Les Paul re-build

[HeeBGB]

I really like the Florance Voo Doo's. They are about $300 a set I think. More in line with most of the current winders out there. I've had the pleasure of hearing and playing a lot of them and they are all good. Some a lil better than others but it's really a matter of preference and what you feel goes best with YOUR particular instrument.

The WCR's are good and the Lollars and Wolfetones too. I like the GFS for real cheap money. You can always find used pups on TGP for a bunch cheaper than you will find them new.

[angelodp]

Some LP's have a metal plate that the pots are mounted to and a small stand-off as well. Does the plate serve any purpose. I assume the stand-off facilitates a modern approach to wiring it up. This being an HB type guitar why did Gibson use shielded ( wire braided ) wire.....ward off RF ?

[passfan]

This place has some sweet sounding pickups that won't break the bank. He custom winds to vintage specs. I use them in all my guitars.

http://store.guitarfetish.com/

[selloutrr]

Some LP's have a metal plate that the pots are mounted to and a small stand-off as well. Does the plate serve any purpose. I assume the stand-off facilitates a modern approach to wiring it up. This being an HB type guitar why did Gibson use shielded ( wire braided ) wire.....ward off RF ?

I could be wrong but I haven't seen the plate used in higher end Les Pauls.
The plate replaces the need for the ground buss wire and speeds up the wiring process.

The stand-offs could be used to make up the difference in potentiometer shaft lengths?

The braid is for shielding RF

[Bob-I]

Some LP's have a metal plate that the pots are mounted to and a small stand-off as well. Does the plate serve any purpose. I assume the stand-off facilitates a modern approach to wiring it up. This being an HB type guitar why did Gibson use shielded ( wire braided ) wire.....ward off RF ?

I had a mid 70's LP that had the metal plate. After rewiring I took the plate out and simply grounded everything correctly, it was no noisier. My guess is that they figured the plate would quiet it down, I didn't find that at all.

+1 on the GFS (guitarfetish.com) pickups. I've used them in several guitars and they sound great. Not Lollar of Fralin great but close and 1/10th the price.

[angelodp]

Ok so you guys seriously feel that the GF pickups are up to snuff. Thats a relief as they are in my budget range. Plate unnecessary, standoff optional, braided wire a good idea.

How about caps... do you find the 'exotics ' worth the expense or go with
orange drops?

My current pickups are

Neck - 8.4K
Bridge - 14K

Sounds damn nice on my Dlite and on my Rocket.

I will start collecting parts for the swap and ease into it.

[selloutrr]

Pics

[selloutrr]

the pickups they are recommending are great the other killer pickups are the early 80's brad shaw's, but they are not vintage... well at least not as vintage.

Tone caps - They do effect the sound. My personal favorite are paper and oil. After you install the new pickups you may want to build a decade box with various styles/types of capacitors and audition them.

[angelodp]

I have not searched yet, but will look at how to build a decade box. Thanks.

[Structo]

Those Guitar Fetish pickups can be a love hate topic for sure.

Some guys report good results with them.

Ange, if it were me, I would probably just improve the pots and caps for now.

Get some good quality Bourns or CTS pots, some bumble bees or other nice film cap and see what that brings you.

[HeeBGB]

The GFS pups are good for the money. They are not on the level of the boutique winders mentioned BUT they are still very good and cheap (cost wise) as hell. Even if you put a more expensive set in your guitar the GFS are so cheap it's worth it to have an extra set around. You might start with the GFS and save up for another set later OR just stay with the GFS. Truth is when the drummer kicks in, no one is going to be able to tell what pups you have in there. It's all good!

The Shaw's are a different animal all together. MUCH hotter output than a PAF. They are like 12-15k ohms I believe. I have never played a set so I won't comment on tone but I will say that IMHO the hotter the pup, the less detailed it is. It's harder to hear each note in a chord for me when using a hot pup. I prefer lower output units and if I want serious gain I'll kick in a pedal.

If you have a decent set of pups already then upgrading the pots and caps is sound advice. A lot of guys use PIO caps and rave about them. RS guitar sells CTS pots with a custom taper that I have used. They sell it as a kit for a LP with everything you need to re-wire your guitar with a schem for 50's wiring. Comes with Hoveland tone caps. I thought the hovelands were good but some guys prefer the PIO or the vintage Bum Bees/black beaut's.

