Gibson Les Paul: 1950s Wiring Vs. Modern 

There were moments when I couldn't tell much (if any) difference. But in those spots where there was a more obvious difference, I definitely preferred the vintage 50's wiring. Thanks for posting this!

This video was fantastic! You clearly put in a ton of time between wiring, playing, recording, and editing this all together. I love that you have the comparisons back-to-back instead of making us search through timestamps to compare. Excellent job! As far as results, I was initially drawn to the brightness of the 50's wiring, but upon further reflection on my NS-10 speakers, I realized that the brightness came at the expense of the low end. The modern wiring sounds thicker, fuller, and smoother. The added brightness of the 50's wiring also sits right in the frequency range that my vocals sit when I'm singing along, but the modern wiring covers all the essential frequencies without competing with my vocal frequencies. As usual, your mileage may vary. TLDR; Guitar by itself: 50's wiring. In a band context: modern.

Great job explaining and sound bites, I alway install the 50's wiring in all my Epi's and Gib's LP's

I'm building a new Les Paul and was trying to decide which wiring scheme to go with. I was already leaning towards the 50s... now I'm pretty sure that's what I'm going to do. Thanks for the demo!

Really cool idea! That LP Sounds Great bro!!

To me 50's sounds *more* alive. It conveys a sense of urgency & energy to your playing in pretty much all takes! I will try this one out sometime in the future. Loved this insight! pretty well stitched video, plenty of examples! Thank you!!!

Great video, again. Your channel will probably be my go-to for these sorts of test and reflections. Great work. And great playing. And great thinking/tinkering. I am here just because of the same questions to straighten out. And i concur with your conclusion. I have a few CTS push-pullers with the same taper and a few new PAFs that will be put to use. Now i know, the 50's wiring it is. Saved me some time potentionally.

Great vid. Very well produced. Thanks for uploading.

It sounds fuller and more dynamic somehow. It sounds so much better! Props

Nice to hear a comparison between the two with the same guitar - God job, well done :)

Awesome Comparison. I tend to like the 50's Wiring in this example. Thanks. I'm in the midst of wiring a Treble Bleed Circuit & ran across this.

Great video. Thank you mr Perkins

I swapped the stock Burstbucker ‘61 pups out of my LP Classic for a set of Monty’s PAFs with their 50’s wiring harness. Huge difference. Monty’s pickups are fantastic by themselves, but the 50’s wiring added a brightness that has transformed the way the guitar sounds. I’m a big fan!!

The 50's wiring sounds more alive

I like how the 50's wiring cleaned up as you turned the volume down, the modern wiring stayed crunchy at lower volumes; I'd prefer the ability to go clean by rolling the volume down a bit then crank it for crunch.

Thanks! Very much enjoyed the video. I've been playing guitar for just under 50 years and the main reason for different wiring in my guitars has been for the use of the tone pots... you may enjoy using the tone pots at different settings for a real fun test. It can come accross best to new ears in playback (if using tone pots is a new thing to the player). Everything from subtle to exaggerated sound pallets can be achived.

Great vid! Rewiring my Epi LP for the millionth and last (lol) time, and you sure confirmed that one choice once again! I’ve got cheap PAFs I like, and I’m not using the best parts or any caps of note, but the ordering of the circuit makes all the difference. I just do one vol, one tone, but I also wire the tone cap just between a lug and back of the tone pot, not over to a lug of the vol pot... and I don’t remember why. I think I had the best results with that before, but also had remembered that as “50s style.”

I'm definitely leaning towards the 50's wiring! Overall, it sounds softer and more fluid than the modern wiring to my ears... Great video! Cheers - Luther

Man you deserve over a hundred thousand subscribers great channel.

Cool thanks you helped me decide to get 50’s wiring!

Great video as always, very informative. I spotted a Cardiacs CD too which is always nice to see!

I went from a PCB modern style Les paul Classic from 2019 to a 50's style wiring. OMFG, I turned a guitar that I already loved into the best guitar I have ever played. Will do the same on every Gibson I own.

Very thorough my G thanks from Compton big dawg

Also one thing I've noticed switching caps myself is that it clarifies your pick attack in a big way. My style is a lot like Slash's - Bluesy/Punky and I always wondered what was lacking in the sound after putting his pickups in, then i changed the caps and palm muting and over all picking was more nuanced! good job bro!

Hey this is a great video, thanks for making it. I preferred the modern wiring for the clean clean tone, that was excellent.

50's wiring sounds with more resonance. I love it.

Great job man love the 50’s wiring!

