When did Gibson stop using 50s wiring?

The way original Les Paul models were wired, until they stopped making them around 1961, is what’s now known as “50’s wiring” and actually differs radically from modern Gibson wiring – but you wouldn’t think so to look at it.

What does 50s style wiring do?

With ’50s wiring, the tone cap is connected to the output, or center, lug on the volume pot. Advocates of ’50s-style wiring say that it changes the taper of the volume control, has less treble loss as the volume pot is turned down, and overall sounds brighter.

What is 50s wiring on a Les Paul?

The Les Paul 50s wiring is what it’s actually all about. That particular schematic focusses on the tone pot/volume pot relationship. The modern way is to hook the tone pot up to the outer lug of the volume pot. The 50s version is to wire it up to the central lug of the volume pot.

How do you wire a switch to a neck?

Likewise, with the 5-way selector switch in the second position and the bridge and middle pickups activated, a flick of the toggle switch adds the neck pickup to the equation….Find those buried sounds in your trusty Strat.

5-way selector switch pickup combinations
position 5 neck pickup alone

What is 50’s guitar wiring?

’50s Wiring applies to any guitar with two pickups, each with their own respective Volume Pot and Tone Pot. It involves how the tone cap is wired into the guitar.

How much is a Les Paul capacitor?

Pic 1 – This guitar is a 1971 Les Paul ‘Deluxe’. Quite often, older guitars are fitted with a 0.047uF (also often marked as: 47nF or 473) capacitor for the tone control. But in later years this was changed to 0.022uF (22nF or 223). Most players seem quite happy with this, or don’t think to try different smaller values.

What is the Gilmour mod?

This mod adds your neck pickup to any of the other pickup combinations. You are essentially taking one wire and soldering it to the neck pickup contact on your five-way switch and the other wire is going to the outer lug on the same switch.

What is an SPDT switch?

A Single Pole Double Throw (SPDT) switch is a switch that only has a single input and can connect to and switch between the 2 outputs. This means it has one input terminal and two output terminals. A Single Pole Double Throw switch can serve a variety of functions in a circuit.

What kind of wiring does a Gibson Guitar use?

Gibson 50’s wiring only refers to how the tone cap is wired into the guitar. ’50s Wiring applies to any guitar with two pickups, each with their own respective Volume Pot and Tone Pot. It involves how the tone cap is wired into the guitar.

What was the wiring like in the 50’s?

With ’50s Wiring, the tone cap connects to the middle lug of the Volume Pot, and Lug 3 of the Tone Pot. The pickup tone stays consistent when turning down the Volume Pot. Pickups don’t lose high frequencies when turning down the Volume Pot.

What kind of wiring does Les Paul 50s use?

The Les Paul 50s wiring is what it’s actually all about. That particular schematic focusses on the tone pot/volume pot relationship. As with the volume pot, there are two ways of wiring up the tone pot.

Is the 50s wiring good for tone control?

The 50 Wiring is good if you don’t use your tone control and don’t use the middle position, with the 50s Wiring the tone control also acts as a volume control and all four controls act really funky in the middle position because they interact with each other more so than with the Modern Wiring.