Confession: Who Likes The Peter Green Mod?

[Chistopher]

I've got Les Paul that had a pretty uninspiring middle position. This being so, I decided to bust out the ol' trusty soldering iron and do the Peter Green mod. Simply put, the Peter Green mod is a simple out of phase middle poston, he changed the magnet orientation, but you can also just switch the hot and grounds. I used to flip the magnet, but I have found it makes no difference.

But anyway, I am simply well amazed how well this mod works, especially if you never use the middle position on a stock Lester. So which of y'all do or don't do it and what are your opinions?

 

[ehdwuld]

Re: Confession: Who Likes The Peter Green Mod?

I put the mod on my Ibanez RG2EX1 because I could
When I split the JB and put the neck and bridge in series
But out of phase
I can get a twangy Tele sound

That's it
All I like about the Peter Green mod

 

[Little Pigbacon]

Re: Confession: Who Likes The Peter Green Mod?

I haven’t tried that mod, but I like the sound of the middle position on my Les Paul. It’s chimey and sweet, with unpotted Burstbucker 2 and 3.

 

[PFDarkside]

Re: Confession: Who Likes The Peter Green Mod?

I like it on a switch and independent volumes are a must.

 

[AlexR]

Re: Confession: Who Likes The Peter Green Mod?

Most pickup combos really suck OOP. The main ones I have found to be good are the ones I've done accidentally. And even then my liking of it varies if that same pickup set gets put in another guitar

 

[beaubrummels]

Re: Confession: Who Likes The Peter Green Mod?

For me it only works if one pickup volume is rolled off so they are not equal. I like the normal middle position of most pickup pairs I've had in my gibsons, so I don't have much use for pickups out of phase.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Confession: Who Likes The Peter Green Mod?

Other people tend to make it sound better than I can. So I enjoy what they do with it. I am also not a fan of the normal middle position on a 2 humbucker guitar, either, so maybe it is just me. If I have a 2 humbucker with a 3 way switch, I try to order it so the middle position uses a special switch to split both HBs...sometimes add a series switch to that, but not always.

 

[zionstrat]

Re: Confession: Who Likes The Peter Green Mod?

Glad you asked- I've had switchable OOP on previous guitars, but just added it as part of a Half Out Of Phase on a new build and I've fallen in love with OOP as well-

It's a big mahogany L5 body with a maple neck and it's very thick and powerful- The HOOP was intended to thin it for rhythm, but I ended up with full out of phase as a bonus position and I am finding it incredibly useful for a number of sounds-

1. Crunched, it does a great 'thin classic rock' sound- think Cars or Cheap trick- Not as knarly as Serries + OOP

2. With light drive, it does a remarkable job for blues- BB was famous for it, but I first tried it on Stormy Monday and it opened an entirely new element to a song I've been covering forever.

3. Chorus or flange semi-clean- Petty's Learning to Fly rhythm would have been impossible on this guitar because it's so thick, and I had intended the HOOP to provide the thinning- The HOOP on this project turned into more of a bass roll off of sorts (and it does thin very nicely), however, it turns out that the OOP setting is even better for the modulated timbres.

The only time out of phase sucks is totally clean and I had to play around with switch positions to decrease the likelihood of hitting that combo by accident-

Bottom line, I really like the variety it gives with a thick guitar. HOOP and bass roll off are great ways to get a thinner sounds, but OOP takes it to the next step.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Confession: Who Likes The Peter Green Mod?

i have a phase switch on one of my main guitars. its a nice option to have (at least when you have independent volumes so you can roll one back a touch) but i seldom use it. ive watched old live peter green videos on youtube and the tones i like of his best, you can see the switch is up or down. not in the middle.

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Confession: Who Likes The Peter Green Mod?

ive watched old live peter green videos on youtube and the tones i like of his best, you can see the switch is up or down. not in the middle.

No kidding? Now I gotta go YouTube the crap out of old Peter Greene videos.

 

[Securb]

Re: Confession: Who Likes The Peter Green Mod?

I have a phase on on a lot of my guitars, most of my custom builds have the mod. On some a toggle, on others a push/pull. Suprisingly none of my Les Pauls have the mod but I am getting ready to put a push/pull on my Les Paul Custom Lite. I am toying with the idea of putting in a Fralin High Output/Pure PAF set, if I do, that mod will definitly be done when the guitar is opened up.