I liked the comparison. I will say this. I believe that if you found the right amp / guitar combination it would also make a big difference. I did some A/B comparisons the other day and I was amazed how awesome my Peavey Classic 50 Twin sounds compared to anything else. I may switch to the 50s wiring and see how it does through that amp.

Cool guitar man! Sounds great

Another very cool video. thanks

Thanks man, Very helpful, I just bought the Epiphone Les Paul 59 standard it has Gibson Burstbuker 2 and 3 pickups with CTS pots, Mallory capacitors, 50s era wiring. This is a serious guitar. It has changed my thoughts totally on Epiphone. Customer Reviews

definite sound change . much prefer the 50's wiring. you have made up my mind on how i will upgrade my old 97 epi les paul . thanks matey .

Best demo ever! I prefer the 50s. I have an Epiphone SG 400 that I've ordered new CTS pots for and a new switch and cloth wire. I haven't got the Caps yet and I wonder, will not having bumblebee in there ruin the 50s sound. Well, I have a wee bit of electronics background, a good understanding of ohm's law and I can't picture it making so much difference that I won't be satisfied with the sound. I thought your video was great, if I'm not already, I'll be subscribing and most certainly sharing. Looking forward to more of your videos, keep up the good work, Uncle Eric. 🎸🔧

I think I'm the only one who's not seen the tone and volume pots directly joined by the capacitor! I'd only ever seen a jumper between the two and the cap going straight to ground. I've got some serious tinkering to do! Great vid btw 🤠

A great comparison! Like with all the tech talking it all just comes down to your own opinion of what you like. They both sounded great in my opinion. It would be great to hear them both into and actual overdriven amp, I feel the 50’s wiring would have really come in to its own more. But great video! Thank you

Nice video btw love the darkness poster behind you 👌🏻

So much clearer with the 50s wiring for sure. Sounds like it gets rid of the one complaint I have of Les Pauls. They're too dark sometimes. Definetely changing the wiring in my 06!

I prefer the 50s wiring myself. Another wiring mod worth its weight is for independent volume controls. It allows you to blend volumes for the neck and bridge pickups without the volume cutting out when you have the middle position selected.....in fact I only ever have my Les Paul on the middle position since swapping to 50s with independent volume controls. Plus for P90s it's a godsend because basically your P90s will be wired like a humbucker in the middle position. It's a bit complicated to go into it fully, but welcome to the wiring rabbit hole 😆👍

I built my own LP style guitar from precision guitar kits. I built the 59 carved top model and chose to do a 50's wiring method and there's no doubt about it, it makes the guitar much more dynamic especially when you start working the volume pots. You lose some overall volume as you roll it down but you gain much more clarity as your demo so excellently demonstrated.

Very informative. I'm goin' with 50's.

Joe you are always top, cheers from Greece!!!

Awesome video thanks!! You helped me make my decision, though I prefer the modern wiring I will probably experiment with both. Cheers

Awesome video! Just subscribed. I am definitely doing a wiring upgrade to 50’s wiring on my Harley Benton.

50's has more top end which I always need with Les Pauls.

You’re not Slash or Gary Moore but man, it’s the first time I actually like the LP tone from the first second I hear it...wait, I was forgetting Steve Clark. Awesome job, man. ¡Me quito el sombrero!

Really nice made comparison, thanks! I put 50's wiring to my les Paul too and yeah, it's pretty bright but sametime really nice and dynamic. It's nice now keep highs when rolling volume lower. 50's wiring works better also with Fuzz pedals i think because brightness. I have Gibson 57 classic pickups and for those 50's wiring is great, like meant to be. With modern wiring 57's has big bass, but with 50's it's tamed and those are like new pickups.

50's wiring sounds more open, I love it!

Hello, as a hifi builder I have to tell some things. A capacitor in these circuits works as a first order crossover as in loudspeakers. Smaller the value it has less filter effect on sound frequencies. Most of the ear screeching humm and EMI sounds occur on higher frequencies than range of the guitars. As its nature guitar has a very limited frequency range, you can check it from instrument frequency charts. So frequencies over upper limit of that range cut off with caps. If you put a tweeter in a cabinet you might still be able to hear unwanted sounds. Woofer size speakers offer both limited high frequency reproduction and better bass. Thus working as crossovers too (limiting high frequencies like caps). In hifi natural signal is always the target and tried to be preserved at all costs. To my experience I may can offer some alternatives to this dilemma of yours. There are many great quality caps which non existent in times of first Les Pauls. Film and foils,propylene, silver and gold and etc. Mundorf,solen,Hovland, and many other great brands are out there. These lower value caps are considered as bypass caps and most insane ones only go for 50$. I suggest you to try these. If you want some of the characteristics of one particularly and add more definition or different performance ,halve the value of each and add another brand in parallel them together. But in the end, other than some very subtle differences,and placebo, all are same in these upper frequencies. In mid frequencies it's another matter. Btw oil caps dry out. Even in nos condition I wouldn't consider using them. Grounding properly,using best pots,using shielded and braided,and twisted wires,grounded bridge metal parts are far better and effective solutions.

