ivan H
Ambassador of Tubes & Grooves
Only real modification I've done to either my SG or LP, other than 50's wiring & changing bridge pickups. I agree it is the best mod possible. Cheers
Les Paul Studio Project
- Thread starter smitty_p
- Start date
Yes indeed!!!
OP
Just a little more progress tonight.
I installed the switch. I always find it easier to do as much work as possible outside the guitar. So, I'm a big fan of templates.
Here is the switch in a template, awaiting the wires:
And here it is with the wires soldered on. This pic also shows the heat shrink I put on the wires and the drain wire I soldered from the braid of the wires to the switch frame ground.
Here's a shot of the switch in the cavity:
And, a shot of the other end of the wires in the control cavity. I put masking tape on the ends of the wires to identify them as being for the bridge pickup, the neck pickup, and the output jack.
Just a close up of the installed switch from the front:
Finally, a full frontal with the switch installed:
It's starting to look a little more like a guitar, now!
My next purchase will probably be the pots, caps, and knobs.
More to come...
I installed the switch. I always find it easier to do as much work as possible outside the guitar. So, I'm a big fan of templates.
Here is the switch in a template, awaiting the wires:
And here it is with the wires soldered on. This pic also shows the heat shrink I put on the wires and the drain wire I soldered from the braid of the wires to the switch frame ground.
Here's a shot of the switch in the cavity:
And, a shot of the other end of the wires in the control cavity. I put masking tape on the ends of the wires to identify them as being for the bridge pickup, the neck pickup, and the output jack.
Just a close up of the installed switch from the front:
Finally, a full frontal with the switch installed:
It's starting to look a little more like a guitar, now!
My next purchase will probably be the pots, caps, and knobs.
More to come...
Last edited:
ivan H
Ambassador of Tubes & Grooves
Oh, this is not true, sorry. I also recently did the Faber locking bridge & stopbar conversion on my LP. Thought I'd best come clean about. Cheers
Yes very nice indeed!
OP
What are your thoughts about the Faber? What results did you notice?
I've contemplated that for this project, but it's a little pricey. I had the typical stop bar on my other Les Paul before I installed the Bigsby. I was fine with the stop bar on that guitar. So, I'm a little on the fence about it.
Faber makes nice stuff and ive had the Tonepros locking stuff on guitars,ive even had the locking studs on my JRs wrap around and ive taken them all off.Nothing wrong with any of them it just seemed to me to a a degree of ridgity to the guitar.maybe im just nuts but seems the guitar just felt stiff with these types of things.I like the loosy goosy feel . Prolly just all in my head any how lol
Smittty when i change strings on wrap arounds or even the TOM and tailpiece set ups i loosen and cut the strings off then i take that painters tape and tape the studs down so i dont loose my settings.that way if you clean the guitar or oil the fret board and move it around your bridge and tailpiece setting dont get lost and then have to monkey around and get them back where they were.
OP
Thanks for the info, Johnny. That's pretty interesting. The price of the full Faber kit is actually more expensive than my tuners!
But the price alone doesn't bother me, so much, if it's worth it. But there is a chance I may put a gold Bigsby on this at some point. If I do, it'll kind of bug me to remove a piece that expensive. I'm leaning toward a regular Gibson Nashville bridge and stop bar. But, I'm always open to ideas.
Last edited:
I really liked the Faber Locking Tailpiece. It doesn't fall off during string changes and it improved my sustain and unplugged volume...
plus mine got a few nics and such so i dont worry to much about the bridge or tailpieces fallin off ,But i can see where one wouldnt want to scratch up some pretty guitar.
Smitty man the tonepros locking studs for a wrap around bridge were a pain in the ass to get right so in the junk drawer they went.now one might think the thickness and heigth of the tailpiece stud bushing area where the tailpiec slips on are all the same but i got news for any one that care there not.Even among Gibson tailpieces and studs there not all Exact.ive had a hundred different ones and i know.Now i preffer the old Leo Quan Badass bridges on my JRs.no perticular reason but the look darn cool and intonate well.BUt those use a different height in the stud area where the tailpiece slips on even thought there American Standard thread.so i just use the best fitting tailpiece studs for the tightest fit. And yes a Epiphone tailpiece will fit on a Gibson.ya see Epiphone tailpiece stud thicknesses where the tailpiece slips on are bigger than a Gibson.hell ive had each one fit one the other.now the bridges wont interchange no.So Gibson parts will work just fine Smitty.and a gold Bigsby B7 or 3 will look bad ass man.
RVA
Ambassador
Looking good!Just a little more progress tonight.
I installed the switch. I always find it easier to do as much work as possible outside the guitar. So, I'm a big fan of templates.
Here is the switch in a template, awaiting the wires:
And here it is with the wires soldered on. This pic also shows the heat shrink I put on the wires and the drain wire I soldered from the braid of the wires to the switch frame ground.
Here's a shot of the switch in the cavity:
Interesting approach. I connect the hot leg of the pup at the volume pot output and then wire that same lug to the switch. Why do you do it this way? I have no reasoning other than the SD online diagrams, but on reflection, it still seems like the better approach to have the pup hot leads go to the control cavity.
OP
The p'up leads will first go to push-pull pot switches for coil splitting, then the output side of those will go to the volume pots. Then the vol pot outputs will go the the switch. The switch output side will go to the output jack.
When I said I labeled the wires for the neck and bridge pickups, I didn't mean they were connecting directly to the pickups. It's more they are associated with that circuit, i.e., the neck or bridge circuit.
Last edited:
Bocc69
Ambassador of Metal Health
Ditto...I picked up my tail and bridge from them. Perfect match. Got the Gibson OEM part, new, at a fraction of the cost. Couldn't be happier with the purchase.
They didn't have the one I wanted....I looked everyday for a month, then it showed up, and I pounced. Great deal!
OP
The decision to run the pickup leads to the controls first, and then to the switch; or to run the leads directly to the switch first isn't so much a question of which approach is better, in a general sense. Rather, it's more a question of which is necessary for the topology you have.
In the case of two pickups and a single volume, the only option is to go to the switch first. The output leg of the switch will go to the volume.
In the case of two pickups and two volumes, the only option is to run to the control pots first. Each volume output then goes to the switch.
So, you really have to sit back and think about the overall scheme you're using. In the end, you are taking multiple sources (pickups) but only getting one output (the output jack). How you go about the switching and blending is really driven by the rest of the layout.
***********
Trick question:
You're wiring a guitar with one pickup. Do you run to the switch first or the volume pot first?