Anyone converted a Les Paul from stock to 50's wiring?

X

xpenno

Power User
Hi guys,

I'm thinking about converting my Les Paul 59 re-issue from stock to a 50's style wiring circuit with some bumblebee caps and new pots. Has anyone done this and were the results worth it? Looking on eBay you can grab a pre-wired set of controls with the caps installed for around $100 which doesn't seem too bad.

I would love to hear any thoughts.

Cheers

Spence
 
I orderd a kit from RS guitarworks a couple months ago around $120 i think ,vintage wiring w/ bumblebees, wound up going back to modern wiring .It was considerably brighter ,no tone loss when rolling back volume .tone controls work much differently ,seemed to scoop the tone somewhat till 4 ish then the hi cut started! quite different sound! Not so much that I didn't like it I preffered some aspects, just was a little too bright .
 
RDH said:
Not so much that I didn't like it I preffered some aspects, just was a little too bright .
Click to expand...

50's wiring changes the way the pickups are loaded and creates a resonant peak in and around 4K (or there abouts). That's what's causing that extra bit of brightness, which in some cases is desirable and not in others. I had one guitar wired 50's on one pickup and modern on the other.

IMHO it's well worth trying, and since it's very easy to change from one to the other I don't see a downside in experimenting. Frankly, you can do that without buying the kit. The kit components however, may be better than what you currently have. It's also interesting to experiment with different volume and tone controls values. You can add or remove brightness simply by changing the value of either or both of these.

Terry.
 
I also got the premium upgrade kit from RS Guitarworks for my 1995 Les Paul Standard. It is difficult for me to quantify how much of an improvement the wiring itself made because I changed the stock pickups to Fralins at the same time. I can tell you that I was highly pleased with the overall results.
 
I tried it a few months ago with my Standard and within a week also did it to my custom.

Kind of feel like I have been missing the past 33 years
But no longer!

Just do it!!!
 
Thanks for the info guys, great to hear that people have tried it and even better still, the majority like it!

Think I'm going to give it a shot, can always go back if it doesn't work for me.

Spence
 
Just a little advice –
When playing through your Axe Fx don’t forget to either turn off your gate for that particular preset or at least turn down the threshold. Because when you turn down your guitar the gate will start catching a bit. I speak from experience!
Though there was something wrong with one of my pots, then realized DUH ! Signal is low and gate is catching.

I can say with a fair amount of confidence, you are going to love it! Report back when you get it done.

John
 
6L6C said:
Just a little advice –
When playing through your Axe Fx don’t forget to either turn off your gate for that particular preset or at least turn down the threshold. Because when you turn down your guitar the gate will start catching a bit. I speak from experience!
Though there was something wrong with one of my pots, then realized DUH ! Signal is low and gate is catching.

I can say with a fair amount of confidence, you are going to love it! Report back when you get it done.

John
Click to expand...

Cool man, I tend to use the volume controls on the guitar anyway so the gate is usually off or pretty much off anyway. Great tip. Think I'll order the parts today :)
 
Jeries said:
$100+ sounds kind of high for a few $5 pots and $1 caps
Click to expand...

I agree. I fall in the camp of believing this is a lot of snake oil. But others feel it's worth every cent.

You can do the wiring change for $0 as well with your current components to get an idea of what it might sound like.
 
For me the RS vintage kit was 100% worth it, much like Callaham Strat and Tele bridges the improvement was well worth it.

Speaking of the noise gate, it there a way to globally turn it of?
Thanks
chris
 
RDH said:
The caps are $50 +, can't get bumblebees for a buck!!! and the cts pots are more like $15EA each!! The RS prewired kit made a ton of improvement!!! Definitly worth it to me!!
Click to expand...

100% agree. I also installed the kit into an American Deluxe strat (guitar was nice but pickups and electronics were the modern b.s.). and added some Rocketfire pickups and now I have a "real" Strat. As with any hotrodding, it is quite possible to install the new wiring and not like it but it was well worth the money for me.
 
I had my guitar tech rewire my 2001 (or thereabouts) '58 RI Les Paul to 50's specs at his suggestion last year. He also replaced the pots and caps with some choice stuff he had, so I'm not sure exactly what just the wiring change did in comparison to the upgraded parts. But I liked the change significantly.
 
No need to do anything on a modern wired guitar other than change the tone controls from connecting to the volume pot's input to it's output (wiper, i.e the middle lug). That's it, don't need to buy anything really, and while PIO's (Paper in Oil cap) do make a tiny difference it's very subtle and likely not very noticeable to most. Also, the modern Gibson Bumble Bee's aren't even real PIO, they're fake, so avoid them.

The main thing about the change is that the pups don't get dark as fast when you roll off the volume, though on the flip side the tone control will effect volume a lot more, and the volume pot's taper will seem different. Personally I love it but many don't preferring a modern wired setup with treble compensation on the volume etc.
 
Last edited:
xpenno said:
Cool man, I tend to use the volume controls on the guitar anyway so the gate is usually off or pretty much off anyway. Great tip. Think I'll order the parts today :)
Click to expand...
Let us Know what you think! I've been thinking about trying it again! Trying some new pickups and might work well with them!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom