Jimmy Page Les Paul

[RMosack]

Due to recent hum and noise issues, I've decided to go ahead and shield and rewire my '94 Standard. While I'm at it, why not rewire it like the Gibson Jimmy Page model (albeit without the ceramic magnet pickups)?

Does anyone know a good source for the long shaft 500k push-pull pots that gibson uses. My local tech. was able to come up with some SPST (2 lugs) pots that he claims are the only ones available from Allparts. These work fine for cutting out a coil from a humbucker, but can't be used for the Jimmy Page mod. It definitely requires four DPDT (6 lugs) - or at least two DPDT and two SPDT (3 lugs).

Any advice?

 

[Robert Sherman]

You have embarked on a long, frusteration and often fruitless quest. Last rumor I heard was that Yamaha made the 500k dpdt push/pulls with the 3/4 threaded bushings, but I could never locate them. Gibson did not use such a pot in the JP LP. They opted to route the body cavity deeper and use 3/8" threaded bushings, and not to use the steel mounting plate that is seen in current production LPs. It is not diffiuclt to use a 1" flat cutter to remove a bit of stock from the areas that the pots will sit in. Just be careful with the depth and angle of the cut so that your stems exit the top at the correct angle, especially for the rhythm volume and tone pots. I have a Gibson schematic and JP LP spec sheet I can e-mail you if it would be helpful. I got the info from Gibson just by asking, they even sent me the plastic cover that fit over the pots with the funtion descriptions....too cool! Gibson suggested Stew Mac part #1216 for the pots, and I have used them several times with much success. You can get the 4 pots w/shipping from Stew Mac for under $40 delivered to your door in about a week. I hope that helps!

 

[RMosack]

Bummer!

Thanks for the reply. It's too bad that the correct pots are hard to find. I don't know if I want to do the whole routing/drilling thing. It's nice that Gibson would provide the plastic cover, but maybe the JP LP mod is a bigger task than I had hoped. Soldering and shielding are one thing, but not chopping up my LP. THIS AIN'T NO BOLT-ON PARTS GUITAR!

 

[Robert Sherman]

Neither is my 95 wine std or my 98 honeyburst std, but they both went under the knife. If you can find someone with a good drill press and some skills, it's not that hard really. I did it and I'm not a wood working pro. It does help if you have the pots before you start, and use them to gauge the cuts. There is alot of wood there, and if you take your time and pad the press table, it can be done.

 

[BrianGWN]

The Yamaha push pull DPDT pots I saw were actually only 300K, and although the knurled shaft was somewhat longer than typical the threaded bushing portion was still not any longer, around 3/8". Warmoth had some of those, still have them on their web site.
From what I've heard and seen there simply is no such thing out there as a 500K pot having a longer 3/4" bushing and a DPDT push pull switch. The only long shaft 500K push pull is the one mentioned having a simple SPST switch, with the contacts rated for AC power switching.

 

[Robert Sherman]

I've looked all over for about 6 months for 3/4" knarled bushing dpdt push/pull 500k pots and haven't even gotten close. Gibson used the 3/8" bushings and re-tooled for the deeper body cavity, which makes me think that there is no such beast to be had.

 

[Marshallhead]

jp les paul

eastcoastmusic.com used to offer a complete kit minus pickups to convert to the jp specs-i'm not sure if they still do but give em an email-hope this helps

 

[Taurus Junkie]

Methinks that someone could make a killing if they did a long shaft 500k pot

 

[Robert Sherman]

Methinks me was goona do that, but long shaft dpdt p/p pots is damn hard to find....been impossible up to this point. I've done a few JP LP mods on standard LPs, and I am comfortable enough to offer the mod to locals, but I don't want to get into a shipping nightmare. I already tech out way too many guitars for free. I do it for the enjoyment, but thats going to stop soon.

 

[BrianGWN]

Robert, I recall having a conversation with the AllParts reps about the long shaft 500K DPDT issue back at last year's Arlington show. AllParts had approached CTS about this issue, asking whether they would consider producing such an item but CTS said no.

