I'm pleased to say that it works great and is a welcome addition to my rig. It certainly beats spending fortunes on different pickups and the hassle involved in swapping them out.