Stephens Design Pickups 50's Les Paul Wiring Tutorial Part Two

[@andrewdarnley4608]

The clearest explanation of wiring a Les Paul on KZbin. Thanks so much for the detailed stills with closeups of the process. AAA + overall

[@SDPickups]

Also very useful for Chinese metric Les Pauls, the extra steps needed. I got tired of trying to explain the process so did the video to reduce email ;-) Glad it. helped you...

[@thebutton7932]

yeah, I totally agree. this is invaluable, detailed information, and thank you for taking the time and considerable effort to compile and share this.

[@SDPickups]

thanks I like to share what I know as I learn things myself.

[@hkguitar1984]

@@SDPickups Great video. I sent the link for your video to a friend who lives across the country and I can't be there in person to assist him, your video is the next best thing. I'd like to add some information for you to consider. Before applying soldering iron heat to the back of the pots I'll usually rotate the shaft fully CCW. This way the position of the wiper riding on the carbon resistance film is back out of the normal operational range. This way should excessive heat be applied any possible damage to the wiper/carbon film is at the zero position as apposed to possible damage occurring in the middle of the operational sweep. Its something my instructor mentioned when I was in the Air Force Electronics Repair School. I just wanted to pass that along as well as get your opinion on that practice. I can't really tell if it works or not because I've learned to not over-heat the pots during soldering, but for a new person that is watching your videos it may be helpful, YES? Also, love your choice of capacitors, IMHO PIO Capacitors seem much more rich and musical as compared to a sterile sounding Orange Drop Polyester/Polypropylene construction types. Just my $.02 Cents.

[@hectorGomez-y6j]

This is the most detailed explanation available, thanks! 🙏

[@SDPickups]

Hope it helps you. Upgrading junky harnesses like Gibson makes, is the first step to getting better tones.....Even with cheap Epiphones from China gives dramatic results....

[@orbitaljellyfish808]

As it turns out my 2014 R8 didn’t have the switch wiring with the white inner wrap. BYOG sells a pre-soldered harness with plenty of correct wire, switchcraft switch and only $40. Tough to beat that price, and the tone noticeably improved with more of the ineffable PAF openness, without any harshness. 👏👏

[@littlesister3477]

Man , I've always prided myself on doing any job asked of me clean and professional, ,This is about as clean and professional of a job as I have ever seen, Great work, Also the video was absolutely spot on in explaining your steps and procedures with amazing clarity, thank you for helping boost my confidence that I will be able to do a spot on job wiring up the guitar I just built, I will of course practice my soldering prior to and your tips with the cardboard template helped solve a mystery problem I had . I built a Rockabilly hollow body guitar kit just for fun with my son ion law and there is no access hole in the rear of the body to help install all the electronics ,obviously they need to be put in prior to assembling everything else, It's totally possible but was a tight fit all the same, Putting it all together on the template like that showed me a great way to have it custom soldered into position for easy installation, Thanks so much, YOU ROCK MAN.

[@SDPickups]

Guitars with no rear access usually have F-holes like a 335, so the harness has to be wired to feed thru those holes, its a pain in the butt to do, but possible. My soldering skills are fair, it was hard to solder and hold a camera at the same time so some of them I had to do over, but thanks.

[@littlesister3477]

SDPickups Your right on point, The F holes are there , Also my son in law has tiny hands and was able to get the thing together with relative ease, I'm 6'4' 310 lbs with lets just say not the smallest hands in the world

[@TACOVAN]

thanks for this. what a great help these videos were to me!

[@SDPickups]

I did it for YOU :-) Thanks.

[@johnbarber3499]

Finally a real Pro doing this job the right way, Thank You Dave.

[@SDPickups]

Thanks. Please note I don't recommend the Jensen Copper Foil tone caps anymore. Their quality suddenly died a couple years ago. Mojotone Vitamin T 600volt is what I use now.

[@7kcabs891]

awesome tutorial Dave, thank you. any chance you could make a video of a Gibson hardware change out to vintage specs?

[@SDPickups]

No, I did all that already and really don't want to put the junk hardware back on to make a video. But here's my list of hardware thats vintage correct materials or sounds like vintage materials, for you.... HARDWARE RECOMMENDATIONS TO GET CLOSE TO WHAT VINTAGE LES PAULS HAD ON THEM: Faber ABRH bridge, these are the closest I could find to vintage, but the sad truth is that NO ONE makes an actual accurate replica, so if you want vintage ABR1 bridge tone you have to buy an original with brass saddles dated '63 or earlier. www.faberusa.com/product-category/faber-bridges/faber-abr-59-bridges/faber-abrh-bridges/ Brass thumbwheels 6-32 in correct brass alloy: www.philadelphialuthiertools.com/bridge-and-tailpieces/brass-abr-1-bridge-thumbwheels-with-fine-knurling-fits-usa-gibson-nickel/ Brass posts: www.philadelphialuthiertools.com/bridge-and-tailpieces/brass-abr-1-bridge-thumbwheel-posts-for-usa-gibson-nickel/ Vintage length long stud bolts in steel: www.philadelphialuthiertools.com/bridge-and-tailpieces/replacement-nickel-tailpiece-mounting-studs-vintage-length-1-1-2-overall/ Vintage length stud bolt anchors in steel: Unfortunately no one is making these correctly at this time. Kluson aluminum lightweight stop bar-don't use their bolts they are short modern, use the long vintage bolts above and use the long anchors, those are correct vintage lengths and will give you more sustain: www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-USA-Made-Kluson-Vintage-Lightweight-Aluminum-Stop-Bar-Tailpiece-Nickel-/271541372447?hash=item3f3920861f:g:o48AAOxyx0JTiXbr

[@JASQ-b4m]

Great content, thanks. Just to clarify. linear pots are for volume and taper /audio for tone? thanks

[@SDPickups]

Linear are for volume pots and audio for tone pots. BUT, in vintage Les Pauls, no linear pots were used. I use all audio pots in my harnesses. Gibson uses linear because their pickups are so bad.

[@bassplyrbobo]

Great visual video ...unfortunately still no idea what goes where and why.

[@SDPickups]

You have to watch BOTH videos.

[@phydauex]

Clean! Nice work Dave.

[@guitararnie6092]

Thank you for such a clear, concise tutorial.

[@thegolfnut812]

When I measure the resistance of my pups I get 7.77 Neck / 8.13 Bridge. When I plug in a chord and measure the resistance using the switch I get 14.02 Neck & 8.37 Bridge. I've checked the continuity and it all checks out fine. Could the switch be bad?

[@SDPickups]

Measure out the jack and do NOT measure in middle switch position, just switch down for bridge and all the way up for neck. Middle position you will get nonsense readings. If thats not it, you've got something wired wrong. Can't tell from here. Let me know.

[@chazmichaels5058]

awesome tutorial Dave, thank you. any chance you could make a video of Gibson hardware change out to vintage specs?

[@AmIonArock]

Thank you very much for this 2 pt. set of videos showing how to wire up a Les Paul. The pictures and the notes, best out there on the net. Good Job!

[@SDPickups]

I kind of did it out of self protection ;-) I won't sell my pickups if someone is going to put them in a stock Gibson harness, they would be so dumbed down by that junk, players would complain.

[@orbitaljellyfish808]

SDPickups thanks for the excellent vid. Just saw your comment below explaining that all the stock harnesses are not exactly the greatest ;) thanks again

[@jamesgretsch4894]

I like this video. I am learning a lot but you say the ground wire is 22 awg cloth covered wire with the cloth taken off then you solder it to the three insulated braided wires then you say make sure you put cloth over the ground wire. My question is why take the cloth off in the first place if you have to put it back on? Why not just take off enough to expose the ends where you solder it to the three braided wires? I don't understand taking off all the cloth insulation of the wire just to add it back after. What did I miss? Thanks

[@SDPickups]

Yeah, that was when I did back then, you can keep the cloth on and slide it partly off and cut it to the right length. I also don't use those Angela caps anymore either, they just went bad a couple years ago...

[@stratman9449]

nice tutorial....enjoyed that....will put it to use myself sometime... ;-)

[@frpax]

What wire stripper are you using that just cuts the braided part? I need that tool! Thx

[@SDPickups]

Stripmaster from Ideal Ind. 16 to 22 AWG wire sizes. The model numbers are different now, but they still make these, mine are probably 15-20 years old now, They last forever.

[@gutbucket260]

Just wired in some new Alnico 2 pickups on my Firebird 50's style. Would never go back to modern style harnesses.

[@shadracastrat]

I followed the video (great work by the way) and installed a new set of pickups caps switches and pots everything switched on and sound from both pickups great. However I'm finding the tone pots don't seem to make any diffence to the sound at all whether on 10 or 0. Have I missed something could the caps be dead?

[@SDPickups]

Lee james You did something wrong. Go back over the entire video and check every single thing you did against what I did. You may have a dead solder joint is my guess.

[@SDPickups]

Well you did something wrong, you just have to go over the diagram with a fine tooth comb, check all your soldering joints, and make SURE that there are no wires contacting other wires, like the cap wires shorting out on the bus wire etc. etc. Its easy to make a mistake but sometimes hard to find what you did wrong, been there done that, LOL.

[@buddybeetle]

Many thanks for this Dave. I thought I remember seeing on a different thread somewhere you saying that upgrading the shielded toggle switch wire to correct 50s gauge was important in the pursuit of improved tone. Did I remember correctly and do you have any thoughts on that ? Many thanks.

[@SDPickups]

Watch my series "The Les Paul That Isn't" I talk about the braided wire and the fact that Gibson has been using the wrong cheap braid instead of accurate type.....

[@DrDofenschmirz]

Great video! One Question: some videos shot not the middle leg of the tone pot soldered but one of the outside ones. Does it matter?? And if it does, what happens when u do it wrong? Tnx!

[@SDPickups]

Am not sure, I always follow exactly how the control wiring was done, some have told me it does make a difference, some told me not

[@ronaldhein3763]

Hi Dave! Just because why that came into my head when I saw the perfectly shielded electronics compartment ... As I found out when soldering old Centralabpots, the conductive front side in contact with the shielding paint leads to short-circuiting the circuit. It cost me a lot of sweat until I got rid of that ... Do you have any experience with it ?! Cheers Ron

[@SDPickups]

Yeah I had a problem with one pot leg that was contacting the paint and shorted out the signal a bit, finally figured it out.

[@ronaldhein3763]

life is an experimental laboratory 😉Speaking of pots: would you recommend using electronic cleaning spray on old tonelabs?

[@seanlogsdon2293]

Do you have a sound demo of the epiphone elite with new harness

[@SDPickups]

No before and after on this, sorry. Probably should have done that, but the difference is amazing actually.

[@seanlogsdon2293]

@@SDPickups yeah I'm excited I'm putting a 50s wiring harness like you Shown in your videos in my 2002 Epiphone Elite Les Paul this weekend so it's my first time I'm pretty excited but also I'm going over your videos because I don't want to screw it up the only thing I'm looking at is the toggle switch it seems like it might be the most complicated for me but I think I can do it thanks to your videos

[@gretscher]

At about 6:06 you say don't forget a long length of shrink tube on the output wire. How long? Does it have to have the shrink tube from the pickup selector all the way to the input jack? Thanks.

[@SDPickups]

+gretscher No the shrink tubing doesn't go that far back, just use about a ten inch length so it covers from the jack back into a little past the bridge pickup rout.

[@SDPickups]

I just eyeball it, it should go inside the guitar maybe 3 or 4 inches.

[@Cickstart]

I've noticed that my 68 Gibson SG has a built in shielding in the electronics body and also in the back cover... how can I improve my newer guitars with shielding?

[@SDPickups]

I wouldn't. Shielding sucks up treble from your guitar's tone, it will push it towards sounding dull. Some of the cheap Gibson have metal plates in them for grounding, I throw them away. You want your guitar to sound raw and alive, and shielding takes that away.

[@blakespurlock5322]

Hey Dave. Would a japanese Greco les paul require a long shaft 3 way switch as well?

[@SDPickups]

Probably, I hope.

[@Jackson1959.]

hey bro. i rewired my lespaul into 50s wiring using 500k pots. connecting it to the 3 way switch and output jack. pickups are not connected yet. I took reading of the pots with a multimeter. 3 pots show readings. but Neck volume B500k pot doesnt show any reading. They all showed reading before installation. is it damaged? or what

[@tonebender69]

What exactly do you like about the Angela pio in the bridge? I use the old sprague vitamin Q pio's. Hard to beat the clarity and definition in all positions. But I also read in the tonequest report about how great the old 50's cornell dubilier grey tigers are.

[@SDPickups]

I prefer the Jensen copper foil for bridge than anything else, vs. vintage Sprague Vitamin Q. The NOS VQ caps are great but not everyone can find or buy them, the Jensens are current issue, a little pricey but they are really close to vintage Sprague Bees in paper in oil (NOT the mylar ones), very loud, articulate and a touch of smootheness. Make sure you get the COPPER foil and not the "silver" foil (aluminum), which are supposedly more harsh.

[@cram7]

@@SDPickups I had a bunch of real 50s Sprague Bumblebee Caps 0.022 ´s and had the opportunity to test pio against milar. There is really no such magic in the mylar BBs. The pios have a certain bloom to it. Just a magic sound. Very very very subtile but its there. Marc from germany

[@timjerome8942]

Dave awesome job on the video and so painstakingly attention to detail! Really helps. Somehome I bungled something because now when I choose the Treble switch position I get nothing, but middle and Rhythm switch position I get both pickups.On and volume and tone works on both. What did I do?Also I notice alot of the "vintage"50s LP diagram have the ground wire shield braid coming from the Jack soldered to a pot, but you dont do that, right? I didnt see you mentioning this in your videos, you actually isolated it from any contact by using a heatshrink sleeve. So I guess these diagrams floating out there are wrong or not correct vintage LP?

[@SDPickups]

Thats how Gibson did it in the 1950's and 60's, WHY they did it I don't know, I just copy what was done, it worked then, it works now.

[@thesundaycarpenter2514]

Hello great video. A few question: I've seen many other videos that have the ground & output jack wires on the switch the opposite as you have it here. Why the difference? Do both work the same? Will regular electric tape work instead of shrink wrap? Is the wrap necessary or just for aesthetics?

[@SDPickups]

Go to Dr. Vintage website and look for his "white paper" on electronics. There were a couple of ways the switch was wired, but they aren't very significant either way, he has diagrams there. Check it out.

[@tavo1213]

Hi, very good videos !! My question is if they should be the pots of 500kA or 500kB, what would be the difference? .. greetings

[@SDPickups]

Do you mean audio taper or linear taper? All are audio taper, with vintage type taper.

[@abdelmalek9682]

Sir Whats the job of capasitors ?

[@drRomantico89]

will this work to wire strat style guitar with this configuration ( 2 humbuckers 1 volumen 1 tone 1 toggle switch ?

[@SDPickups]

No it won't work. Look around for vintage Les Paul Junior wiring that had that same configuration. I did wire one guitar like that but don't remember exactly where I got the wiring diagram from, pretty sure it was old LP JR's.

[@Emiroj]

Do you have to use shrink tube on the ground wire from the output jack to the 3 way switch? I don't see why cuz all 3 wires "touch" eachother from the 3 way switch. Or is there more reasons?

[@SDPickups]

I think there's a reason for it, Gibson didn't want the output lead hitting the grounding bus wire again for some reason, so I don't know for sure the technical reason, but if it was done that way in vintage Les Pauls, I think its important to copy what they did, because little things matter, so I do it on all my guitars.

[@Emiroj]

SDPickups thank you for the reply! I'm going to put shrink tube where the wire goes in the back cavity above tone and volume pots. Because there isn't much room in the little canal going from the switch to the pots. Thanks again!

[@SDPickups]

Emiroj Yes, the tubing doesn't go all the way to the switch anyway, it only goes to the jack and a little way toward the switch, its there only to protect the wire in the control cavity.

[@Emiroj]

SDPickups thank you very much! Subscribed

[@byronnix1628]

The reason they used the heat shrink through the control cavity on wire coming from the output jack is because the braided shielding is ground. So once it touches anything hot. It will kill the sound meaning a short. That's why they covered the wire

[@keithturbin6768]

how do i wire it so the middle position turns both pickups off?

[@SDPickups]

Hmmmm, good question, but don't know...

[@rufusdtonebug4049]

The grounding wire at 6:23 is that from the bridge ?

[@SDPickups]

Rufus D Tonebug I think the grounding wire actually comes from the stud bolts, not the bridge posts.

[@rufusdtonebug4049]

Thank you, I understand.

[@wackenthaljef]

Thanks Stephen!

[@SDPickups]

Not Stephen.....Dave Stephens ;-)

[@wackenthaljef]

Oups sorry,Dave!

[@SDPickups]

No problem, alot of people do that, my Dad got tired of it and some of his friends always called him "Steve." Oh well, haha...

[@dalisllama]

Roughly what length did you use for the 3 wires? Obviously the output wire is longer but I'm wondering if you had an actual measurement. Looking to do an equally clean job with my current project :)

[@SDPickups]

I didn't measure them, I just cut them too long and trimmed when I soldered them to pots and jack. I just eyeballed the rough measurement.

[@dalisllama]

SDPickups gotcha. And what size (diameter) heat shrink did you use?

[@GibsonGuy0707]

Just measure from your switch to your output jack, and then add 2 inches to give yourself some room for accidents.

[@SDPickups]

I don't really know, I ordered alot of it years ago, not sure of the specs

[@el_ectro]

This wiring is nice antenna)

[@curtisdavis7800]

Say you followed the videos and you did a plug in test and were not getting anything..(plugged into amp without strings, wired following the directions of the video and diagrams-tested by touching a screwdriver to humbuckers front) where would you look to first?

[@SDPickups]

Yeah that happened to me with the SG I just got ;-) Check the jack first to make sure you have the hot lead center core wire of braided shield soldered to the correct lug. That wire should be soldered to the lug that is NOT directly connected to the center metal sleeve the plug slides into, because that is GROUND connection. If you get it backwards the guitar goes completely silent or buzzes some. If you did that correct you have to check that you have the pickups soldered to the bottom lug of each volume pot. Make sure you bent and soldered the correct lugs to the pot body next. If all that is good you may have a problem with the switch, check to see that somethng didn't get jammed or pushed together or broke at the switch, if necessery unsolder the switch leads and pull the switch back out to check, that should be the last thing you look at. Hope this helps....

[@SDPickups]

Thats a tough question, LOL. I would check first to see the tone cap wires aren't bumping up against the bus wire or back of pot or the braid, it will short out and do weird things. It can become aggravating real fast trying to find what went wrong, the switch might not be wired right or connected up right. You just have to go back over the diagram and check it part by part, eventually you'll get it. This is a good learning experience, it gets easier on the next guitar.

[@michellecook2285]

Neck art

[@michellecook2285]

Wow easy

[@SDPickups]

Its easy until you make a mistake :-) And you have to be able to solder correctly, many amateurs don't know how.

[@bradt.3555]

Roll tone all the way off then see how well vol works. 10 to 9 gives huge drop in volume. In modern wiring the cap and pot create a fixed rc network. With 50's it becomes variable, which means as you turn down volume the roll of slope keeps changing. With volume at very low setting the cap is almost compleatly shorted which means tone control has almost no function. With volume on 10 both wiring's are the same as the two vol. term. are connected together. At mid vol the tone becomes more of a volume. Electricly the 50's makes no sense. With modern the control's work much more consistently. Theres a reason it was only in guitars for a brief time. I think it was either a mistake or intentional mis wiring by employee, or lack of knowlege by an employee. And of course everything 50's is magicly better. All moving the cap does is change the resonant peak of the pickup and make it sound thinner. The modern with a treble bleed work's much better. But try the 50's and see how wackey the control's work. I did then put them all back as my tone was almost useless. And a few tweeks of your amp's tone can compensate as the difference in tone is minimal. If you are playing in your living room you may notice it, in a band never. These are just observations from my 50 yrs electrical and guitar experience, go with what you like

[@SDPickups]

What we are doing here is making a true to life replica harness. This is what was IN ALL vintage Gibsons. If you want your guitar to work like a vintage guitar and sound like a vintage guitar, this is how its done. I have no problems with it at all, neither did Jimmy Page, Peter Green, Jeff Beck, etc. etc. My business is based on recreating the sound of a vintage Les Paul, and the PAF replicas I make, I don't "improve," on something that created rock and blues history. You might prefer something else and thats ok too.

[@Miamimart]

You need to put some music behind this video

[@cgavin1]

You need to be very careful inserting the harness, especially in to the holes. The edge of a pot can easily cause splitting or chipping or cracks in nitro if you push them in too hard/quick/at the wrong angle. Its worth taking time here. Act in haste, repent at leisure.

[@michellecook2285]

Mister it,

[@DrDofenschmirz]

Great video! One Question: some videos shot not the middle leg of the tone pot soldered but one of the outside ones. Does it matter?? And if it does, what happens when u do it wrong? Tnx!

[@SDPickups]

DrDofenschmirz I'm only copying what was done, look at photos of real vintage LP control cavities and ignore "videos" that show it done different. Probably doesn't make any difference but I do it the way Gibson did it.

[@DrDofenschmirz]

Great video! One Question: some videos shot not the middle leg of the tone pot soldered but one of the outside ones. Does it matter?? And if it does, what happens when u do it wrong? Tnx!

[@DrDofenschmirz]

Great video! One Question: some videos shot not the middle leg of the tone pot soldered but one of the outside ones. Does it matter?? And if it does, what happens when u do it wrong? Tnx!

[@SDPickups]

I don't know if it actually matters or not, it COULD. This harness is an exact replica of how Gibson wired the original Les Pauls, I don't believe in trying to make any "improvements," because then things go wrong. For instance, treble bleeds do horrendous things to tone, it flattens out and makes the pickups sound sterile.