Peter Green Mod only using wiring

[ZacharyVolt]

I want to do the Peter Green mod to my Les Paul to get some Brian May style tones out of it, but if it’s possible, I’d like to do it without a push/pull or disassembling the pickup to flip the magnet. I’ve read somewhere that you can just swap the hot and ground connections from the pickup on the pot, but to my understanding that’s not how electronics work.
Can anyone here give some advice? I have a four conductor pickup, if that helps at all. If it’s not possible, I’ll just do the mod with a push/pull, but if I can save the money it would be nice.

 

[AlexR]

Re: Peter Green Mod only using wiring

No, that's precisely how electronics do work. Swapping hot and ground on 1 pickup will give you OOP in the middle position.
The 4 conductor +bare is the perfect setup for this operation.

 

[Larioso]

Re: Peter Green Mod only using wiring

Yes, 2 conductor usually have one being shield, so not a good idea.
Do on 4 cord pups only, so signal is separated from shield.

 

[beaubrummels]

Re: Peter Green Mod only using wiring

For Brian May tones you’d have to also put them in series when combined.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Peter Green Mod only using wiring

brian may used single coils as well so two buckers oop is going to be different, not to mention the construction of the guitars. oop can be a cool sound when you have independent volumes as on a lp. i would put it on a switch though since after the novelty wears off, you may not want it all the time

 

[Mincer]

Re: Peter Green Mod only using wiring

Yeah, 2 humbuckers in series is not really the Brian May tone at all. I don't think that sound would be anyone's tone, really.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Peter Green Mod only using wiring

My Strat can have the outside 2 pickups wired in series (stock, even) and I can see how people would like that.

 

[ehdwuld]

Re: Peter Green Mod only using wiring

I have an OOP setting on my RG2
but I did put it in series because in parallel it is very thin sounding

I think the original Tele wiring had both in series and out of phase as part of the standard from the factory
I may be wrong

but with my RG if I select OOP in series and split the bridge pickup
I get a nice tele chime

 

[jeremy]

Re: Peter Green Mod only using wiring

ummm... like original fender tele wiring? no. they had 1-neck pup with hardwired tone cap for a very dark setting 2-neck pup with tone control 3-bridge pup with tone control

oop on a guitar, lp for example, that has volumes for each pup can be cool. if you roll one volume back a bit, you get a distinct tone but it isnt as thin as with both pups full up. that is the only case that ive found oop useful for my playing. obviously others taste will be different

 

[JMP/HBE]

Re: Peter Green Mod only using wiring

I wouldn't call wiring a pickup backwards a "mod".

 

[Larioso]

Re: Peter Green Mod only using wiring

oop on a guitar, lp for example, that has volumes for each pup can be cool. if you roll one volume back a bit, you get a distinct tone but it isnt as thin as with both pups full up. that is the only case that ive found oop useful for my playing. obviously others taste will be different

I might even suggest pointless unless having two volumes - to balance for sweet spot how they cancel each other a bit.
With single volume you can only balance with pickup height, once and for all, kind of.

 

[Jack_TriPpEr]

Re: Peter Green Mod only using wiring

I might even suggest pointless unless having two volumes - to balance for sweet spot how they cancel each other a bit.
With single volume you can only balance with pickup height, once and for all, kind of.

There is an alternative to 2 volume pots: trimpots.

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: Peter Green Mod only using wiring

I can't for the life of me figure why anyone would do this as a "permanent" mod without a switch.

What is your objection to putting an a p/p pot to switch to OOP or back to normal? Just the cost? A p/p is not that expensive. In fact, I would put in 2 p/p pots...one for OOP and one for splitting both pups. However, you won't come very close to a Brian May tone without having single coils OOP and in series.

 

[SoPhx]

Re: Peter Green Mod only using wiring

Ummm, no. Tele wiring was always in phase and parallel.

 

[ehdwuld]

Re: Peter Green Mod only using wiring

Ummm, no. Tele wiring was always in phase and parallel.

so the 4 position Tele switch
traditionally does what in position 4?

 

[jeremy]

Re: Peter Green Mod only using wiring

the 4 position tele switch isnt traditional at all but when installed, it usually puts the two pups series/in phase. dont see all that many out there though. i like the series/in phase setting with low output pups especially for slide

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: Peter Green Mod only using wiring

The Fender that "always" had series pickups that could be run out of phase was the Duo-Sonic II. This is not the first version of the Duo-Sonic, which pre-dated the Mustang, having come out in 1956 (of which the Musicmaster was the single pickup budget version). This is the second version, which was re-oriented in the product lineup to be a budget Mustang, when the Mustang came out.

The Tele wiring that we call "vintage" (although it was NOT the "original" Tele wiring) had the following switching options: 1) bridge pickup without tone control, 2) neck pickup with tone control, 3) neck pickup with treble removed. The Esquire had: 1) bridge pickup without tone control, 2) bridge pickup with tone control, 3) bridge pickup with treble removed.

The Tele wiring that we consider normal today was a 1967 introduction (though people had been doing similar mods themselves for years in order to get both pickups together in parallel, and/or a tone control on the bridge pickup – e.g. Steve Cropper).

The 4-way switch is a relatively recent introduction. I didn't hear of one until about 10 years ago, though they were probably around before I heard of them. It's usually wired so that the extra spot gives you both pickups in series, in phase. The Baja has a 4-way, and a switch that puts one pickup out of phase, which can be used with the pickups in series or in parallel. In other words, the Baja gives you all the typical Tele options, plus the Mustang and Duo-Sonic II options (parallel in or out of phase, or series in or out of phase, respectively).

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: Peter Green Mod only using wiring

I've installed the Oak-Grigsby 4 pos switch in several guitars (including Teles). While it IS a different and interesting sound in pos.4 (both pups in series), it isn't really useful to me. I prefer the normal parallel setting in pos 2.

By far my favorite setup in a two humbucker guitar is with a super strat switch with Mincer's do-it-all wiring.