What Is The '50s Wiring? | Guitar Tech Tips | Ep. 75 | Thomann 

Modded my Epi LP to 50's wiring today. A bit more tricky since it was a variation on the modern wiring. Caps on tone directly to ground and a wire between the tone and volume with the shielding used for ground. Had to disconnect the cores of the wire between the pots but kept the shielding for grounding as is. Fun job, learned a lot!

Interesting! Thanks Kris and friends for the upload. So in a nutshell, with 50s wiring, volume sweep is volume sweep without losing brightness yet tone sweep works like volume sweep in modern wiring (volume and tone goes together gradually). this is very handy! So I can do volume sweep for cleaning up gain and i could do tone sweep for mellowrr clean up.

Fantastic video, dude... thanks so much !

A “must to do” mod! I did it on my SG (60s wiring) and the improve was astonishing specially on neck pickup (more clear and open) and now I have a bigger palette sounds in middle position… AMAZING! Thank you for the vid! ✌🏼

Great video. I just wired my Epiphone Junior to the 50’s specs and your video confirmed there is a little more “spank” and clarity to the pickup. Thanks man.

Bridge Modern Vol 10 2:13 Bridge 50s Vol 10 2:44

Excellent! i could use both wiring styles. 50's on the neck and modern on the bridge. For me, the neck is the pretty sound and the brighter low volume sounds better matched to the louder volume because i want clean+detail. For me, the bridge is for driving effects and amps and the contrast as you bring it up helps the impact of the pedal or amp distortion/drive. I want that sound to rise up from the mud and scream. I have an LP studio from 2000. i have already split the pickups by completely removing the pickup selector switch from the circuit. the neck pup is wired to the 1/4" jack. i then drilled a tiny hole in the backplate to thread a cable with a connector (thin RCA type) for the bridge. the sound is actually cleaner and the guitar is dead silent AND i can run 2 complete effects chains. So i will do this modification. either way, i only have to modify one pickup wiring because one is correct and one is not correct. If you are interested, i made one small test video on my music channel with the 2 separate pickups and a vocoder controlled by a 12-step on the floor. it was just an ad-lib jam, but you can hear the different sound of the 2 effects chains. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-FOo1SW0zSR0.html (i was rebuilding my keyboard stand and i had no keyboard to play haha) tchuB! (ps. the first pedal in one of the chains is a black arts toneworks pharaoh supreme. it has 2 tone controls that can keep the highs in, which is great for keyboards. it is dead silent too. best fuzz on the planet that no one knows about)

Many thanks, easy fix - incredible tone change!

Great video Kris. Would love to see the same done on a strat!

That was incredible brother. I cant believe the tone difference. The highs are so constant. Amazing. Great video.

Good one! I would be interested in seeing your analysis of another LP wiring mod that makes the two volume pots independent when your PU selector is in the middle. Apparently that has a detrimental side effect of cutting high end, but also apparently this can be mitigated with a treble bleed cap.

I could only tell the difference in the neck pickup. Love to see you guys having fun making these videos. Thanks Nathan

I was going to try this and then realized my Paul already has this wiring. Win!

Great video Kris! This is actually a no brainer for a LP guitar which NEVER lacks low-end. Something that you did not comment on and was also evident is that the sound with the volume on 10 also changes. I felt like there was more clarity and note definition.

Great mod and an improvement to the tone overall. Would like to see it on a Strat as well!

Nice video, mostly easy to understand, and looks like a very simple mod. Thanks for this. - My question is - when you play on the neck pickup, are those changes in the titles supposed to be for volume and not tone?

With volume at 10 , Neck pickup with 50 wiring sounds brighter and clearer than volume 10 on modern wiring. Is that real or im hearing things??

Very useful on guitars with P90 where you can set your amp in overdrive and go from clean to drive with the volume pot !

*sorry for my English. Great presentation, very nice playing too! I wired my humble hollow body Epiphone IBJL Casino (made in china) to the '50s specs wired from Gibson. Definitely more snappy, clarity & less bassy bottom end I think, with kind a "airy" vibe especially in the neck & middle position switch. I much much prefer the '50s Gibson wired specs than the modern ones for my Epiphone hollow body solid guitar. Thank you very much indeed, Sir. Keep Rock & Roll !

You skipped the important explanation of why the 50’s wiring is so great: you can dial in your Overdrive to be explosive at full volume and then use your volume knob to clean up your tone. Now all your tone variations are at your fingertips. If the volume only turns down your amplification but keeps the tone unchanged then you don’t have this fantastic feature.

I am a fan of Gibson 50s wiring, I also use this wiring In a tele, if you use volume and tone controls it had tons of different tones, vrs modern wiring, the volume and tone controls are interactive, and that is both good or bad depending how you look at it, 50s wiring does offer a huge tonal pallet if you use volume tone controls, it will do nothing if you stay at 10 all the time.

What a coincidence. I just finished cutting a step by step tutorial video how to make a 50s wiring harness from scratch and how to install it today at 2am. That's going to be released next week. I put it in my Harley Benton SC-550, and I really like it there with an amp on the edge of breakup. I really like that lick you're using on the neck PU demo, I think I'll have to slow that video down and borrow a little bit. :) Cheers, Martin

Hello Kris! My order from Thomann can arrive tomorrow, (Ironball SE). Let's see! :).

Nice video Kris. I picked up an 'inspired by gibson' Epiphone 50's LP Goldtop last week and its supposed to have 50's wiring, so wondered if have you ever opened one up at Thomann to check its been done correctly ?

Hola Kris, gracias por el video, increíble la diferencia, tengo exactamente la misma guitarra que muestras Gibson Gold Top 50' pero no me atrevo a hacerlo jajaja. Ojalá pronto nos puedas enseñar en un nuevo video a instalar un Capacitor Treble Bleed en un potenciómetro de volumen de una Fender Stratocaster por favor. Saludos en la distancia y gracias!!!

I wish you put the sounds side by side immediately, than all of the modern before moving to the 50's. Clearly though there is a great difference in the 50's and modern wiring,,,thanks a lot for the video

I recently changed to a 50s' harness in my Les Paul as the neck pickup was way too muddy when rolling the tone down and....well, it is not any more :) I was so used to the mud that for the first few seconds there after the change I thought the tone pot was not working...lol...However there is more than meets the eye. The tone pot interacts with the volume pot as well now so it can get darker as you roll off both pots, which means more tones available. AND, despite the fact there should be minimal change when all is at 10, honestly as you have a bit LESS circuit in the input of the volume pot, there is defo a bit more clarity even when everything is at 10.

very cool

Great video. Guitars without a treble bleed frustrate me. What rating on the capacitor?

This the upgrade I'm looking at on my Vintage V100 , the 50's wiring would give it a definite improvement in tone, like all imports getting rid of those cheaper pots and wiring,

Thanks for the video. The 50s wiring is much better in my opinion. You said it was trickier on a Strat which is what I want to do this mod on. Can explain why? Thank you again and great job! All the best!

I just did this mod to my Epiphone yesterday and it's like night and day. For 5 years I never touched the tone or volume knob because I hated how they completely changed the sound. With this mod it's way more usable. I use the neck pickup for overdriven sounds and have volume and tone rolled all the way down on the bridge for a slightly boosted clean sound. Really easy to switch between them now.

Yes...Without a doubt.

