Wiring Library

[ashbass]

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).

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[ashbass]

Here are some images I fixed up to show the various wirings that I've noodled around with. Thanks to the various Les Paul forums for all the info I've pulled from the past posts and to Black Rose Customs for including a diagram of their kit wiring on their website.

Here is a way to get a master volume control without having to mess around with removing or running any wires in your guitar. It's pretty simple and can be reversed easily. With the master tone option, you can use the 50s wiring if you want. With two tone controls though, 50s wiring isn't an option because the tone controls have to come before the switch and volume control. Your pots will need to be grounded, of course.

Here is a wiring that gives you Master Volume and Master Tone after your regular individual pickup volume controls. You can modify this to include 50s style wiring on the master volume and tone controls. You can also modify it for independent separate volume controls ala the diagrams above in this thread. NOTE that users have reported that best results are attained by ungrounding the main volume pots. This idea is not detailed in the images below.

Here is stock wiring with only one Tone control. This is essentially 50s style wiring because the cap is connected to the switch instead of the pickups. To complete the 50s style you would switch the Tone control's ground and cap wires.

The capacitor can be attached to the jack along with the switch wire for easy setup.

Here are some small MP3s that demonstrate the difference between Parallel and Series wiring. You will first hear the neck and bridge pickups in parallel, then the neck and bridge pickups in series. No settings were changed for each part of the recordings except to switch from parallel to series coupling of the pickups. More info here...

Les Paul middle positoin
Strat neck and middle position


Les Paul (2-pickup) Style Guitar
Series/Parallel Wiring


Strat (3-pickup) Style Guitar
Series/Parallel Wiring


Ultimate Strat (3-pickup) Style Guitar
Series/Parallel Wiring

50s style wiring diagram
Modern style wiring diagram
Standard style wiring diagram
50s wiring diagram
Modern wiring diagram
Standard wiring diagram
Les Paul wiring diagram
Stock wiring diagram
Series Parallel dual pickup
Armstrong super strat

[FLICKOFLASH]

Thanks Ash we need lots more informative post like this

[JLH]

what is the difference with the independent volume controls shematic and the standard schematic?????? in the 50's wiring and what is IYO the best way???
My Lespauls have a volume pot and associated knob for each pickup and a tone pot and associated knob for each pickup, and a three way selector switch to run one or both and with both run together, center position, each volume and tone pot can be set independently.
This is how any and all stock lespauls I have ever seen are wired and controlled, Please help
JLH

this is how Fake 58 harnesses are wired.

[Dave Stephens]

I just wired my guitar like this from scratch using info from http://www.singlecoil.com They also sell modern caps that supposedly perfectly mimic the bumblebee caps. One important thing to consider here is using the right kind of wire to rewire your guitar. The wire used in cheaper copies, Epiphones, and such is really thin gauge computer type wire. In my opinion this stuff is death to tone. Go to Stew Mac and buy a spool of the braided shielded wire, the hot core is much thicker than the computer guage wire and will give you a cleaner fuller tone. SingleCoil.com has a good article on rewiring your guitar, pots etc. that is good information. Caps I'm coming to realize are super important to your guitar's tone, even when they are sitting there not being used, they DO have an effect on your tone. Most notably if you have cheap ceramic caps in your guitar its going to show up as a harsh treble edge in your bridge pickup most likely. I noticed right away using the SingleCoil.com workalike caps that this edge disappeared in a really nice way.

And in case you didn't read my announcement post, after you wire your guitar to authentic wire, pots, caps etc. you should put an authentic PAF set in there for the full vibe. Here's a clip of my Platinum Series I pickup set, cranked up in a '73 Princeton:
http://www.sdpickups.com/audio/platinum-cranked.mp3

Series II will be announced by end of the week, its a more direct hotter tone, wound to Peter Green specs, a really nice rockin' set thats going to the jam with me tonite for live testing. This guitar is the one thats wired 50's correct with the SC caps and CTS pots.
Dave

[ashbass]

Originally Posted by JLH

what is the difference with the independent volume controls shematic and the standard schematic?????? in the 50's wiring and what is IYO the best way???

The independent wiring has the red (pickup) wire connected to the middle lug and the standard wiring has the red wire connected to the outside lug. If the red wire is connected to the outside lug, turning one pickup all the way off will silence both pickups when in the middle position. Does your guitar behave this way? This is the standard setup for Les Paul guitars.

Some have experimented and found that they thought the independent wiring took some high end off their signal. YMMV

[lexluthier]

I first talked about 50's wiring 10 years ago, and some people thought I was nuts that I thought it actually made a difference. I think it is key to remember to have good quality components to start with. Using CGE pots or some mystery orient brand is like polishing a turd. I like CTS pots, especially PRS/CTS pots because they have the Centralab taper. Hamer/CTS makes a good pot too, and still cheaper than the RS super pot. There will be another CTS variation on the market in the not too distant future, but I can't say anything about that yet. I'd prefer to use Centralabs, but they are getting so hard to find now since they haven't made them in years, and expensive. I've used scads of different caps, ranging from vintage to new. I like those cheap paper in oil Russian miltary caps, they sound as good as many higher dollar alternatives. Braided wire is the way to go for vintage tone. Don't forget one last detail - good quality soldering! I've seen some of these 'mods' go horribly wrong, looking like someone used a blowtorch to solder. Practice soldering technique before you dive in. I prefer to use solder with some silver content.

