Les Paul Studio Wiring

nick

The one (and so far only) thing I dont like about the Studio is this wiring set up. Everyone talks about 50's wiring blah blah etc.. but its $130 odd a kit! The volume pots in the guitar currently are Gibson branded, would they just be rebranded CTS's?

What I want to try do is remove the pots from the circuit board, buy some of those vintage NOS oil filled caps in the correct .022uF spec (if thats right) and attempt to solder it up like:

Yes/No? The oil filled caps are $14 for 2 off eBay for what seems to be the same brand Dr Vintage uses for his wiring kits.

Reinhard

You can get the specs for the caps off the RS Guitarworks store. Just check their LP kits to see what they use. You can get a 50's wiring schematic off the LPF. Pots with a nice taper will work well with that type of wiring. I think the RS site even mention which pots they use.

nick

Reinhard wrote You can get the specs for the caps off the RS Guitarworks store. Just check their LP kits to see what they use. You can get a 50's wiring schematic off the LPF. Pots with a nice taper will work well with that type of wiring. I think the RS site even mention which pots they use.

DrVintage wrote To get that vintage tone response from the tone controls, the standard "Early-Spec" control kits use modern .022uf high-grade military surplus capacitors to keep the quality at the highest levels. These caps have received high acclaim for being very transparent and produce a very 'vocal' quality when the tone knob is dialed back.

Thats what DrVintage uses so Ive sourced those on FleaBay

nick

Got 2 of these coming ?

guidothepimmp

have i missed something.. i always thought gibson used ceramc caps?

nick

guidothepimmp wrote have i missed something.. i always thought gibson used ceramc caps?

The 50's LP's used the 'Bumblebees' but DrVintage sells these in kits which people seem to be raving about.

http://www.doctorvintage.com/drv1_controls_models.html

guidothepimmp

thanks. interesting read. dont know where i got that idea from..

singemonkey

guidothepimmp wrote thanks. interesting read. dont know where i got that idea from..

They've used ceramic caps for ages now. Once I've caught up on all the other stuff I haven't got round to yet, I'm going to look at upgrading the pots and caps in my Deluxe. The standard setup is not great (I don't think they've improved much on recent models) so you just end up leaving the volumes and tones maxed - which is a bit of a waste of the two volume, two tone setup. With good pots and caps you can create amazing tonal variations.

Good move Nick. I'm sure you'll hear a noticeable difference with the tones rolled back.

nick

Right the caps have shipped, now I need to find bus wire? and some woven insulation sleeving, any ideas?

Vades

nick wrote Right the caps have shipped, now I need to find bus wire? and some woven insulation sleeving, any ideas?

Please point me in the right direction for these. What did you pay, if I may ask?

nick

Vades wrote
nick wrote Right the caps have shipped, now I need to find bus wire? and some woven insulation sleeving, any ideas?
Please point me in the right direction for these. What did you pay, if I may ask?

Got off eBay, search for .022uf 630V PIO Capacitors

Vades

nick wrote
Vades wrote
nick wrote Right the caps have shipped, now I need to find bus wire? and some woven insulation sleeving, any ideas?
Please point me in the right direction for these. What did you pay, if I may ask?
Got off eBay, search for .022uf 630V PIO Capacitors

Thanks. ?

Reinhard

I'm curious what difference the caps make. In the past I just dumped it all and did the pots, caps, and 50's wiring in one go.

nick

Draggin up an old post but the caps I originally ordered never arrived and I didnt bother ordering new ones until recently. These ones arrived, got the circuit board out of the Studio and busy removing the pots from it, will post a few pics if anyone is interested.

FenderBender

I'm about to pop two orange drops into my SG and rewire 50s style. Keep the pics coming ?

nick

Graeme Parfett wrote I'm about to pop two orange drops into my SG and rewire 50s style. Keep the pics coming ?

Im semi done but not sure how these two wires connect to each other.. ☹

Used this diagram as reference

nick

Finished it last night. Its not as neat as I was hoping and there were/are 3 issues.

1.) I broke the one tab off the one tone pot so had to solder a connector wire to ground it to itself
2.) I should have not made the pots extend so far out as the vol/tone knobs sit higher now, will try sort that out this evening
3.) Removing one of the vol knobs that was insanely tight (with a teaspoon) it seems to have made a bubble inside it (speed knobs)

Does it sound different? Yes, definately, more clarity on the neck and middle position and seemingly slightly more bass on the bridge pickup. Finished quite late so couldnt crank the amp to hear so will test it more when I get home ?

FenderBender

nick wrote I should have not made the pots extend so far out as the vol/tone knobs sit higher now, will try sort that out this evening

Did you put spider washers on each pot before mounting them into the cavity? These usually allow the pot to sit at the correct depth.

I just rewired my SG and am about to restring with 10s and set it up using a Gibson guide I found. Will post pics of the rewired cavity later.

nick

Graeme Parfett wrote
nick wrote I should have not made the pots extend so far out as the vol/tone knobs sit higher now, will try sort that out this evening
Did you put spider washers on each pot before mounting them into the cavity? These usually allow the pot to sit at the correct depth.

I just rewired my SG and am about to restring with 10s and set it up using a Gibson guide I found. Will post pics of the rewired cavity later.

Sorted this issue out, just loosened the vol/ton pots and then there is a brass nut that you adjust to make them stick out less, looks back to normal now ?

The old circuit board with pots removed

How it looks now with new caps in and board removed. The yellow electrical tape was because I put on some heat shrink and soldered the wire together but the stupid heatshrink shrank from the soldering iron heat.. solder was good so chose to just remove it and put some tape ? Its not as neat as I would have liked but as I learnt with my Strat re-wire, soldering on to the back of pots isnt easy!

FenderBender

nick wrote Sorted this issue out, just loosened the vol/ton pots and then there is a brass nut that you adjust to make them stick out less, looks back to normal now ?

I see you have the long shaft type pots. Glad you sorted it out.

Here is my cavity shot of the SG with the orange drops installed and also wired 50s style. Not my neatest job, seeing as the pots were rescued from a LP.
Notice the little earth braid on the jack socket. My attempt at grounding the metallised cover plate ?