I use 50's style wiring, too. Really enjoy the tone it allows from the guitar that somehow gets lost woth modern wiring.

I liked the clarity of the 50s wiring. To me it was not a huge difference, but enough that I had a definite preference.

Super professional demo Joe, greatly appreciated. It’s the 50’s wiring for me, no question about it.

more over tones and harmonics in the after clips, I don't think it's going to be a huge difference but I just purchased a pair of Luxe Radio bumblebee replicas to put in my SG with VI 500k pots.I think it's worth the upgrade, it's one and done forever more and them your expensive guitar has the best electronics too. cool comparison Joe.

Another great comparison - thanks for that. I mainly focus on the clean stuff and it seemed to me the 50's wiring had more presence and was more 'expressive' . . . at one point verging on early Peter Green tones. The Monty's are great, probably going to order the Underspun PAF's but the Bethnal Greens are tempting!

Well done comparison Joe, thanks. 50's wiring sounded the best to me. Less klang, more schwang.

Good video Joe, I prefer the 50’s sound. Your Gibson LP Custom is amazing 🤩

Great job! And I love your cool british english. Well done, sir.

50's wiring is best for me... thanx for this video ...

Just built my first guitar kit and used a modern wiring schematic - was disappointed that rolling off the volume didn't clean things up like it does on my stratocaster! Looks like I need to rewire for 50s, thanks!

Not that it matters - I'm sure most everybody knows what you meant - but the caps are .022 µF not 22 µF.

To my ear It’s virtually indistinguishable most of the time. The 50’s sounded slightly duller in some of the sounds then brighter in a few others. I think the winner is me! Because I don’t see how it’s worth it, and I won’t waste my resources. Great comparison and thanks!

Great job, very informative. As soon as the video ended I ordered the same pots and some of the Luxe replica bumble bees. Looking forward to hearing the difference!

I played an actual 58 LP and still preferred the sound of modern LP's. The mids are more pronounced which to me, is the signature sound.

Thanks, I preferred the 50s wiring. Good video.

One important thing: those 2 circuits (Modern and 50's) are exactly the same when the volume pot is full on and you won't and can't hear any sonic difference! The circuits are differents only when you start lowering the volume pot and this is where the magic happen.

Hey Joe, great video!! I liked the darker modern sound better but would be happy with either. Like you, I’ve already upgraded my pickups and am moving to the electronics. Did you just change the pots and caps or did you change the switch and plug too?

Just changed pots on second les paul. It slays me that they use 250k volumes and 450k tones. Put 500k bourns pots in and orange drops. Its lovely now. I still cant believe we pay 2500$ for inferior pots and wiring. All good cause I do love the build. btw I did the 50s wiring as well. But to be honest its the 500k pots that make the brightness not the wiring.cheers

Great video man. I love the sounds of the "50's wiring" but I have a problem with it that you're not demoing here: it cleans up really well when you use the volume pot but do you notice that if you turn the tone knob too, that tone doesn't really work as a tone anymore but as an extra volume pot? It might be something wrong i did but if for example I'm on the neck pickups with the volume at 5 to clean up the sound and i want to turn down the tone to 5 to get a jazzier sound it doesn't get warmer but thinner and quieter. Am i the only one?

Thanks for the video, Brother. You helped me make a decision. I have a 2 humbucker, 1 volume, 1 tone guitar and after hearing your comparisons I am going to wire my guitar in vintage Flying V style (although the V has two volumes). I am also going with a .033 Orange Drop for the capacitor (because it's what I have on hand) to split the difference between .047 & .022. Thanks again!

Nice video. :) Especially with the volume down the 50'es wiring really shines, otherwise it doesn't do that much of a difference. (Listening on my Genelecs) But sometimes sound is also a feeling in the fingers, so I don't know how different it feels to you when you're playing.

I think you may be missing the point for 50s wiring. If you have wired that way all the volumes and the tones effect tone in spite of where your toggle is. The toggle will work but when down more to the bridge sound and top more to your neck sound. That is why you see them always fiddling with them during live shows. Peter Green is an excellent example watch how much he messes with the knobs to adjust while playing live. Most of us now do not do this much just set to bridge and crank to 10 on volume and tone. I like the guitars I have wired the old way but they are different beasts and you have to have some great pickups and hardware as you bought to hear the subtle adjustments. It is the sum of the parts and also how effective you can use them. You did not flip the toggle and move the volume tones around. For example, I have a Parsons street PAF replica in bridge and a Greenie replica in the top of one of my LP and 50s wiring. I am going to replace pots and wire eventually toggle also but I usually like it around 7-8 bridge volume and somewhere a little less for neck volume then tones around 6-10. It is like a small search each time but once dialed in when toggle is on bridge I get a more bold piercing sound and neck gets fuzzy darker while middle is that magic out of phase not fuzzy but not bridge either a happy go between. I must note that I purposely put in this hardware just especially for that guitar and effect. I did not update the tone knobs for money reasons, less time invested and to know the starting sound so in a few months I will know exactly the effect of changing the tones and resistors makes with the existing hardware. I have other guitars I love to play but the one I am telling you about is just magic. It is not a metal sound or a out of date sound but could be used in any genre of music and work. When I put it down for a hotter guitar like the ESP Vs I instantly note what I was missing but when I pick it back up after the Vs notice it brings more colors to the table. That is what you want or why would anyone own over 20 guitars? Sure I have about 8 tunings I fall back to but even then what hardware will sound good for that tuning etc is a fine art. Practice messing with volume and tones in 50s wiring and you will see what I am talking about. Especially with the PAFs. Real PAF are not potted but mine make high feedback at live volumes so I may end up potting the bridge. We shall see... many PAF guys did pot them eventually although it is nice to be able to make that choice for one's self.

Great video, thanks! I’m thinking of changing my 2010 LP Traditional to 50’s wiring and I definitely prefer the sound - more clarity and bite. Undecided about the caps though, I’ve heard that the paper in the bumblebees degrades over time, so I may go for something modern like orange drops. There’s a lot of conflicting opinions out there!

The thing with the caps is it depends whether you want the guitar to sound how a '59 sounded when it was new or whether you want it to sound like it's 60 yo? Saw an article recently where they were trying to do what you're doing... When they measured the 60 yo caps in a '59 they were using for reference they discovered they'd drifted to about 0.084uf... Food for thought.

the main difference couldn't the main diference be because of different post values you used? the bnk 550K probably measure much higher than the original 500K pots and higher value means less treble to ground, meaning a brighter guitar, with more clarity...

Maybe there's a difference but I can't hear it. If it is so subtle, probably don't worth the upgrade...

thanks , just decided to covert my Epi to 50s wiring :P

I'm in the process of changing both my Firebirds to 50's style wiring. And dumping the goofy modern ceramic pickups.

I definitely like the 50's wiring. I just put a 50's wiring in my Epiphone Les Paul. I love it!

Really love the airiness w. 50s wiring. I love the way those pickups make the treble strings so cleanly audible. I have a Gibson LP Traditional 2019 w/ stock Burstbuckers, and while I do like the fuzzy, airiness, I find that the treble strings, regardless of how I adjust pickups or pole pieces, just get sort of drowned out by the bass strings.

Good demo 👍, did you play both wiringings through high gain? I play punk music with a lot of palm mutes and raking and of course chords (usually 3 and under 😂).I was wondering what would be better, i don't like really dark and dull sounding guitar's and I noticed you said the 50's wiring was brighter if I'm not mistaken.

Hey Joe! (No pun intended), awesome video, and excellent performace. Can you tell me the name of the song at 6:42 (when you start with the Broadcast pedal)? Thanks!

PLUS you get the added bonus of being able to blend both pickups when in the middle position. it is a matter of preference but there is no doubt the 50s wiring seems to make more sense from an engineering point of view. If they wanted to darken the tone I wonder why they didn't use a lower value pot? Hmmmm......

I did this to my LP a while back, I found with the modern wiring, when rolling off the volume a bit, the tone would start to loose all the highs, Kind of like i was rolling off the tone at the same time. When using the 50's wiring, the tone would stay the same, nice a bright, and more chiming to the tone, and better harmonics. The 50's wiring is a must, unless you play with your guitar knob volume set to 10 at all times.

With vintage wiring you can play like the masters from the sixties and seventies. Control the sound from your guitar!! Roll off the volume for clean and the old way doesn,t lose treble!for example. The best way to hear the difference,,,, plug into your tube amp. Controls on the guitar all to 10. Bring up your amp until you get saturation distortion. Adjust bass treble mid to you taste. Then back off the volume. It will go clean without treble loss but you can get distortion by pick attack!!!

