50's Mod Question Help Please

[crull]

I rewired my epiphone les paul using a Custom 5 Bridge, and a 59 Neck pickups. All new wire, Jack, switch, CTS pots and .02 orange drops.
The tone control wire was normally going to the outside lug on each audio taper pot were the hot wire from each pickup is connected also. I moved the tone control wire to the center lug on each pot so now the tone controls are after each volume control resistor and going to the switch from that lug.
It seems like the tone controls are not only changing the tone now, but also somewhat of the volume as well. As I turn each tone control up I get more high frequencies...but it also seems like the volume is increasing more so then it was when it was wired the other way. Is this normal for the 50's mod?

Thanks for any help you can offer.

 

[Artie]

Re: 50's Mod Question Help Please

I'm not positive about this, but I don't think the 50's mod works that well on a dual-vol/dual-tone guitar. The volume control acts somewhat to isolate one tone control from the other. If you do the 50's mod, you essentially have two tone controls on both pickups. That, could, cause the weirdness you're experiencing.

Hopefully, someone who actually owns one will chime in.

 

[crull]

Re: 50's Mod Question Help Please

thanks for the help.

The tone controls seem to work only with the selected pickups like they should, but they seem to increase the volume as they are also increasing the high frequencies. So in a way I have the main volume control for each pickup, and kind of like a tone mixed with another volume control.

 

[Artie]

Re: 50's Mod Question Help Please

If you accidently used too large of a cap value, that will also cause this problem. For example, if you used .22uf or .47uf instead of a .022uf or .047uf, that will pass all the frequencies to ground, thus creating the volume affect.

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: 50's Mod Question Help Please

I never got along with the 50s mods on either of my Gibson dual humbucking axes....For me,the right treble bleed caps always works better,but alot of guys like the 50s wiring...Lord knows I've tryed to like the 50s wiring though..Might be just something screwy with the wiring in my guitars?

 

[Alvin Lee Fan]

Re: 50's Mod Question Help Please

Yup, that's exactly how it works on a Gibson-style guitar, and it's what I love about it. The vol/tone controls become highly interactive. I think it brings the guitar totally alive and I won't have it any other way now. Once I got used to it and learned how to work with it (instead of against it), I find all other normally wired guitars are just dead...both in sound and in feel.

To each his own!

 

[crull]

Re: 50's Mod Question Help Please

Yup, that's exactly how it works on a Gibson-style guitar, and it's what I love about it. The vol/tone controls become highly interactive. I think it brings the guitar totally alive and I won't have it any other way now. Once I got used to it and learned how to work with it (instead of against it), I find all other normally wired guitars are just dead...both in sound and in feel.

To each his own!

That's exactly how it is was working. I can see how after getting used to it, it might offer more control...but it takes a lot to get used to at least wtih me. I rewired it back the way it was and I want to try the treble bleed mod instead. I am using 500K Audio Taper pots for everything, with .02uf orange drops on the tone pots.
I have read a lot of posts here about it and am still not sure what to use for the values of the resistor and Capacitor. I have also read some don't even use a resistor in parallel, and instead use a resistor in series with the capacitor. Whats the best way to wire it up, parallel or series? With or without a resistor? What values do I use for cap and resistor?
I know that it can be a very subjective thing. I just want to know what everyone else is using and how it's wired to get a better idea how I should wire it up with mine.
I ordered a few .001uf orange drops to try those thats the smallest value I could find, and I have a lot of resistors to pick from....just need a good starting point.

Thanks everybody for the help, appreciate it.

 

[crull]

Re: 50's Mod Question Help Please

Bump.

Suggestions?