Les paul mods

[mr_william]

i'm looking to upgrade my les paul's electronics, i'd like to compile a list of mods that could be made.

each humbucker
coils wired in series
coils wired in parallel (standard)
split coils (one coil on, north/south)
coils in phase (standard)
coils out of phase

2 pickups
wired in series
wired in parallel (standard)
pickups in phase (standard)
pickups out of phase

blow switch - takes volume & tone out of the circuit

coil tap

vari-tone

kill switch

i'd like to do this without drilling any holes, so i've got 4 dpdt switches to play with.

the 3 way switch; are there any fancy ones that have a push/pull function too? that'd be cool...

looking for advise on pot, switch and jack manufacturers too.

there's a lot of kits on ebay; are they worth it? or am i better off sourcing the parts from elsewhere?

any other advise is welcome!

[Jondog]

You want to do all of that?

[mr_william]

haha! no...

i'm wanting to build a catalogue of mods, and pick the most useful ones...

i'm thinking so far:

series/parallel for each pickup.

that'd leave me with 2 2pdt switches... i'm wondering what 2 both pickups in series with the coils in parallel would get me...

also just the coils in parallel - with a treble booster it could work for a fatter tone?


i've just stumbled across this too.... http://www.freewayswitch.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; a 6 way switch...

need to see how it works to figure out how useful it'd be...


opinions on the listed mods would be good too...

[Woodsie]

check this guy out. He's Jonesy on the Les Paul forum. he designs and builds custom wiring harnesses for Anything. Check out the "21 tone Page wiring" I bought a 50's style harness for my LP and it was fantastic.

http://www.jonesyblues.com/Order_Wiring_Page_2.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[megalithic]

How could a treble booster sound fatter? You need a bass booster for that, perhaps low midrange booster.

Anyways, why don't you simply try some wirings temporarily in your guitar and see if you like them, then you can install whatever switches you want? Maybe you can even try alligator clips without soldering, but be careful of pops to the amp.

[GySgtFTL]

Have you tried asking here?

http://www.mylespaul.com/forums/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


There's more accumulated knowledge there regarding Les Pauls than even Gibson knows.

[Woodsie]

Have you tried asking here?

http://www.mylespaul.com/forums/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


There's more accumulated knowledge there regarding Les Pauls than even Gibson knows.

This is absolutely true. I'm a member over there. And Jonesy is very well respected as the authority on custom wiring on that sight. Tell him what you want and he'll build it. all drop in stuff too. Pots, switches, Jacks, the whole nine.

[mr_william]

How could a treble booster sound fatter? You need a bass booster for that, perhaps low midrange booster.

Anyways, why don't you simply try some wirings temporarily in your guitar and see if you like them, then you can install whatever switches you want? Maybe you can even try alligator clips without soldering, but be careful of pops to the amp.

i have tried one or two of the above before; i've got a hb wired with a series/parallel switch which is cool, lowers the output a little, adds top end - good for when rolling back for cleans.

using a treble booster into an overdriven amp doesn't thin the tone too much. this coupled with 2 parallel humbuckers, wired together in series would retain a lot of girth.


i've wired my strat with a series/parallel switch; the bridge/middle in series is like a high output hb with the coils physically spread out. obviously it's then seeing a 250k volume pot; so is quite dark sounding. adding a treble booster in the mix shaves some bass, but is still very thick.

i think the rule of thumb is 1 coil 250k pot
2 coils in series 500k pot

leaving the coils in series and wiring them together in series essentially would make one big pickup with 4 coils - i'd guess this would then want to see a 1 meg pot. however, using a treble boost could be cool like this.

having both coils in parallel and the pickups together in series would perhaps be bright enough without the treble boost...

[mr_william]

Have you tried asking here?

http://www.mylespaul.com/forums/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


There's more accumulated knowledge there regarding Les Pauls than even Gibson knows.

i haven't, but this is obviously specific to the wiring side of things, and as far as i'm aware, i've covered each possible scenario, series/parallel/split etc.

you're right though, i assume more folks will have answers to the "what's it like" section of my question!

[mr_william]

Have you tried asking here?

http://www.mylespaul.com/forums/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


There's more accumulated knowledge there regarding Les Pauls than even Gibson knows.

This is absolutely true. I'm a member over there. And Jonesy is very well respected as the authority on custom wiring on that sight. Tell him what you want and he'll build it. all drop in stuff too. Pots, switches, Jacks, the whole nine.

yeah, i've heard much about jonesy blues being a knowledgeable chap!

i'd love for him to send me a wiring harness, but being in sunny sheffield, it may not be too cost effective!... i may price it up though, just to be sure.

[Woodsie]

Have you tried asking here?

http://www.mylespaul.com/forums/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


There's more accumulated knowledge there regarding Les Pauls than even Gibson knows.

This is absolutely true. I'm a member over there. And Jonesy is very well respected as the authority on custom wiring on that sight. Tell him what you want and he'll build it. all drop in stuff too. Pots, switches, Jacks, the whole nine.

yeah, i've heard much about jonesy blues being a knowledgeable chap!

i'd love for him to send me a wiring harness, but being in sunny sheffield, it may not be too cost effective!... i may price it up though, just to be sure.

send him an email. He's a good guy and is happy to answer any questions or make suggestions based on what you want. Not just what he has already made up.

[Bensen]

This doesn't work with humbuckers but on my P90 LP I have a coil tap bridge pup. I wired it to the bridge push pull tone pot and can now switch between jangly 6 kohm or dirty 11 kohm.