I tried to mount a 50 wiring on an epiphone, and the result was wow

50s wiring cleans up so much better on a dirty amp and a lot more interaction between tone control and volume. If you use your knobs 50s wiring is the way

Joe, two year-old video, but I'm just now finding it. I've been bored with my retired life from the military, so I decided to go back to my childhood love and pick up a guitar again, but I didn't want to spend an arm and a leg, until I was sure I'd stick with it, so I bought a dirt cheap Blue Sunburst Maestro Les Paul Junior by Gibson for $25 and decided to "upgrade" it. I'm going to put a Gibson Accessories '57 Classic Plus Pickup in it, along with a CTS 500kΩ volume pot and CTS 250kΩ tone pot and a 0.022µF Orange Drop cap, wired to late'50s schematics. I'm changing to an adjustable wraparound bridge from StewMac and Kluson Revolution locking tuners. I know I could have probably bought a used Epiphone for what I'm spending on this one and just start playing, but there's no fun in that. I really enjoyed seeing your comparison and am convinced in my path to go with the '50s wiring schematic. I also sanded down the headstock and repainted it in black lacquer front and back (with stinger on back) and added the Gibson and Les Paul Junior gold leaf decals and then clear lacquered over them. The result is gorgeous, and the hope is (from my wife) that it will curb my desire to eventually buy the real McCoy. Thanks again for the video, thumbs up and sub'd.

You'll hear more of a difference turning the guitar down. I don't like the way 50's changes the taper and prefer a treble bleed circuit. Nice comparison video because of the quick switching back and forth. 👍🎸🎶🎵

I got an Obsidian wiring kit with switches on each pickup so I can run 50-60 both. Agree the 50's is nicer to my ear.

definitely hear the difference. it's subtle but the vintage sounds better and the taper is great. I'm getting a pre wired harness with either these same caps or sprauge vitamin q. pretty similar. your guitar sounds great. After listening to a billion videos I'm going for arcane Inc paf clones. amazing pickups.

50s all the way. Just got my CTS 500k pots and orange drop 22 caps from amazon, and I'm about to re-wire my Hagstrom Swede Les Paul. Going with a push/pull on the bridge to coil split, for that spanky tone for chicken picking though!

The 50's wiring is edgier. A nice edge on the tone. I like it better. Thanks.

50s for me - brighter and the sound "shimmers" - doesn't seem to decay as rapidly.

Good editing! I was looking for a 50's/modern shootout and this demo was great including the displayed knob settings. Going with the 50's scheme on an LPJ with a Fralin, P90 dog-ear. Should tame that beast a tad. They talk about getting sweet tone rolling off the volume on a single PU junior for a mellow tone. Not so much, it always cripples the highs. Mellow but dull. Tip - "Sprague" is pronounced with a long "A" like plague. "Sprog" made me kinda cringe. :)

A year later, I must say 50s wiring is best with vintage pedals like a Tone Bender or Maestro.

Hi there lefty brother :) What type of pots do you use? I mean, standard right handed or left handed ( reverse log / anti-logarithmic) ones? Cheers. Edit: I see they're std righty as I can see from the motion you do closing the volume knob.

50s sounds brighter and more alive

I'd be guessing but it seems to me you changed 300K linear volumes as installed by Gibson to 550K logarithmic CTS pots from BKP and found a big difference in the guitars sound and in the way the controls operate. There is really no mystery or voodoo associated with Centralab pots to that. This is simply what happens when you change from one value pot with linear response curve to a higher value pot with a logarithmic response. I'm beginning to think that this is where the myth of 'special' Centralab pots comes from. In the 50's Gibson used 500K log pots that happened to be from Centralab. Some years later and for a long period Gibson used 300K linear pots. That is all the 'magic' associated with the Centralab pots is.

The new wiring was just more...synthetic and plastic-y. The 50's are far more organic.

The 50s wiring is easier to listen to. Smooth frequency distribution. The modern wiring sounds harsh in comparison. To my ear it was similar to the difference between valve and solid state amps.

I'm confused; isn't the difference mainly seen when you lower the volume pots? I read that the main difference is that '50s wiring doesn't reduce brightness when you lower volume, but modern wiring does. You did a few tests with reduced guitar volume, but it seems to me that various volume levels should have been the focus of this test. The main difference I noticed, tho, was that the '50s wiring had lower volume at the same settings.