Les Paul Wiring

jamesperkin

New member
Hi there

I currently have a Gibson Les Paul Studio which is great, except I find the pup options a bit limiting. I can get a 5 way rotary selector switch to replace the 3 way selector and I'm hoping to change the standard selection options to:

Neck
Neck coil split
Neck and Bridge
Bridge coil split
Bridge

Only probelm is I have no idea how or even if this is possible.

I have experience in following wiring diagrams (thanks to a few people's help on here in the past I built a tele/ibanez hybrid last year). Does anyone have an idea as to whether what I'm looking to do is feasible and if so how I'd go about doing it?

Thanks a lot

James
 
Re: Les Paul Wiring

Forget the rotary switch and handle the coil splitting with push/pull pots. I'm assuming your LP Studio has a metal mounting plate in the control cavity, so based on that, you will need long shaft pots.

I'm actually waiting on the balance of parts to come in (hopefully by weeks end) to finish up some custom wiring kits, so if your interested, let me know.
 
Re: Les Paul Wiring

Okay cheers for that.

I've used push/pulls on my flying v and to be honest I wouldn't mind simplifying things on a 5 way if it's possible?

However, when coil splitting on my flying v I had SD pups which had 4 wires so were easy to split. No such thing on standard gibson pups so is it still possible and if so how?

Thanks again
 
Re: Les Paul Wiring

I've coil split both my pickups and the push-pulls on the tone knobs. Very very awesome, I love it to death. I'm actually planning on getting two more push-pulls and adding some more options to my arsenal.

Push/Pull all the way (but you'll need 4 wires on the pickups)
 
Re: Les Paul Wiring

Yep, Markk beat me to it. You need 4 conductor wire bro.
 
Re: Les Paul Wiring

Okay cheers for the input.

Right, let's say I invest in a new neck pup (because to be honest the bridge is nice but the neck ain't so great) and this has the 4 conducter wire. Would I in theory with a 5 way rotary switch be able to get the following?

Neck
Neck coil split
Neck coil split and Bridge
Neck and Bridge
Bridge

If so, any ideas on wiring?

Thanks a lot

James
 
Re: Les Paul Wiring

Ha, no-one likes my rotary selector idea!!

The reason I wanted to do that is then it's just one easy switch from coil split neck to humbucking bridge as when I'm playing live it's useful to do that quickly between verse and chorus. Flicking the switch and then a push/pull put is more difficult to do as swiftly. I currently have to do it on my flying v, but the switch is next to the pots so it's easier. On a LP it will make it more difficult.

Anyway, that's the reason why I'm looking to do it that way! Is the opposition to the idea due to it not being possible or just that everyone loves push/pulls so much? I like them due to the lack of visual mod, and they're straight forward to fit, but like I say I think'd be a bit easier not to do it this way if possible.

Cheers
 
Re: Les Paul Wiring

I've had a look around and see that rotary selectors are quite common for 3 pickup combinations. Would using one to select coil split be possible, or would the wiring not work? If so if anyone has any idea how it would be much appreciated.

Thanks a lot.
 
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