Dead Horse - Vintage vs Modern wiring
- Thread starter ChasFred
- Start date
Cadorman
Ambassador of the Catocaster
I don't see any barbs on there.
DHart
Well-Known Member
I'm the same, Robert, '50s style whenever I re-wire a guitar and controls wide open pretty much always.
I'm the same, Robert, '50s style whenever I re-wire a guitar and controls wide open pretty much always.
I have since found really good performance from the Gibson PCB's and I have gotten to where I really like them...
ninjaking67
Ambassador of Good Will
I have the PCB in my 2016 SG Standard and see no reason to change it. It works perfectly fine.
So, I've begun an experiment. I've started reversing my guitars and am going back to modern wiring...or more precisely...an early variant of modern wiring known as, "'60s Wiring".
The main difference between '60s and modern is that the center terminal (the wiper) of the tone pot is grounded in '60s wiring, and the capacitor connects to an outer terminal. In Modern Wiring, the capacitor connects to the center terminal, and the outboard terminal is grounded. Modern and '60s both behave the same way, but '60s potentially has a better signal-to-noise ratio and may be less subject to some noise.
My reason for doing this is that I've grown to dislike the way the controls affect each other in '50s wiring. It is somewhat annoying to turn down the tone and have the volume be affected, also. I noticed this after I did my Jackson mega-mods and didn't like it. The first thing I did when I got home was to crank up the soldering iron and switch my Jackson to the '60s wiring. Also, in my rig and guitars, the feared treble loss when turning down the volume is not really a problem. I'm thinking this problem is probably more of an issue with lower value pots, like 300K, versus higher values, like 500K. Also, I'm finding more useable taper on my controls, now.
Of course, if I ran my controls wide open all the time, it wouldn't really matter what wiring scheme I used, as they are electronically equivalent when wide open. The differences only become apparent when the controls are turned down.
So, I'll mess around with this for awhile and see what I think.
As always, I reserve the right to be fickle and change my mind at any time!
The main difference between '60s and modern is that the center terminal (the wiper) of the tone pot is grounded in '60s wiring, and the capacitor connects to an outer terminal. In Modern Wiring, the capacitor connects to the center terminal, and the outboard terminal is grounded. Modern and '60s both behave the same way, but '60s potentially has a better signal-to-noise ratio and may be less subject to some noise.
My reason for doing this is that I've grown to dislike the way the controls affect each other in '50s wiring. It is somewhat annoying to turn down the tone and have the volume be affected, also. I noticed this after I did my Jackson mega-mods and didn't like it. The first thing I did when I got home was to crank up the soldering iron and switch my Jackson to the '60s wiring. Also, in my rig and guitars, the feared treble loss when turning down the volume is not really a problem. I'm thinking this problem is probably more of an issue with lower value pots, like 300K, versus higher values, like 500K. Also, I'm finding more useable taper on my controls, now.
Of course, if I ran my controls wide open all the time, it wouldn't really matter what wiring scheme I used, as they are electronically equivalent when wide open. The differences only become apparent when the controls are turned down.
So, I'll mess around with this for awhile and see what I think.
As always, I reserve the right to be fickle and change my mind at any time!
Last edited:
Col Mustard
Ambassador of Perseverance
...but, but... is soldering involved?
So happy with the switch to EMG's. Great volume and tone control function, and with the triple-coil 81TW/89R combo, an endless variety of tonal options.
Cadorman
Ambassador of the Catocaster
Geeze, you sound like a studio guy.......
eclecticsynergy
Ambassador of Electric Synergy
When you want rude tone, use wire with a bad attitude...
Vox AC30
Well-Known Member
I also have a bunch of JM Rolph pups along with 50's spragues, either black beauties or the bumblebee oil ones. Otherwise it's real PAF's. In the early 70's I worked in a music store and everyone seemed to replace their PAF's with distortion pups, which were the rage at that time while I always thought the original Paf's sounded magical, with lots of bloom.