50’s wiring is the absolute best tone wise for me and my customers. You also get a killer cocked wah tone with the tone at zero and the volume cranked and the tone pot sweep seems much more gradual and usable throughout its entire range. Great Video!! 👏🏻

So other than volume roll off, will this help get nore bottom and highs in general

50's wiring as it's called (actually both way's were used) is a mistake electronically. It doesn't actually keep it brighter, it alters the mid resonant freq. Problem is it makes the tone control useless. In fact it acts almost like a volume and really screws the taper of the volume pot. This among other things is why everybody abandoned it for the correct way,( cap on input lug of vol pot ). I just turn my guitar to 8 or 9 adjust my tone then if I turn guitar all the way up, just back off the tone a couple. This way I maintain the proper function of the controls and keep even tone. If you dont use your tone I guess it doesn't matter, but if that's the case just disconnect it then no cap at all. And if you keep tour guitar vol on 10 all the time either way is the same as the 2 lugs on the vol are shorted together. I still know people who haven't advanced to actually using both vol and tone knobs yet. Hell, Eddie had no tone control at all. Some very good pro's like R.Ford keep both on 10. He just seems to use clean and dirty for the changes. If you play with other guitars in the band that's not allway's a good option. It also really screw's up the middle position on a 4 knob set up like an LP.

To fix the taper on the volume pots add a 130k resistor between lugs 1&2 on each volume pot. Same sweet sound but a more useable volume pot range.

What is the difference or benefit of a treble bleed and the 50s wiring?

How does this 50s wiring impact the middle position?

Hi Kris, can you make a video about parallel wiring pickups? Nice and useful video (as always). Thanks... and keep doin' this, I/we are grateful. 🤘

Hey Kris, as usual a nice and interesting video. Do you think it might make any sense to do it on a P bass? Thank you mate

So 50s wiring basically kills a lot of tone roll off when using the tone knob, is what I'm hearing, but you don't lose more treble when tuning down the volume knob,not sure if the trade off is worth it, if you are use to modern wiring and you use your tone knob a lot, like I do, I do like the treble coming thru when you turn down,I'd think about adding a few mini switches, to go back and forth between the two,that might work for me.

These timings should allow one to do direct A/B comparisons for a particular pickup/Pot setting back to back. For me, the 50s wiring sounds slightly brighter and cleaner than the modern wiring sounds. My question is, is it easier to subtly control the knobs with the 50s or the modern wiring? Bridge Pickup Modern Pot at 10 2:12 50s Pot at 10 2:43 Modern Pot at 7 2:24 50s Pot at 7 2:54 Modern Pot at 4 2:33 50s Pot at 4 3:03 Neck Pickup Modern Pot at 10 3:13 50s Pot at 10 3:45 Modern Pot at 7 3:25 50s Pot at 7 3:56 Modern Pot at 4 3:35 50s Pot at 4 4:06

Is the sound identical on full volume and full Tone between modern and 50s wiring?

Any thoughts on removing the shielding vs keeping it? I did this exact mod and my guitar sounds different. What about the shielding?

Hi Kris, As a tech I'm more used to using schematics to understand a circuit, even a basic hand drawn diagram would help thanks. p.s IMHO the 50s wiring is best, better highs.

I wired up my sg this way but I noticed that when I grounded the middle lugs on the tone pots, putting the tone pots to 0 causes the thr volume of the pickup to be zero. Is that right???

Hey great video Kris! I just switched my Heritage H535 over to 50s wiring but it's taking some getting used to. I love what it does for the neck pickup clarity, but now the bridge pickup is super bright and I find myself having to turn the bridge tone knob all the way down to 2ish to make it useable and not piercing. Is this normal? Any tips for dialing in a rig that uses 50s wiring? Cheers!

I've got 50s wiring in my new Gibson 335, and I'm not a fan. I'll probably have it switched. I don't like my volume to decrease so much and my tone to decrease so little when I dial back my tone knob. If you play with your tone wide open, it's probably a good mod for you. But, it's not for everybody.

This LP has the lug in the centre of the plate, how is that wired in??

on 50's wiring... is not supposed to be a volume loss when you roll off the tone knob? I did not notice any... or at least, it was not evident. Your thoughts? Greetings!

