Hi Dave. Trev Wilkinson's reference to 'changing the wire' on the neck humbucker on Peter Green's Les Paul may well, I believe, not refer to replacing a the hook-up wire on the pickup from the original braided cable to a PVC covered cable, but to the type of wire with which one of the coils was rewound after developing a fault. The rewind was carried out by Sam Li, a well known London guitar repair guru of the 1960s. By all reports Sam was a wonderful craftsman, but his electronics skills sometimes left a little to be desired and I've heard some tales of his slightly dodgy soldering. The story goes that when rewinding the broken coil , instead of using 42AWG guage plain enamel coated wire (the correct spec for Gibson PAF pickups), Sam rewired the coil with heavy Formvar coated wire (as used for Fender pickups of that era) and may possibly have used slightly thinner 43AWG gauge wire. The result of this anomaly, together with the inadvertent reversal of the magnet may well be what resulted in the pickup's unique tone.
That would make a lot more sense. The wire running from the pickup to the controls couldn't have affected the sound. The distance is too short for any differences in resistance per foot, or capacitance per foot, would be negligible. But the wire the could is wound with, a definite difference. That's a very long length of wire, and the differences would be such as to be apparent.
If you just slacken the 4 screws a couple of turns you can push the magnet out from the wires end. Also if you mess around with the volume pots you get better results. Try the bridge on 8.5 and the neck about 4 whilst playing around the 8 to 12 frets, you should find a sweet spot.
Love this mod and have done it a few times myself but Ive never taken the screws right out of the bobbins, I just loosen then enough to slide the magnet out and turn it round, I use a screwdriver to push it out. In fact I didnt know you could take the screws right out so I might try it next time. ps. mind those thin wires, I ruined a Gibson Burstbucker doing this!! pps. a tip when taking the strings off, just loosen them place a capo on the first fret and then simply take the stop bar off, leaving the strings wound on to the machine heads.
You have always put out fantastic content imo , but just recently it's gotten even better which I didn't think was possible , thanks for everything Dave 👍
Varying the volume controls for each pickup is really important for nailing Peter's tone too. It's a while since I played a Les Paul with this mod, but I seem to remember the closest approximation to the Peter Green sound was with the neck pickup turned up to about 7 or 8, and then gradually bringing in the bridge up to about 4 or 5. I remember there was a definite sweet spot for the volumes where it just sort of all fell into place.
You can loosen both the 4 screws on the backplate and the 6 pole pieces without taking the backplate fully of, and can then swap the magnet around. Less risk of ripping those tiny little wires :) After I did the mod, I adjusted the pick up heights so both bridge and neck have about the same volume, and it sounds exactly how it should in the middle position :)
As always Dave AWESOME INFORMATION, I have every album of the original Fleetwood Mac with Peter Green when he Ruled the stage......absolutely love them !
Bare Knuckle Pickups do a set of Peter Green modded humbuckers. The PG Blues set. Tim Mills of Bare Knuckle agrees with Trev Wilkinson that Fender standard Formvar wire was used on the neck pickup as part of a repair. Pictures apparently exist of Greeny minus neck pickup. I'm not sure, but the direction of the wire wounding might be the opposite direction. I agree with you, Dave, that although the magnet flip works pretty well, the BKP and Lemon Drop pickups are a little closer. (I own a set of PG Blues and a Lemon Drop)
Dave talking Peter Green ? I'm in ! If there is one person I would trust to point me in the right direction it's Dave. Must go and dig my Vintage V100 out and mess.
So this 50.000 Pound replica is a lie. Well done, Gibson! What happens if you flip the other magnet? I never heard senseless nonsense from you, Dave, when you're talking about tech.
Brilliant! I have wanted to do this with one of my Les Pauls but have been afraid to do it......until now. I follow your instruction and wow! Its awesome. Thank you for everything Sir. You are a true gift.
I modded one of my guitars to get the Peter Green sound and I love it . I did mine much differently with the help of six string supplies I have a push push pot which activates the out of phase. I thought it was a safer option rather than flipping the magnet.
hi Dave i,m electrician i know how it works, you dont need to flip the magnet, its the relationship of the direction of turns of wire on the coils to the North and South of the Magnet. If you find the grounded wire from coils and use that as the signal Output, then use the original signal Output and ground that you have now reversed it. I also had this on my Jimmy Page replica Gibson (32 switching positions), I took it all off and went back to standered. Hope ive explained it ok.
