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Push pull pot options for Les Paul?

Ricey

Member
Joined
Sep 3, 2001
Messages
76
I bought a new LP Std last summer. I have smaller hands and prefer Grovers, so I gravitated towards either the LP Std 60's or the LP Classic. I preferred the finish and lack of weight relief on the Std 60's. The Std 60's was just as light as the Classic, even though it was more vintage correct with no weight relief. However, I preferred the push-pull volume and tone pot options on the Classic. They both use Burstbucker 61R and 61T pickups, so the base sounds were almost identical, with the Classic giving a few extra tonal options via the push-pull pots.

I ended up going for the Std 60's, because I figured I could always add push-pull pots later. However, I was surprised to learn that the Burstbucker 61R and 61T on the Std 60's were not 4-conductor wired, while the 61R and 61T Zebra coils on the Classic were 4 conductor wired!

Long story short, I bought a pair of 61R and 61T zebra coils on eBay and ordered four Alpha 500k push-pull pots.

So, my question is-what are your favorite push-pull pot options on a Les Pau? I know that some of the options include coil splitting, out-of phase, Jimmy Page wiring, series wiring, and passing lane mod (removes pup from tone and volume circuit so everything is "on 10").

What are your most/least favorite/useful?
 
Joined
Apr 26, 2018
Messages
93
The first custom shop Les Paul I ever owned was a 1960 reissue. I bought the guitar from a well-known dealer and happily played it for months until one day when I accidentally pulled up on one of the volume pots and realize that it had push pull knobs. Turns out that this was actually factory equipped! It really rubbed me the wrong way that a reissue guitar would have modern wiring with push pull pots... but Gibson has done weirder stuff. Once I got past the surprise I really didn't mind it, afterall the guitar sounded great. I'm pretty sure the pots split the coils. I would use it every once in a while on the neck position, but other than that I never touched it and always left them down.
 

au_rick

Active member
Joined
Mar 18, 2010
Messages
871
I bought a new LP Std last summer. I have smaller hands and prefer Grovers, so I gravitated towards either the LP Std 60's or the LP Classic. I preferred the finish and lack of weight relief on the Std 60's. The Std 60's was just as light as the Classic, even though it was more vintage correct with no weight relief. However, I preferred the push-pull volume and tone pot options on the Classic. They both use Burstbucker 61R and 61T pickups, so the base sounds were almost identical, with the Classic giving a few extra tonal options via the push-pull pots.

I ended up going for the Std 60's, because I figured I could always add push-pull pots later. However, I was surprised to learn that the Burstbucker 61R and 61T on the Std 60's were not 4-conductor wired, while the 61R and 61T Zebra coils on the Classic were 4 conductor wired!

Long story short, I bought a pair of 61R and 61T zebra coils on eBay and ordered four Alpha 500k push-pull pots.

So, my question is-what are your favorite push-pull pot options on a Les Pau? I know that some of the options include coil splitting, out-of phase, Jimmy Page wiring, series wiring, and passing lane mod (removes pup from tone and volume circuit so everything is "on 10").

What are your most/least favorite/useful?

push pull for coil splitting not so much as I prefer humbucker coils to be in series (and I have single coil pickups in other guitars) but I do like the combination of phase and series / parallel switching
 
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