Wiring Library

A-tony · Nov 20, 2007

hi,
I've 2 push/pull pots that I want to put for the tones of my LP and pullin' 'em gives me single coil (coil split) of the pickup... can anyone please give me a layout of this?? I dont know how to do it (I've also to re-wire with a 4 conductor the stock cable of my burstbuckers...)
I'm also waiting for an anderson pickup I havent seen it but I've read that they're different than gibson, anyone has some info?
thanks a lot for any help/suggestion

Holgar · Feb 27, 2008

Hello,
in the most 50th wiring diagrams I see at the forum, there is no ground conection between the two tone pots. With an alligator clip I have checked the diffenrence between both options and found out, that I prefer the sound with this grounding wire soldered in.
When the volume is turned down, the neck pickup is sounding more piano like on the lower strings and the bridge pickup seems to have a more powerful sound.
Can you verify this, or do I hear the "growing of the grass"?

mad dog · Feb 27, 2008

Does anyone know where I can find pics, diagrams for ES-5 pre-switchmaster wiring? That would be 3 volumes, one master tone, 3 P-90s. I'd like to try swapping pots and jack on Peerless Wizard, but have never tried anything like this before. BTW: Great thread!!

maidenstrat · Jul 10, 2008

ashbass said:
Choices:

drill a hole for a toggle switch

put a toggle switch in place of one of your pots.

have a push-pull pot switch do the parallel/series and the pot part do a spin/split coil tap.

use two push-pull pots, one for parallel/series, the other for coil tap

Any chance you could make me the diagram for this for option 4 with the push pulls in the tone positions. if its not pushing it to much, could i have the coil tap on the neck tone and obviously yhe parallel/series on the bridge tone.

trapland · Jul 27, 2008

Wiring request- Tone control as bass cut.

I used to have this mod done on a LP but was too lazy to find the right cap value. I returned it to stock. Now I want to revisit this mod. Can anyone explain it? a diagram, however crude could help too. Any ideas for a cap value?

Thanks everyone.

coxster · Sep 30, 2008

NHMorgan said:
what does it mean independent volume controls?

In simple terms, you have a series resistor, (aka rheostat ) limiting the current out of each pickup, instead of a potentiometer voltage divider. In non-audio-amplified applications, the series resistor woulnd't even need the ground on the pot. Think of any car you've owned between 1950 and 1990 or so. A series resistor ( often wire-wound on a ceramic form ) on the back of the old-style headlight switch limited the current to the dash lights, and therefore controlled the brightness. This type of wiring for volume controls has worked on a few million jazz basses. The thunderbirds used this too, with the minor exception of the 1976 bicentennial model that had them in series to boot. Makes a four-coil double humbucker!

Thanks for the great pix! I'll be right-clicking them away right now

JC

bluesjuke · Feb 23, 2009

I did the 50's wiring to my R6 last night and the change was more noticeable than I even expected.
Only changed the cap position on the volume pot and left the tone pot as is on both neck and bridge.

Retains highs very well and the two tone controls balance each other out really well.
Thanks guys!

neon333 · Apr 22, 2009

Oh goodness I've tried. Tried to read all 4 pages of this thread and I'm all tuckered out. Here is my problem: New LP style guitar with SD Seth Lovers. Zero blend in the middle position! If I back either vol. pot back to 9 it's almost like a volume switch. Ex. Guitar set on middle, switch vol and tone set to 10 on both pu's and I want to roll the neck PU vol to 8. All the sound and tone seems to go to the front pup. It's as if I have no taper on the volume knobs in the middle postion. Can anyone help out here?

Flying Fish · Jun 4, 2009

Hi, I found this interesting and relevant
50s vs Modern wiring comparison:

http://guitarnuts2.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=wiring&action=display&thread=1885

my volumes usually are usually between 5 and 8 or so, and tones controls all over.
I like 50s wiring, and actually use the tone controls to back off the volume too sometimes

Cogswell · Jun 25, 2009

This is a cool thread.
I just deleted a bunch of posts that were only requests for the thread to be made sticky & various bumps & kudos. I think it trims the fat a little so there's not four pages to wade through to get to the info one might need.

Shakeyjake · Sep 19, 2009

Neil Young 'Old Black' wiring

I'd like to try and wire my Neil Young rep straight to jack.
Heard Larry Cragg has done Neil's this way.

Mine is already fitted with a mini toggle switch which I believe is set up as a Phase switch.

Can anyone shed any light please. Drawing would be very helpful

Many thanks

Paul

pablomago · Feb 8, 2010

This is a great thread. The photos of the control cavities help a lot! I'd like to see some photos of how the toggle switch is wired in a typical two pick up two volume two tone LP. I'm converting a friend's Studio (something or another) from two volume one tone to pretty much modern standard wiring. Is the middle lug of the three way switch the output or the ground?

MarkP · Mar 20, 2010

Some of the 50's diagrams show a ground running from one tone control to the other. Some of the 50's diagrams do not have a ground wire between the tone controls.

How does having or not having a ground wire connecting the tone pots to each other affect the sound?

MRG · Apr 30, 2011

I'd like to resurrect this thread with a question about '50s wiring and ES-335s.

Can anyone explain how original '63 and '64 335's were wired. Was it '50s-style or something else?

Same question for the current Historic '63 reissue 335s.

Thanks.

jerns · May 1, 2012

81 Standard said:
I'm looking for something (sort of) similar to the Pagey mod. My two tone pots are push/pull for series/parallel on their respective p'ups. I would also like to add a universal coil cut and a phase switch in the other two positions (volume controls). Any ideas? Thanks.

I just did this mod... It's the "Peter Green" reverse phase on the neck volume push/pull pot, combined with a master coil-split on the bridge volume push/pull pot. So the bridge volume will split the coils of both pickups at once, and the neck volume will switch between in phase and out of phase (to get out of phase sound pickup selector must be in middle position with both pickups selected).

Right now this is my favorite wiring set up on my 08 Classic Antique. Keep in mind I installed higher output Gibson 500t + 496R pickups before doing this mod (they conveniently came with 4 wire leads).

Here is the diagram... Good luck!

jerns · May 1, 2012

I should also mention I replaced the stock caps with brighter .015 "orange drops" and it made a big difference. These caps have become my favorites for LP's...

ashbass · May 11, 2015

Here is a detail of the gibson 50s wiring:

The tone pot changes have been discussed as not necessary unless you want the full vintage vibe. It can't hurt, anyway.

The key to this is the moving of the tone pot connection from the pickup to the switch. The typical quote of "just move the cap wire from the outside lug to the inside lug" is not accurate. The truth of this of this mod is moving the cap wire from the pickup wire to the switch wire. This is an important distinction as some users have their pickup and switch wires reversed so as to attain independent volume controls (turning one pup to zero when in middle pos only kills that pup instead of killing both).

ashbass · May 11, 2015

Here are some vintage wiring cavities.

1952

1953

1957

1959

R7

ashbass · May 11, 2015

ashbass · May 11, 2015

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