So I bought a 50’s wired Les Paul a few months ago, based on how it felt and sounded. I am relatively new to guitars (I’m a cellist). The B string was buzzing due to age, so I replaced the set. The brand new A string appears to be hitting the frets at times now. Same gauge, but different brand. I was surprised by this. Any comments?

Nice. But why are there 600V types of condensators in the guitar? The 100V type would be sufficent as well, they are much smaller and I find them much easier to handle in those tight cavities. ;-) I am also investigating the two wirings where the volume pots influence both pickups when the pickup switch is put to middle position VS the one where they dont do this. I prefer the later by a mile.

Kris, this is really interesting. How would something like this work or would it even work on say my Charvel or Ibanez that has 2 humbuckers and one volume one tone?

My pots on my les paul standard are so different then this I’m totally lost on where to start? Anyone have any ideas it’s like the first lug has the cap going to middle ? Using les Paul standard 50s?

Hello all. Would this be recommended for an SG? Thank you.

Cool tip, Kris!! How does this affect the clean up using a fuzz pedal? Cheers!! 🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻

I wonder how one may combine this with the grease bucket tone pot schematic... Any one has an idea?

Please can you help I am trying to find the diagram for Frank Zappa is Roxy SG as I am building my own version of his guitar but would love some help

I and thanks for the video I don't understand if when all the pots are fully at 10, the tone is changing with the different wiring

Hi and thanks for the video. I use a passive volume pedal. Will the 50's wiring sound be effected by going through the volume pedal?

I had already posted a question about the 50s wiring on the last video where you mentioned it. Sadly I did not get an answer there, so I'll try my luck again under this video. This was the original post: " I have recently gifted my LP style guitar with Kloppman HB60s (damn do they sound good) and as suggested by Kloppmann, also changed my wiring from modern to 50s. When swapping the PUPs one volume pot got "grilled" and I had to replace it. I decided to replace all of them for audio taper CTS pots. Now the thing is that my volume pots act kinda weirdly; Turning them down with a clean tone results in an immense volume drop in the first few percent of the pot and then gradually getting less until no signal is left. It works a little better with a distorted sound where it cleans up a little more gradual but still with a pronounced effect in the first few percent. I did play the guitar for a couple of minutes after just swapping the PUPs and not the pots and I feel like recalling that the volume pot acted more gradual before replacing it for CTS pots but that also just be my memory playing a trick on me. My other hypothesis is, that the weird control behaviour of the volume pots comes from "tuning" them. I measured them before soldering them in and some were a little off of the recommended 500k ohms, so I opened the pot and gave the carbon track a bit of light sanding with 0000 steeel wool to bring them up to 500k. (The neck pot to 580 to give it less sag and a bit of a clearer tone). But then again I don't think this really explains the control behaviour of the pots because it feels really much the same for both pots. Is it just the 50s wiring that works this way? Sorry for the long text :D Would be really glad to get some insight from you on this topic, Kris! Liebe Gruesse aus Bayern!"

For Every 2 Tone 2 Volume I Own, I Always Change the Factory Wiring Scheme Into 50s. LP | ES-335 | L5-CES | ES-175 And Many To Mention. But When It Comes to SG, I Prefer A 60s Wiring Which is way different from Factory Schemed 60s. Wiring. Only Difference to 50s, is the Capacitor's Log Insert.

I dropped off my les paul 2016 stand t , and the harness was a mess, like a garden of wires. .the tech and I were like wow...having the 50s wiring done, new potd and capacitors

That's right before '60s and '70s wiring right?

I thought the ‘50s’ wiring seemed to retain more treble. I liked it better. Is there any downside to this wiring? Why did ‘they’ stop using this approach? Thanks for the great video(s)!

I both done it on my strat and LP.. no need for treble bleed 💪

Interesting. I wonder why they did this change originally? Was it cost-driven?

I will do this today I have a PCB board in my sg and it sucks...

Some more trebles to hear in the 50s wiring.

hello 50`S mode, can continue to use Treble Bleed?

no Bumble Bee caps necessary?

Why did they stop using 50s wiring for production?

Chris, i just got the most resonant beautiful Gibson les paul standard 50s, i had money in hand to buy a custom shop but the standard was that good, so i bought it... My friend Dave Stephens sent me a set of his famous Stephens design pafs..and real deal bumble bees...They sound amazing, my question is does Gibson now use 500k pots? bc im gonna put 50s wiring in and need to know if i should buy 500k pots, or does the new standard have 500k's? they say they do, but i have to ask a pro..thanks

cool! one question: why did manufacturers went to modern wiring? In you video, the 50s wiring sounds noticeably better. Wat was their reason fro abandoning 50s wiring?

What would you recommend switching in my epiphone 50s standard in order to get that gibson 50s sound? Is it wiring, plus orange capacitor, plus 498t gibson pick up? Anything else im missing? Also what can i expect to pay a luthier for the labor itself? Also would this get that Gibson sound ? What brand of wire and orange capacitor do you recommend

The 50's wiring sounds weird to me to be honest, I like actually additional tones the modern wiring gives by filtering frequencies with the volume pot. Also the modern wiring has more highs/hi-mids on 10 than 50's one.

I assembled an LP Studio from random parts, 490r and 498t pickups, and yes , for the heck of it used vintage tapervpots, and a vintage wiring scheme. Was very happy with the results, sounds like a high end vintage Les Paul. Why was this practice ever abandoned, people are missing out on a Beautiful soun

I have a les Paul Standard from 2021 and it has the 50's wiring. If I roll back the volume from 10 to 8, i have literally zero high end, its only mud and no definition. Maybe looking for a treble bled mod because otherwise the volume knobs are absolutely unusable. Can't understand why this isnt solved better for over 2k...

Is this a good idea with P90s as well?

Just go modern wiring with a Seymour Duncan style treble bleed

Hey, better compare same volume levels on different wirings.

And what about 50s wiring in strats and teles?

I definitely heard a difference

50S IS BETTE R BECAUSE YOU COULD PUT THE VOL DOWN AT HOME AND YOU WILL NOT LOSE THE HIGH COMPARE TO THE MODERN WIRE LAYOUT

What amp are you using

I have a silly question. Why would a person want the modern wiring? Must be some advantage to it.

Why did they ever switch to modern wiring in the first place? I can’t understand the benefit.

Hi great work... and if I have a LP with three Humbuckers? like J. Page...?

Big difference, makes me wonder why guitar makers went away from it.

Is this the way it came from Gibson? If so, i guess Gibson do not know how it is set up on the 50s wiring. I called them to confirm this wiring but they said it it wired like 50s and not modern

You just rolled off the vol after moding the tone ... and here is the "fat tele" sound . 50s lp sound comes from the wiring ..

My friend you go to fast while showing the soldering I really couldn’t make out to which pole you soldered the condenser on the tone pot and this is A real pity because you have such A nice Voice to listen to do everyone A favor and either include the wiring diagram or explain it more slowly for the monkeys under us like me to not have to replay six times to get the picture? I have just run into problems with my les Paul guitar something which really didn’t happen before to me but I am thinking the issue is with the value of my condensers they’re 0,0473 uf and I am thinking that it should be like original les Paul guitar 0,022 Uf but I am not really 100% certain

Sorry, I don't speak "Follow what I'm doing in this video". Can you give us a schematic?

☝50's wiring ist auf jeden fall mal schon 10 mehr als das 40's wiring🤭

And what could this "modern" wiring be good for if I have "to fix it" by myself when I buy a new Les Paul? The damn thing is expensive enough to have a proper and usable wiring!

Creamy

Unfortunately when demoing the Neck pup, you turned down the Tone pot NOT the Volume! You did the opposite for the Bridge pup! = Useless comparison!

It's '50s. Not 50's. The apostrophe is to indicate the missing characters (19). There's no apostrophe in the word "fifties".

Why did they make modern wiring? It sucks!