As best as I can figure the problem may simply be a numbers game. You would expect that there would be plenty of interest in such a product, but in reality it would be something fairly specific to the aftermarket guitar parts market, and thus the quantity involved would be relatively small compared to some of the larger quantities involved in general electrical or electronics applications. At four pots for a guitar, I could imagine someone like AllParts might be willing to go for an order of 4 or 5 thousand pieces, but that might still be way WAY too few for CTS to justify all the design, setup, and tooling work. They are probably more used to dealing with orders in the scale of maybe 50 or 100 thousand or so for a new product.
Since CTS already has a long shaft 500K pot with a push pull shaft that operates a SPST switch, I expect it certainly would be technically quite feasible for them to start with that design and come up with a DPDT switch version. The problem may be that they just can't be bothered unless someone wants to order something like two hundred thousand (200,000) of the damn things.

Hey do you know any venture capitalists? If we got this to happen, we could go into business providing a world wide distribution for 500K long shaft DPDT push pull pots :lol :lolspin

 

[Robert Sherman]

Actaully, I know of a couple of deep pocket dudes that might be interested, and $500k seems like a steal to make JP LP after-market harnesses. But I have a feeling JP the man, Gibson, and a couple of other lawyer lookin dudes might have issues with name usage. Marketing might be a bitch!

 

[RMosack]

Surprise

I took my '94 Standard to my local tech. to do the conversion. I trust him to do the routing for the normal shaft pots more than myself. I had planned on going with the original pickups.

Surprise! The 498T/490R pickups Gibson uses for production models have 2-conductor wiring (not 4). Apparently, only the after-market pickups come with 4-conductor wiring. This means that I would have to change pickups to do the mod. Arrrgh!

 

[BrianGWN]

Don't be surprised

Unfortunately the single conductor versus four wire issue has been somewhat unclear with Gibson pickups in their product info. (ie. Strings & Accessories division info, or on Gibson web site).
It mentions about how the modern hums are four wire pickups. HOWEVER, this only applies for pickups obtained as add-on parts. From what I have seen the rule of thumb has always been that if the guitar does not come stock with some kind of coil tap option, ie. a normal production LP Studio, Standard, Custom, Classic, then the pickups will have the traditional single conductor with braided shield.

It is quite possible to convert such pickups to have a four wire interface cable (to allow coil tapping, series/parallel options) but that probably would not exactly be something for a beginner to try. A decent tech who does pickup repairs should be able to handle it.

 

[Robert Sherman]

For the JP mod you only need a coil tap, and that is much easier to add than having to add two conductors to the pup for parallel wiring.

 

[RMosack]

JP Mod

It doesn't seem worth the bother (or the risk) to play around with the pickups. The JP Mod will have to wait for another guitar or if the day ever comes that I decide to change out the pickups - which I have no problem with at the moment.

 

[RMosack]

What the Heck!

What are some recommendations for replacement pickups for the JP mod? I want my Les Paul to still be a Les Paul - only I would like to have the JP switching options. I know that I don't like the ceramic pups that Gibson put in their JP model - not "PAF enough" for me. I would also like to avoid getting a new set of 4-wire 498T/490R - Gibson pups are overpriced ImHO. If Duncan, what...'59 set, JB/'59 set, JB/Jazz set? Rios? I would like to stick with the original look (i.e. chrome covers) of my '94 Std.

 

[TBoneDeluxe]

Yes,

Could someone suggest some Duncans that would be good for this?

I just picked up a JP LP today in a trade. I hate these pickups. Although, if you lower the 500 T waaaaay down...it is almost acceptable.

On another note....does anyone know where I can get a schematic for this guitar?

Does anyone know what the 21 different options are?

Thanks,
TBD

 

[Robert Sherman]

TB, I have the schematic and the break down on the coil/tap options. You can get them from Gibson, or I can e-mail you a copy. I got mine from Gibson, so they are correct.

 

[Stevedenver]

jp mod

as to the pup question - ihave a production jplp and was unhappy with the 500-496 and put in sd louvers, with 4 wore leads-and took them out again-great pups-but when in tap and phase modes they did not have enought output for my taste-i put them in myself so i suppose i could have f#@$ things up

 

[Lannes]

Yes, please, oh wise Les Paul Forumites! Give us wisdom, we poor misbegotten 500/496 owners, as to what Duncan pickups might just dial in Mr. Page's tone. And for that matter, Mr. Allman's as well. :wha