DrFingeryaguts

I'm so happy with what I have done, really over the moon :) Recap: Chibson, neck pick up - Iron gear Rolling mill, bridge pickup - iron gear Hot Slag, 4 CTS long switch pots, orange drop caps, copper earth tape, top hat knobs & position pointers. Just over £400. I used the Jimmy Page wiring, but in a 1950's vintage style. I've only just finished it, and I haven't put it through it's paces so to speak, but the Rolling Mill neck pickup is stonkingly good. Oh ya. I'm so glad that I didn't buy an Epiphone as I more than likely wouldn't have done this mod. I have learned so much from doing this job; now I can go and do it again with my £40 Hondo Les Paul. I'll Jimmy Page it in the modern style and do a coil tap conversion on the existing pickups, as I like the sound. Thank you all for your help :)

I just found the info I need on youtube, and it was wired up correctly. But I find it odd that when coil splitting, we would be using the North coil, when the south would surely be a better choice. This is where the coil spliting wiring diagram confusion was coming in, I assumed they would use the better coil, obviously, naaaaaa. Now that I have modded these I can throw them in the junk draw in the safe knowledge that they are modded for future use and that I wont use them again.

I have stripped the electrics from my Chibson Les Paul (using new pickups & keeping the old for spares), and as the pickups only had two wires coming from them, I decided to open the bridge pickup and mod it for coil splitting. The braided earth side of the wire went to the coil with the screws (south), and the white wire went to the blank coil side (north). If this has been wired up wrong, I'll have to wire it up the correct way around (no problem), but do I turn the magnet as well now that the electrical flow is in the opposite direction?

I had the same thought my self, using a master volume & tone and using a couple of rotarys for the monkey business. Thanks for the link, there's a diagram for every possibility :) I just have to make my mind up.

Agh, my bad. I forgot that magnets have poles, and so polarity = confusion. I was thinking in the terms of electrical polarity, reversing the flow of the current / signal, phase reversing. https://www.fralinpickups.com/2020/04/19/5-push-pull-pot-mods-you-should-know/ Mod 3 is what I was looking at. As I have two volumes & two tone controllers, the obvious choice would be 2 Vol switches for 2 coil splitting, and 2 tone switches for 2 phase reversing. But I was thinking of putting all of that on 2 switches, leaving the other two switches for something more exotic. But I'm thinking that maybe over kill....... Possibly

Thanks for the youtube link, I've been watching quite a bit, and the general consensus is: one capacitor is the same as another capacitor. So in the end I went for Orange drops for longevity. Humbucker cover on or off. I can't tell the difference from a camels backside :) so leaving it as is. The Gibson pickups that sounded so nice are really too expensive at £200 - £250, and there's no way to see if they're Burstbucker Pro's or lesser jobs. I've gone for IronGear Hot slag at the bridge and Rolling mill at the neck, £71 the pair new inc del. A few Gibson Les Paul owners have done this and are well happy with the results (how odd). I still don't know about old or new wiring; I'm guessing they changed for the better. This is where I need your advice. I have four new cts push/pull pots, so my options are: two pots for individual coil splitting, or one master coil split switch. But am I right in thinking that only one push/pull can't change polarity for two pups?

Ok, that's not good. I'm sure they're not all like that (even on ebay). If paper in oil don't have a good shelf life, then Russian jobs are surely passed it, right? I didn't know the USSR had a guitar regiment. or is that just a load of balalaikas?

How so? I've been looking on the net for info on caps, and what I've come up with is; paper in oil "is warm" but don't last, ceramic discs are cheap and looked down on, and orange drops are bright, which is what I want for that country twang. I haven't looked in to active yet, but I did read something about them being more precise and better for metal. So what's the advantage, anything I can use for rock & country?

It was a guy called Buris from Beijing selling on Ebay usa. He was selling loads of Gibson replicas in the usa, the us don't mind as business is business, and only mind others not following their rules. He said that British customs are the best in the world at looking after america's interests.

I'll give them a gander in a bit, cheers. Yea my chibo's not a Gibson, but it has a mahogany body and neck, ebony fret board; sounds so much nicer than my Yam Pacifica 012, Kcc Strat, Hondo Lp. Can't be down to the cheap electrics, so new bits should make it even better. Hopes :) I spotted a good wiring mod for one of the tone pots; using two different values of capacitor soldered to the pull push switch. Standard and take your pick what other value. Yea, looking around the net for parts I came across those connectors; I guess they are ok if what your buying / swapping over, has the same connectors. I'm pretty good with a soldering iron, and like to do things on the cheap :)

Food for thought; thanks.

No I meant, to get rid of the remains of the black....what ever it was. Stain? Used lemon oil, no good, it just cleaned it :)

Hi, I have an old beet up 1980's Hondo Les Paul, and the fret board has lost it's fake ebony. Well almost, there's bits of black here and there; and I was wondering if there was a way to clean it up a bit? Bleach maybe? What ya think?

Oh boy, what to do? New wiring or 1950's wiring, what's the difference? Oil & paper capacitors or orange drops? I heard a Gibson with Burst bucker pro pickups on youtube, oh so very nice. I'm watching some on ebay, and I'm wondering if anyone has had any experience with these pickups or recommend anything better? Your thoughts appreciated.

Thank you for the info, the sites a bit of a gold mine :)

Just one wire and an earth. Oh well I guess I'm looking for a pair of pickups as well :) So what are good pickups? Are Gibson pickups marked up as being Gibson?

That's a very good point, lol. I haven't had it apart yet, I just presumed they were all the same.

Hi, I have a Chibson Les Paul (unbranded made in China). I'd like to change the pots to pull push type so I can use a single pickup for playing country. Can you recommend a good replacement? Also while I'm there, shall I change the switch? It seems to work ok, but what do I know :) SMALL-GIBO.bmp