Dave, A Great video here, you did a good job Man, I did the same thing to my 1960 Les Paul, It came out Good, It is A Great day when i see a video on my Hero, I got to see Peter when he was still with the Mac, when I was 16 years old, At the Eastown Theater in Detroit, The next year the Mac came back to the Eastown, The Kilnhouse album just came out, That is what the Mac played that night, I did not know that Peter had left the Band, I was wondering Where Is Peter? What's going on, anyway they played a Great Show, but I went home Brokenhearted, Cousin Figel
Dave, I don't mean to boast here, but this is my life story on British, Guitar players, I am showing my age here now, I saw the Beatles first American Tour, The Stones First Tour, Led Zeppelin, The Who first one, Jethro Tull was my Favorite in 1969, Humble Pie Was always Awesome, I Really Miss Mr. Steve Marriott, He had it all, That Voice was from the Soul Man, and he could play a Mean Guitar, I feel that he Is Forgotten in todays world, But Peter Green had a different way of playing and his Voice was Great, That touched me in a different way Keep on Rockin , Cousin Figel
Do people not angle their pickups so that they are higher on the high strings? I've always done that. I mean the strings are thinner, they have less pull & therefore less output. But that's where you solo from, that's how you accent chords, they also tend to take a lighter touch than the low strings just based on physics, why would you not want them louder?!
Hey up Mr s found this video interesting as hell...got the bug and had to try so I modded my epiphone Les Paul 1959 outfit...took a while to do😂😂my first time modding....works a bloody treat can't play like Mr green but sounds awesome...cheers dude
Well my original comment to my nephew ☝☝☝ was removed... probably cuz I said HEY!!!!! stop the fokkin car man ya peter green looking mofokka ya... do you have these in taupe... Well we will see how long this reply to my nephew ☝☝☝ stays... babafukkingow
1st off! This sir is an amazing video! I want to do that to my Deluxe Tele. Lol. It's a Squier affinity version so it didn't come with the wide range pickups. So I swapped them for some Tonerider PAFs. So I'm flipping the magnet. 2nd! Thank you! Thank you for showing that pristine Fender amp playing. I can listen to that all day. You ROCKED THIS OUT OF THE PARK. with the Blues of course. Cheers bud.
👍 Yep I hear the difference when tilt vs then flat…. I really like this video Dave and great tones. .. Dang!!! Every famous guitarist got their own settings achieved for success !
The wire Sam li put in probably had a different capacitance compared to the gibson braided wire hence a different sound. I can attest to this being true as I ordered a 30ft roll of cloth covered wiring the same wiring fender used in the 1950s-60s precbs days to use for some wiring jobs. When I installed the wire I couldn't believe how much the sound changed there was a better signal flow,more presence and a clearer high end. If you get a guitar and you don't like the sound try changing the wire inside.
I'm trying to nail a doomy guitar tone that sounds crunchy with power chords yet sounds fat on single notes almost like a cocked wah kind of sound. The band TROUBLE is either doing this by flipping the magnet in the humbuckers or are they doing something else like a fixed wah or is it just a frown on an EQ pedal. Listen to this and please tell me if you know what's going on because when I dial my orange super crush in to sound doomy on the single notes it ends up losing crunch when going back to palm mutes and I've been fighting with this with every amp pedal guitar and speaker cab combination and have spent thousands over the course of 13 years. Is it a Peter Green guitar mod? Is it a Michael Schenker mod or brian may red special wah pedal ? 13 years is a long time to be chasing the dragon so any help would be much appreciated so I can have the tone I want that matches my style of songwriting . Here is the sound I'm talking about: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-P-sj2RINqF4.html
I've done this Mod successfully on a Smiger Les Paul copy. I only wish I sounded like you when I play 😁 here's a link to the video I made of the Mod process, which differed slightly from your version. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-9cTWTfT07AA.html
do I need to be sitting on the floor to do that? BTW, you could just reverse polarity electrically by reversing the wires coming from the pickup. That's how they manage the pushpull pots and switches that gives both things : in phase and out of phase configuration.
