Question...

[rastaman]

There was an article in Tone Quest about a mod for a Les Paul called the '57 Les Paul Mod I think. It involves moving the tone and/or volume pot caps over one leg of the pot, to help unmuddy the sound as you turn the volume down to clean up. Does anyone have a link or directions for this mod? Any help will be greatly appreciated.

[Old Tele man]

ANSWER...
http://www.gibson.com/relations/schematics/diagrams/lespaul2.gif

[rastaman]

Wow! Thanks!

[Junior]

Note that that's not a connection on the upper tone pot, that's a mistake.

That's also a schematic of the "modern" wiring.

Check out this thread for more than you ever wanted to know:
http://www.lespaulforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=88796

[Old Tele man]

...the "basic" difference is that GIBSON typically connects the pickups to the "hot"-lug (wipe)r of the VOL pot (ie: "backwards") while FENDER typically connects the pickups to the "high"-side lug of the VOL pot (ie: "normal").

...the "difference"? the GIBSON-configuration minimizes "interaction" between different pot settings when both pickups are selected...

...the above 1954-Les Paul is wired like a FENDER-configuration...and sometimes (?) the TONE pot is connected to the "output" (center) lug of the VOL pot, instead of the high-side (top) lug as shown in the schematic.

[walterw]

i humbly submit that i have never seen a stock gibson of any year with the pickups wired to the middle lugs of the vol pots, and furthermore have never played one that still made sound with the switch in the middle and one vol all the way down, which middle-lug wired pots would allow.

were there certain models or eras where this was done? IMHO its just as well, as wiring a guitar that way would tend to allow some bleed-thru of sound at high gain settings even with the vol all the way off.

on a jazz bass its ok because there's (hopefully) not nearly as much amp gain to deal with, and it is necessary to allow pickup selection without a switch.

[Junior]

Yipes. I'm surprised, OTM, but you're close to totally wrong on this one. Does your 135 have independent wiring?

AFAIK, the only Gibsons wired as OTM described were a few hollowbodies in the fifties. This is refered to a "independent" wiring, and now can often be found on Indonesian guitars. Turning down the volume increases the load on the pickup, killing the highs. Good for jazz players perhaps, but NOT what a rocker wants.

The schematic posted here was revised in '74, you'll notice. Early Les Pauls, SGs, and most ESs were wired as OTM described a Fender, BUT the tone control was connected to the wiper lug. This means as you turn down the volume, you reduce the action of the tone pot on the pickup, resulting in less highs being lost. This is often called the "'50s mod". Actually, it's called the "50's mod", but I won't worry about the grammar if the wiring is right. :)