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gibson pcb's - any difference

El Gringo

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Apr 8, 2015
Messages
5,655
No.

However, if you think there is, you will hear one, regardless if it exists. Most people hear what they expect. Human nature.
Prior to last summer when I switched out the harness in my Les Paul Custom it sounded like I had a string mute on (like on a Violin or Cello ) .Wow big difference .
 

Swaptronics

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Joined
Apr 23, 2018
Messages
2
May I ask which pickups you went with after getting rid of the PCB harness ? Then how did the pickups you choose sound ?

This is "Swaptronics." I replied to an earlier post and wanted to make my points much clearer.

1. The PCB wired guitars are inferior to hand wired not because of the printed circuit board, but because Gibson chooses to use 260K pots for the volume and 460K pots for tone. In addition, they use a cheap $0.01 ceramic disk cap of 0.022 mfd value. 250K pots are fine for Fender guitars with single coils. You need 500K or 525K pots to open up the sound of a good humbucker and achieve great classic tone. Otherwise, if you play your guitar with both tone pots turned all the way down, you will be quite happy with Gibson's 260K ohm volume pots.

2. You cannot easily swap out Pots on a Gibson PCB--printed circuit board is multi-layered and pots are soldered in by the three leads, and the case.

3. I was able to score an excellent deal on a 2010 Gibson Les Paul Studio in mint condition because the original buyer never liked it or played it.

4. The guitar was never played much because of its tone (the lousy pots in the PCB), the poorly cut nut from the factory (too high) that caused the G-string to bind and the guitar to not stay in tune, and the guitar was in dire need of a pro-quality setup.

5. Many people change out pickups and everything BUT the pots because they are not finding the tone and "feel" that they desire.

6. Change out the pots to 525K, add better tone caps, and properly set the height of your humbucker pickups (lower them) for best tone and you will be amazed with the stock Gibson pickups--no need to change them out. Modern wiring schematic is good, 1959 wiring schematic is even better IMHO.

7. You cannot hear a difference in tone or sound between a PCB with 500K pots or a hand-wired (same) guitar with 500K pots--you will absolutely hear a difference in a 260K volume pot guitar versus a 500K volume pot guitar--higher is much better.

8. Gibson does not use 260K volume pots in its most expensive models or custom shop guitars--I doubt they use PCB's in those models, either?

9. Gibson wants to you buy an entry level "studio" Les Paul and end up wanting more--better tone, fit and finish, features, etc.

10. If Gibson properly wired their Les Paul Studios like a vintage 1959 Les Paul, they would sell more studios and fewer (more expensive) models IMHO.
 

El Gringo

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Apr 8, 2015
Messages
5,655
I have a question about a common refrain that I hear and read about regarding the nut on Gibson Guitars and there is a product that helps get the nut working better -what is this called ? So the strings don't give you tunning issues esp.on the infamous G string ?
 

britbender

Member
Joined
Aug 23, 2011
Messages
241
I have a question about a common refrain that I hear and read about regarding the nut on Gibson Guitars and there is a product that helps get the nut working better -what is this called ? So the strings don't give you tunning issues esp.on the infamous G string ?
Nut sauce, or you rub the slot with a pencil.
 

El Gringo

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Joined
Apr 8, 2015
Messages
5,655
Nut sauce, or you rub the slot with a pencil.
Ok, do you rub the nut sauce under the string directly on to the nut ? I have never done this before and I am having some tunning issues and I want to do this right ?
 
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