Hi Dave, sorry for my off-topic question but I would like your valuable opinion on how I set up my V100 PG to have a greeny sound. centre position of the hb, volume and tone of the hb at 4 both at the handle and on the bridge. on the low roland cube the gain, at most the volume, reverb almost to the maximum and the choice amp type set to Brit. Could it be fine? I look forward to your advice and I apologise for the over topic. I thank you. Luigi
Great video Dave, I have a 2017 Gibson Les Paul Classic that's just begging for this mod. But my level of mechanical aptitude dictates that I will either: A: Completely destroy my guitar, or.. B: Lose a thumb
I’d like to compare the Greeny mod with just swapping polarity on the neck pickup. Correct me if im wrong but the special tone only happens on pickup switch on the middle?
Dave, you are so entertaining and inspirational to me, I would learn to play myself alldough I have no fingers. Well, that’s not actually true, but those I have is so old and stiff, that it would be as if I had none. At least in that context. Quite handy in other ways.
Brilliant video. I did this mod 20+ years ago but I wasn't aware of the different wire aspect or I suspect the more important angling of the pickups ... off to find a screwdriver to add that change ... many thanks.
Some other channel swore up and down you just flipped the magnet over, not spin it around. Please which is correct? Your way seems more logical. N and S couldn't be the thin way, but the opposite end lengthwise.
I was today's years old when through your vid I found I wanted my Les Paul to sound like this. So I did this mod spontaneously while watching and "Good Gravy!" does it sound cool! Not only Green-ish, but vintage warm in general. Great! Thanks!
WOW, brilliant Dave, considering the same mod to my brand new 50`s standard gibson lp what a difference cheers for this man, love to hear you play the bluesy stuff rather than the heavy sounds not really my bag . keep erm coming dave the world would be a poorer place without you👌🎸
Love the video Dave. The guitar sounds fantastic the way you play it. I'd love to see someone do an insane mod to the Rapier 44 or Revelation guitar to see how many diverse sounds (splitting, reversing etc) are possible. Make it happen please :-).
Dr Dave does it again. Top quality video, from my favourite youtube artist. I see that we both have the same sonic experience, when it comes to dual humbuckers. Much prefer them out of phase, in the middle position. When I've done this, I often remove some of the wax, to give a more vintage feel. And the other joy of it, is that you can have 5 sounds from it, by rolling off one of the volumes, cancels the out of phase and brings volume back up (to my ears)
I'm totally baffled here .. some people are flipping the magnet over and some are turning the magnet around.. what's the difference in flipping the magnet upside down as appose to keeping the magnet the same way up but turning it around 🤔
I bought the Monty guitars version of the peter green pickup a few months ago ... I just need a guitar to put them into, thinking of buying a les paul tribute honey burst. But that gold top guitar sounds great
Just did this mod along with placing the neck pickup on backwards and string wrap around the bridge. The middle position has a great tone but seems like a little less output than the other two positions.
I think is not the main braided wire that connects to the switch and controls, it is the winding wire on the coils of the pick up what is different and is also uneven winding, hence the unique tone
Great video Dave. Seeking some advice from anyone that knows the answer. I’ve just flipped the magnet in the neck pickup of my 2014 les Paul studio. It sounds out of phase now. My one query is the fact that both hum buckers have push pull coil taps. Should this affect this in any way? My ears are playing tricks on me and I’m really not sure if this mod has changed this adversely?
Hi Dave, thanks for the rad videos:) As we're on LP setups, how do you set your tailpiece height and whats your ideal height etc, am just setting up a nice old V100 and wondering if you have a method or any tips:) I have found the string tension seems less when the tail is higher which i prefer but just wondered if you had any technique to get it right?
I always believed the tech rewound one of the coils in reverse by mistake then turned the pickup around to try and cover up his faux pas ? PS I don't recognise the manufacturer on tbe headstock, what kibg of lea Paul is this chaps ,?
I followed the video and I believed it worked. For the most part. But I have a significant volume reduction in the 'out of phase' middle position. Hope I didn't mess it up. But I can always revisit this. Your video was greatly helpful though in demystifying the process.
@@thedavesimpson I found the problem...thanks to your video on 'the importance of Peter Greene's pickup height' video. I was looking closely and saw that I'd inadvertently reinstalled the pickup backwards. lol! Embarassing...but, switched it back around and it improved the sound. Now it works great. Am enjoying it on my Epi Vintage 57' Les Paul. Many thanks!!!
