Les Paul 2014 - Coil Tapping Modification

[Axomann]

Hi,

If you are one of the people who think that the new "tune coil tapping" from Gibson is really bad, then you are rigth on this thread.

Gibson says that the new circuit is a "tuned coil tapping", but what they really do is conducting one of the coil's signal through a condenser (C1 & C2) to the ground. This produce a "tubing" sound like singing in the telephone line. Really crappy sound!

Question: Nobody test this circuit before it goes in production????

Anyway, if you want to have the traditional split coil, then the only what you need to do is desoldering C1 & C2 and solder a wired which bypass the condenser. This is the old school of the circuits! The signal of one of the humbucker coils will be conducted to the ground.

Now you have the traditional split coil and you will hear the improvement.

But the splited coil is not the coil with the screws. Really bad Mr. "G"!!

If you want to have as single coil "split coil" with the screws coil, then you need to re-arrange the connector like this picture.

For the neck:

For the bridge:

Be carrefoul when you are disambling the connector.

This is the schematic:

Now you are a happy man The next improvement is to buy an aluminium tail piece for a really Les Paul sound!

 

[entresz]

Great post!

I remember reading an article that had a nifty variation of the coil split; the screw coil was working as normal, and the slug coil had its high end sent to ground (I think that's what it was anyway). Produced a fatter sound, but still single coil in character with much less hum.

An even better way (and less noisy) to get single-coil like sounds from a humbucking pickup is to use an inductor or LCR Network (the Bill Lawrence Q Filter for example) in place of a capacitor (as a tone control). It has a similar effect of taking coils off a pickup, sweeting up the sound a bit and adding single coil like treble, without introducing hum.

 

[Ian Coros]

I have to say that the original installation there is a complete abomination !!! at least it will sell a few replacement vintage looms

 

[Axomann]

Great post!

I remember reading an article that had a nifty variation of the coil split; the screw coil was working as normal, and the slug coil had its high end sent to ground (I think that's what it was anyway). Produced a fatter sound, but still single coil in character with much less hum.

An even better way (and less noisy) to get single-coil like sounds from a humbucking pickup is to use an inductor or LCR Network (the Bill Lawrence Q Filter for example) in place of a capacitor (as a tone control). It has a similar effect of taking coils off a pickup, sweeting up the sound a bit and adding single coil like treble, without introducing hum.

Noise reduction can only happen when two coils are working together, as a humbucker or with a dumy coil. But in this case some treble were filtered using these condenser (C1 & C2).

 

[Axomann]

I have to say that the original installation there is a complete abomination !!! at least it will sell a few replacement vintage looms

They have only make a mistake with these condenser, but the functionality of the whole tone control is good. Once you have return it to the traditional circuit as proposed by me in this post, then you have a lot of tones that you can get and with the quick connector system you can change pickups in minutes.

 

[jeffy]

Interesting to see how much it's changed from the 2012/2013 pcb. Did C1 and C2 have a .01 uF Mallory capacitor?

Looks like they removed a lot of the additional wiring from the pots with that daughter boards. Makes it a little bit tougher to do 50's wiring.

 

[Axomann]

Yes. C1 and C2 are Mallory 0.01 uF or 103k.

 

[Lipinhu]

I really admire people that rather than insult gibson about the PCB's, mod them.

Pcbs are really the way forward as long as players demands are there. Some complain about 50's or 60's wiring...

A PCB where you can switch between both? Would be great but I think that for the ordinary player that wants a les paul I don't think thats relevant, that said, neither for gibson.

 

[Sinster]

A PCB where you can switch between both? .

They are out there. I think someone on MLP makes them.

 

[02589]

I'm all in with the "concept" of a PCB, and quick connects leading us to the future, if it is done well. I think Gibson has gone beyond extreme to be a jack of all trades and master of nothing in that department.

That big green box with the orange POS button on it. Is that any way to put a ground on a board? I think an alligator clip soldered to the board would hold better and last longer...and that's a stupid idea.

I'd be curious about a more generic PC board with additional control for 50's wiring, true coil split, boost, and maybe other options via push buttons, dip switches, rotary knob, slider, or plug in modules.

Screwing up the old fashioned way that has worked great for years, just for the sake calling it high tech is not working.

 

[cristi tanasescu]

Sorry but I am completely against this thread. Like, seriously? My coil tapping effect is terrific. ..better than my strats and other songle coils. Really good single coil,��traditional sound.

 

[Sinster]

Fifties Modern Switch

 

[jeffy]

I really admire people that rather than insult gibson about the PCB's, mod them.

Pcbs are really the way forward as long as players demands are there. Some complain about 50's or 60's wiring...

A PCB where you can switch between both? Would be great but I think that for the ordinary player that wants a les paul I don't think thats relevant, that said, neither for gibson.

It's easy enough to do 50's if you replace the capacitor with one that has long legs. Then all you do is solder one leg to the PCB for the tone side and the other to the actual middle leg of the Vol. pot. On the 2012/2013, you'd have a nice spot on the Pot's leg since it was exposed. Looks like it's still there on the 2014 but now it's behind the daughter board. It would probably be easier to solder directly to the Pot's leg at the PCB.

