Out of phase Gibson Classic 57's

Eamonn

Eamonn

New member
I bought a used LP that had Classic 57 Pickups installed by the previous owner. Both PU's sound great individually, but together they sound thin. Out of phase i'm guessing? I also have a hunch that someone might have flipped a magnet.

There are three leads coming into the pu cavity: two braided wires, and a plastic grey wire that has four colored wires inside the grey outer. The red is going to the middle lug of the bridge volume and a white wire is going to the middle lug of the neck volume. The yellow and green both go to one pole of the terminal in the very center of the metal mounting plate, while the black is going to the other pole of that same terminal. Braided wires go to ground.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
Re: Out of phase Gibson Classic 57's

The gray wire is what runs back to the switch. The pickups are single-conductor braided. The braids connect to ground and the center wires of those connect to the volume pots.

When both are on, they are running in parallel and the tone is naturally thinner there but from you are describing, it's thinner sounding than that?
 
Re: Out of phase Gibson Classic 57's

ErikH said:
The gray wire is what runs back to the switch. The pickups are single-conductor braided. The braids connect to ground and the center wires of those connect to the volume pots.

When both are on, they are running in parallel and the tone is naturally thinner there but from you are describing, it's thinner sounding than that?
Click to expand...

The tone is signicantly thinner in the middle pos. The braided wire doesn't seem to have a thinner inner wire. All of the colored wires are coming out of the grey plastic tubing.
 
Re: Out of phase Gibson Classic 57's

Take a pic of the control cavity and post it. Unless the previous owner got 4-conductor versions, they should be big braided wires for the pickups with the leads going to one of the outer lugs of the volume control and the braid connected to ground.
 
Re: Out of phase Gibson Classic 57's

Cavity.jpg



Sorry for the poor quality shot. The two metal braids come into the cavity independently and then go to the back of the vol pots. All the colored wires come into the cavity in a grey tubing. The red and white ones go to the middle lugs of the vol pots. The yellow and green join up at one pole of a two pole terminal, while and the black goes to the other pole.
 
Re: Out of phase Gibson Classic 57's

Like I said originally, the two braided wires are from the pickups. There is a center conductor that is going to one of the lugs on the volume pots, the braid then to ground. The gray multi-conductor wire is for the switch and grounding of the switch.

It's still tough to tell what is going where in that shot. Needs to be zoomed in and clearer.
 
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Re: Out of phase Gibson Classic 57's

Evidence of a post-factory magnet flip will be apparent from the solder fastening the covers to the baseplates.

On the other hand, if the previous owner had obtained the '57 Classics from a re-issue three pickup LP Custom (or the '61 SG-shaped LP Custom), the central pickup of that 3HB Gibson should be out of phase with its original neck and bridge position partners.
 
Re: Out of phase Gibson Classic 57's

Eamonn said:
I bought a used LP that had Classic 57 Pickups installed by the previous owner. Both PU's sound great individually, but together they sound thin. Out of phase i'm guessing? I also have a hunch that someone might have flipped a magnet.

There are three leads coming into the pu cavity: two braided wires, and a plastic grey wire that has four colored wires inside the grey outer. The red is going to the middle lug of the bridge volume and a white wire is going to the middle lug of the neck volume. The yellow and green both go to one pole of the terminal in the very center of the metal mounting plate, while the black is going to the other pole of that same terminal. Braided wires go to ground.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...
Check out some wiring diagrams on the SD website and compare it to your control cavity
 
Re: Out of phase Gibson Classic 57's

ive had 57s in two lovely gibson axes.
When you get it wired correctly it will be an improvement....
....
....but 57s still suck
 
Re: Out of phase Gibson Classic 57's

I generally like Gibson '57 Classics. Obviously, much depends upon the host guitar.

Er, which precise model of Les Paul is under discussion here, please?
 
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