Why do people like 50s wiring?

dannytheartist · Nov 4, 2011

After recently fixing a ground problem in my LPC I thought it would be a good oportunity to see what 50s wiring was like - I've never owned a guitar to my knowledge with 50s wiring and I've never done the mod, so I thought I'd give it a go!.... And all I can say is what an absolute waste of time!!:wah Why on earth does anyone bother with this?! I did everything by the book - tone caps connected to the centre tags on the vol pots, centre tag on tone pot to ground, and tone cap to outer tag on tone pot.

I was genuinely shocked by how crap it sounded and how unusable all the pots became. The taper on the vol pots changed, became far too sensitive, and the sound just seemed to become really thin, weak and wimpy below about 7... sounded almost like a SC pickup. With the volume on 10 the tone pot was very similar but with the vol turned down a bit the tone pot basically turned into another vol pot, further thinning and degrading the sound! I also found it almost impossible to use both pickups interactively, it just became totally counter-intuitive. Needless to say I swapped all the connections back to modern wiring after about 10mins.

I honestly dont know why anyone bothers with this. The worst thing was the way the vol pots made the tone so weak and thin, the best way I can describe it is like all the 'les paul' character was stripped out of the sound, just sounded crap to my ears. Anyway, those are my opinions.

I've read so many articles and posts about how 50s wiring is 'better' and 'transformed' the guitar :wah . I must say I'm very sceptical and I think a lot of it is psychological with people thinking that 'vintage' is always better and just following the general trend that everyone else seems to think that 50s wiring is the dogs. Does anyone honestly think 50s wiring is better than modern?

AndrewSimon · Nov 4, 2011

dannytheartist said:
and the sound just seemed to become really thin, weak and wimpy below about 7... sounded almost like a SC pickup.

And that's the whole idea, versatility!

I do agree about the volume tapper, that's why I use a linear pot.
You need to have a different approach to the whole volume/tone function when you use 50's wiring.

:lol

janalex · Nov 4, 2011

So you're saying that if all Bursts could be converted to modern wiring then they would have MORE character.

Ryan Givhan · Nov 4, 2011

the pups arent muddy at all and clean up way better with 50's imo. all my gibsons have 50's wiring and i doubt i'll ever switch.

dannytheartist · Nov 4, 2011

janalex said:
So you're saying that if all Bursts could be converted to modern wiring then they would have MORE character.

With the volume turned down maybe they would. Have you ever converted one and tried it?

dannytheartist · Nov 4, 2011

janalex said:
So you're saying that if all Bursts could be converted to modern wiring then they would have MORE character.

BTW thats not actually what I was saying. I was giving my opinion on what happened to my guitar and how it sounded to my ears - and modern wiring sounds WAY better and just works better too.

frazettafan · Nov 4, 2011

Very interesting Danny. I changed mine recently and I'm not totally convinced either? i might swap back again and see how I feel about it. I put CTS pots in too and I actually prefer the old original Japanese pots that were already in there(It's a 1979 Tokai 'Reborn').

I tried orange drops too - to no avail.

Cream Fan · Nov 4, 2011

Do you have linear taper pots in your LPC? If so, 50s wiring is a waste for you. Audio taper is the only way that wiring will work to its fullest potential. My R9 has the new Historic Spec 500K Audio Taper pots and there are so many tonal variations that can be attained it's staggering. With the tonal palette I have at my disposal, I would never go back to modern wiring. Period.

janalex · Nov 4, 2011

dannytheartist said:
BTW thats not actually what I was saying. I was giving my opinion on what happened to my guitar and how it sounded to my ears - and modern wiring sounds WAY better and just works better too.

No, I'm just wondering if it only works in specific situations with specific pickups and wood. I'm pretty certain that most 50's guitars benefit from 50's wiring. I know mine did. It probably needs to be analyzed on a case by case basis.

dannytheartist · Nov 4, 2011

Janalex, I think Cream Fan has just hit on it...

