more les paul mods

daniel · Post by **daniel** » Tue Dec 07, 2004 11:50 pm

I found another change you can make in les paul's that I am really happy with. I recently rewired mine to the 50's spec wiring. It was really simple and only involved changing a couple connections with the caps and the pots. As simple as it was I found it made a big difference in the tone. If you are struggling with getting clarity from your paul you might want to give this a swing. On my paul it really opened up the tone and I have noticed that it keeps the tone better as I roll of the volume. For reference, my guitar is a les paul classic gold top with seth lover's in it. Also, for those with more knowledge than I, what is this changing as electronically with how the controls work? Rock n Roll.

daniel · Post by **daniel** » Tue Dec 07, 2004 11:53 pm

the pic didn't come out, here's a link to a comparison between the modern wiring and the 50's

http://www.lespaulforum.com/finalframes/frameset.htm

daniel · Post by **daniel** » Wed Dec 08, 2004 12:01 am

the pic didn't come out, here's a link to a comparison between the modern wiring and the 50's

http://www.lespaulforum.com/finalframes/frameset.htm

Country Boy Shane · Post by **Country Boy Shane** » Wed Dec 08, 2004 8:15 am

Still didn't work. Try hosting the pic on a site like www.imageshack.us

Flames1950 · Post by **Flames1950** » Wed Dec 08, 2004 8:44 am

Yeah, I can't get it to show up either.
I still haven't gotten around to changing the pots on my Gibsons, but even just changing the tone caps was a big plus. Plain ol' Orange Drops seem to work a little better than Mallory's, more of that upper mid honk that you hear on old recordings fo Les Pauls and Marshalls.
What is Black Rose Customs' web site, is it just blackrosecustoms.com or something?

Country Boy Shane · Post by **Country Boy Shane** » Wed Dec 08, 2004 8:56 am

GOOGLE it!

daniel · Post by **daniel** » Wed Dec 08, 2004 7:47 pm

I don't know why the link isn't working. Here's how to get there. Go to www.lespaulforum.com and click on the link to the hot rod shop and there will be an article called les paul wiring comparisons.

Necrovore · Post by **Necrovore** » Wed Dec 08, 2004 8:44 pm

The Brian Mod on that page looks interesting. Sounds like a good way to save "off" pots.

Flames1950 · Post by **Flames1950** » Wed Dec 08, 2004 11:49 pm

Country Boy Shane wrote:GOOGLE it!

I save my googling for the show......

Zoso · Post by **Zoso** » Thu Dec 09, 2004 12:25 am

I'll be damned. I accidentally did that mod when I changed out the pots in my Paul. I was just looking and I wired the caps up the vintage way. I thought that's how they were supposed to go. Shows how much I know.

No wonder it sounded so different, but I like it! The only drawback is that the tone control seems to take off a little volume now as well when you turn it down. I assume that has something to do with the wiring difference. But I can live with that to finally be able to use my neck pickup.

Flames1950 · Post by **Flames1950** » Thu Dec 09, 2004 8:13 am

I think I'll give it a try with my stock pots for now. I'll try anything to get more clarity from my neck pickup too, the 20-yr. old DiMarzio PAF's that I've got in the neck slots on my Gibsons are close but not quite there.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Fri Dec 10, 2004 5:57 am

Hey Flames,the best way to get more clarity that I've found so far is to change out the values of your pots to the original values.From what I've read around '73 or so Gibson switched to 300k for the volumes and sometimes used 100k for the tone.My '82 had those values and i switched to 500k cts from black rose.Very noticable difference in the clarity,more presence.Adjusting the volume to clean up the sound works even better now! I'll never play gibsons with the lower values again.
Give it a try as it's not too expensive.

ampdogg · Post by **ampdogg** » Fri Dec 10, 2004 6:00 am

thats me above.i forgot to click the log me in everytime again

oh well,i'll get this internet forum stuff one of these days