The new pots and caps with 50's wiring will make a HUGE difference (at least for me they did). Made my guitars a lot less nasal sounding.

[billyz]

Of all the Humbuckers I have tried the ones by Dave Stephens are standouts.
http://www.sdpickups.com/humbuckers.shtml

They definitely rival my original 1960 PAF . he also used a 1968 TTop I sent him for repair to model his TTop model. But the TTop sounds better with his PAF alloy pickup screws.

He has a few videos and audio clips of the difference in a cheap Epi Les paul too.

Personally, I like his Peter Green set.

I have a set of Shaw PU's in my 81 Korina V , they are good, but not as sweet as the SD PU's, not as Dynamic, more compressed .

Definitely do the 50's wiring. It has a good affect on the tone circuit. Better pots make a real difference, the higher the resistance the better. I lucked upon a set of Centralabs and they all measure over 600k, also the taper is much better. DO NOT let any one tell you to use Linear taper pots for tone or volume.

That was the main reason I had to change the pots on my 59 historic, Gibson used linear taper pots and they just don't work right. I used some old Cornell Dublier caps and they are every bit as good as Bumble bees. I would probably be happy with yellow Mallory caps too.

It is amazing how good a Epi Les paul can sound with really great PU's and a rewire with better pots.

[breakfastbuddy]

well . tuners and bridges dont make a change how the sound will be as long as the tuners stay in tune , bone nuts will make no change either exept on steel guitar . value of pots will make a change how the guitar sounds , but most of all the wood in the guitar . its not about resonanse but its all about damping . maple damps less and mahogany damps more (in a general way ) i got some chinese gibsuns , and i can say as with all chinese products , quality controll sucks big time . you can be lucky and its made of mahogany but some times you get some other wood thats not tonewood , and ist sounding thin like a fender (when its soupose to be a Gibson copy ) when the wood is wrong everything will be wrong . wood is wood (many different kinds of wood ) but metal is allways the same . so my advice is to buy chinese hardware (without pickups ) and if the guitar sounds good acustical it will sound good electric , but the way most of the sellers of chinese copy guitars sell the same guitars , but they dont know anything of guitars , its like buying a guitar from your mother , thats why the never say any data about the guitar , look at the pics they say , thats was a little bit of my experience with chinese guitar sellers .

[billyz]

well . tuners and bridges dont make a change how the sound will be as long as the tuners stay in tune , bone nuts will make no change either exept on steel guitar . value of pots will make a change how the guitar sounds , but most of all the wood in the guitar . its not about resonanse but its all about damping . maple damps less and mahogany damps more (in a general way ) i got some chinese gibsuns , and i can say as with all chinese products , quality controll sucks big time . you can be lucky and its made of mahogany but some times you get some other wood thats not tonewood , and ist sounding thin like a fender (when its soupose to be a Gibson copy ) when the wood is wrong everything will be wrong . wood is wood (many different kinds of wood ) but metal is allways the same . so my advice is to buy chinese hardware (without pickups ) and if the guitar sounds good acustical it will sound good electric , but the way most of the sellers of chinese copy guitars sell the same guitars , but they dont know anything of guitars , its like buying a guitar from your mother , thats why the never say any data about the guitar , look at the pics they say , thats was a little bit of my experience with chinese guitar sellers .

Not Exactly true. Try Changing the stop tailpiece to a Quality aluminum one and you will hear the difference. Also, metal is not all the same, Chinese metal is very soft and deforms easily, not good for a bridge and the screw threads strip out. Everything makes a difference. I prefer lightweight tuners like Kluson over Shaller or Grover, better tone.

[selloutrr]

Why would lite weight tuners = better tone?

Weight isn't the issue in a tuner. Good tuners are selected for the ratio of rotation and the ability to hold the tension without slipping.

Weight on the headstock can be benificial for adding to sustain.
Several places sell a weighted clamp that clips on the head stock to increase the weight and sustain.

IMHO any quality tuner I don't have to redrill holes to use is the way to go.