Gibson pcb board

[bits54]

Okay guys here we go. I am sure this has been posted before, but I am new so please bear with me. I have a 2016 SG standard as well as 2 other Les Pauls a 70 Deluxe and a 76 Custom. I wanted to change the pickups in the SG to a SD59 in the neck and a SD Custom 5 in the bridge. Well I take the control cover off the new SG and guess what I find? a pcb board, not the old fashioned point to point like in my other 2. so now what? I decide to buy some adapters to splice my SD pickups wires into so I can plug into the pcb board. These are the little white 5 pin plugs. Well the Gibson neck pickup in the board is wired (from left to right)looking at the solid front part of the existing plug on the490r neck pickup; white-green-red-black-ground. But the bridge pickup plug498t is wired(from left to right)red--black-white-green-ground? Is this normal for Gibson? It seems like they are reversing the polarity on the bridge pickup. I heard that Gibson flips the magnet in the bridge 498t and this is what they do so when the toggle is in the middle position(both pickups on) you don't go out of phase. What gives with that??In hooking up my Custom 5 bridge pickup adapter do I allow for this or since presumably, the Custom 5 does not have its magnet flipped do I wire it to the adapter just like the neck SD pickup? Very confusing! Btw. I know the SD wiring colors as compared to Gibson wiring colors. Thanks

 

[Mr. Satchmo]

4 CTS Pots, russian PIO caps, a jack and braided wiring for the switch will fix that for you

 

[bits54]

Yes I know. I have done that to at least a dozen guitars in the last few years. I kind of thought it would be neat to just be able to plug in a new pickup when you wanted or try different pickup combos.

 

[Stuff]

One way to do that is to install a Toneshapers board into your LP. They're completely solderless, require no mods to the pups, and offer a tonne of customisation through the various dip switches.

 

[ReWind James]

I heard that Gibson flips the magnet in the bridge 498t and this is what they do so when the toggle is in the middle position(both pickups on) you don't go out of phase. What gives with that??

Sounds like you answered your own question. At least partially. The magnet and coils are reverse polarity in one pickup, not so that they maintain an in-phase relationship, but so that they are noise cancelling (humbucking) in the middle position.

If you want to use the SD (or any typically assembled) pickups, and maintain the same switching/noise cancelling configuration as the factory Gibson setup, you'll need to both flip a magnet and wire up one in reverse polarity to the other.

 

[bits54]

how about this? I just solder the black to the lug on the pot on the pcb board. then solder the green and bare to the back of the pot and twist up and tape the white and red together. Wouldn't that work?

 

[jbrew1977]

how about this? I just solder the black to the lug on the pot on the pcb board. then solder the green and bare to the back of the pot and twist up and tape the white and red together. Wouldn't that work?

Or some cutters, solder, color codes, and black tape... That doesn't make for good MLP discussion though!

 

[bits54]

So what your saying is clip off the stock Gibson bridge pickup connector and splice the SD pickup wires into it ?

 

[jbrew1977]

So what your saying is clip off the stock Gibson bridge pickup connector and splice the SD pickup wires into it ?

Yup... If ALL ORIGINAL is a concern you might avoid this, but otherwise go for it. Leave them unsoldered until you find the pickup you want and then make a a more solid connection with some solder and tape up the splices. What I did on mine and ended up with the stock pickup back in it! Still took A LOT less time to swap 'em.

 

[bits54]

When you did that did you have any out of phase problems? Particularly when you had both pickups on?

 

[jbrew1977]

When you did that did you have any out of phase problems? Particularly when you had both pickups on?

Nope... Can't remember the SD to Gibson color code right off but if you want normal switching you do have to swap a couple of wires. I wired mine OOP intentionally and love the added tones I get. I did try normal wiring first to check though so rest assured it will work. Just leave them unsoldered at first to check that it's right.

 

[jbrew1977]

Should clarify only my bridge pup is stock... My neck is an Alnico II Pro wired OOP with the Dirty Fingers in the bridge. And again it can indeed be wired for proper phase, I just like them better OOP with those nice thin honking tones and adjusting the volumes to lessen or increase the effect. Just Google search "humbucker color codes" to find out what needs to go where.

 

[bits54]

Okay so you wired your neck pickup to be out of phase? Got no problem with my neck pickup. SD 59. Just looked at the stock 490 wires in the molex connector which go from left to right: w-g-r-b-gr and spliced the corresponding SD wires into it. which would be: w-r-b-g-gr. When looking at the stock 498 molex connector, its wired left to right: r-b-w-g-gr. I don't know why the difference? Anyway if I just splice my corresponding SD pickup wires into this connector will I have normal switching when I use the toggle or will I have an out of phase situation when in the middle using both pickups. I guess what I am asking is did you notice this or was everything normal when you spliced into the Gibson connectors?

 

[jbrew1977]

Can't actually answer that with 100% certainty BC I swapped both out but ended up putting the stock bridge pup back in. There were no phase issues with both SD's when I adapted the wire colors to Gibson's specs... There were no issues when I put the stock bridge pup back in. I had to wire the neck OOP myself, after the fact. So my assumption would be that there would be no issues having aftermarket bridge and Gibson neck. That is however only an assumption. But it's simply swapping wires. Magnet flipping to get OOP tones is due to using two conductor pups with the ground being an exposed wire that would easily short out if you simply wired it backward. There's no need to do this with four conductor pups, you just wire it normal or OOP. Logoff and just go do it! You'll figure it out, and it'll be a cool project that won't consume too much time at all.

 

[jbrew1977]

Nevermind you have a Duncan in the neck and for some reason I thought you were leaving it stock... It'll work no problems. Just adapt the SD wires to the corresponding Gibson colors on the Molex and it'll work with normal phasing in the middle.

 

[bits54]

Thanks! That's what I'm gonna do. John

 

[jbrew1977]

You're welcome... Post an update with your results when you're done.