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Joe Bonamassa Forum → Joe's Guitars, Amps and Gear → 50s vs. modern wiring in a Les Paul?
I installed a pre-wired RS kit in my Les Paul. It is wired 50s style whereas the original wiring in my Traditional had modern wiring.
I left the neck volume 50s style but had the bridge volume pot wired modern (but left the tone pot wired 50s, so that makes it more like a hybrid). Seems to works great on their own but the middle position is not quite what I'd like to have.
Any opinions anyone on the various Les Paul wiring styles: 50s, modern, hybrid?
Glen Kuykendall does a great youtube demo of his real '59 burst Les Paul with 50's wiring through a Trainwreck Express. When you roll back the tone knob it seems to reduce the gain and a little bit of the midrange for a cleaner sound. It's cool for his tone because he uses the neck pickup on the Les Paul for cleans with the volume/tone rolled back and then the bridge pickup for leads. I think I have modern wiring in my '58 Reissue but I'm not sure. I just know that it works for me.
I prefer the vintage wiring. I hate how the modern seems to give me everything its got when turned up all the way and then when I turn down a bit it looses its edge with the volume. You can put a volume kit on there that helps out a bit with keeping the tone consistant on the modern wiring but personally to my ears the vintage has more tone. However the vintage might be a little more noisey, but I never worried about noise because I love strats so much and they are noisey as hell.
I hate how the modern seems to give me everything its got when turned up all the way and then when I turn down a bit it looses its edge with the volume.
Interesting. I thought that would happen with the vintage wiring? i.e., losing the edge and beef when turning down the volume.
To my ears the modern wiring loses a little bit of gain when the tone is rolled off, and the tone darkens a little as you roll the volume down too. With the '50s wiring you maintain the highs better and the tone knob acts as a way to get your tones even cleaner. For all the doubters check out the Glen K Trainwreck video...the proof is in the pudding!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uc3Xi6aAG80
http://www.acmeguitarworks.com/Les_Paul … 30C185.cfm
Here is what acmeguitarworks.com said about their prewired kits modern vs. vintage wiring.
I have rewired both neck and bridge modern or rather modern-hybrid. I prefer it that way.
Sorry to revive this old post -- I felt curious and I rewired the pickups back to vintage (i.e. 50s) style and I must say I'm beginning to like it more and more. There seems to be a bit less compression (for the lack of a better word) but the tone now is airier (as everyone says) and there's indeed a much wider tonal spectrum using the tone pots. I love it. I'm a convert. 
Apologies for digging up this old post but I felt the need to spread the good news. 
Joe Bonamassa Forum → Joe's Guitars, Amps and Gear → 50s vs. modern wiring in a Les Paul?
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