Original Pot Values 50's Les Paul Junior??? Confused

timj46

timj46

New member
Here I was thinking it was 500k and 250k but now I am seeing 2 x 500k 'Vintage' kits from Emerson etc. Can anyone please give me the Gods Honest version of how these things were original 'potted' back in the day? Am about to put antiquity p90 into a 2010 Gibson junior and am considering new wiring and pots/cap. I dont think their is much wrong with the 500/300k pots in it now. Just wondering if different value pots and cap may suit the pickup better?
Could be dreaming but always appreciate the experts input, hence this dumb post.

Thanks,
 
Re: Original Pot Values 50's Les Paul Junior??? Confused

I always try and go 500k because you can roll them back down to where you want.
 
Re: Original Pot Values 50's Les Paul Junior??? Confused

I'm one of those in the 'can't see why the ultimate importance is in strictly accurate vintage' camp. I've seen vintage p90's+wiring harness with 500k vol and 250k tone........but who cares. You can still turn the tone control on a 500k down to anything that a 250k can be.

And lets face it, if you were really needing vintage accurate then that kit would be unsuitable as its not centralab pots/NOS bees anyhow.
 
Re: Original Pot Values 50's Les Paul Junior??? Confused

My understanding is the wiring is the same as the Melody Maker and Firebird I, only the pickups were different.

http://www.gibson.com/Files/schematics/Firebird1.PDF

Schematic isn't showing it, but I believe it's Linear taper Volume and Audio taper Tone.

On 50's wiring, pot values may make a difference because the controls interact more.
 
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Re: Original Pot Values 50's Les Paul Junior??? Confused

My '56 has 500k audio volume, 250k audio tone pots, and .022 BB cap. This is the standard setup for Jrs. back then, however on modern reissues they use 500k all around. All I know is it sounds like heaven, but the frets need to be replaced, the original small frets are now so worn that it's a ***** to bend unless you use really light strings.

Al
 
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