My LPC has 300k Linear volume pots, and 100k linear tone pots. This may be why my findings were more on the extreme side of things, but the principal issues still remain in that the volume thins out the sound when in 50s wiring (and I appreciate that some prefer this, but I like a thicker midrange tone), and that the tone and vol pots become additive - which I didnt like either.

Maybe it works better with audio taper pots, I prefer my linear pots though

TM1 · Nov 4, 2011

If your LPC has the 300K pots in it like so many of the USA production guitar have, then spend the $$ and get some upgraded pots(like Retro-Spec's TVT 500K's) and better caps.
If you're going for real `50's wiring, then you need to have the exact same type of components that were in a `50's guitar.

Ryan Givhan · Nov 4, 2011

dude, i promise you you will change your ways of thinking if you get slightly higher than 500k audio taper pots and some good pio caps plus 50's wiring. it made my studio come to life. and the rs super pots with pio caps made my r8 sound so much more organic

M4cKan · Nov 4, 2011

You do really need the right 500k pots to get the effect on things, didn´t you do the hole search of things when you decided to do it?

dannytheartist · Nov 4, 2011

Surely the pot value and to some extent the taper has nothing to do with how the 50s wiring principal works? ...I mean as far as I understand it with the tone cap on the middle tag you are basically allowing some of the signal to bleed to the tone pot when turning down the volume - which is why the pots become additive and why they also sound thinner when you roll off the volume. The value of the pot should make no difference to this principal. And if anything, an audio taper pot will retain even LESS body to the tone when turning down.

straightblues · Nov 4, 2011

I changed over to 50's wiring last week. I happen to love it. I am getting that sizzle on the notes that I haven't gotten before but have heard on loads of records.

Cream Fan · Nov 4, 2011

My advice is to get rid of the 300K volumes and 100K tone pots. Go for a set of the Historic Spec 500K audio taper pots and rewire everything. That tone pot value is way too low. Raising the value of your pots to the correct value will open up your guitar at both ends of the sonic spectrum and your midrange will really squawk.

Of course, you may find that you now hate the sound of your pickups as 300k pots tend to warm up really bright pickups, which is why Gibson started using them. Their pickups were really nasty at one point.

Black58 · Nov 4, 2011

TM1 said:
If your LPC has the 300K pots in it like so many of the USA production guitar have, then spend the $$ and get some upgraded pots(like Retro-Spec's TVT 500K's) and better caps.
If you're going for real `50's wiring, then you need to have the exact same type of components that were in a `50's guitar.

'Zactly! .. Just changin' the wiring on that guitar would be the sonic equivelent
to the visual equivelent
of what Tommy Chong did by puttin' a Rolls Royce grille on his fuckin' Volkswagen! :wah .. :ganz

Black58 · Nov 4, 2011

... and BTW, if it's one 'o those '70s Customs ya mentioned in another thread,
seriously, stop fuckin' with it.
The chances of ya turnin' a grapefruit into an onion are practically nil. :ganz

Enjoy it fer what it is! :jim

dannytheartist · Nov 4, 2011

Black58 said:
'Zactly! .. Just changin' the wiring on that guitar would be the sonic equivelent
to the visual equivelent
of what Tommy Chong did by puttin' a Rolls Royce grille on his fuckin' Volkswagen! :wah .. :ganz

Ok. I dont know who Tommy Chong is but I get the analogy. ...& since when was a 79 LPC the guitar equivalent to a VW? Whats with all this dissin my already fucking amazing sounding '79 Les Paul Custom?...

I dont get this disease everyone has where they buy a guitar because they 'love' it, because they 'love' gibsons, then they rip all the inards out of it, change the hardware, ditch the pickups, etc etc!?:wah

dannytheartist · Nov 4, 2011

Black58 said:
... and BTW, if it's one 'o those '70s Customs ya mentioned in another thread,
seriously, stop fuckin' with it.
The chances of ya turnin' a grapefruit into an onion are practically nil. :ganz

I'm not trying to turn anything into anything?! ...if you read my first post again you'll see that I was just repairing a faulty ground wire and tried out the 50s wiring while I was at it.:wah I like my Custom just the way it is thanks.

Why do people like 50s wiring?

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