[HHB]

just did it to my 2001 standard, a huge difference when using a single channel amp riding the v

[idlewild south]

Thanks for the post;very helpful,all in one spot.

[Stoneham11]

I have a 2001 Standard also and a Dr. Z Maz Jr. what is the difference with this wiring and would you suggest replacing the pots to the CTS I'm new to this stuff.
Thanks

[HHB]

the difference is the highs are retained when you turn the volumes down, so you can clean up the sound by turning down and not get the muddy effect that is typical of modern wiring, I used the stock pots and they are fine, just move the wiresand your cool

[ashbass]

The following is a comment by ex-Les Paul Forum member 'Lewguitar' from a thread on the Les Paul Forum regarding this mod and diagram:

Here's why this "mod" works:

In diagram #1 (stock) the tone cap is connected to the pickup itself before the output of the pickup passes through the volume pot.

This means that the treble loss associated with the tone control is taken from the FULL OUTPUT of the pickup.

In diagram #2 the tone cap is connected to the output of the volume pot and the treble loss associated with the tone control is taken AFTER THE VOLUME POT has altered the output of the pickup.

So if we pick some arbitrary (and incorrect!) numbers just to paint a picture:

Before the volume control the pickup is at 100% output

After the volume control the pickup is at 90% output.

The tone control, even when on "10", reduces the treble by 5%.

So -5% of 90% output is less than -5% of 100% output.

That's one reason this mod works and seems to retain the treble.

Lew

[5F6-A]

That is the one I use... basically a 50's style with independent master volumes....

[ashbass]

Originally Posted by 5F6-A

That is the one I use... basically a 50's style with independent master volumes....

I don't think that your diagram is 50s wiring, 5F6-A. It looks like regular stock modern wiring actually, with the only difference being in which lug on the tone pot the wire and ground are.

The main point of 50s wiring is that the tone control capacitor is connected to the switch wire at the volume pot. In your diagram, that capacitor is connected to the pickup wire which is modern wiring.

[MAXGOUGH]

I have 2 questions:
1. Do you have wiring for LP Special II? (1 vol & 1 tone)?
2. I know something about electricity and having looked at the wiring in my LP Special, I am confused. Only 1 lead from ea pup; they appear to both be soldered together at the switch. What's up with that?

[coldsteal2]

this is all freakin me out man...............

[ashbass]

Originally Posted by MAXGOUGH

I have 2 questions:
1. Do you have wiring for LP Special II? (1 vol & 1 tone)?
2. I know something about electricity and having looked at the wiring in my LP Special, I am confused. Only 1 lead from ea pup; they appear to both be soldered together at the switch. What's up with that?

Photo?

[ilevene]

I have a 3-pickup 1972 Les Paul Custom. I want to rewire it as follows:

-3 seperate volumes and 1 master tone.
-Pickup selection=Bridge, Neck, Bridge+Neck (just like the standard 2PU model). The middle pickup is used with any of the above combinations by dialing in volume.

This seems pretty simple, I've seen a couple of diagrams. I want to do this using the standard 3 position switchcraft switch. This switch has 5 lugs; 3 on one side, 2 on the other. I'm going to use CTS 500K pots and one .022 cap.

Can someone either post a wiring diagram that shows the lugs, or send it to me at ilevene@pacbell.net?

Thanks!

[ashbass]

Here are some 3 pickup LP Custom diagrams I came across at:
Circuit Diagrams

I think that the modified version is what you're after.

[Paul]

I had been searching for new wiring diagrams for my V to fix the modern styles control problems, the volume and tone controls seemed to have multiple functions which really messed with me. the tone didn’t seem to do much of anything except for suck on the volume when it was turned down along with only removing any tone when it was at three or lower and it wasn't the cap (a repo BB) the volume controls messed with the tone and i never bothered to touch it. the 50's style wiring delivers so much more from the pickups if you have a V you should try the 50's or 50's with independent volume control wiring.

[Big_dawg]

dont suppose anyone can do a 50's left handed diagram please...

Im getting confused trying to draw one out..

[Paul]

Originally Posted by Big_dawg

dont suppose anyone can do a 50's left handed diagram please...

Im getting confused trying to draw one out..

ill give it a go.

[Big_dawg]

thank you....

[Paul]

there ya go

[Big_dawg]

excellent Really appreciate that...

[Paul]

Originally Posted by Big_dawg

excellent Really appreciate that...

no probs i'v done 50's wiring on all of my guitars (playing) and i don't know why they ever changed it they sound much better after the switch.

[cantafford59lp]

Just mirror the image
Manny

[toneguy86]

Any help appreciated for wiring two pickup guitar with one volume and one tone pot.
Thanks in advance (Diagrams appreciated if available--or just a really good description)
Mark

[jonesy]

Originally Posted by toneguy86

Any help appreciated for wiring two pickup guitar with one volume and one tone pot.
Thanks in advance (Diagrams appreciated if available--or just a really good description)
Mark

Here you go...

2 Humbuckers 1 vol. 1 tone....