 

[Myaccount876]

Re: Confession: Who Likes The Peter Green Mod?

I have phase switching on everything that has more than one pickup, but what I use is a little different from the Peter Green middle position - I run the pickups in series/out of phase instead of parallel/out of phase. To me, the series version has a little more fundamental left over that sits beneath all of the upper harmonics in a really pleasant way. The parallel version is usable but a bit too weak for my tastes. I use the serial out of phase position way more than I use the standard middle position.

 

[zionstrat]

Re: Confession: Who Likes The Peter Green Mod?

I run the pickups in series/out of phase instead of parallel/out of phase. To me, the series version has a little more fundamental left over that sits beneath all of the upper harmonics in a really pleasant way.

I love series out of phase as well, but for me it's a totally different experience than out of phase- far more aggressive to my ear, it adds 'thickness' where out of phase is thinning. Especially useful on SGs in my experience.

 

[Chistopher]

Re: Confession: Who Likes The Peter Green Mod?

Glad you asked- I've had switchable OOP on previous guitars, but just added it as part of a Half Out Of Phase on a new build and I've fallen in love with OOP as well-

It's a big mahogany L5 body with a maple neck and it's very thick and powerful- The HOOP was intended to thin it for rhythm, but I ended up with full out of phase as a bonus position and I am finding it incredibly useful for a number of sounds

I too am a fan of half out of phase. I put a .1 cap in series with the neck pickup to maintain a tad bit of bass on the OOP. I think the standard value is .01, which I haven't tried yet on humbuckers, but I like .1 because it still maintains the OOP vibe. Thin, but not overly.

I've never tried series OOP. Has anyone else tried this? I might try this on my next "victim".

 

[blueman335]

Re: Confession: Who Likes The Peter Green Mod?

ive watched old live peter green videos on youtube and the tones i like of his best, you can see the switch is up or down. not in the middle.

+1. Peter's one of my favorite guitarists, and a big influence of mine, but I don't feel the need to duplicate the OOP part of his sound.

 

[Arwin]

Re: Confession: Who Likes The Peter Green Mod?

I too am a fan of half out of phase. I put a .1 cap in series with the neck pickup to maintain a tad bit of bass on the OOP. I think the standard value is .01, which I haven't tried yet on humbuckers, but I like .1 because it still maintains the OOP vibe. Thin, but not overly.

I've never tried series OOP. Has anyone else tried this? I might try this on my next "victim".

I've got access to series out of phase on a bass I put together with two tbird pickups and it is indeed a really cool and unique tone.


Have not tried it on a guitar yet, I know that Jimmy Herring does this on his Telecaster from what I remember seeing in his rig rundown

 

[Wattage]

Re: Confession: Who Likes The Peter Green Mod?

I love PG, I have had it on guitars but I rarely use the middle position like that very often so I don't go crazy over it.

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Confession: Who Likes The Peter Green Mod?

Have not tried it on a guitar yet, I know that Jimmy Herring does this on his Telecaster from what I remember seeing in his rig rundown

Speaking of Jimmy Herring, I'm really into the middle position on a Gibson, with the neck volume backed off a bit. Like he says, it sounds like a little thicker version of the bridge.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Confession: Who Likes The Peter Green Mod?

I've got access to series out of phase on a bass I put together with two tbird pickups and it is indeed a really cool and unique tone.


Have not tried it on a guitar yet, I know that Jimmy Herring does this on his Telecaster from what I remember seeing in his rig rundown

he does but thats sure not his main guitar. such a great player. watching that rig rundown is funny cause he knows all this stuff but asks the tech about things all the time.

Speaking of Jimmy Herring, I'm really into the middle position on a Gibson, with the neck volume backed off a bit. Like he says, it sounds like a little thicker version of the bridge.

i use the middle position a lot on double bucker guitars, jut not oop. on my two bucker strats, i like the vvt setup as well, for the same reason i like the vtvt setup on a lp. so many great tones by varying one or both volumes

 

[akio]

Re: Confession: Who Likes The Peter Green Mod?

Another vote for permanent parallel OOP on a dual humbucker guitar, Duncan Distortion set in my case. I wired it backward one day, decided i liked it better and kept it.