50's Wiring vs Modern Wiring

Taking a hands on approach to comparing different ways to wire a tone capacitor circuit. Do you prefer the predictability linear changes of modern wiring? Or the more subtle adjustments possible only with 50's wiring?
All sounds are through my Super Deluxe preset for the Fractal FM9
You can download this FM9 preset at my store today:
bigskytoneworks.company.site/

[@justynodowd4267]

Just did this to my Squier Sonic Tele and brought it to life thank you

[@rickhansson6628]

Beautiful playing!

[@jamesmccaffrey8409]

Thanks for sharing! Super insightful

[@gjtube37]

Thanks for the video. This was very helpful! This is exactly what I want to do and I appreciate the wiring diagram! All the best!

[@blueeyephil]

Thanks for doing this comparison.

[@WolfGuitarsandGear]

My pleasure!

[@rll1971]

Great demonstration! I’m going to give 50s wiring a shot in my Zach Meyers.

[@Troi1984]

That Tele you built, sounds fantastic.

[@gordkilpatrick3451]

I have an inspired by Gibson, Epiphone Les Paul. 50’s edition with 50’s wiring .Gold top of course!) I love the sounds I can get. I have four other double humbucker guitars and I can say 50’s wiring can get you better tones and more sounds.

[@stephancarroll7260]

I don't get that warm sustain out of my strats thanks for posting

[@bluesman5049]

A good representation of the difference in tone. I've always liked the vintage style of wiring, but listening to your recording, I somehow notice that the modern way of wiring, although it reduces the high tones, has more space for coloring the tone, has more mid tones, somehow it's typical for HB PU, that's why they are HB , fatter, fuller tone. I will certainly transfer to modern - it will be the first time I do so.

[@paoloborella6975]

Saludos desde Argentina en español. Seguro Ustedes pueden traducirlo 👍Ok me resultó my útil éste tutorial: poseo una Telecaster American Vintage 52 del año 2000. Mi primera duda era si la posición del medio era solo la pastilla del neck y la confirmé al estar el Bridge mudo. Mi segunda duda era si el control de tono no era en realidad un control de mezcla. Está ahora claro que es un Tone control que afecta al volumen en la posición Bridge. En mi guitarra baja casi totalmente el volumen de la pastilla del Bridge. Ahora entiendo la función sutil de control de volumen con el control de tono entre 5- 7 y 5 - 3. Excelente video muy útil y orientado a la creatividad de las Telecaster's con circuito antiguos 👍🎸

[@paoloborella6975]

Roy Buchanan Ton's 👍🎸

[@skeres01]

50's all the way. Thanks for the comparison.

[@spokes28]

As I don’t play metal I do not care for the dark or muddy sound, but video makes me wonder what do you think of the idea of wiring the neck pickup in 50s style and the bridge pickup in modern style? Thank you.

[@WolfGuitarsandGear]

Wouldn’t work on a 2 knob guitar like a tele, but on a Les Paul or other guitar with independent tone knobs you certainly could. It really boils down to your preference and how you use the knobs

[@mihailmilev9909]

@@WolfGuitarsandGear thanks

[@qua7771]

I use a push/pull pot to add resistance to the capacitor, or take it out of the circuit.

[@avivpinto4013]

On full volume I like the modern wiring...i noticed when i switched from modern to fiftees on full volume the modern had more mids and thickness.

[@WolfGuitarsandGear]

Always comes down to preference.

[@avivpinto4013]

@@WolfGuitarsandGear yep. prefer the fiftees

[@MAP448]

I'm a little confused about the difference in the placement of the capacitors in this video & another 1 of your videos thar I just watched about dependent vs. Independent wiring schemes. In that video the placement of the caps was #2 lug on the tone->ground on the tone pot. In all of the wiring schemes that I've been able to find about the 50's & the modern wiring schemes will have the caps placed either on the #1/#2 lugs on the volume pot connected to the #1/#2 lugs on the tone pots. I guess that's my question & I may have gotten the #'s of the lugs incorrect, I'm not sure exactly, that's a huge difference to me having the caps only connected to the tone pot lug->to ground on that tone pot vs. Having the caps connected to the volume pots as well as the tone pots. Can you please explain the differences to me about that particular topic please?

[@brianmckenzie1318]

+1 That is an excellent question!! I was wondering the same. My new guitar has the orange drop capacitor connected to lug #2 and to the top of the pot on the tone pot. Other diagrams show capacitor connected "between" the volume and tone pots, so wonder what the difference is? I'm guessing my guitar is wired with 50's wiring scheme as I get all this odd interaction between the volume and tone that I'm not used to. Seymour Duncan has a private "tech" forum in their pickup installation course. It's been a while since I've been in there, so I'll go nose around there to see if I can find a answer.

[@brianmckenzie1318]

Matthew, search on topic "Guitar DIY - Soldering A Capacitor" at Seymour Duncan. At the first of the video, they are saying if you have a wire between the vol & tone (ie. lug #1 to lug #3 (since they are facing each other), that determines how the capacitor is connected. In that case the capacitor is connected from lug #2 (middle lug) to the top of the tone pot. I think I've determined my guitar must be 50's wiring and I am not used to how it reacts between vol & tone. I just replaced all my pots as I thought something was wrong....and I have the same results as the originals. Duh...I guess I will learn from mistakes! LOL! I may go back an change to "modern" wiring.

[@coryfeldman-hz2yj]

"I always say taking about music is like farting about painting" -pickles the drummer

[@donf3877]

A little late to the party but, can you tell me if the 50's wiring can be done on a Strat... where there is two tone controls, but only one volume?????

[@nahuelrocker]

Yes

[@geraldponce8336]

Be nice to know what you are playing?

[@brianmckenzie1318]

Is this scenario normal for 50's wiring? Knob settings: volume on 10 and tone rolled completely off (that dark tone you don't care for). Soon as I roll the volume back , somewhere between 8 & 9, some of the highs "re-appear" in the sound.

[@WolfGuitarsandGear]

Yes. The knobs interplay quite a bit. And 50’s wiring stays brighter and more useable through the entire sweep. Also interesting that if both knobs are tuned down a bit and you roll the tone back up the volume goes back up.

[@guitarhobbywithdannythemedic]

Vitamin D

[@utahprepper8925]

This is really not a fair comparison. You need to demonstrate both wiring types using similar guitars. A Tele wired in this fashion is nothing like a Les Paul or 335 wired in the 50's scheme.

[@WolfGuitarsandGear]

Yeah not the same, but it’s not about apples to apples but about functionality and I don’t have every guitar under the sun. Just trying to demonstrate the difference in how the tone knobs operate which is true regardless of pickup/ guitar type

[@walt1748]

50's sounds much more useful

[@WolfGuitarsandGear]

I much prefer it

[@awwnawmang]

too ... much ... talking. this should be 4 min video with comparisons and leave the diagrams up!

[@WolfGuitarsandGear]

Thanks for the feedback

[@theonegoose]

Keep the talking and lecture in with the demonstration. This stuff is excellent for people who are not entirely sure what is going on.

[@RobertMurphy-wm3ge]

Pipe down and learn

[@johncollins5552]

Thanks for the helpful video Wolf. Covid is a c***t and it made an awful lot of money for a handful of Big Pharma companies didn't it! Funny that.😢