Patrick Posted June 7, 2010 Share Posted June 7, 2010 I must apologize up front for losing this . . . but, someone here in the HOC was kind enough to send me a link up to discussion on vintage wiring vs non-vintage wiring for Les Pauls. I can't seem to locate it. I'd like to read that article again because I seem to remember that there were trade offs with either wriing. Also, while I'm not at all dissatisfied with the current tone from my R9 '59 LP Burst, plugged into a 1970 Pro reverb, no master volume, with a black face upgrade, I am curious how it would sound with some of the mods I've been reading about that some of you have done to your H 150s. The current tone and volume pots are 500K. They are stamped with CBA (don't know what that means) and a bunch of solder covers the numbers so I can't make most of the numbers out. The caps are small yellow caps that say "custom R27". I've read about the bumble bee caps, the gray tiger .022uf-400v Pio caps . . . the CTS pots . . the entire RS kit upgrade . . . etc. I would be curious about the comments and suggestions from those of you who have more knowledge on the Les Paul type solid bodies that I do. Mostly, my solid body history and knowledge has been limited to vintage Fender Strat. I do believe in "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" . . . but, I'm curious about possibly taking what I believe to be a real good sounding Les Paul, up a notch or 2 to become an even better sounding Les Paul. Any help wopuld be appreciated. thx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steiner Posted June 7, 2010 Share Posted June 7, 2010 From Kuz' post: http://www.acmeguitarworks.com/Les_Paul_As...P1776C185.aspx# This is where they describe that attributes of the two wiring systems. It seems to come down to personal preference and how you handle your guitar. Enjoy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Posted June 7, 2010 Author Share Posted June 7, 2010 From Kuz' post: http://www.acmeguitarworks.com/Les_Paul_As...P1776C185.aspx# This is where they describe that attributes of the two wiring systems. It seems to come down to personal preference and how you handle your guitar. Enjoy! Thanks Steiner . . . . I think I would prefer the modern wiring. I don't want to have to kee messing with the tone each time I change volume. But, it seems that the tone is affected by volume adjustments either way. However, I wonder how that would work with a volume pedal.?.? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbonesullivan Posted June 7, 2010 Share Posted June 7, 2010 Thanks Steiner . . . . I think I would prefer the modern wiring. I don't want to have to kee messing with the tone each time I change volume. But, it seems that the tone is affected by volume adjustments either way. However, I wonder how that would work with a volume pedal.?.? volume pedals are active and unless it's a POS there should be no changes in tone as you change volume. I've heard of some pro guitarists just wiring their pickups direct to the output jack and bypassing the passive electronics. they control volume and tone with active pedals that don't suffer from the problems of passive wiring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Posted June 7, 2010 Author Share Posted June 7, 2010 volume pedals are active and unless it's a POS there should be no changes in tone as you change volume. I've heard of some pro guitarists just wiring their pickups direct to the output jack and bypassing the passive electronics. they control volume and tone with active pedals that don't suffer from the problems of passive wiring. thanx tbone. I just got off the phone with Billy at RS Guitar works in Kentucky. I ordered the same set up that Steiner put in his 150. I should get it next week. I don't know if I'm gonna mess with the vintage wiring or not. I'll have my guitar tech drop these into the cavity and see what it sounds like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steiner Posted June 7, 2010 Share Posted June 7, 2010 volume pedals are active and unless it's a POS there should be no changes in tone as you change volume. I've heard of some pro guitarists just wiring their pickups direct to the output jack and bypassing the passive electronics. they control volume and tone with active pedals that don't suffer from the problems of passive wiring. TBone - that sounds interesting; just go straight to the jack from the pickups and use a volume pedal with the tone setting on the amp. Hmmm... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orangepicker Posted June 7, 2010 Share Posted June 7, 2010 Remember that the best sound is with the volume and tone knobs at 10. When you do this the capacitors and pots don't really affect anything. If you play this way then you could leave everything as it is. Still good quality pots and capacitors are a plus. I do use CTS and real 1950's Bumblebees in my R7 and R8 but they are wired according to modern specs. I just put some standard CTS pots in another guitar and had to push the knobs on hard and 2 of the pots came apart. (first time this has ever happened) There are some companies that claim they have special CTS Super Pots, I have used them too but refer to my first sentence. I try to use everything wide open and have used a volume pedal for 35 years and it works for me! I would say that if you are using the stock pickups then the best upgrade is to go with some really quality pickups, they will make the biggest difference. And there are a lot of opinions on which ones you should use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kuz Posted June 8, 2010 Share Posted June 8, 2010 I'll post this here as well.... Here's the deal.... use 50s wiring and you can turn the volume down and it acts like.... well a volume knob (no loss of high end). I have re-solder all my guitars to 50s wiring so I can use significant distortion and then just roll back the volume to clean up the sound. Solo? Then just turn the volume knob up. THE ONLY downside to 50s wiring is that you really need to turn the tone knobs quite a bit to have the roll off in tone to occur (I would say you don't hear any tone roll off to almost "5") I don't know why anyone would use any wiring other than 50s wiring! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.