Dave which switch position do you favour on a Tele btw! I am new to the World of Tele,coming from humbucker world of epi LP and SG. LP being my fave,I can't get much I like from a Tele apart from some Blur covers sound good e.g tender,Beetlebum( love that) and coffee and TV. What really works for you I would like to know. Great to see you mod. So far all I've done is a belly cut on my Tele and a switch craft output jack on my sg.
Hi Dave, are those pickups in your East Coast the ones that came as 'standard' in the guitar when made? (From Andertons...?) Great video as always matey 👍🏻
Peter Green just had the neck pickup put in backwards, and wired in reverse. So instead of having the braid going to hot, replaced the wire. The different wire wouldn't change the tone at all, but would affect the noise level by removing the braid from the hot, which would pickup noise like an aerial. Edit: By reversing the magnet, you avoid that problem, so see no need to change the wire to an un-braided type.
I’m late to this post 🙄. This mod is great - so was Peter Green! I have done this to a Chibson and to an Epiphone Casino - P 90’s. With soldered on humbucker covers care must be taken not to warp the bobbins of the pickup. I did that and destroyed an Epiphone pickup - that was in the Chibson. I was gobsmacked it had a pair of Epi pickups in it tbh! 😳. I have a Tokai LP goldtop 50’s style P90’s. Broke one of the fine wires. I couldn’t be arsed trying or getting it fixed. So bought a set of Lollar 50’s replicas made out of phase. Superb pickups made that guitar unsaleable now or doubled its value depending what way the wind is blowing on the day - if ever I decided to sell it - not in my lifetime I don’t think! Btw - probably just my OCD but it is better with the pickup turned around - cable length permitting of course! I have a Gordon Smith dual humbucker semi hollow LP shape - maple neck - I wanted to ‘Greeny’ but those pick ups are epoxied or gooped beyond wax! I tried just turning the pick up around plenty cable - no out of phase without the magnet flip. I’m too stupid to know how or if it is possible to Greeny it via an alteration to the wiring so it is back as it was originally!🙄🫣🤣😂. Love your work Dave - you are making guitar nerds all over the globe happy! Long may you prevail we are lucky to have you! You’re on my list of dream people to have a pint with or a meal with - my shout if ever you make it to my yard / stomping ground…👍👏👏
I did this with one of my Customs but it didn't work. I couldn't tell any difference. Do you think its just the pups or did I do something wrong?....confused. Can you please offer any advice Mr. Simpson?
Well Sir I decided to try it with one of my Les Paul Standards. I never really liked the middle position on that guitar. I followed your instructions and wow! It definitely worked this time. Now I am in love with that guitar again. Still dont know why it didn't work on the Custom but it brought my old Standard back to life. It definitely has that nasal quack. Throw some dirt on it and its like having a new guitar. Thank you for teaching me and the rest of your fans how to do this. You are a true gift Sir. I appreciate your work very much. My poor old neglected Standard thanks you as well. 😊
Every one should do this to at least one guitar, I PG'd my Dean ML (Dime-Time & Dimebucker combo) and my trusty ES 135 (57 classic & Rebel90 combo). Really gave them something fun, and unorthodox in the middle. Top Notch!!
I thought for second you where going to sell it suspiciously cheap to Gary Moore?! 😉 I've flipped the magnet in my Epiphone '59 and it a great mod for a beautiful Midnight Blues/ Need Your Love So Bad tones 😊 ETA: that was one of my favourite pieces you 've done, absolutely smashed the Moore/ Greeny feeling with a nice dose of Simpson :D
The Greeny mod on the V100 Lemon drop was wired out of phase electronically (hot wire swapped to ground) instead of the magnet flip. Some people think it is exactly the same but it isn’t, you don’t get the same volume drop with the magnet flip and the honk sounds closer to Kirk’s original
Reminds me of Tennessee whiskey by Chris Stapleton 😊😊. Of course with the DS twist added. Hehehe When Dave gets into the zone Watch out Good stuff. 👍💯🎸🎸
Great interesting and informative video ,thank you! I´m just guessing aboute the "wire question" here: Could it be that they used 43 awg gauge instead of normally used 42 awg when winding the neck pickup ,just as they use the 43 awg for tele-neck pickups?