Fifties Modern Switch

Only problem with that is that you lose all the other features like the 'Fat-Tap', Phasing and the bridge bypass. The DIP switches and solder-less sockets are a nice touch that would be really cool though.

 

[Lipinhu]

This was mine. This is the first version PCB's gibson made. I managed to change pots and caps easily.

 

[Axomann]

Sorry but I am completely against this thread. Like, seriously? My coil tapping effect is terrific. ..better than my strats and other songle coils. Really good single coil,��traditional sound.

Do you have a 2014 Les Paul? The standard connection of it, is not the traditional sound!

I'm working with guitars since 20 years and the original coil tapping circuit of the 2014 LP is an abomination. But this is only my interpretation of sound ;-) If you do this modification, then you can control in a perfect way, as always it was, the amount of treble with the tone control.

 

[jeffy]

The nice thing about it is, if you change your mind, it's easily reversible.

I might have to try this next time I yank the PCB out.

 

[randomguitarist]

Really useful post, thankyou. I now understand why the coil taps sound like they do.

Having said that I'm leaving my PCB alone, because I find the sound useful. Not very Gibson perhaps, but very useful.

I have found that this 'cheap' studio with a maple neck and the wrong coil tapping is the first guitar I've taken out and about where people come up to me and tell me how great it sounds.

Wish I could afford another to experiment on.....

 

[Ant]

From what I have read in other threads there is no consistency with the sound of the fat tap setup.

One reason is the Mallory 0.01uf caps are out of spec when installed and have been known to drift way higher up towards 0.02uf.

What this does is make the sound of the fat tap sound very similar to a normal humbucker sound (not split) due to the coil being tapped with a higher cap level and not cutting the higher frequencies.

I've seen quite a few threads where people have stated that there is next to no difference to the sound when the coil has been tapped, even when playing real clean sounds, thinking that the problem is the pickups or PCB, when in fact it is the caps used for the fat tap.

To the OP, good job doing what your doing modding the newer 2014 model PCB to a "true" coil split taking out the cap, and switching wires to get the screw side slug to split.

Few questions, does it hum much or at all if the phase switch is selected in split coil mode? Or if one coil split with the humbucker selected in the middle switch position?
And is there much of a volume drop when a single coil is being played by itself?

One other thing I have also read and noticed myself with my 2012, is that when the bridge coil is split, and also with the pure bypass active, it is not a true humbucker to the jack, it sounds thin sort of thin and bright, like it is split.
Shouldn't it not be a true humbucker sound regardless of what position the toggle switch is in?

To the OP thanks for starting this thread , awesome work for those who wish to change the tones of their axes

 

[60Cycle]

From what I have read in other threads there is no consistency with the sound of the fat tap setup.

One reason is the Mallory 0.01uf caps are out of spec when installed and have been known to drift way higher up towards 0.02uf.

What this does is make the sound of the fat tap sound very similar to a normal humbucker sound (not split) due to the coil being tapped with a higher cap level and not cutting the higher frequencies.

I've seen quite a few threads where people have stated that there is next to no difference to the sound when the coil has been tapped, even when playing real clean sounds, thinking that the problem is the pickups or PCB, when in fact it is the caps used for the fat tap.

To the OP, good job doing what your doing modding the newer 2014 model PCB to a "true" coil split taking out the cap, and switching wires to get the screw side slug to split.

Few questions, does it hum much or at all if the phase switch is selected in split coil mode? Or if one coil split with the humbucker selected in the middle switch position?
And is there much of a volume drop when a single coil is being played by itself?

One other thing I have also read and noticed myself with my 2012, is that when the bridge coil is split, and also with the pure bypass active, it is not a true humbucker to the jack, it sounds thin sort of thin and bright, like it is split.
Shouldn't it not be a true humbucker sound regardless of what position the toggle switch is in?

To the OP thanks for starting this thread , awesome work for those who wish to change the tones of their axes

When I pull the bypass on my 13 it's straight bridge humbucker, no hum no nothing. Switch in the neck position doesn't matter it goes to the bridge, volume off doesn't matter. It's noticeably brighter, louder, hotter and harsher.

 

[Axomann]

Few questions, does it hum much or at all if the phase switch is selected in split coil mode? Or if one coil split with the humbucker selected in the middle switch position?
And is there much of a volume drop when a single coil is being played by itself?

One other thing I have also read and noticed myself with my 2012, is that when the bridge coil is split, and also with the pure bypass active, it is not a true humbucker to the jack, it sounds thin sort of thin and bright, like it is split.
Shouldn't it not be a true humbucker sound regardless of what position the toggle switch is in?

To the OP thanks for starting this thread , awesome work for those who wish to change the tones of their axes

Hi thanks for do a serious review of this thread!

When you split the humbucker it hums, there is no difference with or without condenser. The hum can be only killed when two coils are connected in serial. For all the other humbucker variations you will have always hum. When one humbucker is connected in parallel with the splitted coil of the other humbucker (Switch in the middle) the amount of hum is less but you will perceive it.

In this configuration the bypass switch acts as expected and the bridge pickup goes direct to the jack. With this PCB you could swap the pickups cables and then the bypass switch will affects only the neck PU.

With this mod the amount of volume when the humbucker is splitted, is of course lower than the humbucker, but louder and brigther than the original connection.