metropolis
Active member
- Joined
- Sep 14, 2018
- Messages
- 415
I finally finished what I'm calling my 'out with the new, in with the old' process on my 2015 Les Paul I've owned for just over 2 years.
I bought it because I loved the idea of having a Goldtop and the price was heavily discounted new (from around £1,800 to £1,000). I loved the chunky feel of the neck, it played great (the adjustable nut really helped) and generally looked fantastic. I didn't like the robot tuners or the boost switch, but my biggest gripe was the pickups were so hot they were pretty much unuseable alongside any other guitar, no matter how I adjusted them. I liked the coil-splitting but didn't really need it as I have other guitars for those tones.
I've done this work in a few phases, I just thought I'd share as the topic of modifying 2014 & 2015 models often comes up and most of the threads are old and lacking photos. Just to clarify, I'm an absolute amateur guitar modifier so don't expect luthier quality work or advice and expect some random photos in my kitchen where I did the work. I'm reliant on advice, trial and error and YouTube!
1. Removing Robot Tuners.
I bought some locking Gotoh tuners that looked like Kluson ones but the locking mechanism is subtle and based on tightening the string post, not a wheel behind. They are much more stable than the robot tuners were, significantly lighter and I think look much better.
The process was relatively easy - I drilled the holes for the screws to line up the tuners (probably the hardest bit) and slightly widened the peg holes too with a drill bit. I also had to buy some conversion posts for the tuners to sit snugly.
2. New pickups & wiring
I ordered some mini-humbuckers from The Creamery here in the UK. We spent some time defining the specs and in the end I went with alnico 5 magnets, vintage braided wire (no coil tapping) and I sourced some nickel covers as opposed to chrome. For the wiring I copied what I did to my Les Paul Standard a couple of months ago because I loved the result. This was 4 x CTS 500k vintage taper pots, braided wire, 0.022uf caps and reused the existing switch and jack.
Obviously to replace the mini switch with a pot I had to widen the hole with a tapered reamer which was nerve-wraping but not that difficult. The wiring broadly worked using the same cardboard template I'd make with the standard - I've seen some discussions about exactly where the hole is located but the ground wire has enough flex in it to fit.
Finally I also changed to reflector knobs just because I prefered the look.
Before:
With the wiring removed:
Widening the hole:
An empty shell:
The end result:
Yes, I know the neck pickup is mounted backwards. I stupidly followed the cable position rather than the screws! I'm going to flip it and compare the sounds.
I bought it because I loved the idea of having a Goldtop and the price was heavily discounted new (from around £1,800 to £1,000). I loved the chunky feel of the neck, it played great (the adjustable nut really helped) and generally looked fantastic. I didn't like the robot tuners or the boost switch, but my biggest gripe was the pickups were so hot they were pretty much unuseable alongside any other guitar, no matter how I adjusted them. I liked the coil-splitting but didn't really need it as I have other guitars for those tones.
I've done this work in a few phases, I just thought I'd share as the topic of modifying 2014 & 2015 models often comes up and most of the threads are old and lacking photos. Just to clarify, I'm an absolute amateur guitar modifier so don't expect luthier quality work or advice and expect some random photos in my kitchen where I did the work. I'm reliant on advice, trial and error and YouTube!
1. Removing Robot Tuners.
I bought some locking Gotoh tuners that looked like Kluson ones but the locking mechanism is subtle and based on tightening the string post, not a wheel behind. They are much more stable than the robot tuners were, significantly lighter and I think look much better.
The process was relatively easy - I drilled the holes for the screws to line up the tuners (probably the hardest bit) and slightly widened the peg holes too with a drill bit. I also had to buy some conversion posts for the tuners to sit snugly.
2. New pickups & wiring
I ordered some mini-humbuckers from The Creamery here in the UK. We spent some time defining the specs and in the end I went with alnico 5 magnets, vintage braided wire (no coil tapping) and I sourced some nickel covers as opposed to chrome. For the wiring I copied what I did to my Les Paul Standard a couple of months ago because I loved the result. This was 4 x CTS 500k vintage taper pots, braided wire, 0.022uf caps and reused the existing switch and jack.
Obviously to replace the mini switch with a pot I had to widen the hole with a tapered reamer which was nerve-wraping but not that difficult. The wiring broadly worked using the same cardboard template I'd make with the standard - I've seen some discussions about exactly where the hole is located but the ground wire has enough flex in it to fit.
Finally I also changed to reflector knobs just because I prefered the look.
Before:
With the wiring removed:
Widening the hole:
An empty shell:
The end result:
Yes, I know the neck pickup is mounted backwards. I stupidly followed the cable position rather than the screws! I'm going to flip it and compare the sounds.
Last edited: