Wiring diagram for vintage 50's with phase

[genethomas]

Hi
Does anyone have a diagram for vintage 50's Les Paul wiring but with a push pull for neck / bridge out of phase tone?

I have the SD one but it is for modern wiring rather than vintage

Thanks

[Lewguitar]

Re: Wiring diagram for vintage 50's with phase

Bear in mind that what's called 50's wiring was not used on the great sunburst and gold top Les Pauls with humbuckers - those from 1957 - 60.

It was only used on the very first early 50's Les Pauls.

Here's how to it:



Here's a real '52 Les Paul with 50's wiring:



As for the push pull pot diagram that Duncan provided you with: use it!

The 50's mod is simple. Just unsolder the tone cap for each set of volume & tone controls from the input of the volume control and resolder it to the middle terminal of the volume control.

[genethomas]

Re: Wiring diagram for vintage 50's with phase

I see, so its just down to the location of the tone caps.

[genethomas]

Re: Wiring diagram for vintage 50's with phase

Does this diagram make sense?

[Chrisp]

Re: Wiring diagram for vintage 50's with phase

Does this diagram make sense?

Sorry, no it doesn't make sense. There's nothing connected to the tone pot wipers so they do nothing.

Try this.

[genethomas]

Re: Wiring diagram for vintage 50's with phase

That's what I was originally going to use but I don't want the modern wiring. I thought I had wired the caps correctly, I'm trying to get this together for a new project I'm waiting for.

[Chrisp]

Re: Wiring diagram for vintage 50's with phase

Looking at the diagrams (not yours which is very wrong), the original SD one has the left hand lugs of the tone pots connected to the LH lugs of the volume pots. This is modern tone. For 50s tone you connect the LH lugs of the tone pots to the centre/wiper lugs of the volume pots as in my diagram. That is all there is to it. A very simple change. Everything else stays the same.

Note that Lewguitar's suggestion above is the same as this except that for him the components are in reverse order, cap then pot instead of pot then cap.

[genethomas]

Re: Wiring diagram for vintage 50's with phase

Great thanks for your help.

[AlexR]

Re: Wiring diagram for vintage 50's with phase

Yep, 50's wiring is simply that attachment of the cap to the lug of the volume pot that goes to the selector switch

[Lewguitar]

Re: Wiring diagram for vintage 50's with phase

What "50's wiring" really is, is attaching the tone control after the volume control.

Hamer's have only one tone control usually and Hamer attached the tone control to the output jack of the guitar - AFTER the volume control obviously. That's not the way a '52 Les Paul with 50's wiring was wired but it works fine and achieves the same result as 50's wiring.

IMO, modern wiring gives a thicker/fuller tone that can get muddy when the volume pot is turned down for clean tones and 50's wiring gives an instrument a brighter/clearer tone when the volume pot is turned down for cleaner tones.

Some people say that when the volume pot is turned up to 10 that both wiring methods sound the same. That is not how the guitar feels to me.

My sense of a guitar with 50's wiring is that it at least seems to be a little brighter than a guitar with "modern" wiring all the time.

Sure seems that way.

But it could just be that the volume pot is not usually full up - most of the time we're playing rhythm or accompaniment with the volume pot turned down some.

So most of the time the guitar seems brighter and clearer because most of the time we have our volume control turned down - at least a little.